Learned Faustus,
To find the secrets of Astronomy
Graven in the book of Jove's high firmament,
Did mount him up to scale Olympus' top;
Where, sitting in a chariot burning bright,
Drawn by the strength of yoked dragons' necks,
He views the clouds, the planets, and the stars,
The tropic zones, and quarters of the sky,
From the bright circle of the hornÈd moon
Even to the height of Primum Mobile;
And, whirling round with this circumference,
Within the concave compass of the pole,
From east to west his dragons swiftly glide,
And in eight days did bring him home again.
Not long he stay'd within his quiet house,
To rest his bones after his weary toil,
But new exploits do hale him out again
And, mounted then upon a dragon's back,
That with his wings did part the subtle air,
He now is gone to prove cosmography,
That measures coasts and kingdoms of the earth;
And, as I guess, will first arrive at Rome,
To see the Pope and manner of his court,
And take some part of holy Peter's feast,
The which this day is highly solemniss'd.
[Exit,
The additional lines seem worthy of Marlowe, and add considerably to the
picturesqueness of the original.—In Henslowe's inventory of the property
of the Admiral's men (Diary, p. 273) mention is made of “I dragon
in fostes.” Perhaps (as Wagner suggests) Faustus alighted from his
dragon-car at the beginning of the next scene.
