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Scene VI
Scene VI
The Same
Enter Faustus and Mephistophilis
Faust. When I behold the heavens, then I repent, And curse thee, wicked
Mephistophilis, Because thou hast depriv`d me of those joys.
Meph. Why, Faustus, Thinkest thou Heaven is such a glorious thing? I tell
thee `tis not half so fair as thou, Or any man that breathes on earth.
Faust. How Provest thou that?
Meph. `Twas made for man, therefore is man more excellent.
Faust. If it were made for man, `twas made for me: I will renounce this
magic and repent.
Enter Good Angel and Evil Angel
G. Ang. Faustus, repent; yet God will pity thee.
E. Ang. Thou art a spirit; God can not pity thee.
Faust. Who buzzeth in mine ears I am a spirit? Be I a devil, yet God may
pity me; Ay, God will pity me if I repent.
E. And. Ay, but Faustus never shall repent.
Exeunt Angels.
Faust. My heart`s so hard`ned I cannot repent.
Scarce can I name salvation, faith, or heaven,
But fearful echoes thunder in mine ears
"Faustus, thou art damn`d!" Then swords and knives,
Poison, gun, halters, and envenom`d steel
Are laid before me to despatch myself,
And long ere this I should have slain myself,
Had not sweet pleasure conquer`d deep despair.
Have I not made blind Homer sing to me
Of Alexander`s love and Cenon`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 ne`er repent.
Come, Mephistophilis, let us dispute again,
And argue of divine astrology.
Tell me, are there many heavens 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 spheres Mutually folded in each
other`s orb, And, Faustus, All jointly move upon one axletree Whose terminine
is termed the world`s wide pole; Nor are the names of Saturn, Mars, or Jupiter
Feign`d but are erring stars.
Faust. But tell me, have they all one motion, both situ et tempore?^1
[Footnote 1: "In direction and in time?"]
Meph. All jointly move from east to west in twenty - four hours upon the
poles of the world; but differ in their motion upon the poles of the zodiac.
Faust. Tush!
These slender trifles Wagner can decide;
Hath Mephistophilis no greater skill?
Who knows not the double motion of the planets?
The first is finish`d in a natural day;
The second thus: as Saturn in thirty years; Jupiter in twelve; Mars in four;
the Sun, Venus, and Mercury in a year; the moon in twenty - eight days. Tush,
these are freshmen`s suppositions. 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. Well, resolve me in this question: Why have we 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.^2
[Footnote 2: "On account of their unequal motion in relation to the whole."]
Faust. Well, I am answered. Tell me who made the world.
Meph. I will not.
Faust. Sweet Mephistophilis, tell me.
Meph. Move me not, for I will not tell thee.
Faust. Villain, have I not bound thee to tell me anything?
Meph. Ay, that is not against our kingdom; but this is.
Think thou on hell, Faustus, for thou art damn`d.
Faust. Think, Faustus, upon God that made the world.
Meph. Remember this.
Faust. 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.
E. Ang. Too late.
G. Ang. Never too late, if Faustus can repent.
E. Ang. If thou repent, devils shall tear thee in pieces.
G. Ang. Repent, and they shall never raze thy skin.
[Exeunt Angels.]
Faust. Ah, Christ, my Saviour,
Seek to save distressed Faustus` soul.
Enter Lucifer, Belzebub, and Mephistophilis.
Luc. Christ cannot save thy soul, for he is just;
There`s none but I have interest in the same.
Faust. O, who art thou that look`st so terrible?
Luc. I am Lucifer,
And this is my companion - prince in hell.
Faust. O Faustus! they are come to fetch away thy soul!
Luc. We come to tell thee thou dost injure us; Thou talk`st of Christ
contrary to thy promise; Thou should`st not think of God: think of the Devil,
And of his dam, too.
Faust. Nor will I henceforth: pardon me in this, And Faustus vows never
to look to Heaven, Never to name God, or to pray to him, To burn his
Scriptures, slay his ministers, And make my spirits pull his churches down.
Luc. Do so, and we will highly gratify thee. Faustus, we are come from
hell to show thee some pastime. Sit down, and thou shalt see all the Seven
Deadly Sins appear in their proper shapes.
Faust. That sight will be as pleasing unto me, As Paradise was to Adam
the first day Of his creation.
Luc. Talk not of Paradise nor creation, but mark this show: talk of the
Devil, and nothing else. - Come away!
Enter the Seven Deadly Sins.
Now, Faustus, examine them of their several names and dispositions.
Faust. 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; or like a fan of feathers, I kiss her lips; indeed I do -
what do I not? But, fie, what a scent is here! I`ll not speak another word,
except the ground were perfum`d, and covered with cloth of arras.
Faust. What art thou - the second?
Covet. I am Covetousness, begotten of an old churl in an old leathern
bag; and might I have my wish I would desire that this house and all the
people in it were turn`d to gold, that I might lock you up in my good chest.
O, my sweet gold!
Faust. What art thou - the third?
Wrath. I am Wrath. I had neither father nor mother: I leapt out of a
lion`s mouth when I was scarce half an hour old; and ever since I have run up
and down the world with this case^3 of rapiers, wounding myself when I had
nobody to fight withal. I was born in hell; and look to it, for some of you
shall be my father.
[Footnote 3: Pair.]
Faust. What art thou - the fourth?
Envy. I am Envy, begotten of a chimney sweeper and an oyster - wife. I
cannot read, and therefore wish all books were burnt. I am lean with seeing
others eat. O that there would come a famine through all the world, that all
might die, and I live alone! then thou should`st see how fat I would be. But
must thou sit and I stand! Come down with a vengeance!
Faust. Away, envious rascal! What art thou - the fifth?
Glut. Who, I, sir? I am Gluttony. My parents are all dead, and the devil
a penny they have left me, but a bare pension, and that is thirty meals a day
and ten bevers^4 - a small trifle to suffice nature. O, I come of a royal
parentage! My grandfather was a Gammon of Bacon, my grandmother a Hogshead of
Claret - wine; my godfathers were these, Peter Pickleherring, and Martin
Martlemas - beef.^5 O, but my godmother, she was a jolly gentlewoman, and well
beloved in every good town and city; her name was Mistress Margery Marchbeer.
Now, Faustus, thou hast heard all my progeny, wilt thou bid me to supper?
[Footnote 4: Refreshments between meals.]
[Footnote 5: Martlemas or Martinmas was "the customary time for hanging up
provisions to dry which had been salted for the winter." - Nares.]
Faust. No, I`ll see thee hanged: thou wilt eat up all my victuals.
Glut. Then the Devil choke thee!
Faust. Choke thyself, glutton! Who art thou - the sixth?
Sloth. I am Sloth. I was begotten on a sunny bank, where I have lain ever
since; and you have done me great injury to bring me from thence: let me be
carried thither again by Gluttony and Lechery. I`ll not speak another word for
a king`s ransom.
Faust. What are you, Mistress Minx, the seventh and last?
Lech. 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, to hell! - Now, Faustus, how dost thou like this?
[Exeunt the Sins.
Faust. O, this feeds my soul!
Luc. Tut, Faustus, in hell is all manner of delight.
Faust. O might I see hell, and return again, How happy were I then!
Luc. Thou shalt; I will send for thee at midnight. In meantime take this
book; peruse it throughly, And thou shalt turn thyself into what shape thou
wilt.
Faust. Great thanks, mighty Lucifer! This will I keep as chary as my
life.
Luc. Farewell, Faustus, and think on the Devil.
Faust. Farewell, great Lucifer! Come, Mephistophilis.
[Exeunt.
Enter Chorus
Chorus. Learned Faustus, To know the secrets of astronomy, Graven in the
book of Jove`s high firmament, Did mount himself to scale Olympus` top, Being
seated in a chariot burning bright, Drawn by the strength of yoky dragons`
necks. He now is gone to prove cosmography, And, as I guess, will first arrive
at Rome, To see the Pope and manner of his court, And take some part of holy
Peter`s feast, That to this day is highly solemnis`d.
[Exit.]
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