The Complete Plays (50 page)

40   
ROBIN
No, no, here, take your gridirons again.

[
He hands him the money
.]

WAGNER
Truly, I'll none of them.

ROBIN
Truly, but you shall.

WAGNER
[
to the audience
] Bear witness I gave them him.

ROBIN
Bear witness I give them you again.

WAGNER
Well, I will cause two devils presently to fetch thee away.
Balioll and Belcher
!

ROBIN
Let your Balio and your Belcher come here and I'll knock
them. They were never so knocked since they were devils. Say
I should kill one of them, what would folks say? ‘
Do ye
see
yonder
tall
fellow in the round slop? He has killed the devil.'

50   So I should be called ‘
Kill devil
' all the parish over.

Enter two
DEVILS,
and
[
ROBIN
]
the Clown runs up and down crying.

WAGNER
Balioll and Belcher! Spirits, away!

Exeunt
[
DEVILS
].

ROBIN
What, are they gone? A vengeance on them! They have
vile long nails. There was a he devil and a she devil. I'll tell
you how you shall know them: all he devils has
horns
, and
all she devils has clefts and cloven feet.

WAGNER
Well, sirrah, follow me.

ROBIN
But do you hear? If I should serve you, would you teach me to raise up
Banios
and Belcheos?

WAGNER
I will teach thee to turn thyself to anything, to a dog,

60   or a cat, or a mouse, or a rat, or anything.

ROBIN
How? A Christian fellow to a dog or a cat, a mouse or
a rat? No, no, sir. If you turn me into anything, let it be in the
likeness of a little, pretty, frisking flea, that I may be here
and there and everywhere. O, I'll tickle the pretty wenches'
plackets
! I'll be amongst them, i'faith!

WAGNER
Well, sirrah, come.

ROBIN
But do you hear, Wagner?

WAGNER
How? Balioll and Belcher!

ROBIN
O Lord, I pray sir, let Banio and Belcher go sleep.

70   

WAGNER
Villain, call me Master Wagner, and let thy left eye be
diametarily fixed upon my right heel, with
quasi
vestigiis
nostris insistere.

Exit
[
WAGNER
].

ROBIN
God forgive me, he speaks Dutch
fustian
. Well, I'll follow him, I'll serve him,
that's flat
.

Exit.

Enter
FAUSTUS
in his study.

FAUSTUS

Now, Faustus, must thou needs be damned,

And canst thou not be saved.

What boots it then to think of God or heaven?

Away with such vain fancies and despair!

Despair in God and trust in Beelzebub.

Now go not backward. No, Faustus, be resolute.

Why waverest thou? O, something soundeth in mine ears:

‘Abjure this magic, turn to God again!'

Ay, and Faustus will turn to God again.

10   To God? He loves thee not.

The god thou servest is thine own appetite,

Wherein is fixed the love of Beelzebub.

To him I'll build an altar and a church,

And offer lukewarm blood of new-born babes.

Enter
GOOD ANGEL
and
EVIL
[
ANGEL
].

GOOD ANGEL

Sweet Faustus, leave that execrable art.

FAUSTUS

Contrition, prayer, repentance – what of them?

GOOD ANGEL

O, they are means to bring thee unto heaven.

EVIL ANGEL

Rather illusions, fruits of lunacy,

That makes men foolish that do trust them most.

GOOD ANGEL

20   Sweet Faustus, think of heaven and heavenly things.

EVIL ANGEL

No, Faustus, think of honour and wealth.

Exeunt
[
ANGELS
].

FAUSTUS

Of wealth?

Why, the seigniory of Emden shall be mine.

When Mephistopheles shall stand by me,

What god can hurt thee, Faustus? Thou art safe,

Cast no more doubts. Come, Mephistopheles,

And bring glad tidings from great Lucifer.

Is't not midnight? Come, Mephistopheles!

Veni
, veni, Mephistophile!

Enter
MEPHISTOPHELES.

30   Now tell, what says Lucifer thy lord?

MEPHISTOPHELES

That I shall wait on Faustus whilst
he lives
,

So he will buy my service with his soul.

FAUSTUS

Already Faustus hath hazarded that for thee.

MEPHISTOPHELES

But, Faustus, thou must bequeath it solemnly

And write
a deed of gift
with thine own blood,

For that security craves great Lucifer.

If thou deny it, I will back to hell.

FAUSTUS
Stay, Mephistopheles, and tell me, what good will my soul do thy lord?

MEPHISTOPHELES
Enlarge his kingdom.

40   

FAUSTUS
Is that the reason he tempts us thus?

MEPHISTOPHELES

Solamen
miseris socios habuisse doloris.

FAUSTUS

Have you any pain, that tortures others?

MEPHISTOPHELES

As great as have the human souls of men.

But tell me, Faustus, shall I have thy soul?

And I will be thy slave, and wait on thee,

And give thee more than thou hast wit to ask.

FAUSTUS

Ay, Mephistopheles, I give it thee.

MEPHISTOPHELES

Then stab thine arm courageously,

And bind thy soul that at some certain day

50   Great Lucifer may claim it as his own,

And then be thou as great as Lucifer.

FAUSTUS
[
cutting his arm
]

Lo, Mephistopheles, for love of thee

I cut mine arm, and with my proper blood

Assure my soul to be great Lucifer's,

Chief lord and regent of perpetual night.

View here the blood that trickles from mine arm,

And let it be propitious for my wish.

MEPHISTOPHELES
But Faustus, thou must write it in manner

60   of a deed of gift.

FAUSTUS

Ay, so I will. [
He writes
.] But Mephistopheles,

My blood congeals, and I can write no more.

MEPHISTOPHELES

I'll fetch thee fire to dissolve it straight.

Exit
[
MEPHISTOPHELES
].

FAUSTUS

What might the staying of my blood portend?

Is it unwilling I should write this bill?

Why streams it not, that I may write afresh?

‘Faustus gives to thee his soul' – ah, there it stayed!

Why shouldst thou not? Is not thy soul thine own?

Then write again: ‘Faustus gives to thee his soul.'

Enter
MEPHISTOPHELES
with a chafer of coals
.

MEPHISTOPHELES

70   Here's fire. Come Faustus, set it on.

FAUSTUS

So. Now the blood begins to clear again.

Now will I make an end immediately. [
He writes
.]

MEPHISTOPHELES
[
aside
]

O, what will not I do to obtain his soul?

FAUSTUS

Consummatum est
. This bill is ended,

And Faustus hath bequeathed his soul to Lucifer.

But what is this inscription on mine arm?

‘
Homo, fuge
!' Whither should I fly?

If unto God, he'll throw thee down to hell.

My senses are deceived; here's nothing writ.

80   I see it plain. Here in this place is writ

‘
Homo, fuge
!' Yet shall not Faustus fly.

MEPHISTOPHELES
[
aside
]

I'll fetch him somewhat to delight his mind.

Exit
[
MEPHISTOPHELES,
then re
-]
enter with
DEVILS
,
giving crowns and rich apparel to
FAUSTUS
,
and dance
and then depart.

FAUSTUS

Speak, Mephistopheles. What means this show?

MEPHISTOPHELES

Nothing, Faustus, but to delight thy mind withal

And to show thee what magic can perform.

FAUSTUS

But may I raise up spirits when I please?

MEPHISTOPHELES

Ay, Faustus, and do greater things than these.

FAUSTUS

Then there's enough for a thousand souls.

Here, Mephistopheles, receive this scroll,

A deed of gift of body and of soul –

90   But yet conditionally that thou perform

All articles prescribed between us both.

MEPHISTOPHELES

Faustus, I swear by hell and Lucifer

To effect all promises between us made.

FAUSTUS
Then hear me read them.

‘On these conditions following:

First, that Faustus may be a spirit in form and substance.

Secondly, that Mephistopheles shall be his servant, and at his command.

Thirdly, that Mephistopheles shall do for him and bring

100         him whatsoever.

Fourthly, that he shall be in his chamber or house invisible.

Lastly, that he shall appear to the said John Faustus at all times in what form or shape soever he please.

I, John Faustus of Wittenberg, Doctor,
by these presents
do give both body and soul to Lucifer, Prince of the East,
and his minister Mephistopheles, and furthermore grant unto
them that, four-and-twenty years being expired, the articles
above written inviolate, full power to fetch or carry the said

110    John Faustus, body and soul, flesh, blood, or goods, into their
habitation wheresoever.

By me, John Faustus.'

MEPHISTOPHELES
Speak, Faustus. Do you deliver this as your deed?

FAUSTUS
[
giving the deed
] Ay. Take it, and the devil give thee good on't.

MEPHISTOPHELES
Now, Faustus, ask what thou wilt.

FAUSTUS

First will I question with thee about hell.

Tell me, where is the place that men call hell?

MEPHISTOPHELES

Under the heavens.

120   
FAUSTUS
                     Ay, but whereabout?

MEPHISTOPHELES

Within the bowels of these elements,

Where we are tortured and remain for ever.

Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscribed

In one self place, for where we are is hell,

And where hell is must we ever be.

And, to conclude, when all the world dissolves,

And every creature shall be purified,

All places shall be hell that is not heaven.

FAUSTUS
Come, I think hell's a fable.

MEPHISTOPHELES

130   Ay, think so still, till experience change thy mind.

FAUSTUS

Why, think'st thou then that Faustus shall be damned?

MEPHISTOPHELES

Ay, of necessity, for here's the scroll

Wherein thou hast given thy soul to Lucifer.

FAUSTUS

Ay, and body too. But what of that?

Think'st thou that Faustus is so fond

To imagine that after this life there is any pain?

Tush, these are trifles and mere old wives' tales.

MEPHISTOPHELES

But, Faustus, I am an instance to prove the contrary,

For I am damnèd and am now in hell.

  
FAUSTUS
How? Now in hell? Nay, an this be hell, I'll willingly

140    be damned here. What? Walking, disputing, etc.? But leaving
  off this, let me have a wife, the fairest maid in Germany, for
  I am wanton and lascivious and cannot live without a wife.

MEPHISTOPHELES
How, a wife? I prithee, Faustus, talk not of a wife.

FAUSTUS
Nay, sweet Mephistopheles, fetch me one, for I will have one.

MEPHISTOPHELES
Well, thou wilt have one. Sit there till I come. I'll fetch thee a wife, in the devil's name.

[
Exit
MEPHISTOPHELES
,
then re-]enter with a
DEVIL
dressed like a woman, with fireworks
.

  
MEPHISTOPHELES
Tell, Faustus, how dost thou like thy wife?

150   

  
FAUSTUS
A plague on her for a hot whore!

MEPHISTOPHELES
Tut, Faustus, marriage is but a ceremonial toy.

If thou lovest me,
think no more
of it.

[
Exit
DEVIL
.]

I'll cull thee out the fairest courtesans

And bring them ev'ry morning to thy bed.

She whom thine eye shall like, thy heart shall have,

Be she as chaste as was Penelope,

As wise as Saba, or as beautiful