Scene thirteen

Enter FAUSTUS, with SCHOLARS.

     FAUSTUS. Ah, gentlemen!

     FIRST SCHOLAR. What ails Faustus?

     FAUSTUS. Ah, my sweet chamber-fellow, had I lived with thee,
     then had I lived still! but now I die eternally.  Look, comes
     he not? comes he not?

     SECOND SCHOLAR. What means Faustus?

     THIRD SCHOLAR. Belike he is grown into some sickness by being
     over-solitary.

     FIRST SCHOLAR. If it be so, we'll have physicians to cure him.
     —'Tis but a surfeit; never fear, man.

     FAUSTUS. A surfeit of deadly sin, that hath damned both body
     and soul.

     SECOND SCHOLAR. Yet, Faustus, look up to heaven; remember God's
     mercies are infinite.

     FAUSTUS. But Faustus' offence can ne'er be pardoned:  the serpent
     that tempted Eve may be saved, but not Faustus.  Ah, gentlemen,
     hear me with patience, and tremble not at my speeches!  Though
     my heart pants and quivers to remember that I have been a student
     here these thirty years, O, would I had never seen Wertenberg,
     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, ah, hell, for ever!  Sweet friends,
     what shall become of Faustus, being in hell for ever?

     THIRD SCHOLAR. Yet, Faustus, call on God.

     FAUSTUS. On God, whom Faustus hath abjured! on God, whom Faustus
     hath blasphemed!  Ah, 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 them, they hold them!

     ALL. Who, Faustus?

     FAUSTUS. Lucifer and Mephistophilis.  Ah, gentlemen, I gave them
     my soul for my cunning!

     ALL. God forbid!

     FAUSTUS. God forbade it, indeed; but Faustus hath done it:  for
     vain pleasure of twenty-four years hath Faustus lost eternal joy
     and felicity.  I writ them a bill with mine own blood:  the date
     is expired; the time will come, 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 both
     body and soul, if I once gave ear to divinity:  and now 'tis too
     late.  Gentlemen, away, lest you perish with me.

     SECOND SCHOLAR. O, what shall 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 there pray for him.

     FAUSTUS. Ay, pray for me, pray for me; and what noise soever
     ye 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.—The clock strikes eleven.]

     FAUSTUS. Ah, 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 my God!—Who pulls me down?—
     See, see, where Christ's blood streams in the firmament!
     One drop would save my soul, half a drop:  ah, my Christ!—
     Ah, 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, where God
     Stretcheth out his arm, and bends his ireful brows!
     Mountains and hills, come, come, and fall on me,
     And hide me from the heavy wrath of God!
     No, no!
     Then will I headlong run into the earth:
     Earth, gape!  O, no, it will not harbour me!
     You stars that reign'd at my nativity,
     Whose influence hath allotted death and hell,
     Now draw up Faustus, like a foggy mist.
     Into the entrails of yon labouring cloud[s],
     That, when you vomit forth into the air,
     My limbs may issue from your smoky mouths,
     So that my soul may but ascend to heaven!
          [The clock strikes the half-hour.]
     Ah, half the hour is past! 'twill all be past anon
     O God,
     If thou wilt not have mercy on my soul,
     Yet for Christ's sake, whose blood hath ransom'd me,
     Impose some end to my incessant pain;
     Let Faustus live in hell a thousand years,
     A hundred thousand, and at last be sav'd!
     O, no end is limited to damned souls!
     Why wert thou not a creature wanting soul?
     Or why is this immortal that thou hast?
     Ah, Pythagoras' metempsychosis, were that true,
     This soul should fly from me, and I be chang'd
     Unto 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.]
     O, it strikes, it strikes!  Now, body, turn to air,
     Or Lucifer will bear thee quick to hell!
          [Thunder and lightning.]
     O soul, be chang'd into little water-drops,
     And fall into the ocean, ne'er be found!

          Enter DEVILS.

     My God, my god, 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!—Ah, Mephistophilis!
          [Exeunt DEVILS with FAUSTUS.]

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