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Enter Faustus in his study, and Mephistophilis.
Faust.
When I behold the heavens then I repent
And curse thee wicked Mephistophilis,
Because thou hast deprived me of those joys.
Meph.
'Twas thine owe seeking Faustus, thank thyself.
575But think'st thou heaven is such a glorious thing?
I tell thee, Faustus, it is not half so fair
As thou, or any man that breath on earth.
Faust.
How prov'st thou that?
Meph.
'Twas made for man; then he's more excellent.
Faust.
580If heaven was made for man, 'twas made for me.
I will renounce this magic and repent.
Enter the two Angels.
Good A.
Faustus, repent yet God will pity thee.
Bad A.
Thou art a spirit; God cannot pity thee.
Faust.
585Who buzzeth in mine ears I am a spirit?
Be I a devil, yet God may pity me.
Yea, God will pity me if I repent.
Euill An.
Ay, but Faustus never shall repent.
Exit Angels.
Faust.
590My heart is hardened; I cannot repent.
Scarce can I name salvation, faith, or heaven.
Swords, poison, halters, and envenomed steel
Are laid before me to dispatch my self,
And long ere this, I should have done the deed,
595Had not sweet pleasure conquered 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,
600Made music with my Mephistophilis?
Why should I die then, or basely despair?
I am resolved; Faustus shall not repent.
Come, Mephistophilis, let us dispute again
And reason of divine Astrology.
605Speak, are there many spheres above the Moon?
Are all celestial bodies but one globe,
As is the substance of this centric earth?
Meph.
As are the elements, such are the heavens,
Even from the moon unto the empirial orb,
610Mutually folded in each others spheres,
And jointly move upon one axle-tree,
Whose termine is termed the world's wide pole.
Nor are the names of Saturn, Mars, or Jupiter,
Fained, but are evening stars.
Faust.
615But have they all one motion, both situ et tempore?
Meph.
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. Faust.
These slender questions Wagner can decide:
620Hath Mephistophilis no greater skill?
Who knows not the double motion of the planets?
That the first is finished in a natural day;
The second thus: Saturn in 30 years;
Jupiter in 12, Mars in 4, the Sun, Venus, and
625Mercury in a year; the moon in twenty eight days.
These are freshmen's questions . But tell me, hath every
Sphere a dominion, or intelligentia? Meph.
Ay.
Faust.
How many heavens, or spheres, are there?
Meph.
Nine, the seven planets, the firmament, and the
empyreal heaven.
Faust.
But is there not coelum igneum et cristallinum?
Meph.
No, Faustus, they be but fables.
Faust.
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?
Meph.
Per inaequalem motum, respectu totius.
Faust.
Well, I am answered. Now tell me, who made the world?
Meph.
I will not.
Faust.
Sweet Mephistophilis, tell me.
Meph.
Move me not, Faustus.
Faust.
Villain, have not I bound thee to tell me anything?
Meph.
Ay, that is not against our kingdom.
This is. Thou art damned; think thou of hell.
Faust.
Think, Faustus, upon God that made the world.
Meph.
Remember this Exit.
Faust.
Ay, go, accursed spirit, to ugly hell.
'Tis thou hast damned distressed Faustus' soul. Is't not too late?
Enter the two Angels.
Bad.
Too late.
Good.
Never too late, if Faustus will repent.
Bad.
If thou repent, devils will tear thee in pieces.
Good.
Repent and they shall never raise thy skin. Exit Angels.
Faust.
O, Christ my Savior, my Savior,
Help to save distressed Faustus' soul.
Enter Lucifer, Beelzebub, and Mephistophilis.
Lucif.
Christ cannot save thy soul, for he is just.
There's none but I have interest in the same.
Faust.
O, what art thou that look'st so terribly?
Lucif.
I am Lucifer, and this is my companion Prince in hell.
Faust.
O, Faustus, they are come to fetch thy soul.
Belz.
We are come to tell thee thou dost injure us.
Lucif.
Thou call'st on Christ contrary to thy promise.
Bels.
Thou should'st not think on God.
Lucif.
Think on the devil.
Belz.
And his dam too. Faust.
Nor will Faustus henceforth. Pardon him for this;
And Faustus vows never to look to heaven.
Lucif.
So shalt thou show thy self an obedient servant,
And we will highly gratify thee for it.
Belz.
Faustus, we are come from hell in person to show
thee some pastime. Sit down and thou shalt behold the seven
deadly sins appear to thee in their own proper shapes
and likeness.
Faust.
That sight will be as pleasant to me, as Paradise
was to Adam the first day of his creation.
Lucif.
Talk not of Paradise or creation, but mark
the show. Go, Mephistophilis, fetch them in.
Enter the Seven Deadly Sins.
Belz.
Now, Faustus, question them of their names and
dispositions.
Faust.
That shall I soon. What art thou the first?
Pride.
I am Pride; I disdain to have any parents. I am
like to Ovid's Flea; I can creep into every corner of a
wench. Sometimes, like a periwig, I sit upon her
brow. Next, like a necklace, I hang about her neck.
Then, like a fan of feathers, I kiss her, and then tur-
ning myself to a wrought smock do what I list. But fie,
what a smell is here? I'll not speak a word more for a
king's ransom, unless the ground be perfumed, and covered
with cloth of arras.
Faust.
Thou art a proud knave indeed. What art thou
second?
Couet.
I am Covetousness, begotten of an old churl
in a leather bag, and might I now obtain my wish, this house
you and all, should turn to Gold, that I might lock you safe
into my chest. O my sweet Gold!
Faust.
And what art thou the third?
Enuy.
I am Envy, begotten of a chimney-sweeper, and
an oyster-wife. I cannot read, and therefore wish all books
burned. I am lean with seeing others eat. O that there
would come a famine over all the world, that all might die, and
I live alone, then thou should'st see how fat I'd be. But must
thou sit, and I stand? Come down with a vengeance.
Faust.
Out envious wretch. But what art thou the fourth?
Wrath.
I am Wrath. I had neither father nor mother; I
leapt out of a lion's mouth when I was scarce an hour old,
and ever since have run up and down the world with these
case of rapiers, wounding myself when I could get none
to fight withal. I was born in hell, and look to it, for some
of you shall be my father.
Faust.
And what art thou the fifth?
Glut.
I am Gluttony; my parents are all dead, and the de-
vil a penny they have left me but a small pension, and that
buys me thirty meals a day, and ten beavers: a small trifle
to suffice nature. I come of a royal pedigree, my father
was a gammon of bacon, and my mother was a Hogs-
head of claret wine. My godfathers were these: Peter-
Pickled-herring, and Martin Martlemasse-beef: But my god-
mother, O she was an ancient gentlewoman. Her name was
Margery March-beer. Now, Faustus, thou hast heard all my
progeny; wilt thou bid me to supper?
Faust.
Not I.
Glut.
Then the devil choke thee.
Faust.
Choke thyself glutton. What art thou the sixth?
Sloth.
Hey ho, I am Sloth. I was begotten on a sunny-
bank. Hey ho, I'll not speak a word more for a king's ransom.
Fau.
And what are you Mistress Minkes, the seventh and last?
Letch.
Who, I, sir ? I am one that loves an inch of raw
mutton better than an ell of fried stockfish, and the first
letter of my name begins with Lechery.
Luc.
Away to hell! Away, on, piper! Exit the Seven Deadlysins.
Faust.
O, how this sight doth delight my soul.
Luc.
But, Faustus, in hell is all manner of delight.
Faust.
O, might I see hell, and return again safe. How
happy were I then.
Luc.
Faustus, thou shalt; at midnight I will send for thee.
Meanwhile, peruse this book, and view it thoroughly,
And thou shalt turn thyself into what shape thou wilt.
Faust.
Thanks mighty Lucifer.
This will I keep as chary as my life.
Luc.
Now, Faustus, farewell.
Faust.
Farewell, great Lucifer. Come, Mephistophilis
Exeunt omnes, several ways.
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