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| FAUSTUS. Settle thy studies, Faustus, and begin |
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| To sound the depth of that thou wilt profess: |
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| Having commenc'd, be a divine in show, |
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| Yet level at the end of every art, |
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| And live and die in Aristotle's works. |
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| Sweet Analytics, 'tis thou hast ravish'd me! |
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| Bene disserere est finis logices. |
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| Is, to dispute well, logic's chiefest end? |
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| Affords this art no greater miracle? |
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| Then read no more; thou hast attain'd that end: |
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| A greater subject fitteth Faustus' wit: |
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| Bid Economy farewell, and Galen come: |
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| Be a physician, Faustus; heap up gold, |
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| And be eterniz'd for some wondrous cure: |
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| Summum bonum medicinoe sanitas, |
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| The end of physic is our body's health. |
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| Why, Faustus, hast thou not attain'd that end? |
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| Are not thy bills hung up as monuments, |
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| Whereby whole cities have escap'd the plague, |
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| And thousand<5> desperate maladies been cur'd? |
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| Yet art thou still but Faustus, and a man. |
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| Couldst thou make men to live eternally, |
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| Or, being dead, raise them<6> to life again, |
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| Then this profession were to be esteem'd. |
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| Physic, farewell! Where is Justinian? |
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| Such is the subject of the institute, |
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| And universal body of the law: |
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| This study fits a mercenary drudge, |
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| Who aims at nothing but external trash; |
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| Too servile and illiberal for me. |
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| When all is done, divinity is best: |
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| Jerome's Bible, Faustus; view it well. |
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| If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and there |
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| is no truth in us. Why, then, belike we must sin, and so |
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| consequently die: |
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| Ay, we must die an everlasting death. |
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| What doctrine call you this, Che sera, sera, |
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| What will be, shall be? Divinity, adieu! |
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| These metaphysics of magicians, |
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| And necromantic books are heavenly; |
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| Lines, circles, scenes, letters, and characters;<10> |
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| Ay, these are those that Faustus most desires. |
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| O, what a world of profit and delight, |
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| Of power, of honour, and omnipotence, |
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| Is promis'd to the studious artizan! |
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| All things that move between the quiet poles |
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| Shall be at my command: emperors and kings |
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| Are but obeyed in their several provinces; |
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| But his dominion that exceeds in this, |
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| Stretcheth as far as doth the mind of man; |
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| A sound magician is a demigod: |
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| Here tire, my brains, to gain<11> a deity. |
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| FAUSTUS. How am I glutted with conceit of this! |
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| Shall I make spirits fetch me what I please, |
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| Resolve me of all ambiguities, |
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| Perform what desperate enterprise<13> I will? |
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| I'll have them fly to India for gold, |
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| Ransack the ocean for orient pearl, |
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| And search all corners of the new-found world |
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| For pleasant fruits and princely delicates; |
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| I'll have them read me strange philosophy, |
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| And tell the secrets of all foreign kings; |
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| I'll have them wall all Germany with brass, |
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| And make swift Rhine circle fair<14> Wertenberg; |
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| I'll have them fill the public schools with silk,<15> |
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| Wherewith the students shall be bravely clad; |
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| I'll levy soldiers with the coin they bring, |
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| And chase the Prince of Parma from our land, |
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| And reign sole king of all the provinces; |
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| Yea, stranger engines for the brunt of war, |
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| Than was the fiery keel at Antwerp-bridge, |
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| I'll make my servile spirits to invent. |
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| Come, German Valdes, and Cornelius, |
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| And make me blest<16> with your sage conference. |
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| Valdes, sweet Valdes, and Cornelius, |
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| Know that your words have won me at the last |
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| To practice magic and concealed arts. |
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| Philosophy is odious and obscure; |
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| Both law and physic are for petty wits: |
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| 'Tis magic, magic that hath ravish'd me. |
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| Then, gentle friends, aid me in this attempt; |
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| And I, that have with subtle syllogisms |
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| Gravell'd the pastors of the German church, |
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| And made the flowering pride of Wittenberg |
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| Swarm<17> to my problems, as th' infernal spirits |
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| On sweet Musaeus when he came to hell, |
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| Will be as cunning as Agrippa was, |
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| Whose shadow made all Europe honour him. |
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| VALDES. Faustus, these books, thy wit, and our experience, |
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| Shall make all nations to<18> canonize us. |
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| As Indian Moors obey their Spanish lords, |
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| So shall the spirits of every element |
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| Be always serviceable to us three; |
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| Like lions shall they guard us when we please; |
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| Like Almain rutters with their horsemen's staves, |
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| Or Lapland giants, trotting by our sides; |
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| Sometimes like women, or unwedded maids, |
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| Shadowing more beauty in their airy brows |
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| Than have<19> the white breasts of the queen of love: |
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| >From Venice shall they<20> drag huge<21> argosies, |
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| And from America the golden fleece |
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| That yearly stuffs<22> old Philip's treasury; |
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| If learned Faustus will be resolute. |
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| CORNELIUS. The miracles that magic will perform |
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| Will make thee vow to study nothing else. |
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| He that is grounded in astrology, |
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| Enrich'd with tongues, well seen in minerals, |
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| Hath all the principles magic doth require: |
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| Then doubt not, Faustus, but to be renowm'd,<23> |
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| And more frequented for this mystery |
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| Than heretofore the Delphian oracle. |
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| The spirits tell me they can dry the sea, |
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| And fetch the treasure of all foreign wrecks, |
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| Yea, all the wealth that our forefathers hid |
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| Within the massy entrails of the earth: |
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| Then tell me, Faustus, what shall we three want? |
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Ha!
