The Works of Christopher Marlowe

Dr. Faustus (B Text)


Act: 4 Scene: 3<< <>>>
Enter Benvolio, Martino, Frederick, and Soldiers.
Nay, sweet Benvolio, let us sway thy thoughts
From this attempt against the conjuror.
Away, you love me not to urge me thus,
Shall I let slip so great an injury,
When every servile groom feasts at my wrongs,
And in their rustic gambols proudly say
Benvolio's head was graced with horns to day?
O, may these eyelids never close again
Till with my sword I have that conjuror slain.
If you will aid me in this enterprise,
Then draw your weapons and be resolute.
If not, depart. Here will Benvolio die,
But Faustus' death shall quit my infamy.
Nay, we will stay with thee; betide what may,
And kill that Doctor if he come this way.
Then, gentle Frederick, hie thee to the grove,
And place our servants and our followers
Close in an ambush there behind the trees.
By this (I know) the conjuror is near;
I saw him kneel, and kiss the Emperor's hand,
And take his leave, laden with rich rewards.
Then souldiers boldly fight. If Faustus die,
Take you the wealth; leave us the victory.
Come soldiers, follow me unto the grove.
Who kills him shall have gold and endless love.
Exit Frederick with the Souldiers.
My head is lighter than it was by th'horns,
But yet my heart more ponderous then my head,
And pants until I see that conjuror dead.
Where shall we place ourselves, Benvolio?
Here will we stay to bide the first assault.
O, were that damned hell-hound but in place,
Thou soon should'st see me quit my foul disgrace.
Enter Frederick.
Close, close, the conjuror is at hand,
And all alone comes walking in his gown;
Be ready, then, and strike the peasant down.
Mine be that honour then. Now, sword, strike home.
For horns he gave, I'll have his head anon.
Enter Faustus with the false head.
See, see, he comes.
No words. This blow ends all.
Hell take his soul; his body thus must fall.
Oh!
Groan you, Master Doctor?
Break may his heart with gropes. Dear Frederick, see
Thus will I end his griefs immediately.
Strike with a willing hand; his head is off.
The devil's dead; the Furies now may laugh.
Was this that stern aspect, that awful frown,
Made the grim monarch of infernal spirits
Tremble and quake at his commanding charms?
Was this that damned head, whose heart conspired
Benvolio's shame before the Emperor?
Ay, that's the head and here the body lies,
Justly rewarded for his villainies.
Come, let's devise how we may add more shame
to the black scandal of his hated name.
First, on his head, in quittance of my wrongs,
I'll nail huge forked horns and let them hang
Within the window where he yoked me first,
That all the world may see my just revenge.
What use shall we put his beard to?
We'll sell it to a chimney-sweeper. It will wear out
ten birching brooms, I warrant you.
What shall eyes do?
We'll put out his eyes, and they shall serve for but-
tons to his lips to keep his tongue from catching cold.
An excellent policy. And now, sirs, having divided
him, what shall the body do?
Zounds, the devil's alive again!
Give him his head, for God's sake.
Nay, keep it. Faustus will have heads and hands.
I call your hearts to recompense this deed.
Knew you not, traitors, I was limited
For four and twenty years to breathe on earth?
And had you cut my body with your swords,
Or hewed this flesh and bones as small as sand,
Yet in a minute had my spirit returned,
And I had breathed a man made free from harm.
But wherefore do I dally my revenge?
Asteroth, Belimoth, Mephistophilis,
Enter Mephistophilisand other Devils.
Go horse these traitors on your firey backs, Enter Meph. & other Deuils.
And mount aloft with them as high as heaven;
Thence pitch them headlong to the lowest hell.
Yet stay, the world shall see their misery,
And hell shall after plague their treachery.
Go, Belimothe and take this caitiff hence,
And hurl him in some lake of mud and dirt.
Take thou this other; drag him through the woods
Among'st the pricking thorns and sharpest briars,
Whil'st with my gentle Mephistophilis,
This traitor flies unto some steep rock,
That rolling down, may break the villain's bones,
As he intended to dismember me.
Fly hence, dispatch my charge immediately.
Pity us, gentle Faustus; save our lives.
Away.
He must needs go that the devil drives.
Exeunt spirits with the knights.Enter the ambushed soldiers.
Come, sirs, prepare your sells in readiness;
Make haste to help these noble gentlemen.
I heard them parley with the conjuror.
See where he comes, dispatch, and kill the slave.
What's here? An ambush to betray my life!
Then, Faustus, try thy skill. Base peasants, stand.
For lo, these trees remove at my command,
And stand as bulwarks 'twixt yourselves and me,
To shield me from your hated treachery.
Yet to encounter this your weak attempt,
Behold an army comes incontinent.
Faustus strikes the door, and enter a devil playing on a drum, after him another bearing an ensign, and divers with weapons, Mephistophilis with fireworks; they set upon the soldiers and drive them out.
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