Act V, Scene ii

Thunder. Enter LUCIFER, BELZEBUB, and MEPHISTOPHILIS.

LUCIFER. Thus from infernal Dis do we ascend

To view the subjects of our monarchy,

Those souls which sin seals the black sons of hell;

'Mong which, as chief, Faustus, we come to thee,

Bringing with us lasting damnation

To wait upon thy soul: the time is come

Which makes it forfeit.

MEPHIST. And, this gloomy night,

Here, in this room, will wretched Faustus be.

BELZEBUB. And here we'll stay,

To mark him how he doth demean himself.

MEPHIST. How should he but in desperate lunacy?

Fond worldling, now his heart-blood dries with grief;

His conscience kills it; and his<244> labouring brain

Begets a world of idle fantasies

To over-reach the devil; but all in vain;

His store of pleasures must be sauc'd with pain.

He and his servant Wagner are at hand;

Both come from drawing Faustus' latest will.

See, where they come!

Enter FAUSTUS and WAGNER.:

FAUSTUS. Say, Wagner,—thou hast perus<'>d my will,—

How dost thou like it?

WAGNER. Sir, So wondrous well,

As in all humble duty I do yield

My life and lasting service for your love.

FAUSTUS. Gramercy,<245> Wagner.

Enter SCHOLARS.:

Welcome, Gentlemen.

[Exit WAGNER.]

FIRST SCHOLAR. Now, worthy Faustus, methinks your looks are chang'd.

FAUSTUS. O, gentlemen!

SECOND SCHOLAR. What ails Faustus?

FAUSTUS. Ah, my sweet chamber-fellow, had I lived with thee,

then had I lived still! but now must die eternally. Look, sirs,

comes he not? comes he not?

FIRST SCHOLAR. O my dear Faustus, what imports this fear?

SECOND SCHOLAR. Is all our pleasure turn'd to melancholy?

THIRD SCHOLAR. He is not well with being over-solitary.

SECOND SCHOLAR. If it be so, we'll have physicians,

And Faustus shall be cur'd.

THIRD SCHOLAR. 'Tis but a surfeit, sir;<246> fear nothing.

FAUSTUS. A surfeit of deadly<247> sin, that hath damned both

body and soul.

SECOND SCHOLAR. Yet, Faustus, look up to heaven, and remember

mercy is infinite.

FAUSTUS. But Faustus' offence can ne'er be pardoned: the serpent

that tempted Eve may be saved, but not Faustus. O gentlemen,

hear me<248> with patience, and tremble not at my speeches! Though

my heart pant and quiver to remember that I have been a student

here these thirty years, O, would I had never<249> seen Wittenberg,

never read book! and what wonders I have done, all Germany can

witness, yea, all the world; for which Faustus hath lost both

Germany and the world, yea, heaven itself, heaven, the seat of

God, the throne of the blessed, the kingdom of joy; and must

remain in hell for ever, hell. O, hell, for ever! Sweet friends,

what shall become of Faustus, being in hell for ever?

SECOND SCHOLAR. Yet, Faustus, call on God.

FAUSTUS. On God, whom Faustus hath abjured! on God, whom Faustus

hath blasphemed! O my God, I would weep! but the devil draws in

my tears. Gush forth blood, instead of tears! yea, life and soul!

O, he stays my tongue! I would lift up my hands; but see, they

hold 'em, they hold 'em? <'?' sic>

ALL. Who, Faustus?

FAUSTUS. Why, Lucifer and Mephistophilis. O gentlemen, I gave

them my soul for my cunning!

ALL. O, God forbid!

FAUSTUS. God forbade it, indeed; but Faustus hath done it: for

the vain pleasure of four-and-twenty years hath Faustus lost

eternal joy and felicity. I writ them a bill with mine own blood:

the date is expired; this is the time, and he will fetch me.

FIRST SCHOLAR. Why did not Faustus tell us of this before,

that divines might have prayed for thee?

FAUSTUS. Oft have I thought to have done so; but the devil

threatened to tear me in pieces, if I named God, to fetch me

body and soul, if I once gave ear to divinity: and now 'tis<250>

too late. Gentlemen, away, lest you perish with me.

SECOND SCHOLAR. O, what may we do to save Faustus?

FAUSTUS. Talk not of me, but save yourselves, and depart.

THIRD SCHOLAR. God will strengthen me; I will stay with Faustus.

FIRST SCHOLAR. Tempt not God, sweet friend; but let us into the

next room, and pray for him.

FAUSTUS. Ay, pray for me, pray for me; and what noise soever

you hear, come not unto me, for nothing can rescue me.

SECOND SCHOLAR. Pray thou, and we will pray that God may have mercy

upon thee.

FAUSTUS. Gentlemen, farewell: if I live till morning, I'll visit

you; if not, Faustus is gone to hell.

ALL. Faustus, farewell.

[Exeunt SCHOLARS.]

MEPHIST. Ay, Faustus, now thou hast no hope of heaven;

Therefore despair; think only upon hell,

For that must be thy mansion, there to dwell.

FAUSTUS. O thou bewitching fiend, 'twas thy temptation

Hath robb'd me of eternal happiness!

MEPHIST. I do confess it, Faustus, and rejoice:

'Twas I that, when thou wert i'the way to heaven,

Damm'd up thy passage; when thou took'st the book

To view the Scriptures, then I turn'd the leaves,

And led thine eye.<251>

What, weep'st thou? 'tis too late; despair! Farewell:

Fools that will laugh on earth must weep in hell.

[Exit.] <252>

Enter GOOD ANGEL and EVIL ANGEL at several doors.:

GOOD ANGEL. 0 Faustus, if thou hadst given ear to me,

Innumerable joys had follow'd thee!

But thou didst love the world.

EVIL ANGEL. Gave ear to me,

And now must taste hell-pains<253> perpetually.

GOOD ANGEL. O, what will all thy riches, pleasures, pomps,

Avail thee now?

EVIL ANGEL. Nothing, but vex thee more,

To want in hell, that had on earth such store.

GOOD ANGEL. 0, thou hast lost celestial happiness,

Pleasures unspeakable, bliss without end

Hadst thou affected sweet divinity,

Hell or the devil had had no power on thee:

Hadst thou kept on that way, Faustus, behold,

[Music, while a throne descends.]

In what resplendent glory thou hadst sit<254>

In yonder throne, like those bright-shining saints,

And triumph'd over hell! That hast thou lost;

And now, poor soul, must thy good angel leave thee:

The jaws of hell are open<255> to receive thee.

[Exit. The throne ascends.]

EVIL ANGEL. Now, Faustus, let thine eyes with horror stare

[Hell is discovered.]

Into that vast perpetual torture-house:

There are the Furies tossing damned souls

On burning forks; there bodies boil<256> in lead;

There are live quarters broiling on the coals,

That ne'er can die; this ever-burning chair

Is for o'er-tortur'd souls to rest them in;

These that are fed with sops of flaming fire,

Were gluttons, and lov'd only delicates,

And laugh'd to see the poor starve at their gates:

But yet all these are nothing; thou shalt see

Ten thousand tortures that more horrid be.

FAUSTUS. O, I have seen enough to torture me!

EVIL ANGEL. Nay, thou must feel them, taste the smart of all:

He that loves pleasure must for pleasure fall:

And so I leave thee, Faustus, till anon;

Then wilt thou tumble in confusion.

[Exit. Hell disappears.—The clock strikes eleven.]

FAUSTUS. O Faustus,

Now hast thou but one bare hour to live,

And then thou must be damn'd perpetually!

Stand still, you ever-moving spheres of heaven,

That time may cease, and midnight never come;

Fair Nature's eye, rise, rise again, and make

Perpetual day; or let this hour be but

A year, a month, a week, a natural day,

That Faustus may repent and save his soul!

O lente, lente currite, noctis equi!

The stars move still, time runs, the clock will strike,

The devil will come, and Faustus must be damn'd.

O, I'll leap up to heaven!—Who pulls me down?—

See, where Christ's blood streams in the firmament!<257>

One drop of blood will save me: O my Christ!—

Rend not my heart for naming of my Christ;

Yet will I call on him: O, spare me, Lucifer!—

Where is it now? 'tis gone:

And, see, a threatening arm, an<258> angry brow!

Mountains and hills, come, come, and fall on me,

And hide me from the heavy wrath of heaven!

No!

Then will I headlong run into the earth:

Gape, earth! O, no, it will not harbour me!

You stars that reign'd at my nativity,

Whose influence hath<259> allotted death and hell,

Now draw up Faustus, like a foggy mist,

Into the entrails of yon<260> labouring cloud[s],

That, when you<261> vomit forth into the air,

My limbs may issue from your smoky mouths;

But let my soul mount and ascend to heaven!

[The clock strikes the half-hour.]

O, half the hour is past! 'twill all be past anon.

O, if<262> my soul must suffer for my sin,

Impose some end to my incessant pain;

Let Faustus live in hell a thousand years,

A hundred thousand, and at last<263> be sav'd!

No end is limited to damned souls.

Why wert thou not a creature wanting soul?

Or why is this immortal that thou hast?

O, Pythagoras' metempsychosis, were that true,

This soul should fly from me, and I be chang'd

Into some brutish beast! all beasts are happy,

For, when they die,

Their souls are soon dissolv'd in elements;

But mine must live still to be plagu'd in hell.

Curs'd be the parents that engender'd me!

No, Faustus, curse thyself, curse Lucifer

That hath depriv'd thee of the joys of heaven.

[The clock strikes twelve.]

It strikes, it strikes! Now, body, turn to air,

Or Lucifer will bear thee quick to hell!

O soul, be chang'd into small water-drops,

And fall into the ocean, ne'er be found!

Thunder. Enter DEVILS.

O, mercy, heaven! look not so fierce on me!

Adders and serpents, let me breathe a while!

Ugly hell, gape not! come not, Lucifer!

I'll burn my books!—O Mephistophilis!

[Exeunt DEVILS with FAUSTUS.]