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FAUSTUS [discovered] in his Study | |
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| Faust. Settle my studies, Faustus, and begin | |
| To sound the depth of that thou wilt profess; 1 | |
| Having commenc’d, be a divine in show, | |
| Yet level 2 and at the end of every art, | 5 |
| And live and die in Aristotle’s works. | |
| Sweet Analytics, 3 ’tis thou hast ravish’d me, | |
| Bene disserere est finis logices. 4 | |
| Is to dispute well logic’s chiefest end? | |
| Affords this art no greater miracle? | 10 |
| Then read no more, thou hast attain’d the end; | |
| A greater subject fitteth Faustus’ wit. | |
| Bid [Greek] 5 farewell; Galen come, | |
| Seeing Ubi desinit Philosophus ibi incipit Medicus; 6 | |
| Be a physician, Faustus, heap up gold, | 15 |
| And be eternis’d for some wondrous cure. | |
| Summum bonum medicinæ sanitas, 7 | |
| “The end of physic is our body’s health” | |
| Why, Faustus, hast thou not attain’d that end! | |
| Is not thy common talk sound Aphorisms? 8 | 20 |
| Are not thy bills 9 hung up as monuments, | |
| Whereby whole cities have escap’d the plague, | |
| And thousand desperate maladies been eas’d? | |
| Yet art thou still but Faustus and a man. | |
| Couldst thou make men to live eternally, | 25 |
| Or, being dead, raise them to life again, | |
| Then this profession were to be esteem’d. | |
| Physic, farewell.—Where is Justinian? [Reads.] | |
| Si una eademque res legatur duobus, alter rem, alter valorem rei, &c. 10 | |
| A pretty case of paltry legacies! [Reads.] | 30 |
| Ex hæreditare filium non potest pater nisi, &c. 11 | |
| Such is the subject of the Institute 12 | |
| And universal Body of the Law. 13 | |
| His 14 study fits a mercenary drudge, | |
| Who aims at nothing but external trash; | 35 |
| Too servile and illiberal for me. | |
| When all is done, divinity is best; | |
| Jerome’s Bible, 15 Faustus, view it well. [Reads.] | |
| Stipendium peccati mors est. Ha! Stipendium, &c. | |
| “The reward of sin is death.” That’s hard. [Reads.] | 40 |
| Si peccasse negamus fallimur et nulla est in nobis veritas. | |
| “If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and there’s no truth in us.” Why then, belike we must sin and so consequently die. | |
| Ay, we must die an everlasting death. | |
| What doctrine call you this, Che sera sera, | |
| “What will be shall be?” Divinity, adieu | 45 |
| These metaphysics of magicians | |
| And necromantic books are heavenly; | |
| Lines, circles, scenes, letters, and characters, | |
| Ay, these are those that Faustus most desires. | |
| O what a world of profit and delight, | 50 |
| Of power, of honour, of omnipotence | |
| Is promised to the studious artisan! | |
| All things that move between the quiet poles | |
| Shall be at my command. Emperor and kings | |
| Are but obeyed in their several provinces, | 55 |
| Nor can they raise the wind or rend the clouds; | |
| But his dominion that exceeds 16 in this | |
| Stretcheth as far as doth the mind of man. | |
| A sound magician is a mighty god: | |
| Here, Faustus, try thy 17 brains to gain a deity. | 60 |
| Wagner! | |
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Enter WAGNER | |
| Commend me to my dearest friends, | |
| The German Valdes and Cornelius; | |
| Request them earnestly to visit me. | 65 |
| Wag. I will, sir. Exit. | |
| Faust. Their conference will be a greater help to me | |
| Than all my labours, plod I ne’er so fast. | |
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Enter GOOD ANGEL and EVIL ANGEL | |
| G. Ang. O Faustus! lay that damned book aside, | 70 |
| And gaze not upon it lest it tempt thy soul, | |
| And heap God’s heavy wrath upon thy head. | |
| Read, read the Scriptures: that is blasphemy. | |
| E. Ang. Go forward, Faustus, in that famous art, | |
| Wherein all Nature’s treasure is contain’d: | 75 |
| Be thou on earth as Jove is in the sky, | |
| Lord and commander of these elements. [Exeunt Angels.] | |
| Faust. How am I glutted with conceit 18 of this! | |
| Shall I make spirits fetch me what I please, | |
| Resolve me of all ambiguities, | 80 |
| Perform what desperate enterprise I will? | |
| I’ll have them fly to India for gold, | |
| Ransack the ocean for orient pearl, | |
| And search all corners of the new-found world | |
| For pleasant fruits and princely delicates; | 85 |
| I’ll have them read me strange philosophy | |
| And tell the secrets of all foreign kings; | |
| I’ll have them wall all Germany with brass, | |
| And make swift Rhine circle fair Wittenberg; | |
| I’ll have them fill the public schools with silk, 19 | 90 |
| Wherewith the students shall be bravely clad; | |
| I’ll levy soldiers with the coin they bring, | |
| And chase the Prince of Parma from our land, 20 | |
| And reign sole king of all the provinces; | |
| Yea, stranger engines for the brunt of war | 95 |
| Than was the fiery keel 21 at Antwerp’s bridge, | |
| I’ll make my servile spirits to invent. | |
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Enter V ALDES and C ORNELIUS 22 | |
| Come, German Valdes and Cornelius, | |
| And make me blest with your sage conference. | 100 |
| Valdes, sweet Valdes, and Cornelius, | |
| Know that your words have won me at the last | |
| To practise magic and concealed arts: | |
| Yet not your words only, but mine own fantasy | |
| That will receive no object, for my head | 105 |
| But ruminates on necromantic skill. | |
| Philosophy is odius and obscure, | |
| Both law and physic are for petty wits; | |
| Divinity is basest of the three, | |
| Unpleasant, harsh, contemptible, and vile: | 110 |
| ’Tis magic, magic, that hath ravish’d me. | |
| Then, gentle friends, aid me in this attempt; | |
| And I that have with concise syllogisms | |
| Gravell’d the pastors of the German church, | |
| And made the flowering pride of Wittenberg | 115 |
| Swarm to my problems, as the infernal spirits | |
| On sweet Mus&aeig;us, 23 when he came to hell, | |
| Will be as cunning as Agrippa was, | |
| Whose shadows made all Europe honour him. | |
| Vald. Faustus, these books, thy wit, and our experience | 120 |
| Shall make all nations to canònise us. | |
| As Indian Moors 24 obey their Spanish lords, | |
| So shall the subjects 25 of every element | |
| Be always serviceable to us three; | |
| Like lions shall they guard us when we please; | 125 |
| Like Almain rutters 26 with their horsemen’s staves | |
| Or Lapland giants, trotting by our sides; | |
| Sometimes like women or unwedded maids, | |
| Shadowing more beauty in their airy brows | |
| Than have the white breasts of the queen of love: | 130 |
| From Venice shall they drag huge argosies, | |
| And from America the golden fleece | |
| That yearly stuffs old Philip’s treasury; | |
| If learned Faustus will be resolute. | |
| Faust. Valdes, as resolute am I in this | 135 |
| As thou to live; therefore object is not. | |
| Corn. The miracles that magic will perform | |
| Will make thee vow to study nothing else. | |
| He that is grounded in astrology, | |
| Enrich’d with tongues, as well seen 27 in minerals, | 140 |
| Hath all the principles magic doth require. | |
| Then doubt not, Faustus, but to be renown’d, | |
| And more frequented for this mystery | |
| Than heretofore the Delphian Oracle. | |
| The spirits tell me they can dry the sea, | 145 |
| And fetch the treasure of all foreign wrecks, | |
| Ay, all the wealth that our forefathers hid | |
| Within the massy entrails of the earth; | |
| Then tell me, Faustus, what shall we three want? | |
| Faust. Nothing, Cornelius! O this cheers my soul! | 150 |
| Come show me some demonstrations magical, | |
| That I may conjure in some lusty grove, | |
| And have these joys in full possession. | |
| Vald. Then haste thee to some solitary grove, | |
| And bear wise Bacon’s 28 and Albanus’ 29 works, | 155 |
| The Hebrew Psalter and New Testament; | |
| And whatsoever else is requisite | |
| We will inform thee ere our conference cease. | |
| Corn. Valdes, first let him know the words of art; | |
| And then, all other ceremonies learn’d, | 160 |
| Faustus may try his cunning by himself. | |
| Vald. First I’ll instruct thee in the rudiments, | |
| And then wilt thou be perfecter than I. | |
| Faust. Then come and dine with me, and after meat, | |
| We’ll canvass every quiddity thereof; | 165 |
| For ere I sleep I’ll try what I can do: | |
| This night I’ll conjure though I die therefore. [Exeunt. | |
