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The Works of Christopher Marlowe

Act: 1 Scene: 3- -

Thunder. Enter Lucifer and Four devils, Faustus to them with this speech.

Now that the gloomy shadow of the night,

Longing to view Orion's drizzling look,

Leaps from th'Antarctic world unto the sky,

And dims the welkin, with her pitchy breathe,

Faustus, begin thine incantations

And try if devils will obey thy hest,

Seeing thou hast prayed and sacrificed to them.

Within this circle is Jehovah's name,

Forward, and backward, anagrammatised:

Th'abbreviated names of holy saints,

Figures of every adjunct to the heavens,

And characters of signs, and evening stars,

By which the spirits are enforced to rise.

Then fear not, Faustus, to be resolute

And try the utmost magic can perform.

Thunder. Sint mihi Dei Acherontis propitii! Valeat numen tri-

plex Jehovae! Ignei aerii, aquatani spiritus, salvete! Orientis

princeps Beelzebub, inferni ardentis monarcha, et Demigor-

gon, propitiamus vos, ut appareat, et surgat Mephistophilis

Dragon, quod tumeraris; per Jehovam, gehennam, et con-

secratam aquam quam nunc spargo; signumque crucis quod

nunc facio, et per vota nostra, ipse nunc surgat nobis dicatus

Mephistophilis!

Enter a Devil.

I charge thee to return, and change thy shape.

Thou art too ugly to attend on me.

Go and return an old Franciscan friar;

That holy shape becomes a devil best. Exit Devil.

I see there's virtue in my heavenly words.

Who would not be proficient in this art?

How pliant is this Mephistophilis?

Full of obedience and humility,

Such is the force of magic and my spells.

Enter Mephistophilis.

Now, Faustus, what would'st thou have me do?

I charge thee wait upon me whil'st I live

To do what ever Faustus shall command.

Be it to make the moon drop from her sphere,

Or the ocean to overwhelm the world.

I am a servant to great Lucifer,

And may not follow thee without his leave.

No more than he commands must we perform.

Did not he charge thee to appear to me?

No, I came now hither of mine owe accord.

Did not my conjuring raise thee? Speak.

That was the cause, but yet per accidens;

For when we hear one rack the name of God,

Abjure the scriptures, and his Savior Christ,

We fly in hope to get his glorious soul;

Nor will we come, unless he use such means

Whereby he is in danger to be damned.

Therefore the shortest cut for conjuring

Is stoutly to abjure all godliness

And pray devoutly to the Prince of Hell.

So Faustus hath already done, and holds this principle:

There is no chief but only Beelzebub,

To whom Faustus doth dedicate himself.

This word Damnation terrifies not me,

For I confound hell in Elysium;

My ghost be with the old philosophers.

But leaving these vain trifles of men's souls,

Tell me, what is that Lucifer, thy Lord?

Arch-regent and commander of all spirits.

Was not that Lucifer an angel once?

Yes, Faustus, and most dearly loved of God.

How comes it then that he is Prince of Devils?

O, by aspiring pride and insolence,

For which God threw him from the face of heaven.

And what are you that live with Lucifer?

Unhappy spirits that live with Lucifer,

Conspired against our God with Lucifer,

And are for ever damned with Lucifer.

Where are you damned?

How comes it then that thou art out of hell?

Why this is hell, nor am I out of it.

Think'st thou that I that saw the face of God

And tasted the eternal joys of heaven

Am not tormented with ten thousand hells,

In being deprived of everlasting bliss?

O, Faustus, leave these frivolous demands,

Which strike a terror to my fainting soul.

What, is great Mephistophilis so passionate

For being deprived of the joys of heaven?

Learn thou of Faustus' manly fortitude,

And scorn those joys thou never shalt possess.

Go bear these tidings to great Lucifer,

Seeing Faustus hath incurred eternal death

By desperate thoughts against Jove's deity.

Say he surrenders up to him his soul,

So he will spare him four and twenty years,

Letting him live in all voluptuousness,

Having thee ever to attend on me,

To give me whatsoever I shall ask,

To tell me whatsoever I demand,

To slay mine enemies and to aid my friends,

And always be obedient to my will.

Go, and return to mighty Lucifer,

And meet me in my study at midnight,

And then resolve me of thy master's mind.

I will, Faustus. Exit.

Had I as many souls as there be stars,

I'd give them all for Mephistophilis.

By him I'll be great Emperor of the world,

And make a bridge through the moving air

To pass the ocean. With a band of men

I'll join the hills that bind the Afric shore,

And make that country, continent to Spain,

And both contributory to my crown.

The Emperor shall not live but by my leave,

Nor any Potentate of Germany.

Now that I have obtained what I desired

I'll live in speculation of this art

Till Mephistophilis return again.Exit.

Dr. Faustus (B Text)