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Scene I
Scene I
Faustus [discovered] in his Study
Faust. Settle my studies, Faustus, and begin
To sound the depth of that thou wilt profess^7;
Having commenc`d, be a divine in show,
Yet level^8 and at the end of every art,
And live and die in Aristotle`s works.
Sweet Analytics,^9 `tis thou hast ravish`d me,
Bene disserere est finis logices.^10
Is to dispute well logic`s chiefest end?
Affords this art no greater miracle?
Then read no more, thou hast attain`d the end;
A greater subject fitteth Faustus` wit.
Bid ov kai mn ov^11 farewell; Galen come,
Seeing Ubi desinit Philosophus ibi incipit Medicus;^12
Be a physician, Faustus, heap up gold,
And be eternis`d for some wondrous cure.
Summum bonum medicinae sanitas,^13
"The end of physic is our body`s health"
Why, Faustus, hast thou not attain`d that end!
Is not thy common talk sound Aphorisms?^14
Are not thy bills^15 hung up as monuments,
Whereby whole cities have escap`d the plague,
And thousand desperate maladies been eas`d?
Yet art thou still but Faustus and a man.
Couldst thou make men to live eternally,
Or, being dead, raise them to life again,
Then this profession were to be esteem`d.
Physic, farewell. - Where is Justinian? [Reads.]
Si una eademque res legatur duobus, alter rem, alter valorem rei, Ec.^16
A pretty case of paltry legacies!
[Footnote 7: Teach publicly.]
[Footnote 8: Aim.]
[Footnote 9: Logic.]
[Footnote 10: "To argue well is the end of logic."]
[Footnote 11: This is Mr. Bullen`s emendation of Q1., Oncaymaeon, a corruption
of the Aristotelian phrase for "being and not being."]
[Footnote 12: "Where the philosopher leaves off, there the physician begins."]
[Footnote 13: This and the previous quotation are from Aristotle.]
[Footnote 14: Medical maxims.]
[Footnote 15: Announcements.]
[Footnote 16: "If one and the same thing is bequeathed to two person, one gets
the thing and the other the value of the thing."]
[Reads.]
Ex haereditare filium non potest pater nisi, Ec.^17
Such is the subject of the Institute^18
And universal Body of the Law.^19
His^20 study fits a mercenary drudge,
Who aims at nothing but external trash;
Too servile and illiberal for me.
When all is done, divinity is best;
Jerome`s Bible,^21 Faustus, view it well.
[Footnote 17: "A father cannot disinherit the son except," etc.]
[Footnote 18: Of Justinian, under whom the Roman law was codified.]
[Footnote 19: Q1., Church.]
[Footnote 20: Its.]
[Footnote 21: The Vulgate.]
[Reads.]
Stipendium peccati mors est. Ha! Stipendium, Ec.
"The reward of sin is death." That`s hard
[Reads.]
Si peccasse negamus fallimur et nulla est in nobis veritas.
"If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and there`s
no truth in us." Why then, belike we must sin and so consequently
die.
Ay, we must die an everlasting death.
What doctrine call you this, Che sera sera,
"What will be shall be?" Divinity, adieu
These metaphysics of magicians
And necromantic books are heavenly;
Lines, circles, scenes, letters, and characters,
Ay, these are those that Faustus most desires.
O what a world of profit and delight,
Of power, of honour, of omnipotence
Is promised to the studious artisan!
All things that move between the quiet poles
Shall be at my command. Emperor and kings
Are but obeyed in their several provinces,
Nor can they raise the wind or rend the clouds;
But his dominion that exceeds^22 in this
Stretcheth as far as doth the mind of man.
A sound magician is a mighty god:
Here, Faustus, try thy^23 brains to gain a deity.
Wagner!
[Footnote 22: Excels.]
[Footnote 23: Q3., tire my.]
Enter Wagner
Commend me to my dearest friends, The German Valdes and Cornelius;
Request them earnestly to visit me.
Wag. I will, sir.
Exit.
Faust. Their conference will be a greater help to me Than all my labours,
plod I ne`er so fast.
Enter Good Angel and Evil Angel
G. Ang. O Faustus! lay that damned book aside, And gaze not upon it lest
it tempt thy soul, And heap God`s heavy wrath upon thy head. Read, read the
Scriptures: that is blasphemy.
E. Ang. Go forward, Faustus, in that famous art, Wherein all Nature`s
treasure is contain`d: Be thou on earth as Jove is in the sky, Lord and
commander of these elements.
[Exeunt Angels.]
Faust. How am I glutted with conceit^24 of this! Shall I make spirits
fetch me what I please, Resolve me of all ambiguities, Perform what desperate
enterprise I will? I`ll have them fly to India for gold, Ransack the ocean for
orient pearl, And search all corners of the new - found world For pleasant
fruits and princely delicates; I`ll have them read me strange philosophy And
tell the secrets of all foreign kings; I`ll have them wall all Germany with
brass, And make swift Rhine circle fair Wittenberg; I`ll have them fill the
public schools with silk,^25 Wherewith the students shall be bravely clad;
I`ll levy soldiers with the coin they bring, And chase the Prince of Parma
from our land,^26 And reign sole king of all the provinces; Yea, stranger
engines for the brunt of war Than was the fiery keel^27 at Antwerp`s bridge,
I`ll make my servile spirits to invent.
[Footnote 24: Idea.]
[Footnote 25: Qq., skill.]
[Footnote 26: The Netherlands, over which Parma re - established the Spanish
dominions.]
[Footnote 27: A ship filled with explosives used to blow up a bridge built by
Parma in 1585 at the siege of Antwerp.]
Enter Valdes and Cornelius^28
[Footnote 28: The famous Cornelius Agrippa. German Valdes is not known.]
Come, German Valdes and Cornelius,
And make me blest with your sage conference.
Valdes, sweet Valdes, and Cornelius,
Know that your words have won me at the last
To practise magic and concealed arts:
Yet not your words only, but mine own fantasy
That will receive no object, for my head
But ruminates on necromantic skill.
Philosophy is odius and obscure,
Both law and physic are for petty wits;
Divinity is basest of the three,
Unpleasant, harsh, contemptible, and vile:
`Tis magic, magic, that hath ravish`d me.
Then, gentle friends, aid me in this attempt;
And I that have with concise syllogisms
Gravell`d the pastors of the German church,
And made the flowering pride of Wittenberg
Swarm to my problems, as the infernal spirits
On sweet Musaeus,^29 when he came to hell,
Will be as cunning as Agrippa was,
Whose shadows made all Europe honour him.
[Footnote 29: Cf. Virgil, Aen. vi. 667; Dryden`s trans. vi. 905 ff.]
Vald. Faustus, these books, thy wit, and our experience Shall make all
nations to canonise us. As Indian Moors^30 obey their Spanish lords, So shall
the subjects^31 of every element Be always serviceable to us three; Like lions
shall they guard us when we please; Like Almain rutters^32 with their
horsemen`s staves Or Lapland giants, trotting by our sides; Sometimes like
women or unwedded maids, Shadowing more beauty in their airy brows Than have
the white breasts of the queen of love: From Venice shall they drag huge
argosies, And from America the golden fleece That yearly stuffs old Philip`s
treasury; If learned Faustus will be resolute.
[Footnote 30: American Indians.]
[Footnote 31: Q3., spirits.]
[Footnote 32: Troopers, Germ. Reiters.]
Faust. Valdes, as resolute am I in this As thou to live; therefore object
is not.
Corn. The miracles that magic will perform Will make thee vow to study
nothing else. He that is grounded in astrology, Enrich`d with tongues, as well
seen^33 in minerals, Hath all the principles magic doth require. Then doubt
not, Faustus, but to be renown`d, And more frequented for this mystery
[Footnote 33: Versed.]
Than heretofore the Delphian Oracle.
The spirits tell me they can dry the sea,
And fetch the treasure of all foreign wrecks,
Ay, all the wealth that our forefathers hid
Within the massy entrails of the earth;
Then tell me, Faustus, what shall we three want?
Faust. Nothing, Cornelius! O this cheers my soul! Come show me some
demonstrations magical, That I may conjure in some lusty grove, And have these
joys in full possession.
Vald. Then haste thee to some solitary grove, And bear wise Bacon`s^34
and Albanus`^35 works, The Hebrew Psalter and New Testament; And whatsoever
else is requisite We will inform thee ere our conference cease.
[Footnote 34: Roger Bacon.]
[Footnote 35: Perhaps Pietro d`Abano, a medieval alchemist; perhaps a misprint
for Albertus (Magnus), the great schoolman.]
Corn. Valdes, first let him know the words of art; And then, all other
ceremonies learn`d, Faustus may try his cunning by himself.
Vald. First I`ll instruct thee in the rudiments, And then wilt thou be
perfecter than I.
Faust. Then come and dine with me, and after meat, We`ll canvass every
quiddity thereof; For ere I sleep I`ll try what I can do: This night I`ll
conjure though I die therefore.
[Exeunt.
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