DRAMATIS PERSONAE. 

     THE POPE. CARDINAL OF LORRAIN. THE EMPEROR OF GERMANY. DUKE OF VANHOLT. FAUSTUS. VALDES,    ] friends to FAUSTUS. CORNELIUS, ]      WAGNER, servant to FAUSTUS. Clown. ROBIN. RALPH. Vintner. Horse-courser. A Knight. An Old Man. Scholars, Friars, and Attendants. DUCHESS OF VANHOLT LUCIFER. BELZEBUB. MEPHISTOPHILIS. Good Angel. Evil Angel. The Seven Deadly Sins. Devils. Spirits in the shapes of ALEXANDER THE GREAT, of his Paramour and of HELEN.       Chorus. 

 

     THE TRAGICAL HISTORY OF DOCTOR FAUSTUS 

FROM THE QUARTO OF 1604. Enter CHORUS. CHORUS. Not marching now in fields of Thrasymene, Where Mars did mate1 the Carthaginians; Nor sporting in the dalliance of love, In courts of kings where state is overturn'd; Nor in the pomp of proud audacious deeds, Intends our Muse to vaunt2 her3 heavenly verse:      Only this, gentlemen,—we must perform The form of Faustus' fortunes, good or bad:      To patient judgments we appeal our plaud, And speak for Faustus in his infancy. Now is he born, his parents base of stock, In Germany, within a town call'd Rhodes:      Of riper years, to Wertenberg he went, Whereas4 his kinsmen chiefly brought him up. So soon he profits in divinity, The fruitful plot of scholarism grac'd, That shortly he was grac'd with doctor's name, Excelling all whose sweet delight disputes In heavenly matters of theology; Till swoln with cunning,5 of a self-conceit, His waxen wings did mount above his reach, And, melting, heavens conspir'd his overthrow; For, falling to a devilish exercise, And glutted now6 with learning's golden gifts, He surfeits upon cursed necromancy; Nothing so sweet as magic is to him, Which he prefers before his chiefest bliss:      And this the man that in his study sits.           [Exit.]            FAUSTUS discovered in his study.7 FAUSTUS. Settle thy studies, Faustus, and begin To sound the depth of that thou wilt profess:      Having commenc'd, be a divine in shew, Yet level at the end of every art, And live and die in Aristotle's works. Sweet Analytics, 'tis thou8 hast ravish'd me! Bene disserere est finis logices. Is, to dispute well, logic's chiefest end? Affords this art no greater miracle? Then read no more; thou hast attain'd that9 end:   

 Prev. P 2/56 next