Dr. Faustus (newer edition) | Page 9

am wanton and lascivious,
And cannot live without a wife.
MEPHIST. Well, Faustus, thou shalt have a wife.
[MEPHISTOPHILIS fetches in a WOMAN-DEVIL.]
FAUSTUS. What sight is this?
MEPHIST. Now, Faustus, wilt thou have a wife?
FAUSTUS. Here's a hot whore, indeed: no, I'll no wife.
MEPHIST. Marriage is but a ceremonial toy, And, if thou lov'st me,
think no more of it. I'll cull thee out the fairest courtezans, And bring
them every morning to thy bed: She whom thine<65> eye shall like,
thy<66> heart shall have, Were she as chaste as was<67> Penelope, As
wise as Saba, or as beautiful As was bright Lucifer before his fall. Here,
take this book, peruse it well: The iterating of these lines brings gold;
The framing of this circle on the ground Brings thunder, whirlwinds,
storm, and lightning; Pronounce this thrice devoutly to thyself, And
men in harness<68> shall appear to thee, Ready to execute what thou
command'st.
FAUSTUS. Thanks, Mephistophilis, for this sweet book: This will I
keep as chary as my life. [Exeunt.]
Enter FAUSTUS, in his study, and MEPHISTOPHILIS.
FAUSTUS. When I behold the heavens,<69> then I repent, And curse
thee, wicked Mephistophilis, Because thou hast depriv'd me of those
joys.
MEPHIST. 'Twas thine<70> own seeking, Faustus; thank thyself. But,

think'st thou heaven is<71> such a glorious thing? I tell thee, Faustus, it
is not half so fair As thou, or any man that breathes<72> on earth.
FAUSTUS. How prov'st thou that?
MEPHIST. 'Twas made for man; then he's more excellent.
FAUSTUS. If heaven was made for man, 'twas made for me: I will
renounce this magic and repent.
Enter GOOD ANGEL and EVIL ANGEL.
GOOD ANGEL. Faustus, repent; yet God will pity thee.
EVIL ANGEL. Thou art a spirit; God cannot pity thee.
FAUSTUS. Who buzzeth in mine ears<73> I am a spirit? Be I a devil,
yet God may pity me; Yea, God will pity me, if I repent.
EVIL ANGEL. Ay, but Faustus never shall repent. [Exeunt ANGELS.]
FAUSTUS. My heart is harden'd, I cannot repent; Scarce can I name
salvation, faith, or heaven: Swords, poisons, halters, and envenom'd
steel Are laid before me to despatch myself; And long ere this I<74>
should have done the deed, Had not sweet pleasure conquer'd deep
despair. Have not I made blind Homer sing to me Of Alexander's love
and Oenon's death? And hath not he, that built the walls of Thebes
With ravishing sound of his melodious harp, Made music with my
Mephistophilis? Why should I die, then, or basely despair? I am
resolv'd; Faustus shall not repent.-- Come, Mephistophilis, let us
dispute again, And reason of divine astrology. Speak, are there many
spheres above the moon? Are all celestial bodies but one globe, As is
the substance of this centric earth?
MEPHIST. As are the elements, such are the heavens, Even from the
moon unto th' empyreal orb, Mutually folded in each other's spheres,
And jointly move upon one axletree, Whose termine<75> is term'd the
world's wide pole; Nor are the names of Saturn, Mars, or Jupiter
Feign'd, but are erring<76> stars.
FAUSTUS. But have they all one motion, both situ et tempore?
MEPHIST. All move from east to west in four-and-twenty hours upon
the poles of the world; but differ in their motions upon the poles of the
zodiac.
FAUSTUS. These slender questions Wagner can decide: Hath
Mephistophilis no greater skill? Who knows not the double
motion<77> of the planets? That the first is finish'd in a natural day;
The second thus; Saturn in thirty years; Jupiter in twelve; Mars in four;

the Sun, Venus, and Mercury in a year; the Moon in twenty-eight days.
These are freshmen's questions. But tell me, hath every sphere a
dominion or intelligentia?
MEPHIST. Ay.
FAUSTUS. How many heavens or spheres are there?
MEPHIST. Nine; the seven planets, the firmament, and the empyreal
heaven.
FAUSTUS. But is there not coelum igneum et crystallinum?
MEPHIST. No, Faustus, they be but fables.
FAUSTUS. Resolve me, then, in this one question; why are not
conjunctions, oppositions, aspects, eclipses, all at one time, but in some
years we have more, in some less?
MEPHIST. Per inoequalem motum respectu totius.
FAUSTUS. Well, I am answered. Now tell me who made the world?
MEPHIST. I will not.
FAUSTUS. Sweet Mephistophilis, tell me.
MEPHIST. Move me not, Faustus.
FAUSTUS. Villain, have I not bound thee to tell me any thing?
MEPHIST. Ay,<78> that is not against our kingdom; this is. Thou art
damned; think thou of hell.
FAUSTUS. Think, Faustus, upon God that made the world.
MEPHIST. Remember this. [Exit.]
FAUSTUS. Ay, go, accursed spirit, to ugly hell! 'Tis thou hast damn'd
distressed Faustus' soul. Is't not too late?
Re-enter GOOD ANGEL and EVIL ANGEL.
EVIL ANGEL. Too late.
GOOD ANGEL. Never too late, if Faustus will repent.