ElizabethanDrama.org

presents

the Annotated Popular Edition of

DOCTOR FAUSTUS

by Christopher Marlowe

c. 1589-1592

Featuring complete and easy-to-read annotations.

Annotations and notes © Copyright ElizabethanDrama.org, 2018
This annotated play may be freely copied and distributed.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE.	INTRODUCTION to the PLAY
Faustus.	Doctor Faustus is Christopher Marlowe's crowning
Wagner, Servant to Faustus.	achievement, and remains today the most popular and
Valdes, Friend to Faustus.	well-known play of the Elizabethan era outside of the
Cornelius, Friend to Faustus.	Shakespearean canon. The tale is of a theologian who sold
	his soul to the devil in return for the ability to perform
The Pope.	sorcery and gain knowledge of the workings of the universe;
Cardinal Of Lorrain.	but God's mercy is infinite, and Faustus, who repeatedly
	regrets his decision, could have returned to the fold of God
The Emperor Of Germany.	at anytime, but was too blinded by his own pride to realize
Duke Of Vanholt.	it.
Duchess Of Vanholt.
	OUR PLAY'S SOURCE
Other Human Characters:
Clown.	The text of the play is adapted primarily from the 1876
Robin.	edition of Marlowe's plays edited by Alexander Dyce, but
Ralph.	in some cases I reinstated the language of the original 1604
Vintner.	folio which Dyce, generally a very careful editor, changed.
Horse-Courser.
A Knight.	NOTES ON THE ANNOTATIONS
An Old Man.
Scholars, Friars, and Attendants.	Mentions made in the annotations of Dyce, Gollancz,
	Schelling, Cunningham, Ward, Bullen, Waltrous and Boas
Spirits:	refer to the commentary of these scholars in their editions
Lucifer.	of our play. Mention of Sugden refers to the entries in his
Belzebub.	valuable Topographical Dictionary.
Mephistophilis.	The most commonly cited sources are listed in the
Good Angel.	footnotes immediately below. The complete list of footnotes
Evil Angel.	appears at the end of this play.
The Seven Deadly Sins.	Footnotes in the text correspond as follows:
Devils.	1. Oxford English Dictionary (OED) online.
Spirits in the shapes of Alexander the Great,	2. Crystal, David and Ben. Shakespeare's Words.
of his Paramour and of Helen.	London; New York: Penguin, 2002.
	3. Dyce, Alexander. The Works of Christopher Marlowe.
Chorus.	London: George Routledge and Sons, 1876.
	4. Gollancz, Israel, ed. The Tragical History of Doctor
	Faustus. London: J.M. Dent and Co., 1897.
	5. Schelling, Felix E. ed. Christopher Marlowe. New
	York: American Book Company, 1912.
	6. Cunningham, Lt. Col. Francis. The Works of Chris-
	topher Marlowe. London: Chatto and Windus, 1879.
	7. Ward, Adolphus William, ed. Old English Dramas,
	Select Plays. Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1892.
	8. Bullen, A.H. The Works of Christopher Marlowe,
	Vol. I. London: John C. Nimmo, 1885.
	9. Waltrous, George Ansel. Elizabethan Dramatists.
	New York: Thomas Y. Crowell and Co., 1903.
	10. Sugden, Edward. A Topographical Dictionary to
	the Works of Shakespeare and His Fellow Dramatists.
	Manchester: The University Press, 1925.
	12. Boas, Frederick S. The Tragical History of Doctor
	Faustus. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1949.

The Two Versions of Faustus: 'A' and 'B' Texts.

The earliest surviving copy of Doctor Faustus was printed in 1604 (the 'A' text); a distinctly longer edition was published 1616 (the 'B' text). Other editions which appeared in these years are basically reissues of these versions.

The question of which of the two texts is the more "authentic" one, which is to say more closely aligned with what Marlowe himself wrote, has been debated for two centuries. While earlier editors leaned towards the belief that the first edition, the 'A' text, was the more authentic one, and the later one contained additions by other writers to the first, recent scholarship demonstrates that the opposite view might be the correct one, that the 'B' text is more authentic, and the 'A' edition represents an abbreviation of a longer original script, which comes down to us as the one published in 1616.

A very nice summary of the arguments and scholarship can be found in the Introduction of The Revels Plays edition of Doctor Faustus, edited by John D. Jump (Manchester University Press, 1982).

All recent editors further agree that much of Doctor Faustus as it appears in both editions was written by authors other than Marlowe; this is most certainly true of the bawdier lines and comic scenes, as Marlowe certainly showed no inclination to write this kind of material in any of his other dramas.

Marlowe's Source for Doctor Faustus.

In 1587, the story of Doctor John Faustus was published in Frankfurt-on-Main, in German of course. Sometime soon after - a 1592 edition is the earliest one extant - an anonymous English translation, containing numerous modifications and additions, was published in England, under the title The Historie of the damnable life of Doctor John Faustus (which we will refer to as the History). It is clear from the numerous similarities in plot, episodes and even language between the History and our play that the History was Marlowe's primary source.

Readers wishing to read the History can find it online in a 19th century book titled Mediaeval Tales, which can be accessed at the following web address:

https://archive.org/details/mediaevaltales00morlrich

Was There a Real Faust?

There is sufficient evidence to state unequivocally that there existed in the early 16th century a real John Faust, or Faustus. Unlike the skilled sorcerer of the legend and play, however, the real Faust seems to have been a notorious fraud, as contemporary references to him are almost universally critical; the author and reputed magician Trithemius, for example, called him "a vain babble, vagabond and mountebank"; other 16th century notables such as the jurist Konrad Mudt and Philipp Begardi called him simply a "charlatan" (the former), and "wicked, cheating, useless and unlearned" (the latter).

A Protestant pastor named Johann Gast (d.1572) was the first known writer to credit Faust with the authentic skills of a sorcerer, and he declared that Faust was in league with the devil. But later, Johann Weiher - a student of one of the play's characters, the physician Cornelius Agrippa - wrote that Faust practiced "this beautiful art shamelessly up and down Germany with unspeakable deceit, many lies and great effect."

Anecdotes about Faust are consistently unflattering. Once, for example, a petty Faustus gave a priest a depilatory which "removed not only the beard but the skin", in revenge for the unfortunate prelate's unwillingness to furnish Faustus with alcohol.

These were the seeds from which grew the legend of a man who sold his soul to the devil in return for gaining that knowledge and those magical skills that were otherwise forbidden to be learned and practiced by Christian men.

The information for this note was abstracted from an article on Faustus appearing in the Encyclopedia Britannica of 1911.

	PROLOGUE.
	Enter Chorus.	The Chorus: usually a single character who recites the prologue and epilogue; Shakespeare employed such a speaker in several of his plays, including Henry V and Romeo and Juliet. Marlowe's Chorus further functions as an ancient Greek chorus, appearing during the play to comment on the action.
1	Chorus. Not marching now in fields of Thrasimene,	1-2: Lake Trasimene is located in Umbria in Italy, about 80
2	Where Mars did mate the Carthaginians,	miles north-north-west of Rome. Here the Carthaginians under Hannibal destroyed a Roman army in an ambush in 217 B.C., killing perhaps as many as 15,000 Romans.^15 Mars is the Roman god of war, but the meaning of mate in line 2 has elicited a confusion of interpretations: assuming Mars is a symbol for Rome, editors have suggested "match", as in "checkmate", or "defeat", but the problem is the Romans were not victors, but were rather the vanquished, in the battle at this site; Schelling, Ward and others take the position that Marlowe simply blew it, mistakenly assigning victory over Hannibal to the Romans. The interpretation of the OED and Cunningham is more intriguing and seems more likely, however: they suggest that mate means "marry", ie. ally with, so that Mars, acting as an independent agent, can be said to have "espoused the cause" of the Carthaginians, abandoning the Romans in this battle. The Chorus begins the speech by describing the things it will not speak about (lines 1-6).
	Nor sporting in the dalliance of love,	3: "not entertaining ourselves in amorous discourse or flirtation (dalliance)".
4	In courts of kings where state is overturned;	= read as "nor in". = ie. power (ie. great men) or govern- ment is overthrown.^1,7
	Nor in the pomp of proud audacious deeds,	= greatness.
6	Intends our Muse to vaunt his heavenly verse:	6: line 6 is actually the opening sentence's independent clause: "(does) our poet (Muse)^1 intend to display (vaunt)^2 his sublime (heavenly)^1 verse." Cunningham and Sugden assume the play's opening lines refer to the plots of other lost and unidentified plays. Boas cites an earlier source for the suggestion that lines 3-5 refer to Marlowe's own Tamburlaine plays.
	Only this, gentlemen, − we must perform	= the Chorus ignores the women in the audience. = present.
8	The form of Faustus' fortunes, good or bad:	8: substance or representation; note the strong wordplay of perform and form, and even fortune; as well as the alliteration of these words along with Faustus.
	To patient judgments we appeal our plaud,	9: To = read as "to your", meaning the audience members. appeal our plaud = appeal for applause; Elizabethan plays frequently begged explicitly to the audience for approval.
10	And speak for Faustus in his infancy.	= ie. describe.
	Now is he born, his parents base of stock,	= of low lineage.
12	In Germany, within a town called Rhodes:	12: Germany at the time was, as it had been throughout the early modern period, a collection of numerous small sovereign polities. Rhodes, or Roda (modern Stadtroda), in the modern German state of Thuringia, was in the 16th century a part of the Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg. It is the traditional birthplace of Faust.^10
	Of riper years, to Wertenberg he went,	= "when a little older". = actually Wittenberg, a city on the Elbe River in Saxony, about 55 miles south-west of Berlin. The town was famous throughout Europe for its university.^10
14	Whereas his kinsmen chiefly brought him up.	14: "where (whereas) he was raised by a relative." The History explains that Faust's father was too poor to support him, so he was sent to be raised by his rich but childless uncle, a resident of Wittenberg.
	So soon he profits in divinity,	15: at Wittenberg, he successfully studied divinity, or theology; profits = makes progress in.^4
16	The fruitful plot of scholarism graced,	16: Faustus' studies adorned (graced)^4 the fertile piece of land or garden (fruitful plot) which represent scholarship or learning.
	That shortly he was graced with doctor's name,	17: "so that he soon received his doctorate degree." graced = actually a technical term, referring to Cambridge University's official sanction for a student to receive his degree; Boas notes Marlowe's own name appears in the school's Grace Book in 1584 and 1587 for his Bachelor's and Master's degrees respectively. Note also the wordplay of graced and graced in lines 16 and 17.
18	Excelling all whose sweet delight disputes	18-19: Faustus was preeminent in his ability to discuss and debate theology.
	In heavenly matters of theology;
20	Till swoln with cunning of a self-conceit	20: Faustus soon began to think unduly highly of his own self-worth. cunning = generally meaning "knowledge" or "learning" throughout the play.^3 of a = out of.^4
	His waxen wings did mount above his reach,	21-22: generally, Faustus' hubris drove Providence to seek
22	And, melting, heavens conspired his overthrow;	his downfall. The specific reference is to the myth of Daedalus, the famous Athenian craftsman, and his son Icarus, who were held in prison by King Minos of Crete. Daedalus fashioned wings for himself and his son out of feathers held together with wax, and the pair used the wings to fly away and escape Crete. Icarus, unfortunately, did not heed his father's advice not to fly too high, and the sun melted the young man's wings, causing him to plunge to his death in the sea. waxen (line 21) = covered with wax. above his reach (line 21) = (1) "beyond his abilities", referring to Icarus, and (2) "beyond what was best for him", referring to Faustus, as a metaphor for his pride. overthrow (line 22) = ruin.
	For, falling to a devilish exercise,	23: "for, engaging in the arts of the devil, etc." Note how falling punningly alludes to the literal falling of Icarus in the previous two lines.
24	And glutted now with learning's golden gifts,	24-25: having filled his mind with beneficial knowledge, Faustus now pursues, to his own ultimate detriment, the study of witchcraft; the metaphoric image is of a diner stuffing himself pleasantly with good fare, but, unable to resist overeating, sickens himself with unseemly and excessive consumption.
	He surfeits upon cursèd necromancy;	= the art of raising spirits, especially of the dead; Marlowe actually wrote negromancy, an alternative spelling used in those days, which was subsequently translated to mean "black arts".^7
26	Nothing so sweet as magic is to him,	= "there is nothing as".
	Which he prefers before his chiefest bliss:	= the phrase chiefest bliss was frequently used to mean "greatest happiness"; but here the sense is "attaining Heaven" or "his salvation". As Samuel Johnson's dictionary put it, bliss is the joy of "blessed souls", which is contrasted with any felicity Faustus' blasphe- mous activities night bring him.
28	And this the man that in his study sits.	= ie. "here is the man", meaning Faustus.
30	[Exit.]

	SCENE I.
	Faustus’ Study.
	Faustus discovered.	= revealed; a curtain is likely pulled back, perhaps by the Chorus,^3 to uncover the scene. Faustus sits with a pile of books in front of him, some of which he will pick up and peruse briefly before setting down again.^7
1	Faust. Settle thy studies, Faustus, and begin	= "decide which field of studies you want to follow";^7 Faustus addresses himself.
2	To sound the depth of that thou wilt profess:	2: "to explore to its fullest level that field of study you profess to undertake or be an expert in;" though Gollancz suggests that thou wilt profess means "that which you will teach (ie. be a professor of)." Faustus is speaking of divinity, or theology. sound the depth = measure the depth of a body of water, a metaphor.
	Having commenced, be a divine in show,	3: "having graduated with a doctorate, publically act as if you are a practicing theologian".
4	Yet level at the end of every art,	4: perhaps "yet (privately) work to accomplish the goal (end) of other fields of study"; Faustus will consider the value of immersing himself in other subjects. level = aim, like a weapon.
	And live and die in Aristotle's works.	= Aristotle (384-322 B.C.), the great Greek philosopher, was much concerned with how things worked, and knowledge in general, and his studies encompassed everything that could be considered science in his time, including biology, geology, mathematics and physics; Faustus' interest in Aristotle thus makes perfect sense. Earlier editors have noted the domination of Aristotle from the 13th through the 16th centuries in the academic study of logic.
6	Sweet Analytics, 'tis thou hast ravished me!	6: Analytics = Aristotle's word for logic. His Prior Analytics dealt with formal deductive reasoning and syllogism.^7 ravished me = ie. "filled me with ecstacy."^1
	Bene disserere est finis logices.	7: Latin: "to argue well is the goal of logic."^4 Though Faustus attributes the line to Aristotle, the sentiment was likely derived from another source, perhaps from the works of the 16th century French logician Petrus Ramus.^7 Unless otherwise indicated, all Latin translations are from Gollancz.
8	Is to dispute well logic's chiefest end?	= goal, point.
	Affords this art no greater miracle?	9: basically, "is that all there is to the study of logic?"
10	Then read no more; thou hast attained that end:	10: as Faustus has achieved the goal of becoming an expert in disputation, he can quit his studies in that area.
	A greater subject fitteth Faustus' wit:	= cleverness, intelligence.
12	Bid Oncaymaeon farewell, and Galen come,	12: Oncoymaeon = seeming allusion to a work disputably attributed to Aristotle, Oeconomica, usually translated in English as Economics; Faustus is simply bidding farewell to his studies of philosophy, and rededicates himself to the study of medicine, a field in which he has already proven himself to be highly talented. An intriguing alternate interpretation comes from Bullen, who suggests Oncaymaeon is a corruption, ie. an error, for on cai me on, which is Greek for "being and not being"; the phrase would still function as a stand-in for philosophy. and Galen come = "and bring on Galen"; Galen was the famous 2nd century A.D. Roman physician, whose writings on medicine were still considered definitive well into the Middle Ages.^7
	Seeing, Ubi desinit philosophus, ibi incipit medicus:	13: Latin: "where the philosopher leaves off, there the physician begins." The line is from Aristotle.
14	Be a physician, Faustus, heap up gold,
	And be etérnized for some wondrous cure:	= immortalized.
16	Summum bonum medicinae sanitas,	16: "the supreme good of medicine is health"; from Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics.
	The end of physic is our body's health.	= aim.
18	Why, Faustus, hast thou not attained that end?	18-26: Faustus bemoans the fact that his great success in curing many illnesses has not brought complete satisfaction to his restless soul.
	Is not thy common talk sound aphorisms?	19: "have not your words become trustworthily medical maxims?"^7
20	Are not thy bills hung up as monuments,	20: "are not your advertisements or posters (bills) still hanging as memorials (of cures he has effected)". Ward notes that travelling physicians commonly used advertising posters to solicit business. Bullen prefers "prescriptions by which cures were effected" for bills.
	Whereby whole cities have escaped the plague,
22	And thousand desperate maladies been eased?
	Yet art thou still but Faustus, and a man.	23: "yet (despite your successes) you are still only Faustus, a mere mortal."
24	Couldst thou make men to live eternally,	= "if only you could".
	Or, being dead, raise them to life again,
26	Then this profession were to be esteemed.
	Physic, farewell! Where is Justinian?	27: realizing that the study of medicine (physic) is not as
28		fulfilling as he would like it to be, Faustus abandons that road, and reconsiders investigating law. Justinian = great Byzantine emperor (born c.482 A.D., ruled 527-565), who among other accomplishments famously reorganized and codified the empire's entire legal corpus. Faustus takes up and reads from one of the Byzantine law books.
	[Reads]
30	Si una eademque res legatur duobus, alter rem,	30-31: "If any one thing is left by will to two persons, one
	alter valorem rei, etc.	shall (take) the thing, and the other (shall take) the value of the thing." Ward notes this is not exactly what Justinian's code says on the subject; rather, it directs the parties to divide the bequest.
32
	A pretty case of paltry legacies!	33: "a nice pair (case) of worthless bequests (legacies)!"
34
	[Reads]
36	Exhaereditare filium non potest pater, nisi, etc.	36: "a father cannot disinherit his son, except, etc." Another misquote of the Byzantine Code.^7
38	Such is the subject of the institute,	= Faustus has been reading from the Institutiones Justiniani, or the Institutes, a treatise which was employed by students as an introduction to Roman law.^15
	And universal body of the law:
40	His study fits a mercenary drudge,	40: ie. "one who wastes time investigating the mind- numbing intricacies of the law is no better than a paid slave". his = its.
	Who aims at nothing but external trash;	41: trash was used as a contemptuous word for money and the superficial trappings money can buy; the sense of line 41 is then "whose goal is no higher than to make a bit of money to make themselves appear prosperous."
42	Too servile and illiberal for me.	42: servile = work fitting only for a slave. illiberal = unrefined or not fit for gentlemen.
	When all is done, divinity is best:	43-44: Faustus accepts that the his initially-chosen field is the most intellectually satisfying after all.
44	Jerome's Bible, Faustus; view it well.	= St. Jerome (c.340-420 A.D.), who had studied Hebrew, was ordered by the pope to translate the Bible into Latin; this version, known as the Vulgate, became the church's authorized text, a copy of which Faustus picks up.
46	[Reads]
	Stipendium peccati mors est.	47: this is the exact Vulgate wording of the first part of
48		Romans 6:23: "the wages of sin is death."
	Ha!
50	Stipendium, etc.
52	The reward of sin is death: that's hard.	= ie. "this is an unforgiving precept!"
54	[Reads]
	Si peccasse negamus, fallimur, et nulla est in nobis veritas;	55: a not-exact rendering of 1 John 1:8 in the Vulgate, which actually states, Si dixerimus quoniam peccatum non habemus, ipsi nos seducimus, et veritas in nobis non est: "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." More importantly, Faustus ignores the follow-up ideas expressed in both this verse and the one following Romans 6:23, in which the Bible explicitly states that despite the existence of sin, God still can grant eternal life.
56
	If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves,	57-62: Faustus is unhappy to accept a theology in which eternal death is inevitable, since to sin is unavoidable.
58	and there's no truth in us. Why, then, belike we must	= it seems.
	sin, and so consequently die:
60	Ay, we must die an everlasting death.
	What doctrine call you this, Che sera, sera,	= this still-popular Italian phrase, suggesting complacent acceptance regarding events or outcomes over which one has no control, is introduced here to English literature by Marlowe. Che sera sera had also been adopted as the motto of the Russell family in the 16th century.
62	What will be, shall be? Divinity, adieu!
	These metaphysics of magiciäns,	63: the doctor decides that the study of the black arts, which consist in part of raising the dead, is the best course to pursue after all. metaphysics = the study of supernatural things, such as God, angels and other spirits.^13 magicians = those who engage in sorcery or conjuring.^1
64	And necromantic books are heavenly;	= books relating to the raising of spirits; Faustus' use of the adjective heavenly is deliciously subversive.
	Lines, circles, scenes, letters, and characters;	65: Faustus lists some of the tools of necromantic rituals: Lines = drawn lines were a tool in the art of geomancy, or divination.^1 circles = a necromancer normally stood within a drawn circle in order to summon spirits; the circle would protect the magician from those spirits which are evil.^7 scenes = Gollancz suggests the meaning "diagrams". The original word in the 1604 edition, sceanes, has been changed to scenes by most editors, but some omit it altogether. letters = "the magical combination of letters taken from the several forms of the divine name" (Ward, p. 135). characters = magical symbols or signs "appropriated to good spirits of various kinds", which were used to protect one against "evil influence" (Ward, p. 135).
66	Ay, these are those that Faustus most desires.
	O, what a world of profit and delight,
68	Of power, of honour, of omnipotence,
	Is promised to the studious artizan!	= skilled artist.^2
70	All things that move between the quiet poles	= ie. the north and south poles are peaceful in comparison to all the turbulence that goes on between them.
	Shall be at my command: emperors and kings
72	Are but obeyèd in their several provinces,	= only. = individual.
	Nor can they raise the wind, or rend the clouds;
74	But his dominion that exceeds in this,	74: ie. "but he whose power or influence (dominion) transcends those of emperors and kings, etc."; dominion also refers to the lands ruled by sovereigns.
	Stretcheth as far as doth the mind of man;
76	A sound magician is a mighty god:	= skilled.^1
	Here, Faustus, tire thy brains to gain a deity!	= ie. tire out. = become deified, ie. "attain the god-like powers of a sorcerer."^4
78
	Enter Wagner.	Entering character: Wagner is Faustus' student assistant.
80
	Wagner, commend me to my dearest friends,
82	The German Valdes and Cornelius;	82: the two named characters are magicians and followers
	Request them earnestly to visit me.	of the dark arts; why Valdes is redundantly referred
84		to as German, when all the characters are German, is unknown.
	Wag. I will, sir.
86
	[Exit.]
88
	Faust. Their conference will be a greater help to me	89-90: "a discussion (conference) with them will help me
90	Than all my labours, plod I ne'er so fast.	move much more speedily with this project than my working on it alone, no matter how quickly I toil (plod).
92	Enter Good Angel and Evil Angel.	92: the image of competing supernatural advisors, representing "conscience" and "temptation" respectively, has remained popular to the modern day; it is a convenient and entertaining short-hand manner in which to illustrate the internal debate that occurs when one is trying to decide on a course of action - one moral, one not so much. The angels appear whenever Faustus is at a spiritual crossroads, wavering between whether to follow or reject God.
94	Good Ang. O, Faustus, lay that damnèd book aside,	= ie. Faustus' book of magic.
	And gaze not on it, lest it tempt thy soul,
96	And heap God's heavy wrath upon thy head!
	Read, read the Scriptures: − that is blasphemy.	= "this here", ie. the book of magic.
98
	Evil Ang. Go forward, Faustus, in that famous art
100	Wherein all Nature's treasure is contained:
	Be thou on earth as Jove is in the sky,	= the name of Jove (king of the Roman gods) was sometimes used, as here, to refer to the Christian God.^3
102	Lord and commander of these elements.	= ie. on earth; Marlovian characters frequently refer to the
		four elements that were believed to comprise the entire material world - air, earth, fire and water;
104	[Exeunt Angels.]
106	Faust. How am I glutted with conceit of this!	106: "how I am satiated (glutted) with desires at the thought of this!" Faustus is leaning strongly to following the advice of the Evil Angel.
	Shall I make spirits fetch me what I please,
108	Resolve me of all ambiguities,	108: "help me to decide what to do when I am in doubt", or "answer all questions that I pose".^1
	Perform what desperate enterprise I will?	= command.
110	I'll have them fly to India for gold,	110: the wealth of India's gold mines were proverbial, and frequently referred to by Marlowe in particular. Note that them in lines 110, 114, 116 and 118, and they in line 120, all refer to the spirits of line 107.
	Ransack the oceän for orient pearl,	= lustrous pearls.
112	And search all corners of the new-found world	= reference to the western hemisphere, which had still only been "discovered" for Europeans within the last century.
	For pleasant fruits and princely delicates;	= delicacies.
114	I'll have them read me strange philosophy,	= "teach me" or "lecture me on".
	And tell the secrets of all foreign kings;	= read as "tell me"; Boas observes the connection between this line and Marlowe's own work as a spy for Queen Elizabeth's secret service; is it possibly an inside joke from our normally staid playwright?
116	I'll have them wall all Germany with brass,	116: Faustus imagines the construction of a strong protective wall built around the entire German nation, as opposed to only individual cities, as was historically done.
	And make swift Rhine circle fair Wittenberg;	117: Germany's mighty Rhine River flows 200 miles away from Wittenberg. circle = encircle.
118	I'll have them fill the public schools with silk,	= ie. the class-rooms at Wittenberg's university.^4,5
	Wherewith the students shall be bravely clad;	= with which. = finely dressed; universities of the time usually proscribed dressing up for students.^12
120	I'll levy soldiers with the coin they bring,	120: "I'll raise an army with the riches my spirits will bring me".
	And chase the Prince of Parma from our land,	121: the Prince of Parma was the greatest general of the late 16th century, Alexander Farnese (born 1545, Duke of Parma 1586-1592). Farnese, who had been raised in Spain, served as head of the Spanish forces fighting to maintain control of the Netherlands for Spain's King Philip II from 1578 on. Having conquered all of the southern Dutch lands by 1586, his advance north was halted by Philip after he appealed to the king for permission to try to take Holland and Zeeland, both of which were assailable only by water, and protected in part by the English.^15 In referring to the Netherlands as our land, Faustus means "our Empire", referring to the Holy Roman Empire, part of which the Netherlands remained until the Peace of Westphalia (1648), when it finally received its independence.^4
122	And reign sole king of all our provinces;	= ie. the whole of the Netherlands, which included modern Holland, Luxembourg and Belgium, and which was known as the Seventeen Provinces.^10
	Yea, stranger engines for the brunt of war,	123-5: an inverted sentence: Faustus will cause his spirits to invent new machines of war (engines), which shall be even more terrible than those fire-ships used in the siege of Antwerp (see the next note at line 124 below). brunt = heat, shock or violence of war;^7 but the OED cites this line for its definition of brunt as "attack".
124	Than was the fiery keel at Antwerp's bridge,	124: during the Spanish siege of Antwerp through 1584-5, Alexander Farnese built a bridge of boats on the Scheldt River to cut the port-city off from supply by sea; the besieged citizens famously sent against this bridge a ship filled with heavy stones and explosive material (called a "fire-ship"), which, having blown-up when it smashed into the bridge, temporarily destroyed it, but the bridge was quickly rebuilt, and the starving Antwerpians finally surrendered on 17 August 1585.^10,15
	I'll make my servile spirits to invent.	= ie. servant spirits, those working for Faustus.
126
	Enter Valdes and Cornelius.	Entering Characters: as stated above, Valdes and
128		Cornelius are sorcerers. While Valdes' real-life counterpart is unknown, Cornelius is tentatively agreed by most editors to be the German-born Henry Cornelius Agrippa Von Nettesheim (1486-1535), famous European polymath and polyglot. Knowledgeable in eight languages, Agrippa served as a soldier and worked as a physician, theologian, historiographer and lecturer for various courts and universities throughout Europe. His heretical opinions brought him into repeated trouble with the church. He may be most well remembered today for his published works, which included De occulta philosophia (written 1510, publication delayed by antagonistic forces until 1531), a defense of the use of magic as a way to achieve a greater understanding of God and nature.^15
	Come, German Valdes, and Cornelius,
130	And make me blest with your sage conference.	= wise conversation.
	Valdes, sweet Valdes, and Cornelius,
132	Know that your words have won me at the last	132-3: it appears that Faustus' guests have for some time been trying to convince the doctor to try his hand at sorcery.
	To practice magic and concealèd arts:
134	Yet not your words only, but mine own fantasy,	= imagination.
	That will receive no object; for my head	= "will entertain no objections", though this interpretation is not universally accepted.
136	But ruminates on necromantic skill.
	Philosophy is odious and obscure;	= repugnant. = the sense is "too ambiguous or vague for me".^1
138	Both law and physic are for petty wits;	= medicine. = small minds.
	Divinity is basest of the three,	139: "Divinity is lower or worse than the other three".
140	Unpleasant, harsh, contemptible, and vild:	= vile.
	'Tis magic, magic, that hath ravished me.
142	Then, gentle friends, aid me in this attempt,
	And I, that have with concise syllogisms	142: that = who. concise = precise, ie. in few words. syllogisms = syllogism is a term of logic, referring to a conclusion drawn necessarily from two premises containing a common middle term: for example: (1) all men are animals; (2) all animals are alive; (3) therefore, all men are alive.
144	Gravelled the pastors of the German church,	= stumped.^2 = by the middle of the 16th century, most of the northern German states had embraced Lutherism.^10
	And made the flowering pride of Wertenberg	= referring either to the best citizens of Wittenberg or the students of the university;^7 flowering could mean "distinguished"^1 or "blossoming".^24
146	Swarm to my problems, as the infernal spirits	146: problems = a term of art referring to questions proposed for debate.^1 as the infernal spirits = "just as did the spirits of the departed now residing in Hades (did swarm on Musaeus, etc.)".
	On sweet Musaeus when he came to hell,	147: Musaeus was a famous singer of Ancient Greece; the reference here is to Book Six of the Aeneid, in which Aeneas, having descended into Hades to seek the soul of his father Anchises, approached a crowd of spirits and addressed the musician, who is described as "(holding) the center of that huge throng" (Fagle, p. 204).^16
148	Will be as cunning as Agrippa was,	148: the grammatical subject of this verb predicate is I, way back in line 143: And I...(lots of dependent clauses)...Will be as cunning..." cunning = knowledgeable or skillful. Agrippa = if we accept the proposition that Faustus' guest is the famous magician Cornelius Agrippa, then the reference to him in the past-tense in this line is certainly puzzling; it is possible that Faustus is referring to his guest in the third person; but some editors have suggested the alternative is more likely, that Faustus' guest Cornelius is not the famous Agrippa, but someone as fictitious as Valdes is. In the end, it does not matter greatly, as both Valdes and Cornelius disappear from the play after this scene.
	Whose shadows made all Europe honour him.	= ie. the spirits raised by Agrippa, who gave instructions for "divination by means of the shades of the dead" (Waltrous, p. 14). As a historical matter, Faustus' description of Agrippa's influence in Europe is greatly exaggerated.
150
	Val. Faustus, these books, thy wit, and our experience,	= innate intelligence.
152	Shall make all nations to canónize us.	= glorify, treat as saints.^1
	As Indian Moors obey their Spanish lords,	153: though the term Moors was normally applied to those North Africans who invaded and conquered Spain in the 8th century, the reference here is to the Indians of North America, who were generally known to have been subjugated by the Spanish; the word Moor was sometimes used, as here, by dramatists to refer to darker races in general.
154	So shall the subjects of every element	= the bodily forms assumed by spirits.^7
	Be always serviceable to us three;	= ie. "be always ready to serve"; a skilled necromancer has complete control over the activities of his or her spirits.
156	Like lions shall they guard us when we please;	156-164: Valdes imagines the many ways the three of them can profit from their necromancy, and includes in his musings some of the forms their spirits can be commanded to take. Like lions = "in the shapes of lions"; spirits were known to appear at times in the guise of wild animals.^7
	Like Almain rutters with their horsemen's staves,	157: Almain rutters = German cavalry; Marlowe had used this exact phrase in Tamburlaine, Part II. staves = plural for "staff", meaning "lances" or "long pikes".^4
158	Or Lapland giants, trotting by our sides;	158: Or Lapland giants = ie. "or they shall appear to us taking the forms of the giants of Lapland"; Sugden notes the curious belief that there were giants in Lapland, when in fact the natives of that land were known for their diminutive size, averaging about 5 feet in height (in Tamburlaine, Part I, Marlowe had written of the giants in Grantland, ie. Greenland). The mention of Lapland is particularly apropos here, as the Lapps possessed a reputation for skill in magic, particularly their ability to raise winds.^10 trotting by our sides = Faustus imagines his spirits acting as footmen, those servants who ran alongside the moving carriages of the great and wealthy.
	Sometimes like women, or unwedded maids,	159-161: Faustus might require his spirits to appear to him
160	Shadowing more beauty in their airy brows	as women so beautiful that they harbour (shadow)^12 more
	Than have the white breasts of the queen of love:	beauty in their lofty or celestial foreheads (airy brows) than the goddess of love, Venus, has in her breasts; though Ward suggests shadowing in line 160 might mean "imaging forth".
162	From Venice shall they drag huge argosies,	= the heavy trading ships of Venice.
	And from America the golden fleece	163-4: allusion to the great wealth the Spanish and their king Philip II were amassing from the new world, and specifically to the annual convoy of ships (called the "plate-fleet")^1 that transported silver from the Americas to Spain. Possession of the golden fleece was of course the goal of Jason and his Argonauts in their trip to Colchis, on the eastern shore of the Black Sea.
164	That yearly stuffs old Philip's treasury;	= old does not refer to the king's age, but instead simply signifies England's familiarity with the sovereign, as in "good old Philip".^7
	If learnèd Faustus will be resolute.	= determined, steadfast (in his pursuit or efforts).
166
	Faust. Valdes, as resolute am I in this
168	As thou to live: therefore object it not.	= ie. "you are". = ie. "do not suggest that I may not be
		resolute."^7
170	Corn. The miracles that magic will perform
	Will make thee vow to study nothing else.	= "persuade you to swear".
172	He that is grounded in astrology,
	Enriched with tongues, well seen in minerals,	173: Enriched with tongues = specifically Latin, the language spoken by spirits.^12 seen = versed, ie. educated.^1,7 minerals = mineralogy.^1
174	Hath all the principles magic doth require:	= rudiments, fundamental precepts.^4,7
	Then doubt not, Faustus, but to be renowned,
176	And more frequented for this mystery	176: frequented = consulted; frequented is stressed on its second syllable: fre-QUEN-ted. mystery = ie. secret skill (in the black arts).^1
	Than heretofore the Delphian oracle.	177: "than the Delphic oracle was ever consulted;" this most famous oracle of ancient Greece was located in the town of Delphi; for a fee, one could ask a question of the priestess, who would transmit an answer from Apollo.
178	The spirits tell me they can dry the sea,
	And fetch the treasure of all foreign wrecks,
180	Ay, all the wealth that our forefathers hid
	Within the massy entrails of the earth:	= heavy with precious metals.^4
182	Then tell me, Faustus, what shall we three want?	= lack.
184	Faust. Nothing, Cornelius. O, this cheers my soul!
	Come, shew me some demonstrations magical,	= show.
186	That I may conjure in some lusty grove,	= pleasant.
	And have these joys in full possessiön.
188
	Val. Then haste thee to some solitary grove,
190	And bear wise Bacon's and Albanus' works,	190: Bacon's works = the works of Roger Bacon (1214?-1294), English philosopher. A great student of science and knowledge, Bacon became legendary for his studies of alchemy as well as perhaps the black arts, and wrote prodigiously about his work. Bacon was frequently portrayed in English literature as a necromancer and possessor of a talking brass head, such as in Robert Greene's 1590 play, Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay.^17 Albanus' works = the works of Pietro D'Abano (1250-1316), Italian physician and philosopher. D'Abano dabbled in astrology, and developed a reputation for skill in magic. Said to be in possession of the philosopher's stone, D'Abano was charged and acquitted of practicing witchcraft by the Inquisition. A second trial ended when D'Abano died of natural causes before it was completed.^15 Later editions of the play have substituted Albertus for Albanus; the reference would be to Saint Albertus Magnus, ie. Albert the Great (c.1206-1280), also a contemporary of Bacon's. Albert was, like Bacon, an indefatigable student of nature. Though he had joined the Dominican order as a teenager, Albert too was ascribed the power of sorcery,^18 and legends have passed down that he was the possessor of the philosopher's stone, and had invented the first "android", or robot.^19 Cunningham notes the burdensomeness of Valdes' assignment: Bacon's works were said to number 121, and Albertus filled 21 "thick folios" with his efforts.
	The Hebrew Psalter, and New Testament;	191: Ward notes that the use of the Book of Psalms (Hebrew Psalter) and the first verses of the Gospel of St. John were mentioned frequently in books of witchcraft.^7 Indeed, Cornelius Agrippa himself, in his occult philosophy of geomancy (published in English in 1655) writes that after reading "any Prayers, Psalms or Gospels...let him invocate the Spirit which he desireth, etc." Hebrew Psalter refers specifically to St. Jerome's translation of the Book of Psalms as it appears in the Vulgate.
192	And whatsoever else is requisite
	We will inform thee ere our conference cease.	= before.
194
	Corn. Valdes, first let him know the words of art;	= verbal formulas for conjuring.
196	And then, all other ceremonies learned,
	Faustus may try his cunning by himself.	= "test his skill".
198
	Val. First I'll instruct thee in the rudiments,	= basic principles.
200	And then wilt thou be perfecter than I.	= more perfect, a word used regularly until the mid-17th century.
202	Faust. Then come and dine with me, and, after meat,	= food, ie. eating.
	We'll canvass every quiddity thereof;	203: "we'll thoroughly explore the characteristics of magic;" quiddity is a term from philosophy, meaning "essence" or "quality".^20
204	For, ere I sleep, I'll try what I can do:	= ie. "test out my skills."
	This night I'll conjure, though I die therefore.	= "for it."^4
206
	[Exeunt.]
	SCENE II.
	Before Faustus’ House.
	Enter two Scholars.
1	1st Schol. I wonder what's become of Faustus, that	= who.
2	was wont to make our schools ring with sic probo.	= accustomed. = "thus I prove", the sense being "the
		sounds of his logic."
4	2nd Schol. That shall we know, for see, here comes
	his boy.	= servant.
6
	Enter Wagner.
8
	1st Schol. How now, sirrah! where's thy master?	= common form of address for a servant.
10
	Wag. God in Heaven knows.
12
	2nd Schol. Why, dost not thou know?
14
	Wag. Yes, I know; but that follows not.	15: "yes, I know where he is; just because I said 'God knows where he is' doesn't necessarily mean that I don't know." As a servant to Europe's foremost logician, Wagner assumes to practice the sophistry - the use of deliberately hyper-technical, and sometimes deceptive, reasoning - which he has learned from his master. follows = can be inferred, a term from logic.
16
	1st Schol. Go to, sirrah! leave your jesting, and tell	= common phrase meaning "get out of here!"
18	us where he is.
20	Wag. That follows not necessary by force of	20-22: That follows…upon = "your response is not one
	argument, that you, being licentiates, should stand	that logically follows, and so you, who are on your way
22	upon: therefore acknowledge your error, and be	to getting your doctorates, should not insist on or rest on
	attentive.	(stand upon) it".
24		licentiates (line 21) = those possessing a degree between a Bachelor's on the one hand and the higher degrees of Doctorate or Master's on the other.^1,4
	2nd Schol. Why, didst thou not say thou knewest?
26
	Wag. Have you any witness on't?
28
	1st Schol. Yes, sirrah, I heard you.
30
	Wag. Ask my fellow if I be a thief.	31: a common retort to one who presumes to rely on the
32		word of an interested or prejudiced individual;^1 Wagner's point is that just as a thief who swears his partner is not a thief is not credible, so the 2nd Scholar cannot depend on the 1st Scholar's attestation that Wagner said he knew where Faustus was as a reliable argument; or, to quote Ward, "His evidence is worthless, for he is no better than I." Wagner is extra-cheeky in indirectly comparing the Scholars to thieves. fellow = companion.
	2nd Schol. Well, you will not tell us?
34
	Wag. Yes, sir, I will tell you: yet, if you were not
36	dunces, you would never ask me such a question; for	= dunce has a dual meaning here: (1) a follower of the great medieval theologian and philosopher, Duns Scot (c.1265-1308), and hence meaning "one skilled in logic",^1,25 and (2) a dullard, the common modern meaning.
	is not he corpus naturale? and is not that mobile?	37: corpus naturale = literally a "natural body". is not that mobile = "as such is he not one that can move around?" The line is a Latin-based joke, as corpus natural sens mobile, according to Ward, was a phrase used to describe the subject of physics generally.
38	then wherefore should you ask me such a question?	= why.
	But that I am by nature phlegmatic, slow to wrath,	= in medieval physiology, there existed four fundamental temperaments, one of which was phlegmatic.
40	and prone to lechery (to love, I would say), it were	40: to love, I would say = "Ahem! I mean, of course, to love, not lechery!" (humorous). it were not for you = "it would not be wise for you".
	not for you to come within forty foot of the place of	41-42: the place of execution = ie. Faustus' dining room, but Wagner humorously refers to execution in its normal sense with hanged in line 43.
42	execution, although I do not doubt to see you both
	hanged the next sessions. Thus having triumphed	= court term.
44	over you, I will set my countenance like a precisian,	= "I will now impersonate a Puritan (precisian)". Puritans, in part because of their antagonism to the stage, were the target of frequent mockery by dramatists of the era. countenance = face.
	and begin to speak thus: − Truly, my dear brethren,
46	my master is within at dinner, with Valdes and
	Cornelius, as this wine, if it could speak, it would	= Ward supposes Wagner is carrying a vessel of wine.
48	inform your worships: and so, the Lord bless you,
	preserve you, and keep you, my dear brethren, my
50	dear brethren!
52	[Exit.]
54	1st Schol. Nay, then, I fear he is fallen into that	54-56: 1st Scholar fears Faustus is studying the black arts
	damned art for which they two are infamous through	with the notorious Valdes and Cornelius.
56	the world.
58	2nd Schol. Were he a stranger, and not allied to me,	= "even if he were a foreigner". = connected by friendship.^4
	yet should I grieve for him. But, come, let us go and
60	inform the Rector, and see if he by his grave counsel	= the head of the university.^1
	can reclaim him.	= "save him", ie. bring Faustus back from the dark side.
62
	1st Schol. O, but I fear me nothing can reclaim him!	= very common phrase for "I fear".
64
	2nd Schol. Yet let us try what we can do.
66
	[Exeunt.]
	SCENE III.
	A grove.
	Enter Faustus to conjure.
1	Faust. Now that the gloomy shadow of the earth,	1-4: Faustus describes the approach of evening. gloomy shadow = ie. darkness. Bullen points out that these first four lines appear verbatim in the first scene of a 1594 published edition of The Taming of a Shrew, an alternative version to Shakespeare's treatment.
2	Longing to view Orion's drizzling look,	= the well-known constellation is usually attended by stormy weather when it appears in late fall.
	Leaps from th' antartic world unto the sky,	3: antartic was a common variant spelling for antarctic, and could be used, as here, to refer to the southern half of the earth generally.
4	And dims the welkin with her pitchy breath,	= sky. = black.
	Faustus, begin thine incantatiöns,
6	And try if devils will obey thy hest,	= test. = commands.
	Seeing thou hast prayed and sacrificed to them.
8	Within this circle is Jehovah's name,	8-9: Ward notes that medieval Christian scholars accepted
	Forward and backward anagrammatized,	the principles of the Hebrew Caballah, the mystical interpretation of the Old Testament. As part of the code, various letters of the many names of God were extracted and arranged to form a single mystic name. anagrammatized = rearranged; the 1604 text has agramathist here, which has been rejected by all editors
10	Th' abbreviated names of holy saints,
	Figures of every adjunct to the heavens,	11: diagrams of the arrangement of the stars;^7 figures usually refers to horoscopes,^1 while adjuncts to the heavens means "all the stars of the sky".^4
12	And characters of signs and erring stars,	12: characters of signs = magical symbols of the Zodiac.^4 erring stars = ie. the planets, which seem to be wandering (erring) randomly throughout the sky, compared to the fixed and predicable movement of the stars.
	By which the spirits are enforced to rise:	= compelled.
14	Then fear not, Faustus, but be resolute,	= Faustus refers back to Valdes' encouragement in line 165
	And try the uttermost magic can perform. −	of the opening scene.
16
	Sint mihi dei Acherontis propitii! Valeat numen	17-25: "May the gods of Acheron be propitious to me!
18	triplex Jehovoe! Ignei, aerii, aquatani spiritus,	May the three-fold deity of Jehovah prevail! Spirits of
	salvete! Orientis princeps Belzebub, inferni	fire, air, and water, hail! Belzebub, prince of the East,
20	ardentis monarcha, et Demogorgon, propitiamus	monarch of burning hell, and Demogorgon, we propitiate
	vos, ut appareat et surgat Mephistophilis...Quid	you, that Mephistophilis may appear and arise…Why
22	tu moraris? per Jehovam, Gehennam, et	dost thou tarry? By Jehovah, Gehenna, and the conse-
	consecratam aquam quam nunc spargo, signumque	crated water which I now pour, and by the sign of the
24	crucis quod nunc facio, et per vota nostra, ipse	cross which I now make, and by our prayers, may
	nunc surgat nobis dicatus Mephistophilis!	Mephistophilis whom we have summoned now arise!"
26		Acheron = the underworld in general, though originally Acheron was the name of a river on earth which flowed into Hades, then later identified by writers such as Homer as a river in Hades;^29 the History, meanwhile, lists Acheron as one of the ten kingdoms of hell. Belzebub = or Beelzebub, appearing with either one or two e's; a translation of "Lord of the flies", Beelzebub is identified as "the prince of the devils" in old bibles such as the Geneva and King James. In the History, as in Faustus' invocation here, the doctor summons Mephistophilis "in the name of Belzebub". Mephistophilis later explains that Belzebub is the ruler of the northern kingdoms of hell. Prince of the East = in the History, Mephistophilis explains that all the devils of hell that serve Lucifer are called Oriental Princes. Demogorgon = one of the primary and powerful demons or evil spirits.^1,4 Quid tu moraris? = originally appears in the 1604 text as quod tumeraris, without a question mark; much ink has been spilled on attempting to make sense of this corrupted and unintelligible part of the invocation, but the emendation to quid tu moraris - "why do you linger?" - in which Faustus expresses impatience that the demon has failed to respond to his conjuring, is as good a solution as any.^8 Gehenna = a valley near Jerusalem used initially for idolatrous rites involving the sacrifice of children, then later for the burning of the bodies of outcasts, Gehenna came to be used as a synonym for hell.^22 Gehenna is listed as one of the ten kingdoms of hell in the History.
	Enter Mephistophilis.	27: an entire page of the History is dedicated to describing the mayhem, the thunder and lightning, and the strange spectral shapes that attend Mephistophilis' first appearance before Faustus.
28
	I charge thee to return, and change thy shape;	29-30: Mephistophilis originally appears to Faustus in the form of a fiery man, according to the History. charge = order, command.
30	Thou art too ugly to attend on me:
	Go, and return an old Franciscan friar;	= ie. in the guise of.
32	That holy shape becomes a devil best.	32: Faustus is grimly humorous.
34	[Exit Mephistophilis.]
36	I see there's virtue in my heavenly words:	= power. = sublime, celestial: the word choice is ironic; but Boas suggests heavenly words refers to words of scripture Faustus has used in his invocation.
	Who would not be proficient in this art?	= ie. "would choose not to be". = this is the earliest known appearance of proficient as an adjective, as we use it today, in English literature.^1
38	How pliant is this Mephistophilis,	= ie. compliant.
	Full of obedience and humility!
40	Such is the force of magic and my spells:
	No, Faustus, thou art conjuror laureat,	= ie. a conjuror deserving of wearing the laurel crown, as if he had graduated with distinction in that field;^4 the phrase is a parody of the expression poet laureate, which has been in use since the 15th century.^1 The term derived from the ancient tradition of giving a wreath of laurel leaves to university graduates in rhetoric and poetry.^10
42	That canst command great Mephistophilis:
	Quin redis, Mephistophilis fratris imagine!	43: Boas has changed the original regis to redis, so that
44		the line becomes a Latin translation of line 31, instructing the demon to appear in the shape of a friar. This fits better as well with line 42's self-congratulatory spirit.
	Re-enter Mephistophilis like a Franciscan friar.
46
	Meph. Now, Faustus, what wouldst thou have me do?
48
	Faust. I charge thee wait upon me whilst I live,
50	To do whatever Faustus shall command,
	Be it to make the moon drop from her sphere,	51: Bullen notes this was a common feat of sorcerers.
52	Or the oceän to overwhelm the world.
54	Meph. I am a servant to great Lucifer,	= Lucifer is identified as the chief devil here; from the early days of Christianity he was treated as having been the leader of the Heaven's rebellious angels, and the name was used synonymously with Satan.^22
	And may not follow thee without his leave:	= permission.
56	No more than he commands must we perform.
58	Faust. Did not he charge thee to appear to me?	= order.
60	Meph. No, I came hither of mine own accord.	= to here.
62	Faust. Did not my conjuring speeches raise thee? speak.
64	Meph. That was the cause, but yet per accidens;	64-69: Mephistophilis points out that Faustus' conjuring did not actually force the demon to appear before him; but rather, the doctor's rejection of God alerted the devils to the fact that Faustus was a good candidate for recruitment to the dark side, and his summoning gave them a good opportunity to follow up. The phrases the cause and per accidens were common in the academic language of logic. per accidens = ie. (only) incidentally.^9
	For, when we hear one rack the name of God,	= torment or distort;^4 the sense is "blaspheming".
66	Abjure the Scriptures and his Saviour Christ,	= reject.^2
	We fly, in hope to get his glorious soul;	= ie. hurry to reach that person.
68	Nor will we come, unless he use such means
	Whereby he is in danger to be damned.
70	Therefore the shortest cut for conjuring	= "the quickest path, ie. easiest way, to succeed in summoning spirits, etc."; the still-common phrase short-cut, which originally referred to a short journey or written passage, has existed in the English language at least as far back as 1568.^1
	Is stoutly to abjure the Trinity,	= firmly.^2
72	And pray devoutly to the prince of hell.
74	Faust. So Faustus hath	74-80: Faustus discusses his own beliefs in the third person.
	Already done; and holds this principle,	= ie. to this.
76	There is no chief but only Belzebub;
	To whom Faustus doth dedicate himself.
78	This word "damnation" terrifies not him,
	For he confounds hell in Elysium:	79: "for he does not distinguish between hell and Elysium."^7 confounds = confuses. Elysium = that section of Hades reserved for the blessed souls.
80	His ghost be with the old philosophers!	80: the line has met with various interpretations, but Ward's seems most likely: Faustus' own soul (ghost = spirit)^4 shall exist alongside the pagan philosophers of the ancient world, who also did not believe in Heaven and hell.
	But, leaving these vain trifles of men's souls,	81: "but, putting aside these foolish and minor concerns regarding what happens to our souls".
82	Tell me what is that Lucifer thy lord?	= who.
84	Meph. Arch-regent and commander of all spirits.	= top ruler, ie. head-devil, Satan.
86	Faust. Was not that Lucifer an angel once?
88	Meph. Yes, Faustus, and most dearly loved of God.	= by.
90	Faust. How comes it, then, that he is prince of devils?
92	Meph. O, by aspiring pride and insolence;
	For which God threw him from the face of Heaven.
94
	Faust. And what are you that live with Lucifer?	= who.
96
	Meph. Unhappy spirits that fell with Lucifer,	= though usually pronounced as two syllables, spirits was frequently considered a one-syllable word for purposes of meter, as here: spir'ts.
98	Conspired against our God with Lucifer,
	And are for ever damned with Lucifer.	97-99: note how Mephistophilis repeats the words with
100		Lucifer at the end of his lines three times, in response to Faustus' use of the phrase at the end of line 95.
	Faust. Where are you damned?
102
	Meph. In hell.
104
	Faust. How comes it, then, that thou art out of hell?
106
	Meph. Why, this is hell, nor am I out of it:
108	Think'st thou that I, who saw the face of God,
	And tasted the eternal joys of Heaven,
110	Am not tormented with ten thousand hells,
	In being deprived of everlasting bliss?	= being is a one-syllable word here.
112	O, Faustus, leave these frivolous demands,
	Which strike a terror to my fainting soul!	107-113: Mephistophilis interestingly admits to the personal torment of being banned from God's presence.
114
	Faust. What, is great Mephistophilis so passionate	= emotional, agitated; Faustus' arrogance, and his confidence that he has made the correct decision to reject God, are at their zenith in this scene, as evidenced by his taunting Mephistophilis in this speech.
116	For being deprivèd of the joys of Heaven?
	Learn thou of Faustus manly fortitude,	= from.
118	And scorn those joys thou never shalt possess.
	Go bear these tidings to great Lucifer:
120	Seeing Faustus hath incurred eternal death	= read as "seeing that".
	By desperate thoughts against Jove's deity,	= bold or dangerous.^2 = ie. God's; Jove was sometime's used as a substitute for God.
122	Say, he surrenders up to him his soul,
	So he will spare him four and twenty years,	= on the condition that.
124	Letting him live in all voluptuousness;	= ie. a life of luxurious indulgence of sensual pleasures.^1
	Having thee ever to attend on me,	= always.
126	To give me whatsoever I shall ask,
	To tell me whatsoever I demand,	127: there will be a continuous tension between Faustus' desire to have Mephistophilis answer every one of his questions, and the demon's unwillingness to do so; the doctor's power over the Mephistophilis is never absolute.
128	To slay mine enemies, and aid my friends,
	And always be obedient to my will.
130	Go and return to mighty Lucifer,
	And meet me in my study at midnight,
132	And then resolve me of thy master's mind.	= inform.
134	Meph. I will, Faustus.
136	[Exit.]
138	Faust. Had I as many souls as there be stars,
	I’d give them all for Mephistophilis.
140	By him I'll be great emperor of the world,	= emperor here and in line 146 is disyllabic.
	And make a bridge thorough the moving air,	= commonly used for "through".
142	To pass the ocean with a band of men;	= cross.
	I'll join the hills that bind the Afric shore,	= connect. = enclose.^4
144	And make that country continent to Spain,	= continuous, ie. contiguous.^1
	And both contributory to my crown:	145: ie. both territories will be required to pay Faustus tribute.
146	The Emperor shall not live but by my leave,	= except.
	Nor any potentate of Germany.
148	Now that I have obtained what I desired,
	I'll live in speculation of this art,	= studious contemplation (Gollancz).
150	Till Mephistophilis return again.
152	[Exit.]
	SCENE IV.
	A Street.
	Enter Wagner and Clown.	Entering Characters: we have met Faustus' cheeky servant Wagner; the title of Clown was used to designate any of a number of buffoonish character-types, including jesters and rustics; here, the Clown may be considered a low-status individual who will prove to be even more of a jokester than Wagner. The scene involves the aspiring magician Wagner's attempts to hire the Clown as his own underling.
1	Wag. Sirrah boy, come hither.	1: Sirrah = common form of address used for one's inferiors. hither = to here.
2
	Clown. How, boy! swowns, boy! I hope you have	3: How, boy! = "what, are you calling me boy?" swowns = variation on the common Elizabethan oath zounds, meaning "God's wounds". hope = expect.
4	seen many boys with such pickadevaunts as I have:	= beards trimmed to a point (from the French pic à-devant), much in fashion in late 16th century England;^4 the Clown takes offense, as he is too old to be called a boy.
	"boy", quotha!	= ie. "he says."
6
	Wag. Tell me, sirrah, hast thou any comings in?	= income, ie. money.
8
	Clown. Ay, and goings out too; you may see else.	= expenses. = "you may see more of me in a moment"; the Clown is dressed in such ragged clothing that parts of his body are showing through, or poking through - hence there is a pun with goings out.
10
	Wag. Alas, poor slave! see how poverty jesteth in	11-15: Wagner speaks of the Clown in the third person. poverty jesteth = Wagner describes personified Poverty as a prankster.
12	his nakedness! the villain is bare and out of service,	= ie. the Clown's. = naked.^1 = unemployed, without work.
	and so hungry, that I know he would give his soul to
14	the devil for a shoulder of mutton, though it were	= even if.
	blood-raw.
16
	Clown. How! my soul to the devil for a shoulder of
18	mutton, though 'twere blood-raw! not so, good
	friend: by'r lady, I had need have it well roasted, and	19: "by our lady", an oath.^2
20	good sauce to it, if I pay so dear.	= "if I have to pay so much for it," referring to his soul.
22	Wag. Well, wilt thou serve me, and I'll make thee
	go like Qui mihi discipulus?	23: the Latin phrase means roughly "one who is my pupil"; these are the opening words of a work attributed to the English grammarian William Lily (c.1468-1522).^7
24
	Clown. How, in verse?	25: the Clown of course has no education in Latin, but he may perceive Qui mihi discipulus as a nonsense rhyme, with its repeating i and u vowel sounds.
26
	Wag. No, sirrah; in beaten silk and staves-acre.	27: beaten silk = silk inlaid with gold or other precious metal,^28 but Wagner, punning, is hinting at the Clown's deserving a beating.^4 staves acre = a corruption of the Greek name (staphys agria) of a species of plant known commonly as larkspur, whose seeds were used for destroying vermin.^26 The natural question arises as to how this makes any sense in the context of the line; Ward cites a previous editor, Osborne Tancock, who, assuming that staves-acres must refer, as does beaten silk, to some fine fabric, cleverly suggests staves acres is a corruption of stauracin, a silk fabric woven in with crosses. Descriptions of both beaten silk and stauracin are provided in Daniel Rock's 1876 Textile Fabrics.^28
28
	Clown. How, how, knaves-acre! ay, I thought that	= there was street in London by the name of Knave's Acre: Peter Cunningham's 1850 Handbook of London Past and Present identifies Knave's Acre as a narrow thoroughfare lined with dealers in "old goods and glass bottles."
30	was all the land his father left him. Do you hear? I	30: Clown means Wagner with his and him.
	would be sorry to rob you of your living.
32
	Wag. Sirrah, I say in staves-acre.
34
	Clown. Oho, oho, staves-acre! why, then, belike, if I	35: Oho = exclamation expressing sarcasm or mockery.^1 35-36: belike…your man = "it is likely that if I were to work for you, etc."
36	were your man, I should be full of vermin.	= the vermin were supposed to be destroyed by the previously-mentioned stave's acre.^3 The subtext of the line may be "I will remain impoverished."
38	Wag. So thou shalt, whether thou beest with me or
	no. But, sirrah, leave your jesting, and bind yourself	= "stop kidding around". 39-40: bind yourself…years = Wagner tries to hire the Clown on as an apprentice, whose term of service was typically seven years.
40	presently unto me for seven years, or I'll turn all the
	lice about thee into familiars, and they shall tear thee	= attendant spirits or demons.
42	in pieces.
44	Clown. Do you hear, sir? you may save that labour;
	they are too familiar with me already: swowns, they
46	are as bold with my flesh as if they had paid for their
	meat and drink.
48
	Wag. Well, do you hear, sirrah? hold, take these	= "here".
50	guilders.	= Dutch florins,^4 or gold coins used in Germany.^1 As Ward
		says, Wagner is offering the Clown "hiring money".
52	[Gives money.]
54	Clown. Gridirons! what be they?	= the word gridiron was applied to both (1) a cooking pan made up of parallel iron bars, and (2) an instrument of torture of similar construction.^1
56	Wag. Why, French crowns.	= gold coins used in France at the time, worth four English shillings; but the phrase French crown was also commonly used to describe the baldness associated with syphilis.^1
58	Clown. Mass, but for the name of French crowns,	= "by the mass", an oath.
	a man were as good have as many English counters.	59: "a man would be just as well-off if he had the same
60	And what should I do with these?	number of English counters": counters were imitation coins made of inferior metal such as brass, and were used, as here, in "rhetorical contrast" (to quote the OED), or comparison to, real coins. Clown's point is that he is not sure that whatever Wagner offers him will be genuine or have any actual value.
62	Wag. Why, now, sirrah, thou art at an hour's	62-64: "you are now no more than an hour away from
	warning, whensoever or wheresoever the devil shall	having the devil come take you away."
64	fetch thee.
66	Clown. No, no; here, take your gridirons again.
68	Wag. Truly, I'll none of them.	68: "I want nothing to do with them."
70	Clown. Truly, but you shall.
72	Wag. Bear witness I gave them him.	= ie. "to him".
74	Clown. Bear witness I give them you again.
76	Wag. Well, I will cause two devils presently to fetch
	thee away. − Baliol and Belcher!	= male and female devils respectively. Baliol, or Beliol, is
78		"the wicked one", whom St. Paul equates him with Satan: "Or what concorde hath Christe with belyall?" (2 Corinthians 6:15, 1568 Bishop's Bible).^22 In the History, Beliol is identified by Mephistophilis as the ruler of hell's southern kingdoms. Belcher is not mentioned in the History.
	Clown. Let your Baliol and your Belcher come
80	here, and I'll knock them, they were never so	= strike or beat. = "have never been so".
	knocked since they were devils: say I should kill one
82	of them, what would folks say? "Do ye see yonder
	tall fellow in the round slop? he has killed the devil."	= brave. = baggy hose or breeches.^5
84	So I should be called Kill-devil all the parish over.	= the Century Dictionary of 1906 suggests "a terrible
		fellow".
86	Enter two Devils;
	and the Clown runs up and down crying.
88
	Wag. Baliol and Belcher, − spirits, away!
90
	[Exeunt Devils.]
92
	Clown. What, are they gone? a vengeance on them!
94	they have vild long nails. There was a he-devil and a	= vile.
	she-devil: I'll tell you how you shall know them; all	= "can tell them apart."
96	he-devils has horns, and all she-devils has clifts and	= clefts generally, the separation of the thighs specifically,
	cloven feet.	and a woman's genitals very specifically.^1
98
	Wag. Well, sirrah, follow me.
100
	Clown. But, do you hear? if I should serve you,
102	would you teach me to raise up Banios and	102-3: the Clown botches the names of the demons.
	Belcheos?
104
	Wag. I will teach thee to turn thyself to any thing, to	= into.
106	a dog, or a cat, or a mouse, or a rat, or any thing.
108	Clown. How! a Christian fellow to a dog, or a cat, a
	mouse, or a rat! no, no, sir; if you turn me into any
110	thing, let it be in the likeness of a little pretty
	frisking flea, that I may be here and there and	111: frisking = reveling, briskly jumping about.^1 111-2: here…everywhere = this is the OED's earliest citation for this still common expression.
112	everywhere: O, I'll tickle the pretty wenches'
	plackets! I'll be amongst them, i'faith.	113: a placket was a petticoat, or more likely (and lewdly)
114		the opening at the front of a petticoat.^2
	Wag. Well, sirrah, come.
116
	Clown. But, do you hear, Wagner?
118
	Wag. How! − Baliol and Belcher!	119: Wagner, seeing the Clown hesitating, threatens to
120		summon the devils.
	Clown. O Lord! I pray, sir, let Banio and Belcher
122	go sleep.
124	Wag. Villain, call me Master Wagner, and let thy
	left eye be diametarily fixed upon my right heel, with	= Wagner, attempting but failing to sound erudite, meant to say diametrically, ie. directly.^4
126	quasi vestigias nostris insistere.	126: "as it were, to stand in our (ie. my) footsteps"
		(Waltrous, p. 24). Bullen notes that most editions of the play correct vestigias to vestigiis, but he assumes the mistake was intentional, indicating Wagner's less than perfect Latin, just as his English is not as good as he thinks it is.
128	[Exit.]
130	Clown. God forgive me, he speaks Dutch fustian.	= German gibberish or jargon.^4
	Well, I'll follow him; I'll serve him, that's flat.	= absolutely certain.
132
	[Exit.]
	SCENE V.
	Faustus’ Study.
	Faustus discovered.	= revealed; a curtain is likely pulled back, as it was for Scene i, which also took place in Faustus' study.
1	Faust. Now, Faustus, must thou needs be damned,	= "you are now necessarily damned".
2	and canst thou not be saved:
	What boots it, then, to think of God or Heaven?	= "what use is it".
4	Away with such vain fancies, and despair;	4: a constant theme for Faustus is his inability to grasp that it is never too late to return to the fold of God, as his mercy is infinite. vain = idle, frivolous.
	Despair in God, and trust in Belzebub:	= "cease to hope for".
6	Now go not backward; no, Faustus, be resolute:
	Why waver'st thou? O, something soundeth in mine ears,
8	"Abjure this magic, turn to God again!"	= reject.
	Ay, and Faustus will turn to God again.
10	To God? he loves thee not;
	The god thou serv'st is thine own appetite,	11: "your own desires (appetite) are the god you serve."
12	Wherein is fixed the love of Belzebub:
	To him I'll build an altar and a church,
14	And offer lukewarm blood of new-born babes.	14: Ward notes that accusations by Christians against other groups, particularly Jews and magicians, of slaughtering children, and in the former case of drinking their blood, were historically common; he further observes the grim irony in this, in that during the earliest days of Christianity, Romans accused the Christians of engaging in the same kind of cannibalism, in their (the Romans') misunderstanding of the Eucharist, in which it was vaguely understood the participants were eating the body and drinking the blood of Christ.
16	Enter Good Angel and Evil Angel.	16: the advising spirits tend to appear whenever Faustus
		begins to doubt as to which path he should follow.
18	Good Ang. Sweet Faustus, leave that execrable art.
20	Faust. Contrition, prayer, repentance − what of them?
22	Good Ang. O, they are means to bring thee unto Heaven!
24	Evil Ang. Rather illusions, fruits of lunacy,
	That makes men foolish that do trust them most.	= ie. make; note the lack of subject-verb agreement.
26
	Good Ang. Sweet Faustus, think of Heaven an heavenly things.	27: Heaven and heavenly are one- and two-syllable words respectively, the 'v' in each omitted.
28
	Evil Ang. No, Faustus, think of honour and of wealth.
30
	[Exeunt Angels.]
32
	Faust. Of wealth!
34	Why, the signiory of Embden shall be mine.	= dominion.^1 = the wealthy seaport city of Emden on the
	When Mephistophilis shall stand by me,	River Ems in northwest Germany.^10 Sugden notes a treaty between Queen Elizabeth and one of the city's princes in 1563, which was followed in 1564 by a visit to the port by the English fleet.
36	What god can hurt thee, Faustus? thou art safe:
	Cast no more doubts. − Come, Mephistophilis,	= consider.^4
38	And bring glad tidings from great Lucifer; −	= good news.
	Is't not midnight? − come, Mephistophilis,
40	Veni, veni, Mephistophile!	= come. = the demon's name has been given the Latin
		evocative form (ie. the case in which the name is used to address its owner directly).^7
42	Enter Mephistophilis.
44	Now tell me what says Lucifer, thy lord?
46	Meph. That I shall wait on Faustus whilst he lives,	= serve, attend.
	So he will buy my service with his soul.
48
	Faust. Already Faustus hath hazarded that for thee.	= risked, endangered.
50
	Meph. But, Faustus, thou must bequeath it solemnly,
52	And write a deed of gift with thine own blood,	= ie. legal document.^1
	For that security craves great Lucifer.	= a legal document guaranteeing payment of a debt, ie. a contract.^1
54	If thou deny it, I will back to hell.	= "I will go back"; in this common grammatical construc-
		tion, the word of action (go) is omitted in the presence of a word of intent (will).
56	Faust. Stay, Mephistophilis, and tell me, what good
	will my soul do thy lord?
58
	Meph. Enlarge his kingdom.	59: ie. by adding another soul to it; enlarge = increase.
60
	Faust. Is that the reason why he tempts us thus?
62
	Meph. Solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris.	63: 'it is a comfort to the wretched (meaning Lucifer) to have
64		companions in woe", ie. misery loves company.
	Faust. Why, have you any pain that torture others?
66
	Meph. As great as have the human souls of men.
68	But, tell me, Faustus, shall I have thy soul?
	And I will be thy slave, and wait on thee,
70	And give thee more than thou hast wit to ask.	= ie. "than you can even conceive of to ask for;" wit was an all-encompassing word for intelligence, ingenuity and cleverness.
72	Faust. Ay, Mephistophilis, I give it thee.	= ie. "to thee."
74	Meph. Then, Faustus, stab thine arm courageously,	= ie. draw blood with which to write the contract.
	And bind thy soul, that at some certain day
76	Great Lucifer may claim it as his own;
	And then be thou as great as Lucifer.
78
	Faust. [Stabbing his arm]
80	Lo, Mephistophilis, for love of thee,
	I cut mine arm, and with my proper blood	= own.^2
82	Assure my soul to be great Lucifer's,	= an apparent legal term, meaning to "transfer property by
	Chief lord and regent of perpetual night!	deed".^1
84	View here the blood that trickles from mine arm,
	And let it be propitious for my wish.	85: a good omen regarding.^1
86
	Meph. But, Faustus, thou must
88	Write it in manner of a deed of gift.	= the style or form of (a legal document).^1
90	Faust. Ay, so I will.
92	[Writes.]
94	But, Mephistophilis,
	My blood congeals, and I can write no more.
96
	Meph. I'll fetch thee fire to dissolve it straight.	97: fire = Marlowe frequently intended fire (and words that
98		rhymed with it) to be scanned as disyllabic, as here: fi-yer. dissolve = melt.
	[Exit.]
100
	Faust. What might the staying of my blood portend?	= ie. ceasing (to flow).
102	Is it unwilling I should write this bill?	= document.^2
	Why streams it not, that I may write afresh?
104	Faustus gives to thee his soul: ah, there it stayed!
	Why shouldst thou not? is not thy soul thine own?
106	Then write again, Faustus gives to thee his soul.
108	Re-enter Mephistophilis with a chafer of coals.	= pan for heating coals.^4
110	Meph. Here's fire; come, Faustus, set it on.	110: as the History explains, Faustus here deposits his congealed blood into a saucer, which is then placed on the warm ashes of the chafer, melting it.
112	Faust. So, now the blood begins to clear again;
	Now will I make an end immediately.	= finish it up.
114
	[Writes.]
116
	Meph. [Aside]	117-8: is there not something endearing about our demon
118	O, what will not I do t' obtain his soul!	expressing his boyish pleasure in this aside?
120	Faust. Consummatum est; this bill is ended,	= "it is finished." Considering these were the last words of Jesus before he died (John 19:30), the irony here is palpable.
	And Faustus hath bequeathed his soul to Lucifer.
122	But what is this inscription on mine arm?	122-7: Faustus wrestles with two distinct problems: (1) trying to both accept the appearance of and decipher the strange writing on his arm, and (2) wondering whether he can still be saved after having made, by writing what he did, an apparently irretrievable step towards damnation.
	Homo, fuge: whither should I fly?	123: Latin for "man, flee (or fly)!" = to where. Ward sees a direct allusion in this line to Psalms 139:7, addressed by David to God: "whither shall I flee from thy presence?"
124	If unto God, he'll throw me down to hell.
	My senses are deceived; here's nothing writ: −	= "there is nothing written here (on his arm)."
126	I see it plain; here in this place is writ,
	Homo, fuge: yet shall not Faustus fly.	= ie. yet Faustus shall not fly; the doctor's bravado has
128		returned.
	Meph. [Aside]
130	I'll fetch him somewhat to delight his mind.	130: noting Faustus' vacillation, Mephistophilis decides to
		bring him a sample of what he can attain by following through here; somewhat = something.
132	[Exit.]
134	Re-enter Mephistophilis with Devils, who give
	crowns and rich apparel to Faustus, dance,	= gold coins.
136	and then depart.
138	Faust. Speak, Mephistophilis, what means this show?	= to an English audience, the word show suggested a pageant, a more formal type of entertainment,^4 as in the phrase dumb-show, a term used to describe a pantomimed introduction to a scene in a play.^7
140	Meph. Nothing, Faustus, but to delight thy mind withal,	140: the line can be spoken with ironic nonchalance: "oh, nothing really, only something to delight your mind with (withal)."
	And to shew thee what magic can perform.	= show.
142
	Faust. But may I raise up spirits when I please?	= ie. "will I be able to".
144
	Meph. Ay, Faustus, and do greater things than these.	143-5: note the rhyme in this exchange of single lines of
146		dialogue.
	Faust. Then there's enough for a thousand souls.
148	Here, Mephistophilis, receive this scroll,	= piece of writing; note the rhyming couplet of 148-9.
	A deed of gift of body and of soul:
150	But yet conditionally that thou perform	= ie. "I do this only on the condition".
	All articles prescribed between us both.	= clauses.
152
	Meph. Faustus, I swear by hell and Lucifer	153-4: should not Faustus wonder whether this vow made
154	To effect all promises between us made!	by Lucifer's representative is at all trustworthy, if not
		enforceable?
156	Faust. Then hear me read them.
	[Reads] On these conditions following.	157-168: The Conditions: interpreting the text of Elizabe- than drama is often complicated by the preponderance of ambiguous pronouns. In the first four conditions (lines 158-165), he and him refer to Faustus himself.
158	First, that Faustus may be a spirit in form and	158: Faustus wants to take on the form of a spirit.
	substance.
160	Secondly, that Mephistophilis shall be his
	servant, and at his command.
162	Thirdly, that Mephistophilis shall do for him,
	and bring him whatsoever.	= ie. "whatever he desires".
164	Fourthly, that he shall be in his chamber or	164-5: the History clarifies the fourth condition: Faustus
	house invisible.	himself requires to always be invisible when he is home, except that he should be able to see himself, and that he will be visible to others when he chooses to be. chamber = private room or bedroom.
166	Lastly, that he shall appear to the said John	166-8: in this last condition, he refers to Mephistophilis.
	Faustus, at all times, in what form or shape soever
168	he please.
	I, John Faustus, of Wertenberg, Doctor, by
170	these presents, do give both body and soul to	= a legal phrase meaning "this document".^1
	Lucifer prince of the east, and his minister	= servant or underling.^1
172	Mephistophilis; and furthermore grant unto
	them, that, twenty-four years being expired, the
174	articles above-written inviolate, full power to fetch	= having not been violated.
	or carry the said John Faustus, body and soul,
176	flesh, blood, or goods, into their habitation
	wheresoever.
178
	By me, John Faustus.
180
	Meph. Speak, Faustus, do you deliver this as your	= a legal term for handing over.^1
182	deed?
184	Faust. Ay, take it, and the devil give thee good on't!	= a curse in the form of the devil give thee appears
		occasionally in old literature, such as in this example from Iyl of braintfords testament, c.1567: "the devil give thee sorrow and care."
186	Meph. Now, Faustus, ask what thou wilt.
188	Faust. First will I question with thee about hell.	= ask or put questions to.^4
	Tell me, where is the place that men call hell?
190
	Meph. Under the heavens.
192
	Faust. Ay, but whereabout?
194
	Meph. Within the bowels of these elements,	195: ie. below the earth; in the History, Mephistophilis is likewise enigmatic in his description of the location of hell: hell is, the demon explains, "another world, in the which we have our being under the earth, even to the heavens." bowels = core, interior. these elements = ie. the earth, described as comprised of the four elements air, earth, fire and water.
196	Where we are tortured and remain for ever:
	Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscribed
198	In one self place; for where we are is hell,	= single.^4 = ie. wherever.
	And where hell is, there must we ever be:
200	And, to conclude, when all the world dissolves,	= breaks apart or melts.
	And every creature shall be purified,	= freed of sin,^1 ie. after Purgatory comes to an end, and all the souls that are intended to be saved have been so.^7
202	All places shall be hell that is not Heaven.	200-2: Ward sees the possible influence of 2 Peter 3:10-14 here: "But the day of the Lord will come...in the which the heavens shall pass away with a noise, and the elements shall melt with heat, and the earth with the works that are therein shall be burnt up...Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot and blameless" (1599 Geneva Bible).
204	Faust. Come, I think hell's a fable.	= ie. "oh, come on".
206	Meph. Ay, think so still, till experience change thy
	mind.
208
	Faust. Why, think'st thou, then, that Faustus shall be damned?
210
	Meph. Ay, of necessity, for here's the scroll
212	Wherein thou hast given thy soul to Lucifer.
214	Faust. Ay, and body too: but what of that?
	Think'st thou that Faustus is so fond to imagine	= foolish.
216	That, after this life, there is any pain?
	Tush, these are trifles and mere old wives' tales.	= this still common expression is of ancient origin, appearing as early as in the 1425 Wycliffe Bible, in which Christians are admonished to "easchew...elde wymmenus fablis" (ie. "eschew old women's fables" (1 Timothy 4:7).
218
	Meph. But, Faustus, I am an instance to prove the	= example, a term used in scholastic logic.^1
220	contrary, for I am damned, and am now in hell.
222	Faust. How! now in hell!
	Nay, an this be hell, I'll willingly be damned here:	= if.
224	What! walking, disputing, &c.
	But, leaving off this, let me have a wife,
226	The fairest maid in Germany;
	For I am wanton and lascivious,	= wanton and lascivious are synonyms for "lewd".
228	And cannot live without a wife.
230	Meph. How! a wife!
	I prithee, Faustus, talk not of a wife.	= common variation of "I pray thee", meaning "please".
232
	Faust. Nay, sweet Mephistophilis, fetch me one,
234	for I will have one.
236	Meph. Well, thou wilt have one? Sit there till I come:
	I'll fetch thee a wife in the devil's name.	= as opposed to "in God's name"; the phrase in the devil's
238		name (and the related in the name of the devil) appears frequently in 17th century literature.
	[Exit.]
240
	Re-enter Mephistophilis with a Devil
242	drest like a Woman, with fire-works.	= carrying or wearing small explosive devices.
244	Meph. Tell me, Faustus, how dost thou like thy wife?
246	Faust. A plague on her for a hot whore!	= lustful, with obvious pun.
248	Meph. Tut, Faustus,
	Marriage is but a ceremonial toy;	249: Mephistophilis is prejudiced against marriage given its status as a ceremony ordained by God (note that marriage was no longer considered a sacrament in England after the Reformation).
250	If thou lovest me, think no more of it.
	I'll cull thee out the fairest courtezans,	= select for. = prostitutes.
252	And bring them every morning to thy bed:
	She whom thine eye shall like, thy heart shall have,
254	Be she as chaste as was Penelope,	254: Penelope was the wife of Odysseus, the great warrior of the Trojan War. Penelope famously held off over 100 suitors as she waited for her husband to return from the war.
	As wise as Saba, or as beautiful	255: As wise as Saba = Saba is the Queen of Sheba, who,
256	As was bright Lucifer before his fall.	hearing of the wisdom of King Solomon, travelled to Jerusalem to test him by putting a series of questions to him; he passed her test, and she praised God for His giving the people of Israel such a wise king (Chronicles 9:1-9). 255-6: as beautiful...his fall = Lucifer had been an angel of perfect beauty before he rebelled against God.
	Hold, take this book, peruse it thoroughly:
258
	[Gives book.]	259: Mephistophilis hands Faustus a book of spells.
260
	The iterating of these lines brings gold;	= repeating.^4
262	The framing of this circle on the ground
	Brings whirlwinds, tempests, thunder, and lightning;	263: editors agree that lightning is trisyllabic here: LIGHT-
264	Pronounce this thrice devoutly to thyself,	en-ing.
	And men in armour shall appear to thee,
266	Ready to execute what thou desir'st.
268	Faust. Thanks, Mephistophilis: yet fain would I	= "I desire to".
	have a book wherein I might behold all spells and
270	incantations, that I might raise up spirits when I please.
272	Meph. [Turns to them] Here they are in this book.	= ie. the demon turns to the appropriate pages in the book.
274	Faust. Now would I have a book where I might see
	all characters and planets of the heavens, that I might	= signs or symbols. = probably meaning "of".^7
276	know their motions and dispositions.	= locations or situations, as in a horoscope.^1
278	Meph. [Turns to them] Here they are too.
280	Faust. Nay, let me have one book more, − and then
	I have done, − wherein I might see all plants, herbs,	= ie. am.
282	and trees, that grow upon the earth.
284	Meph. Here they be.
286	Faust. O, thou art deceived.
288	Meph. [Turns to them] Tut, I warrant thee.	= ie. "I guarantee the book says what I said it says."
290	[Exeunt.]	Mephistophilis' Description of Hell: in our play, the demon's portrayal of the tortures of hell is limited to a single line (line 67): "As great as have the human souls of men." In the History, however, Mephistophilis goes on at length describing the terrifying nature of hell: "hell is bloodthirsty, and never satisfied...damned souls in our hellish fire are ever burning, but their pain never diminishing...Hell hath also a place within it, called Chasma...it sendeth forth wind, with exceeding snow, hail and rain, congealing the water into ice, with the which the damned are frozen, gnash their teeth, howl and cry, yet cannot die...Dragons, serpents, crocodiles and all manner of venomous and noisome creatures...there shalt thou abide horrible torments, howling, crying, burning, freezing, melting...smoking in thine eyes, stinking in thy nose...biting thy own tongue with pain, thy heart crushed as with a press, thy bones broken...thy whole carcass tossed upon muck-forks from one devil to another..."
	SCENE VI.
	In the House of Faustus.	Scene vi: I follow Ward and others in beginning a new scene here; previous editors note that a scene between v and vi is likely missing.
1	Faust. When I behold the heavens, then I repent,	= heavens and Heaven are normally pronounced as one-
2	And curse thee, wicked Mephistophilis,	one-syllable words in Elizabethan verse, with the medial
	Because thou hast deprived me of those joys.	'v' omitted: hea'ens; the same rule often applies to devil,
4		as in line 24 below.
	Meph. Why, Faustus,
6	Thinkest thou Heaven is such a glorious thing?
	I tell thee, 'tis not half so fair as thou,
8	Or any man that breathes on earth.
10	Faust. How prov'st thou that?
12	Meph. 'Twas made for man, therefore is man more excellent.
14	Faust. If it were made for man, 'twas made for me:
	I will renounce this magic and repent.
16
	Enter Good Angel and Evil Angel.
18
	Good Ang. Faustus, repent; yet God will pity thee.	= even now.^7
20
	Evil Ang. Thou art a spirit; God cannot pity thee.	= we remember that as per Article 1 of his contract (Scene
22		v.158), Faustus was turned into a spirit.
	Faust. Who buzzeth in mine ears I am a spirit?
24	Be I a devil, yet God may pity me;	= "even if I were".
	Ay, God will pity me, if I repent.
26
	Evil Ang. Ay, but Faustus never shall repent.
28
	[Exeunt Angels.]
30
	Faust. My heart's so hardened, I cannot repent:
32	Scarce can I name salvation, faith, or Heaven,
	But fearful echoes thunder in mine ears,	33-36: Faustus imagines he hears voices and sees instru- ments of suicide before him.
34	"Faustus, thou art damned!" then swords, and knives,
	Poison, guns, halters, and envenomed steel	= nooses. = steel weapons coated with poison; presumably Faustus has shorter weapons, such as daggers, in mind, as opposed to the swords of line 34.
36	Are laid before me to despatch myself;	= kill.
	And long ere this I should have slain myself,	= before. = would.
38	Had not sweet pleasure conquered deep despair.	38: ie. if the benefits of his contract with Lucifer had not made him forget his despair at being damned forever.
	Have not I made blind Homer sing to me	39-40: the spirit of Homer recited his poetry (which included the Iliad and Odyssey) for Faustus. blind Homer = the tradition that the Greek bard was blind derived from either (1) his description of the traveling minstrel Demokodos in Book 8 of the Odyssey, who is described as "his eyes put out", but "to whom hath God given song" (from George Chapman's early 17th century translation); or (2) a line from the ancient Hymn to Apollo, long attributed to Homer, in which author identifies himself as a blind man.
40	Of Alexander's love and Oenon's death?	40: Alexander is Paris, a Trojan prince, and Oenon his wife; Paris abandoned Oenon when he eloped with the Spartan princess Helen (later called Helen of Troy), which precipitated the Trojan War. Paris returned to Oenon after the decade-long war ended. She was said to have, out of spite, refused to help her husband heal from the wound he received from a well-placed arrow, but after he died, she killed herself in grief.^29
	And hath not he, that built the walls of Thebes	41-42: according to myth, the walls of Thebes had been built by twin brothers Amphion, a musician, and Zethus; supposedly Zethus carried the stones to the building site, while Amphion caused the stones to construct themselves into a wall by playing on his lyre.^29
42	With ravishing sound of his melodious harp,	42: Boas observes that the last six words of this line appear
	Made music with my Mephistophilis?	in Act III of the alternate 1594 version of the Taming of the Shrew.
44	Why should I die, then, or basely despair?
	I am resolved; Faustus shall ne'er repent. −	= decided.
46	Come, Mephistophilis, let us dispute again,
	And argue of divine astrology.	=about.
48	Tell me, are there many heavens above the moon?	= ie. spheres.
	Are all celestial bodies but one globe,
50	As is the substance of this centric earth?	49-50: with centric earth, Faustus alludes to the generally accepted - at least in poetry - Ptolemaic view of the earth as lying at the center of the universe, with a series of concentric spheres (numbering 9, 10 or 11 - Mephistophilis goes with 9 below) surrounding it; the first 7 or so spheres each contain one planet (the sun and moon were accounted amongst the known planets), the next sphere held all the stars, and the outermost sphere, called the Primum Mobile, held and rotated the other spheres around the earth every 24 hours. In line 49, Faustus seems to be wondering if there is an alternative explanation for the movement of the celestial bodies, specifically if they all might be contained in a single sphere or even comprise a single body, like the earth; previous editors have struggled to interpret these lines.
52	Meph. As are the elements, such are the spheres,	52: ancient cosmology held a vision of the universe as also divided into layers, the uppermost comprised of fire, then water, air and earth in order below it; thus, confirms Mephistophilis, the heavenly bodies do exist in separate spheres.
	Mutually folded in each other's orb,	53: the demon describes concentric spheres.
54	And, Faustus,
	All jointly move upon one axletree,	55: all the spheres containing the heavenly bodies turn on one axle, the one that comprises the earth's own axis of rotation.
56	Whose terminine is termed the world's wide pole;	56: terminine = termine (with three syllables) is likely intended, meaning "terminus" or "end"; terminine is not a real word, and its occurrence may be due to a compositional or printer's error, or perhaps was simply made up by Marlowe.^1,7 termed = called; note the wordplay with terminine. wide = extensive, far-reaching.^1 pole = axis.
	Nor are the names of Saturn, Mars, or Jupiter
58	Feigned, but are erring stars.	58: Feigned = misnamed, ie. they really exist as separate entities. erring stars = ie. planets; see the note at Scene iii.11.
60	Faust. But, tell me, have they all one motion,	= a single.
	both situ et tempore?	61: "with regard to the direction of and length of time taken by their revolutions?"^4
62
	Meph. All jointly move from east to west in twenty-	= ie. all the planets.
64	four hours upon the poles of the world; but differ in
	their motion upon the poles of the zodiac.	65: their orbit around the earth's axis.^12
66
	Faust. Tush,
68	These slender trifles Wagner can decide:	68: even Wagner could figure out these slight and trivial problems.
	Hath Mephistophilis no greater skill?
70	Who knows not the double motion of the planets?	= ie. the fact that planets both rotate and revolve around the earth.
	The first is finished in a natural day;	71: the first movement, rotation, gives the earth its days.
72	The second thus; as Saturn in thirty years; Jupiter in	72: The second thus: = "the second motion, revolution,
	twelve; Mars in four; the Sun, Venus, and Mercury	works as follows:" 72-74: Faustus' assertion regarding the length of a year on Saturn and Jupiter is accurate; Mars actually takes a little less than two years to revolve around the sun, Venus about 224 days, and Mercury only 88 days.^30 And of course, if the earth takes, by definition, one year to revolve around the sun, then it would be natural, in an earth-centric view of the universe, to say that the sun takes one year to revolve around the earth!
74	in a year; the Moon in twenty-eight days. Tush,
	these are freshmen's suppositions. But, tell me, hath	= "these are ideas appropriate to be presented to first-year university students."^7 supposition = ideas thought likely to be true, assumptions.^1
76	every sphere a dominion or intelligentia?	76: "rule or intelligence": Faustus' question reflects an
		ancient view of the heavenly bodies as blessed gods in themselves,^7 or as entities whose movements were guided by angels.^12
78	Meph. Ay.
80	Faust. How many heavens or spheres are there?
82	Meph. Nine; the seven planets, the firmament, and	= the eighth sphere, within which the stars are embedded.
	the empyreal heaven.	= ie. the highest Heaven; Marlowe was fond of imagining a sphere higher than any other which contained the throne of God, the residence of the angels, and so forth, or, alternately, comprised of the element of fire.^7 The exact relationship between the empyreal heaven and the Primum Mobile (the two of which Marlowe here has conflated as one), like the precise number of spheres, was flexible.
84
	Faust. Well, resolve me in this question; why have	= "satisfy my mind", ie. "tell me".
86	we not conjunctions, oppositions, aspects, eclipses,	86: conjunctions = when two planets appear in the same
	all at one time, but in some years we have more, in	sign of the zodiac.^1
88	some less?	oppositions = when two stars appear diametrically opposite to each other in the sky.^20 aspects = an astrological term describing two planets in a position to influence each other.^20
90	Meph. Per inaequalem motum respectu totius.	90: "Due to the unequal movement, in respect of the
		whole."^8 That is, the planets move about independently with respect to speed and direction, even as the spheres in which they are contained rotate along with the Primum Mobile.
92	Faust. Well, I am answered. Tell me who made the
	world?
94
	Meph. I will not.	= Mephistophilis has no interest in mentioning the name
96		of God.
	Faust. Sweet Mephistophilis, tell me.
98
	Meph. Move me not, for I will not tell thee.	= provoke.^2
100
	Faust. Villain, have I not bound thee to tell me
102	anything?
104	Meph. Ay, that is not against our kingdom; but this is.	= read as "anything that is not." = the rules of hell.^7
	Think thou on hell, Faustus, for thou art damned.
106
	Faust. Think, Faustus, upon God that made the world.
108
	Meph. Remember this.	109: ie. "remember what I said".^5
110
	[Exit.]
112
	Faust. Ay, go, accursèd spirit, to ugly hell!	= frightful.^7
114	'Tis thou hast damned distressèd Faustus' soul.	= troubled.
	Is't not too late?
116
	Re-enter Good Angel and Evil Angel.
118
	Evil Ang. Too late.
120
	Good Ang. Never too late, if Faustus can repent.
122
	Evil Ang. If thou repent, devils shall tear thee in pieces.
124
	Good Ang. Repent, and they shall never raze thy skin.	= "graze or touch".^1,7
126
	[Exeunt Angels.]
128
	Faust. Ah, Christ, my Saviour,
130	Seek to save distressèd Faustus' soul!	= Faustus repeats these words of line 114.
132	Enter Lucifer, Belzebub, and Mephistophilis.
134	Lucif. Christ cannot save thy soul, for he is just:	= ie. in the sense that Faustus will get what he deserves.
	There's none but I have interest in the same.	= ie. "who have". = a legal claim to.^12
136
	Faust. O, who art thou that look'st so terrible?	137: the History describes Lucifer's own appearance as
138		"a man all hairy, but of brown colour like a squirrel, curled, and his tail curling upwards on his back as the squirrels use. I think he could crack nuts too like a squirrel."
	Lucif. I am Lucifer,
140	And this is my companion-prince in hell.	140: Lucifer indicates Belzebub.
142	Faust. O, Faustus, they are come to fetch away thy soul!
144	Lucif. We come to tell thee thou dost injure us;	= wrong, grieve.^2
	Thou talk'st of Christ, contráry to thy promise:
146	Thou shouldst not think of God: think of the devil,
	And of his dam too.	= mother; the phrase devil and his dam, which was applied contemptuously towards women, was a very common one.^1 The inclusion of this line is so out of character with the goings on, that Cunningham suggests it was not written by Marlowe, but perhaps was a comic line added by an actor onto the printer's working script.
148
	Faust. Nor will I henceforth: pardon me in this,	= "I will not do so from now on".
150	And Faustus vows never to look to Heaven,
	Never to name God, or to pray to him,
152	To burn his Scriptures, slay his ministers,
	And make my spirits pull his churches down.	153: ie. the spirits Faustus summons to serve him.
154
	Lucif. Do so, and we will highly gratify thee.
156	Faustus, we are come from hell to shew thee some	156ff: the demons must provide another spectacle to distract Faustus from his troubled thoughts.
	pastime: sit down, and thou shalt see all the Seven	= diversion, entertainment.
158	Deadly Sins appear in their proper shapes.	= own.
160	Faust. That sight will be as pleasing unto me,
	As Paradise was to Adam, the first day
162	Of his creation.
164	Lucif. Talk not of Paradise nor creation; but mark	= watch, observe.
	this show: talk of the devil, and nothing else. –
166	Come away!
168	Enter the Seven Deadly Sins.	Entering Characters: in his epic but unfinished poem The Faerie Queene (1592), the English poet Edmund Spenser gave detailed descriptions of the physical appearances of six of the Seven Deadly Sins (Pride does not appear in the poem); Gluttony, for example, is a "Deformed creature, (riding) on a filthy swine; his belly was up-blown with luxury, and eke (also) with fatness swollen were his eyne (eyes), and like a crane his neck was long and fine". Lechery, wrote Spenser, rode "Upon a bearded goat...rough and black and filthy did appear." The lengthier 1616 edition of Doctor Faustus suggests a piper enters with and plays alongside the Sins, who may perhaps parade themselves in front of Faustus as if they were on a catwalk. In the History, rather than the Seven Sins, numerous devils, of which seven (plus Lucifer) are named, appear to entertain Faustus, each one entering in the form of a different animal-monster: Belzebub, for example, came as a bull with wings, and Beliol as a bear with wings; the History states that these are the actual forms the demons take on in hell.
170	Now, Faustus, examine them of their several names	= question. = about. = individual.
	and dispositions.
172
	Faust. What art thou, the first?	= who.
174
	Pride. I am Pride. I disdain to have any parents. I
176	am like to Ovid's flea; I can creep into every corner	= ie. "like". = reference to a very rude poem that at the time was ascribed to the pen of the Roman poet Ovid; the flea is described in the poem as having every part of a maiden's body available for his inspection. Note the sex-specific suggestion of this speech that Pride is primarily a woman's deficiency.
	of a wench; sometimes, like a perriwig, I sit upon	= the wearing of wigs by women was common in the Elizabethan era.
178	her brow; or, like a fan of feathers, I kiss her lips;
	indeed, I do − what do I not? But, fie, what a scent	179-182: But, fie…arras = having described himself, Pride now begins to act out his name. scent = (unpleasant) smell.
180	is here! I'll not speak another word, except the	180-1: except…perfumed = "unless the ground is perfumed".
	ground were perfumed, and covered with cloth of
182	arras.	= tapestried carpet;^4 the cloth used for making tapestries
		(which were normally hung, not extravagantly laid on the floor) was famously woven in the city of Arras in the Artois region of France.^10
184	Faust. What art thou, the second?
186	Covetousness. I am Covetousness, begotten of an	= born to.
	old churl, in an old leathern bag: and, might I have	= rude peasant. = leather. = "if I could".
188	my wish, I would desire that this house and all the
	people in it were turned to gold, that I might lock
190	you up in my good chest: O, my sweet gold!
192	Faust. What art thou, the third?
194	Wrath. I am Wrath. I had neither father nor mother:
	I leapt out of a lion's mouth when I was scarce half-	= in The Faerie Queene, Spenser describes Wrath as riding "upon a Lion".
196	an-hour old; and ever since I have run up and down
	the world with this case of rapiers, wounding myself	= pair (case) of light thrusting swords, one of which was carried in each hand.^2,9
198	when I had nobody to fight withal. I was born in	= with.
	hell; and look to it, for some of you shall be my	= beware, be careful.^1
200	father.	199-200: some of you…father = "one of you (meaning the
		demons) is no doubt my father."^7
202	Faust. What art thou, the fourth?
204	Envy. I am Envy, begotten of a chimney-sweeper	204-5: begotten…oyster-wife = having a chimney-sweep and a sea-food seller as parents would result in Envy appearing black and smelly.^12
	and an oyster-wife. I cannot read, and therefore wish	= a woman who sells oysters.
206	all books were burnt. I am lean with seeing others
	eat. O, that there would come a famine through all	= ie. "if only".
208	the world, that all might die, and I live alone! then
	thou shouldst see how fat I would be. But must thou
210	sit, and I stand? come down, with a vengeance!	210: come down = the sense is "come down from your high
		horse".^1 with a vengeance = "with a curse on you".^1
212	Faust. Away, envious rascal! − What art thou, the
	fifth?
214
	Gluttony. Who I, sir? I am Gluttony. My parents
216	are all dead, and the devil a penny they have left me,	= "not a single penny"; the formula the devil a was used in various phrases to mean "not a single", as in "the devil a doubt".^1
	but a bare pension, and that is thirty meals a-day and	= (financial) allowance.^24
218	ten bevers, − a small trifle to suffice nature. O, I	= snacks between meals.^4
	come of a royal parentage! my grandfather was a
220	Gammon of Bacon, my grandmother a Hogshead	220: gammon of bacon = dried thigh, or ham, of a pig, though technically, unlike ham, gammon is cut after the side of pork has been cured.^27 Hogshead = cask.
	of Claret-wine; my godfathers were these, Peter	221: Claret-wine = a light-red wine.^1
222	Pickle-herring and Martin Martlemas-beef; O, but my	222: Pickle-herring = herring preserved (pickled) in brine or vinegar.^1 Ward points out the common appearance of such alliterative characters' names in the old morality plays. Martlemas-beef = beef hung up at Martlemas (November 11, the date of the Feast of St. Martin), the customary time to hang up for the winter those provisions that had been salted for preservation.^26
	godmother, she was a jolly gentlewoman, and well-
224	beloved in every good town and city; her name was
	Mistress Margery March-beer. Now, Faustus, thou	= also March-ale: a beer made in March, very popular, but considered undrinkable until it has been aged for two year.^8,26
226	hast heard all my progeny; wilt thou bid me to	= ancestry.^1
	supper?
228
	Faust. No, I'll see thee hanged: thou wilt eat up all
230	my victuals.
232	Gluttony. Then the devil choke thee!
234	Faust. Choke thyself, glutton! − What art thou, the
	sixth?
236
	Sloth. I am Sloth. I was begotten on a sunny bank,
238	where I have lain ever since; and you have done me
	great injury to bring me from thence: let me be carried	= ie. "a great wrong". = from there; a common but technically redundant combination, as thence by itself means "from there".
240	thither again by Gluttony and Lechery. I'll not speak	= to there.
	another word for a king's ransom.	= this expression dates back to at least 1488.^1
242
	Faust. What are you, Mistress Minx, the seventh	= a common form of address. A minx was a flirtatious
244	and last?	woman or a prostitute;^1 although Lechery's sex is not explicitly identified, his love of mutton (see the note below) suggests he is male; Spenser refers to Lechery specifically as he in The Faerie Queene.
246	Lechery. Who I, sir? I am one that loves an inch
	of raw mutton better than an ell of fried stock-fish;	247: mutton = slang for loose women or prostitutes, with obvious pun. ell = a length of about 45 inches; note how the word puns with hell, which could be pronounced without the h. stock-fish = dried cod.^4
248	and the first letter of my name begins with L.	248: the original quartos all have Lechery written out here instead of just the letter L; the change was made by later editors. This decision may be based on the existence of similar lines elsewhere, such as this one written by George Peele: "the first letter of his name begins with G", or Andrew Willet's slightly later "the first letter of your name R" (from 1603). Additionally, the change enables Faustus to pun on L and ell more obviously with hell in the next line. There are in literature examples, though, that support the argument that Lechery should be the last word of the line after all: as Ward points out, we have the following from John Lyly's 1580 Euphues: "the first letter of whose name...is Camilla." The construction also appears in the later play, The Family of Love, sometimes attributed to Thomas Middleton: "Her name begins with Mistress Purge, does it not?"
250	Faust. Away, to hell, to hell!	250: the original text did not assign this line to any
		character; some editors have given it to Lucifer.
252	[Exeunt the Sins.]
254	Lucif. Now, Faustus, how dost thou like this?
256	Faust. O, this feeds my soul!
258	Lucif. Tut, Faustus, in hell is all manner of delight.
260	Faust. O, might I see hell, and return again,
	How happy were I then!
262
	Lucif. Thou shalt; I will send for thee at midnight.
264	In meantime take this book; peruse it throughly,	= throughout, from beginning to end.^1
	And thou shalt turn thyself into what shape thou wilt.	= editors have commented that thyself should be omitted,
266		as it both is unnecessary for the meaning of the line, and adds a superfluous pair of syllables to the line, raising the total to 12 instead of the preferred 10.
	Faust. Great thanks, mighty Lucifer!
268	This will I keep as chary as my life.	= ie. "keep as carefully as I do".^1,7
270	Lucif. Farewell, Faustus, and think on the devil.
272	Faust. Farewell, great Lucifer.
274	[Exeunt Lucifer and Belzebub.]
276	Come, Mephistophilis.
278	[Exeunt.]
280	Enter Chorus.	280: here, at the half-way point of our play, the Chorus
		reenters the stage to offer some commentary.
282	Chorus. Learnèd Faustus,
	To know the secrets of astronomy
284	Graven in the book of Jove's high firmament,	= engraved. = God's high Heaven, ie. the heavens or the stars.
	Did mount himself to scale Olympus' top,	= rise. = Olympus was the mountain home of the Greek gods.
286	Being seated in a chariot burning bright,	286-7: seated in a chariot pulled by yoked (yoky) dragons,
	Drawn by the strength of yoky dragons' necks.
288	He now is gone to prove cosmography,	= experience, establish the extent of, or measure the geographical features of the earth, such as coastlines and national boundaries.^1,4,24
	And, as I guess, will first arrive at Rome,
290	To see the Pope and manner of his court,
	And take some part of holy Peter's feast,	= in. = the date must be June 29, or Petermas, the date of the feast of St. Peter and Paul.^1
292	That to this day is highly solemnized.	= Schelling suggests to this day means "today".^5
294	[Exit.]	Faustus Travels the World: the History describes at length a number of trips Faustus took to explore the world's numerous regions and cities, which he accomplished in his first journey as a passenger on "a waggon with two dragons before it"; on subsequent trips he rode on the back of Mephistophilis, who had transformed himself into the shape of a flying horse.
	SCENE VII.
	The Pope’s Privy-Chamber.	= private or inner room.^2
	Enter Faustus and Mephistophilis.
1	Faust. Having now, my good Mephistophilis,
2	Passed with delight the stately town of Trier,	2-5: the ancient German city of Trier (formerly Treves in English) lies on the right bank of the Moselle River, just a short distance from Luxembourg. The Encyclopedia Britannica of 1911 describes the city as lying "in a fertile valley shut in by vine-clad hills."
	Environed round with airy mountain-tops,
4	With walls of flint, and deep-entrenchèd lakes,	= deeply dug ditches, ie. a moat.^4,12
	Not to be won by any conquering prince;
6	From Paris next, coasting the realm of France,	= exploring or traveling along the coast of.^1,7
	We saw the river Maine fall into Rhine,	7: Faustus is describing the city of Mainz, about 75 miles east of Trier, where the Main River flows into the Rhine.
8	Whose banks are set with groves of fruitful vines;	8: the wines of the Rhine valleys, usually called Rennish, are referred to frequently in drama of the period. set = the verb to set had the specific meaning "to plant young plants or trees".^1
	Then up to Naples, rich Campania,	9-10: Naples is the capital of Campania, a region on the west, or Mediterranean, coast of Italy; the city was also noted in the play The Double Marriage, by John Fletcher and Philip Massinger, for its great beauty.
10	Whose buildings fair and gorgeous to the eye,
	The streets straight forth, and paved with finest brick,	11: a glance at a map of Naples shows that much of the city is gridded in straight streets. Sugden notes that the Via Toledo, which runs north to south, and the Strada San Trinita which crosses it, divide the old city, which was paved with basalt, into four quarters. straight forth = in straight lines.
12	Quarter the town in four equivalents:	= equal parts.^1
	There saw we learnèd Maro's golden tomb,	13-15: Maro is the famous 1st century B.C. Latin poet and Naples native Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro), author of the Aeneid. By the Middle Ages, various legends ascribed magical powers to Virgil, and a story arose that he cut through 700 meters of stone in one night to create the famous tunnel in the Posillipo district of Naples in which he was buried.^4,5
14	The way he cut, an English mile in length,
	Thorough a rock of stone, in one night's space;	= through.
16	From thence to Venice, Padua, and the rest,
	In midst of which a sumptuous temple stands,	17: the sumptuous temple is St. Mark's Basilica in Venice.
18	That threats the stars with her aspiring top.	= threatens. = rising or climbing.^2 17-18: Marlowe seems to have conflated the History's description of St. Mark's in Venice ("the sumptuous church") with that of St. Anthony's Cloister in Padua (actually called St. Anthony's Basilica, which has a cloister attached to it; the History describes its "pinnacles thereof and contrivement of the church, hath not the like in Christendom"). For the record, the tallest church in Italy was, and still is, the 15th century Florence Cathedral, whose dome reaches 376 feet into the air. The dome of St. Mark's in Venice, built in the 11th century, reaches only 141 feet high, which can hardly be said to threaten the heavens.
	Thus hitherto hath Faustus spent his time:	= "there until now".^2
20	But tell me now what resting-place is this?
	Hast thou, as erst I did command,	= earlier, previously.
22	Conducted me within the walls of Rome?
24	Meph. Faustus, I have; and, because we will not
	be unprovided, I have taken up his Holiness' privy-	= unprepared, ie. without resources or supplies.^1
26	chamber for our use.
28	Faust. I hope his Holiness will bid us welcome.	28: Faustus is slyly humorous; mockery of the Roman
		Catholic church was encouraged in Protestant England.
30	Meph. Tut, 'tis no matter; man; we'll be bold with his
	good cheer.
32	And now, my Faustus, that thou mayst perceive	32-33: thou may'st…containeth = previous editors have noted the existence of a backdrop painted with the city of Rome; this backdrop may have hung behind the characters on the stage in this scene, and it is to its features that Mephistophilis may be directing Faustus' attention through line 46.
	What Rome containeth to delight thee with,
34	Know that this city stands upon seven hills	= Rome has always been famous for its seven hills; seven here is pronounced as one syllable: se'en.
	That underprop the groundwork of the same:
36	Just through the midst runs flowing Tiber's stream,	36-37: these two lines no not appear in the 1604 quarto, but do so in the later editions; Dyce inserts them here, as line 38 makes no sense without them.
	With winding banks that cut it in two parts;
38	Over the which four stately bridges lean,	38: four stately bridges = Ward notes that 16th century Rome seems to have indeed had four bridges: the Ponte Angelo, the Bridge of the Senators, and the two bridges of the Insula. lean = bend or lie.^1
	That make safe passage to each part of Rome:
40	Upon the bridge called Ponto Angelo	40-41: the bridge known as the Pont Sant'Angelo was built in the 2nd century A.D.; the cylindrical Castel Sant'Angelo, built at the same time, originally served as the tomb of the emperor Hadrian. From the 14th century the building was used as a fortress by the popes. Note that the castle lies on the shore of the Tiber at the end of the bridge, and not upon the bridge as Mephistophilis asserts.
	Erected is a castle passing strong,	= exceedingly.
42	Within whose walls such store of ordnance are,	= such an abundance of artillery exists.
	And double cannons framed of carvèd brass,	= presumably an extra large cannon, though Gollancz suggests one with a double or twin barrel. The History refers to the castle's possessing such artillery "as will shoot seven bullets off with one fire."
44	As match the days within one cómplete year;	44: literally meaning there are 365 pieces of artillery in the castle.
	Besides the gates, and high pyrámidès,	45-46: high pyramides…Africa = the doctor and demon are
46	Which Julius Caesar brought from Africa.	presumably viewing the obelisk (pyramides, here used as a singular word) which had long stood in St. Peter's Square in the Vatican, and upon which had sat since ancient times a metal globe long thought to hold the ashes of Julius Caesar, but which when opened was found to be empty. It is because of this connection that it was thought Caesar himself brought the obelisk from Egypt (which Mephistophilis calls Africa). While at least two obelisks were brought to Rome by the Emperor Augustus, none are known to have been moved by Caesar.
48	Faust. Now, by the kingdoms of infernal rule,	48-50: Faustus swears on a host of Hades-related topographical names. kingdoms of infernal rule = in the History, Mephistophilis lists ten different kingdoms into which hell has been divided and over which the devils rule. infernal = ie. of hell.
	Of Styx, of Acheron, and the fiery lake	49: Styx = the most well known river of mythological hell. Acheron = this was the river across which the ferry- man Charon carried the souls of the departed into Hades proper.
50	Of ever-burning Phlegethon, I swear	50: between the banks of Phlegethon, a third river of Hades, there flowed a stream of fire instead of water
	That I do long to see the monuments
52	And situation of bright-splendent Rome:	= lay-out.
	Come, therefore, let's away.
54
	Meph. Nay, Faustus, stay: I know you’d fain see the Pope,	= gladly; but the word adds a superfluous syllable to the line.
56	And take some part of holy Peter's feast,
	Where thou shalt see a troop of bald-pate friars,	= bald-headed prelates; the custom of shaving the tops of the heads of clerics predates Christianity.
58	Whose summum bonum is in belly-cheer.	= chief good. = ie. good food.
60	Faust. Well, I'm content to compass then some sport,	= contrive (for). = entertainment.
	And by their folly make us merriment.
62	Then charm me, that I	62-64: these lines appear as a single line in the 1604 original.
	May be invisible, to do what I please,
64	Unseen of any whilst I stay in Rome.
66	[Mephistophilis charms him.]	66: ie. Faustus is made invisible.
68	Meph. So, Faustus; now
	Do what thou wilt, thou shalt not be discerned.	= seen.
70
	Sound a Sonnet.	= ie. sennet, a horn call indicating the entrance of characters of high-standing.^1
72	Enter the Pope and the Cardinal of Lorraine
	to the banquet, with Friars attending.	Entering Characters: the Pope is not identified by any name in the 1604 quarto (though he is addressed as Pope Adrian in the 1616 edition). Ward suggests that Marlowe probably decided to identify the other prelate as the Cardinal of Lorraine for no other reason than that the house of Guise in Lorraine was well-known by the English of the 16th century; as a matter of timing, this particular cleric could be John, Cardinal of Lorraine, who died in 1550.^15 Banquet of the Catholics: the History describes the collection of churchmen attending the Pope's feast as "proud, stout, wilful gluttons, drunkards, whoremongers, breakers of wedlock, and followers of all manner of ungodly excess" - as Faustus notes, people just like himself.
74
	Pope. My Lord of Lorraine, will't please you draw	= ie. "to draw".
76	near?
78	Faust. Fall to, and the devil choke you, an you spare!	78: fall to = an imperative, "start eating".^2 an you spare = "if you refrain from eating".^1
80	Pope. How now! who's that which spake? − Friars,	80-81: Faustus can be heard but not seen.
	look about.
82
	1st Friar. Here's nobody, if it like your Holiness.	= pleases.
84
	Pope. My lord, here is a dainty dish was sent me
86	from the Bishop of Milan.
88	Faust. I thank you, sir.
90	[Snatches the dish.]	90: Faustus grabs and makes invisible the indicated dish.
92	Pope. How now! who's that which snatched the
	meat from me? will no man look? − My lord, this	= dish.^1 93-94: this dish = the pope indicates a different
94	dish was sent me from the Cardinal of Florence.	dish.
96	Faust. You say true; I'll ha't.	= have it.
98	[Snatches the dish.]
100	Pope. What, again! − My lord, I'll drink to your grace.
102	Faust. I'll pledge your grace.
104	[Snatches the cup.]
106	Lorr. My lord, it may be some ghost, newly crept	106-8: the cardinal means that the soul of a sinner, who
	out of Purgatory, come to beg a pardon of your	though not damned to hell is stuck in Purgatory for a
108	Holiness.	number of years to pay for his sins, has come begging for an indulgence (pardon),^1 which if granted would shorten the term of his penalty, hastening his removal to Heaven; heavily criticized for its abuse - selling indulgences raised a lot of money for the church (and churchmen) - the practice was a major factor in the rise of the Reformation.^22
110	Pope. It may be so. − Friars, prepare a dirge to lay	= a song of mourning or lament for the dead.^1 = ie. allay.
	the fury of this ghost. − Once again, my lord, fall to.
112
	[The Pope crosses himself.]
114
	Faust. What, are you crossing of yourself?
116	Well, use that trick no more, I would advise you.
118	[The Pope crosses himself again.]
120	Well, there's the second time. Aware the third;	= ie. beware.
	I give you fair warning.
122
	[The Pope crosses himself again,
124	and Faustus hits him a box of the ear;	= on; in the History, Faustus did "smote the pope on his
	and they all run away.]	face", and "laughed so that the whole house might
126		hear him."
	Come on, Mephistophilis; what shall we do?
128
	Meph. Nay, I know not: we shall be cursed with	129-130: ie. "we shall be excommunicated." Our demon is
130	bell, book, and candle.	grimly ironic. In the Roman church, during an official pronunciation of excommunication, a bell was tolled, a book (usually the Bible) was closed, and one or more candles extinguished. The rite is believed to date to the 8th or 9th century.^23,26 The phrase bell, book and candle thus signified excommunication. Beginning at some later time in the English church, a curse was read four times a year from the pulpit against those who defrauded the church of their dues; the reading of the curse concluded with the following lines: "Doe to the book, quench the candle, ring the bell." The phrase "cursed by the bell, book and candle" subsequently became common (Nares, Vol. 1, p. 72).
132	Faust. How! bell, book, and candle, − candle, book, and bell, −	132-5: note Faustus' jocular rhyming couplets.
	Forward and backward, to curse Faustus to hell!
134	Anon you shall hear a hog grunt, a calf bleat, and an ass bray,	= immediately; with hog, calf and ass, Faustus is rather impolitely referring to the clerics, who are about to sing.
	Because it is Saint Peter's holiday.
136
	Re-enter all the Friars to sing the Dirge.
138
	1st Friar. Come, brethren, let's about our business	= ie. go about.
140	with good devotion.
142	[They sing.]
144	Cursed be he that stole away his Holiness' meat from
	the table! maledicat Dominus!	= "may the Lord curse him!"
146	Cursed be he that struck his Holiness a blow on the
	face! maledicat Dominus!
148	Cursed be he that took Friar Sandelo a blow on the	= gave or struck.
	pate! maledicat Dominus!	= head; Faustus has apparently whacked another cleric
150	Cursed be he that disturbeth our holy dirge!	on the noggin at some point.
	maledicat Dominus!
152	Cursed be he that took away his Holiness' wine!
	maledicat Dominus!
154	Et omnes Sancti! Amen!	= "and all the saints!"
156	[Mephistophilis and Faustus beat the Friars,
	and fling fire-works among them;	= small explosive devices.
158	and so Exeunt.]
160	Enter Chorus.
162	Chorus. When Faustus had with pleasure ta'en the view
	Of rarest things, and royal courts of kings,	= the most excellent.
164	He stayed his course, and so returnèd home;	= ceased or ended his travels.
	Where such as bear his absence but with grief,
166	I mean his friends and near'st companiöns,
	Did gratulate his safety with kind words,	= express joy over his safe return, ie. welcome or salute him.^1
168	And in their conferènce of what befell,	= conversation.
	Touching his journey through the world and air,	= regarding.
170	They put forth questions of astrology,
	Which Faustus answered with such learnèd skill
172	As they admired and wondered at his wit.	= that.
	Now is his fame spread forth in every land:
174	Amongst the rest the Emperor is one,
	Carolus the Fifth, at whose palace now	= ie. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor from 1519 to 1556.
176	Faustus is feasted 'mongst his noblemen.
	What there he did, in trial of his art,	= to demonstrate or testify to his skill in the black arts.^4,7
178	I leave untold; your eyes shall see['t] performed.
	[Exit.]
	SCENE VIII.
	Near an Inn.
	Enter Robin the Ostler, with a book in his hand.	Entering Character: Robin (a nickname for Robert) is a stable-man (ostler) at an inn.
1	Robin. O, this is admirable! here I ha' stolen one of	= have.
2	Doctor Faustus' conjuring-books, and, i'faith, I mean	= truthfully.
	to search some circles for my own use. Now will I	= ie. discover some spells within the book of magic.
4	make all the maidens in our parish dance at my
	pleasure, stark naked, before me; and so by that
6	means I shall see more than e'er I felt or saw yet.	= "I have ever touched or seen before." Speeches and scenes of this rawly bawdy nature were highly unlikely to have dripped from the pen of Christopher Marlowe.
8	Enter Ralph, calling Robin.	Entering Character: Ralph is another servant at the inn. In the quarto, Ralph is written as Rafe, the usual spelling of "Ralph" in the 16th and 17th centuries, according to its pronunciation.
10	Ralph. Robin, prithee, come away; there's a	= please.
	gentleman tarries to have his horse, and he would	ie. who is waiting for.
12	have his things rubbed and made clean: he keeps	= wiped.^24
	such a chafing with my mistress about it; and she	= fuming or raging; but as chafing can also mean "rubbing hard to harm the surface of", there is a pun with rubbed in the previous line.^24
14	has sent me to look thee out; prithee, come away.	= "find thee."
16	Robin. Keep out, keep out, or else you are blown	= "watch out" or "keep away".
	up, you are dismembered, Ralph: keep out, for I am
18	about a roaring piece of work.	= busy with. = boisterous or noisy,^24 or describing an
		activity befitting a boisterous person.^1 Roaring was often used to describe a person, as in Thomas Middleton's play The Roaring Girl.
20	Ralph. Come, what doest thou with that same book?
	thou canst not read?
22
	Robin. Yes, my master and mistress shall find that I	23-26: the dirty-minded Robin plans to use magic to get his mistress (the lady he works for) to sleep with him.
24	can read, he for his forehead, she for her private	24: he for his forehead = "my master for his forehead": an indirect but not subtle allusion to the horns Robin expects will metaphorically grow out of the forehead of his master, a proverbial conceit expressed of those men whose wives cheat on them. 24-25: she for her private study = "my mistress for her private pursuits", with obvious lewd meaning.
	study; she's born to bear with me, or else my art	25: to bear with me = the phrase carries various meanings,
26	fails.	including a suggestion of "to put up with me", but Robin
		means "to carry on an affair with me", as well as "to bear my weight" (bawdy) and "have my children".^1 art = magic.
28	Ralph. Why, Robin, what book is that?
30	Robin. What book! why, the most intolerable book	= exceedingly great.^2
	for conjuring that e'er was invented by any
32	brimstone devil.	= reference to sulphur as a burning material, as an attribute
		of hell.
34	Ralph. Canst thou conjure with it?
36	Robin. I can do all these things easily with it; first, I
	can make thee drunk with ippocras at any tabern in	37: ippocras = ie. hippocras, a medicated drink comprised of sweetened and spiced, and usually red, wine.^2 tabern = alternate form of "tavern".
38	Europe for nothing; that's one of my conjuring	= ie. free, no cost.
	works.
40
	Ralph. Our Master Parson says that's nothing.
42
	Robin. True, Ralph: and more, Ralph, if thou hast	43-44: if thou…mind to = "if you are interested in".
44	any mind to Nan Spit, our kitchen-maid, then turn	44: Nan Spit = Nan is a nickname for Ann, derived by
	her and wind her to thy own use, as often as thou	abbreviating the affectionate appellation "mine Ann".
46	wilt, and at midnight.	45-45: turn her and wind her = Robin puns on Nan's
		family name of Spit, a spit being a kitchen device comprised of a rod thrust through a piece of meat which would then be rotated above a fire. An automatic spit could be wound up to rotate on its own, hence Robin's suggestion that Ralph could wind her.
48	Ralph. O, brave, Robin! shall I have Nan Spit,
	and to mine own use? On that condition I'll feed	= ie. in return.
50	thy devil with horse-bread as long as he lives,	50: horse-bread = bread made of two parts beans and one part wheat, and fed to horses in the old days, under the belief it could add strength to the beast; also referred to as horse-loaves.^26
	of free cost.	= at no cost.
52
	Robin. No more, sweet Ralph: let's go and make
54	clean our boots, which lie foul upon our hands, and	= no doubt because they have been stepping through, er,
	then to our conjuring in the devil's name.	um, the stables.
56
	[Exeunt.]
	SCENE IX.
	The Same.	Scene ix: all the editors note that a scene between xiii and ix
		is missing here.
	Enter Robin and Ralph with a silver goblet.
1	Robin. Come, Ralph: did not I tell thee, we were for
2	ever made by this Doctor Faustus' book? Ecce,	2: made = to be made is to be successful, ie. their fortunes are assured. 2-3: Ecce, signum = "behold, a sign!"
	signum! here's a simple purchase for horse-keepers:	3: here's…horse-keepers = "this is a clear gain for grooms."^5
4	our horses shall eat no hay as long as this lasts.	4: ie. they will from now on eat finer fare.
6	Ralph. But, Robin, here comes the Vintner.	= ie. wine-seller.
8	Robin. Hush! I'll gull him supernaturally.	= deceive, play a trick on.
10	Enter Vintner.	Entering Character: the Vintner is the keeper of a tavern in which wine is sold.^5
12	Drawer, I hope all is paid; God be with you! –	= Robin mistakenly or deliberately refers to the Vintner by
	Come, Ralph.	a name used to describe one who pulls (draws) draughts of ale.
14
	Vint. Soft, sir; a word with you. I must yet have a	= "wait a minute".
16	goblet paid from you, ere you go.	= "paid for by you". = before; the Vintner is indirectly
		accusing the boys of stealing the goblet.
18	Robin. I a goblet, Ralph, I a goblet! − I scorn you;
	and you are but a, etc. I a goblet! search me.	= the actor fills in his own epithets here.
20
	Vint. I mean so, sir, with your favour.	= permission.
22
	[Searches Robin.]	23: Robin has rendered the goblet invisible to the Vintner.
24
	Robin. How say you now?
26
	Vint. I must say somewhat to your fellow. − You,	= something. = companion.
28	sir!
30	Ralph. Me, sir! me, sir! search your fill.
32	[Vintner searches him.]
34	Now, sir, you may be ashamed to burden honest men
	with a matter of truth.	= a matter raising a question about one's honesty.^4
36
	Vint. Well, tone of you hath this goblet about you.	= an ancient pronoun meaning "the one".^1
38
	Robin. [Aside] You lie, drawer, 'tis afore me. –	39: Robin humorously parses words: "it's not about me, it's in front of me!"
40	Sirrah you, I'll teach you to impeach honest men; −	40: Sirrah = a form of address expressing an assumption of superiority and contempt. impeach = accuse.^2
	stand by; − I'll scour you for a goblet; − stand aside	= beat.
42	you had best, I charge you in the name of Belzebub.	= ie. better. = order.
	− [Aside to Ralph] Look to the goblet, Ralph.
44
	Vint. What mean you, sirrah?	= the Vintner returns the insult.
46
	Robin. I'll tell you what I mean.
48	[Reads from a book] Sanctobulorum Periphrasticon	= ie. the; Robin attempts to conjure a spirit with gibberish Latin; the same can be said for lines 51-53.
	− nay, I'll tickle you, Vintner. –	= beat.
50	[Aside to Ralph]. Look to the goblet, Ralph −
	[Reads] Polypragmos
52	Belseborams framanto pacostiphos tostu,
	Mephistophilis, etc.
54
	Enter Mephistophilis,
56	sets squibs at their backs, and then Exit.	= small explosive devices, ie. fire-works;^1 rather than appear
	They run about.	subserviently before Robin, Mephistophilis punishes his summoners.
58
	Vint. O, nomine Domine! what meanest thou,	= slightly incorrect (though rhyming) Latin for "in the
60	Robin? thou hast no goblet.	name of the Lord"; Domine should be Domini.
62	Ralph. Peccatum peccatorum! − Here's thy goblet,	= "sin of sins!"
	good Vintner.
64
	[Gives the goblet to Vintner, who Exit.]
66
	Robin. Misericordia pro nobis! what shall I do?	= "mercy for us!"
68	Good devil, forgive me now, and I'll never rob thy
	library more.
70
	Re-enter Mephistophilis.
72
	Meph. Monarch of Hell, under whose black survey	= comprehending view.^1
74	Great potentates do kneel with awful fear,	= fear that is filled with awe, ie. terror.^1
	Upon whose altars thousand souls do lie,
76	How am I vexèd with these villains' charms?	= troubled, bothered. = villains were low fellows.^7
	From Constantinople am I hither come,	= to here.
78	Only for pleasure of these damnèd slaves.	76-78: Mephistophilis is clearly unhappy to have been
		summoned by the two boys; but note how the demon's inability to resist Robin's conjuring flatly contradicts the assertion he made earlier to Faustus that conjuring has no direct power over him: see Scene iii.64.
80	Robin. How, from Constantinople! you have had a
	great journey: will you take sixpence in your purse	= not a German currency, obviously.
82	to pay for your supper, and be gone?
84	Meph. Well, villains, for your presumption, I
	transform thee into an ape, and thee into a dog; and
86	so be gone!
88	[Exit.]
90	Robin. How, into an ape! that's brave: I'll have fine	= great, excellent.
	sport with the boys; I'll get nuts and apples enow.	= plural form of "enough".
92
	Ralph. And I must be a dog.
94
	Robin. I'faith, thy head will never be out of the
96	pottage-pot.	= porridge- or stew-dish.^1
98	[Exeunt.]
	SCENE X.
	The Emperor’s Court at Innsbruck.
	Enter Emperor, Faustus, and a Knight, with Attendants.	Entering Characters: the Emperor was identified by Faustus at Scene vii.176 as Charles V (1500-1556), who served as Holy Roman Emperor 1519-1556. As the Hapsburgs had long been associated primarily with Austria, it makes sense for the scene to take place in Innsbruck.
1	Emp. Master Doctor Faustus, I have heard strange
2	report of thy knowledge in the black art, how that	2: thy = note that the emperor addresses Faustus with thee, as is proper for a sovereign to address his subjects; Faustus, in return, will correctly address his superior with the respectful and deferential you. black art = magic generally and necromancy in particular.
	none in my empire nor in the whole world can
4	compare with thee for the rare effects of magic: they	= ie. with respect to. = splendid.
	say thou hast a familiar spirit, by whom thou canst	= an attendant spirit or demon which serves a sorcerer, often in the form of an animal; though familiar could be used as a noun by itself to mean the same.
6	accomplish what thou list. This, therefore, is my	= "whatever you want."
	request, that thou let me see some proof of thy skill,	= a demonstration.
8	that mine eyes may be witnesses to confirm what
	mine ears have heard reported: and here I swear to
10	thee, by the honour of mine imperial crown, that,
	whatever thou doest, thou shalt be no ways	11-12: the Emperor, a Catholic, promises Faustus he will
12	prejudiced or endamaged.	not be punished for engaging in the banned practice of necromancy.
14	Knight. [Aside] I'faith, he looks much like a	= truly; the Knight is sarcastic, and will prove himself an
	conjurer.	unbeliever in Faustus' claimed skills.
16
	Faust. My gracious sovereign, though I must
18	confess myself far inferior to the report men have
	published, and nothing answerable to the honour of	= spread, disseminated. = in no way commensurate with or
20	your imperial majesty, yet, for that love and duty	keeping to.^1,7
	binds me thereunto, I am content to do whatsoever
22	your majesty shall command me.
24	Emp. Then, Doctor Faustus, mark what I shall say.	= hear, note closely.
	As I was sometime solitary set	25: "as I once (sometime) was sitting alone, etc." Note the alliteration in the line.
26	Within my closet, sundry thoughts arose	= private rooms. = various.
	About the honour of mine ancestors,
28	How they had won by prowess such exploits,	28-29: the Hapsburg dynasty first rose to power in the 13th century, and took permanent possession of the emperor- ship of the Holy Roman Empire in 1452.
	Got such riches, subdued so many kingdoms,	= early editors wondered if Marlowe intended riches to be stressed on the second syllable to fit the meter.
30	As we that do succeed, or they that shall	= ie. "have come after them".
	Hereafter possess our throne, shall
32	(I fear me) ne'er attain to that degree	= common construction for "I fear".
	Of high renown and great authority:	= fame. = power.
34	Amongst which kings is Alexander the Great,
	Chief spectacle of the world's pre-eminence,	35: ie. the greatest example, ie. epitome, of the world's high- ranking and superior men.
36	The bright shining of whose glorious acts
	Lightens the world with his reflecting beams,	= brightens.
38	As when I hear but motion made of him,	= so that.^7 = mention.^4
	It grieves my soul I never saw the man:
40	If, therefore, thou, by cunning of thine art,	= knowledge.^7
	Canst raise this man from hollow vaults below,
42	Where lies entombed this famous conqueror,
	And bring with him his beauteous paramour,	= consort; Alexander was reported to have married three times, and had several, but not many, female lovers in his lifetime.
44	Both in their right shapes, gesture, and attire	= authentic bodily appearances. = manners or bearing.
	They used to wear during their time of life,
46	Thou shalt both satisfy my just desire,
	And give me cause to praise thee whilst I live.
48
	Faust. My gracious lord, I am ready to accomplish
50	your request, so far forth as by art and power of my	= to such an extent.^5
	spirit I am able to perform.
52
	Knight. [Aside] I'faith, that's just nothing at all.	53: "in truth, which is exactly nothing at all", or, per Ward, "truly, that's an easy feat".
54
	Faust. But, if it like your grace, it is not in my	= pleases.
56	ability to present before your eyes the true	56-57: true substantial bodies = actual physical bodies; Faustus means he can only summon spirits which resemble them.
	substantial bodies of those two deceased princes,	= ie. referring to Alexander and his wife as king and queen.
58	which long since are consumed to dust.
60	Knight. [Aside] Ay, marry, Master Doctor, now	= a common oath.
	there's a sign of grace in you, when you will confess	= virtue; the Knight continues to be sarcastic.
62	the truth.
64	Faust. But such spirits as can lively resemble	= ie. in a life-like manner.^7
	Alexander and his paramour shall appear before
66	your grace, in that manner that they best lived in, in	66: likely misprint for both, as the clause is adapted from the History: "in manner and form as they both lived".
	their most flourishing estate; which I doubt not shall	= glorious pomp.^1
68	sufficiently content your imperial majesty.
70	Emp. Go to, Master Doctor; let me see them
	presently.	= immediately.
72
	Knight. Do you hear, Master Doctor? you bring	73-74: the Knight addresses Faustus directly for the first
74	Alexander and his paramour before the Emperor!	time.
76	Faust. How then, sir?	76: "What? What's that, sir?" Faustus catches the Knight's cynicism.
78	Knight. I'faith, that's as true as Diana turned me to a	78-82: the men allude to the famous mythological story of
	stag.	Actaeon, a young man who accidentally stumbled onto Diana bathing naked in the woods; the virgin goddess punished Actaeon by turning him into a stag, and he was torn apart by his own dogs.
80
	Faust. No, sir; but, when Actaeon died, he left the	81-82: he left the horns for you = this enigmatic line will be
82	horns for you. − Mephistophilis, be gone.	explained shortly.
84	[Exit Mephistophilis.]
86	Knight. Nay, an you go to conjuring, I'll be gone.	= if.
88	[Exit.]
90	Faust. I'll meet with you anon for interrupting me	= "get revenge on you" or "pay you back".^1 = shortly.
	so. − Here they are, my gracious lord.
92
	Re-enter Mephistophilis with Spirits
94	in the Shapes of Alexander and his Paramour.
96	Emp. Master Doctor, I heard this lady, while she	96-98: the History explains here that the Emperor wants to make sure that the paramour is who Faustus claims she is, and not just a random female spirit.
	lived, had a wart or mole in her neck: how shall I	= though the anecdote of the wart is described in the
98	know whether it be so or no?	History, there is actually no such story regarding any of Alexander's women; but Ward identifies a similar incident in a story of the raising of the spirit of Mary of Burgundy, who was recognized by the emperor Maximilian I by a black mark on her neck.
100	Faust. Your highness may boldly go and see.	100: here the Emperor closely examines the lady-spirit.
102	Emp. Sure, these are no spirits, but the true	= ie. surely.
	substantial bodies of those two deceased princes.
104
	[Exeunt Spirits.]
106
	Faust. Wilt please your highness now to send for	= will it.
108	the knight that was so pleasant with me here of late?	= merry or droll, meaning "mocking".
110	Emp. One of you call him forth.
112	[Exit Attendant.]
114	Re-enter the Knight with a pair of horns on his head.
116	How now, sir knight! why, I had thought thou hadst	116-8: Faustus alludes to the well-known symbolism of a
	been a bachelor, but now I see thou hast a wife, that	husband with horns on his head signifying his wife is
118	not only gives thee horns, but makes thee wear them.	cheating on him. The joke is the most ubiquitous one
	Feel on thy head.	appearing in Elizabethan drama, save perhaps jests about venereal disease. sir knight (line 116) = the use of sir is mocking.
120
	Knight. Thou damnèd wretch and execrable dog,	= detestable.
122	Bred in the concave of some monstrous rock,	= hollow.^1
	How dar'st thou thus abuse a gentleman?	= mistreat. = the Knight is as concerned for the dignity
124	Villain, I say, undo what thou hast done!	of his status as a gentleman as he is for the physical deformity imposed on him.
126	Faust. O, not so fast, sir! there's no haste: but, good,	= a respectful form of address,^1 used mockingly here.
	are you remembered how you crossed me in my	= opposed.^1
128	conference with the Emperor? I think I have met	= conversation.
	with you for it.	128-9: I have met with you = "I am revenged on you"; see line 90 above.
130
	Emp. Good Master Doctor, at my entreaty release	= request.
132	him: he hath done penance sufficient.
134	Faust. My gracious lord, not so much for the injury	= read as "it was not so much for".
	he offered me here in your presence, as to delight	= ie. intended to inflict on. = ie. "but rather".
136	you with some mirth, hath Faustus worthily requited	= repaid, got revenge on.
	this injurious knight; which being all I desire, I am	= insulting.^1
138	content to release him of his horns: − and, sir knight,
	hereafter speak well of scholars. − Mephistophilis,
140	transform him straight.
142	[Mephistophilis removes the horns.]
144	− Now, my good lord, having done my duty, I
	humbly take my leave.
146
	Emp. Farewell, Master Doctor: yet, ere you go,	= before.
148	Expect from me a bounteous reward.	= generous.
150	[Exeunt Emperor, Knight, and Attendants.]	150: Faustus and Mephistophilis remain on stage, leading directly into the next scene.
	SCENE XI.
	A Green; afterwards the House of Faustus.	Scene xi: the first part of the scene takes place in a "fair and pleasant green" (see line 10).
1	Faust. Now, Mephistophilis, the restless course	1-2: note the interesting metaphor of time running a race or on a path (course), with foot. restless = unceasing.
2	That time doth run with calm and silent foot,
	Short’ning my days and thread of vital life,	= a common metaphor; the length of one's life was measured
4	Calls for the payment of my latest years:	by a thread spun by the three mythological Fates, and
	Therefore, sweet Mephistophilis, let us	when they cut the thread, life was snuffed.
6	Make haste to Wertenberg.
8	Meph. What, will you go on horse-back or on foot?
10	Faust. Nay, till I'm past this fair and pleasant green,
	I'll walk on foot.
12
	Enter a Horse-Courser.	= a dealer or trader in horses.^26 Contemporary literature
14		ascribed to horse coursers a reputation for duplicity,^12 like a modern used car-salesman. A 1613 work states, for example, "That he is a disease in the body where he liveth, (would be) as strange a thing to doubt, as whether there be knavery in Horse-coursers."
	Horse-C. I have been all this day seeking one
16	Master Fustian: mass, see where he is! − God save	16: Master Fustian = the Horse-Courser regularly confuses
	you, Master Doctor!	Faustus' name; fustian was a cloth made of cotton and flax,
18		but then also became an adjective used to describe bombastic or exaggeratedly pompous language or people. mass (line 16) = a common oath.
	Faust. What, horse-courser! you are well met.
20
	Horse-C. Do you hear, sir? I have brought you
22	forty dollars for your horse.	= the English name for a German silver coin called a
		"thaler".^1
24	Faust. I cannot sell him so: if thou likest him for
	fifty, take him.
26
	Horse-C. Alas, sir, I have no more! − I pray you,	= please; the horse dealer appeals to Mephistophilis.
28	speak for me.
30	Meph. I pray you, let him have him: he is an honest
	fellow, and he has a great charge, neither wife nor	= responsibility; it was proverbial for a man to plead that
32	child.	he had "wife and child and great charge", so our demon
		speaks ironically here.
34	Faust. Well, come, give me your money:
36	[Horse-Courser gives Faustus the money]
38	my boy will deliver him to you. But I must tell you
	one thing before you have him; ride him not into the
40	water, at any hand.	= in any case, ie. no matter what.^2
42	Horse-C. Why, sir, will he not drink of all waters?	= proverbial for "do anything"; the Clown in Shakespeare's
		Twelfth Night says "I am for all waters" in Act IV.ii.
44	Faust. O, yes, he will drink of all waters; but ride
	him not into the water: ride him over hedge or ditch,
46	or where thou wilt, but not into the water.
48	Horse-C. Well, sir. –
	[Aside] Now am I made man for ever: I'll not leave	= "my success in life is assured". = ie. be separated from, ie. sell.
50	my horse for forty: if he had but the quality of hey-	50: for forty = Dyce wonders if for twice forty wouldn't
	ding-ding, hey-ding-ding, I’d make a brave living	make more sense here.
52	on him: he has a buttock as slick as an eel. − Well,	50-51: if he…ding-ding = hey-ding-ding was a refrain that appears in a number of songs and poems of the day, so that the horse dealer's point appears to be "if only the horse could sing"; but Robert Halpern, in Eclipse of Action (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017), suggests the succeeding line regarding the horse's slippery rear-end indicates that he is really wishing the horse was a stallion rather than a mare, so that he could breed it. In Shakespeare's As You Like It, a page sings in part "When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding" in Act V.iii. a brave (line 51) = an excellent. slick (line 52) = sleek or smooth.^4,24
	God b'wi'ye, sir: your boy will deliver him me: but,	= "God be with you", a precursor to "good bye".
54	hark you, sir; if my horse be sick or ill at ease, if I	= listen.
	bring his water to you, you'll tell me what it is?	= urine; the medical profession in this era still put great
56		stock in urinalysis as a tool of diagnosis; the Horse Courser is making a joke out of Faustus' mention of water.
	Faust. Away, you villain! what, dost think I am a
58	horse-doctor?
60	[Exit Horse-Courser.]	60: at this point, the scene switches to a room in Faustus' house.
62	What art thou, Faustus, but a man condemned to die?	62-67: Faustus' palpable grief is jarring in its contrast to the ridiculous fooling he has been engaging in with the Horse Courser.
	Thy fatal time doth draw to final end;	= "the time determined by fate for you".^4
64	Despair doth drive distrust into my thoughts:	64: note the intense alliteration in this line, which heightens the force of Faustus' emotions.
	Confound these passions with a quiet sleep:	= silence, put to rest. = agitating emotions.
66	Tush, Christ did call the thief upon the Cross;	66: Jesus forgave the penitent thief even as both were about to die on their respective crosses; Faustus is trying to convince himself that it is not too late even for him to be saved. call = invite to salvation.^4
	Then rest thee, Faustus, quiet in conceit.	= thought.
68
	[Sleeps in his chair.]
70
	Re-enter Horse-Courser, all wet, crying.
72
	Horse-C. Alas, alas! Doctor Fustian, quoth a?	= "Doctor Fustian, indeed!"
74	mass, Doctor Lopus was never such a doctor:	= ie. "even Doctor Lopus would never have stooped so low". Roderigo Lopez (1525-1594) was a Portuguese doctor who lived and practiced in England, rising to become Queen Elizabeth's chief physician in 1586; though outwardly a converted and practicing Protestant, Lopez was known to be originally a Jew, and never overcame the suspicion that he was not a genuine convert. Suspected of poisoning the queen, he was arrested and executed in 1594. Insisting on his innocence to the last moment, he famously asserted just as he was about to be hanged that "he loved the queen as well as he loved Jesus Christ" - which was taken as evidence by the cynical and jeering crowd that he loved Jesus not at all.^17 Since Marlowe, who was murdered in 1593, was dead before Lopez was executed, Waltrous suggests this line may have been added by someone other than our playwright.
	has given me a purgation, has purged me of forty	= ie. he has. = purging, suggestive of an enema or laxative.
76	dollars; I shall never see them more. But yet, like an
	ass as I was, I would not be ruled by him, for he	= ie. "listen to his admonition".
78	bade me I should ride him into no water: now I,
	thinking my horse had had some rare quality that he	= fine, splendid.
80	would not have had me known of, I, like a venturous	= acquainted with.^2
	youth, rid him into the deep pond at the town's end.
82	I was no sooner in the middle of the pond, but my
	horse vanished away, and I sat upon a bottle of hay,	= bundle.^2
84	never so near drowning in my life. But I'll seek out
	my doctor, and have my forty dollars again, or I'll	85-86: have my…horse = "Faustus will return my 40 dollars, or he will pay most dearly for it", ie. the Horse Courser is vaguely threatening to harm the doctor if his money is not refunded.
86	make it the dearest horse! − O, yonder is his snipper-	86-87: snipper-snapper = small and insignificant lad,^21 referring to Mephistophilis, whom he addresses.
	snapper. − Do you hear? you, hey-pass, where's	= magician; the phrase was used by magicians as a
88	your master?	command to make an item move.^1
90	Meph. Why, sir, what would you? you cannot speak	= "what do you want?"
	with him.
92
	Horse-C. But I will speak with him.
94
	Meph. Why, he's fast asleep: come some other time.
96
	Horse-C. I'll speak with him now, or I'll break his
98	glass-windows about his ears.	= Ward notes that glass window-panes were indeed in use
		in England at this time, if not universally.
100	Meph. I tell thee, he has not slept this eight nights.
102	Horse-C. An he have not slept this eight weeks, I'll	= if, ie. even if.
	speak with him.
104
	Meph. See, where he is, fast asleep.
106
	Horse-C. Ay, this is he. − God save you, Master
108	Doctor, Master Doctor, Master Doctor Fustian! forty
	dollars, forty dollars for a bottle of hay!
110
	Meph. Why, thou seest he hears thee not.
112
	Horse-C. [Hollows in his ear.] So-ho, ho! so-ho,	= a hunter's call, used to announce the discovery of a hare.
114	ho! No, will you not wake? I'll make you wake ere I go.	= before.
116	[Pulls Faustus by the leg, and pulls it away.]	= off; one of the oddest stage directions in the canon.
118	Alas, I am undone! what shall I do?	= ruined.
120	Faust. O, my leg, my leg! − Help, Mephistophilis!
	call the officers. − My leg, my leg!
122
	Meph. Come, villain, to the constable.
124
	Horse-C. O Lord, sir, let me go, and I'll give you
126	forty dollars more!
128	Meph. Where be they?
130	Horse-C. I have none about me: come to my ostry,	= hostelry, ie. inn.^1
	and I'll give them you.
132
	Meph. Be gone quickly.
134
	[Horse-Courser runs away.]
136
	Faust. What, is he gone? farewell he! Faustus has
138	his leg again, and the horse-courser, I take it, a
	bottle of hay for his labour: well, this trick shall cost
140	him forty dollars more.
142	Enter Wagner.
144	How now, Wagner! what's the news with thee?
146	Wag. Sir, the Duke of Vanholt doth earnestly
	entreat your company.
148
	Faust. The Duke of Vanholt! an honourable
150	gentleman, to whom I must be no niggard of my	150-1: I must…cunning = "I must not be sparing in the use
	cunning. − Come, Mephistophilis, let's away to him.	of my skill (to please him)."
152
154	[Exeunt.]
	SCENE XII.
	The Court of the Duke of Vanholt.
	Enter the Duke Of Vanholt, the Duchess,	Entering Characters: the Duke of Vanholt is really the
	and Faustus.	Duke of Anholt, a duchy situated in eastern Germany.
1	Duke. Believe me, Master Doctor, this merriment	= entertainment.
2	hath much pleased me.
4	Faust. My gracious lord, I am glad it contents you	= satisfies.
	so well. − But it may be, madam, you take no
6	delight in this. I have heard that great-bellied	= pregnant.
	women do long for some dainties or other: what is it,	= delicacies, ie. treats.
8	madam? tell me, and you shall have it.
10	Duch. Thanks, good Master Doctor: and, for I see
	your courteous intent to pleasure me, I will not hide
12	from you the thing my heart desires; and, were it
	now summer, as it is January and the dead time of
14	the winter, I would desire no better meat than a dish	= food.
	of ripe grapes.
16
	Faust. Alas, madam, that's nothing! – Mephistophilis,	17: Alas = sometimes used as an exclamation of positive
18	be gone.	affirmation, as here, and not always regret.
		that's nothing = "that's easy."
20	[Exit Mephistophilis.]
22	Were it a greater thing than this, so it would content	22: Were it…than this = ie. "if only I could do something
	you, you should have it.	greater than this for you".
24		so (line 22) = provided that.
	Re-enter Mephistophilis with grapes.
26
	Here they be, madam: wilt please you taste on them?	= of.
28
	Duke. Believe me, Master Doctor, this makes me
30	wonder above the rest, that being in the dead time of	= more than anything.
	winter and in the month of January, how you should
32	come by these grapes.
34	Faust. If it like your grace, the year is divided into	= pleases.
	two circles over the whole world, that, when it is
36	here winter with us, in the contrary circle it is
	summer with them, as in India, Saba, and farther	= Sabaea or Sheba, an ancient kingdom located in southern Arabia.^10
38	countries in the east; and by means of a swift spirit	= Marlowe would have been more climatically accurate if he had said south here.
	that I have, I had them brought hither, as you see. –	= to here.
40	How do you like them, madam? be they good?
42	Duch. Believe me, Master Doctor, they be the best
	grapes that e'er I tasted in my life before.
44
	Faust. I am glad they content you so, madam.
46
	Duke. Come, madam, let us in, where you must	= ie. go in.
48	well reward this learned man for the great kindness
	he hath shewed to you.
50
	Duch. And so I will, my lord; and, whilst I live, rest
52	beholding for this courtesy.	ie. "beholden or obliged to you".
54	Faust. I humbly thank your grace.
56	Duke. Come, Master Doctor, follow us, and receive
	your reward.
58
	[Exeunt.]
	SCENE XIII.
	A Room in the House of Faustus.
	Enter Wagner.
1	Wag. I think my master means to die shortly,	= perhaps these words should be reversed for the sake of the meter.
2	For he hath given to me all his goods:
	And yet, methinks, if that death were near,	= methinketh may be preferable, also for the sake of the meter.^2
4	He would not banquet, and carouse, and swill	= feast, regale.^1 = carouse and swill both suggest "to drink excessively", especially alcohol.^1
	Amongst the students, as even now he doth,	= ie. right now, at this moment.^7
6	Who are at supper with such belly-cheer
	As Wagner ne'er beheld in all his life.
8	See, where they come! belike the feast is ended.	= it seems. 1-8: the History digresses several times to describe how fond Faustus was of Wagner: "Faustus loved the boy well", we read in Chapter VIII, "hoping to make him as good or better seen in hellish exercises than himself."
10	[Exit.]	10: the original quarto does not direct Wagner to leave the stage; as Ward points out, the servant, as an accomplished student, is not necessarily inferior in any way to the about-to-enter Scholars.
12	Enter Faustus with two or three Scholars,
	and Mephistophilis.
14
	1st Sch. Master Doctor Faustus, since our
16	conference about fair ladies, which was the	= discussion. = read as "regarding who".
	beautifulest in all the world, we have determined	17-18: determined with ourselves = ie. agreed.^4
18	with ourselves that Helen of Greece was the	= ie. Helen of Troy.
	admirablest lady that ever lived: therefore, Master
20	Doctor, if you will do us that favour, as to let us see
	that peerless dame of Greece, whom all the world	21-22: whom all…majesty = oddly, the clause is repeated exactly below at 38; Boas suggests this is a printer's mistake, and would omit the words from this speech.
22	admires for majesty, we should think ourselves
	much beholding unto you.	= beholden.
24
	Faust. Gentlemen,
26	For that I know your friendship is unfeigned,
	And Faustus' custom is not to deny
28	The just requests of those that wish him well,
	You shall behold that peerless dame of Greece,
30	No otherways for pomp and majesty	= ie. "appearing no differently in her".^1
	Than when Sir Paris crossed the seas with her,	31-32: the second reference in our play to the Trojan prince Paris, who, while visiting Sparta, seduced and absconded with the beautiful Helen, wife and queen of King Menelaus, sailing away across the Aegean Sea to Troy, which was located on the north-west tip of Asia Minor.
32	And brought the spoils to rich Dardania.	32: spoils = perhaps a reference to the treasures Paris was said, according to one tradition, to have stolen from Menelaus. Dardania = the region of north-west Asia Minor in which Troy was located.
	Be silent, then, for danger is in words.	33: a reference to the sentiment often expressed before
34		Greek and Roman religious ceremonies, such as sacrifices;^7 in ancient Rome, the words of a religious invocation had to be pronounced precisely and without error for them to be effective. Some commentators have noted how fitting these words are for Marlowe, who, as we mentioned in Scene i.115, in addition to being a playwright, served in the queen's secret service.
	[Music sounds, and Helen passeth over the stage.]
36
	2nd Sch. Too simple is my wit to tell her praise,	37: ie. "my ability to express myself is too poor to praise her
38	Whom all the world admires for majesty.	sufficiently".
40	3rd Sch. No marvel though the angry Greeks pursued	= "it is no wonder". = prosecuted.^4
	With ten years' war the rape of such a queen,	41: With ten years' war = it took a full decade for the Greeks to take Troy. rape = abduction; Elizabethan writers, when describing Helen, go back and forth in referring to her as a whore, for running away with Paris on her own volition, on the one hand, and as a victim of a kidnapping, as here, on the other.
42	Whose heavenly beauty passeth all compare.	= surpasses all comparison.^4
44	1st Sch. Since we have seen the pride of Nature's works,
	And only paragon of excellence,	= unparalleled model.^1
46	Let us depart; and for this glorious deed
	Happy and blest be Faustus evermore!
48
	Faust. Gentlemen, farewell: the same I wish to you.
50
	[Exeunt Scholars.]
52
	Enter an Old Man.	Entering Character: the Old Man is a God-fearing
54		neighbour of Faustus', representing our doctor's last chance at redemption.
	Old Man. Ah, Doctor Faustus, that I might prevail
56	To guide thy steps unto the way of life,
	By which sweet path thou may’st attain the goal
58	That shall conduct thee to celestial rest!	= ie. eternal peace in Heaven.
	Break heart, drop blood, and mingle it with tears,	= even as the heart was considered the seat of life, blood was understood to be the fluid which sustains life, and the two were frequently poetically connected (hence the ancient word heart-blood).^1,20
60	Tears falling from repentant heaviness
	Of thy most vild and loathsome filthiness,	= vile.
62	The stench whereof corrupts the inward soul
	With such flagitious crimes of heinous sins	= most wicked.^1
64	As no commiseration may expel,	= that. = pity.^1
	But mercy, Faustus, of thy Saviour sweet,
66	Whose blood alone must wash away thy guilt.	66: Christ died to expiate the sins of all humanity.
68	Faust. Where art thou, Faustus? wretch, what hast thou done?
	Damned art thou, Faustus, damned; despair and die!	69: in Shakespeare's Richard III, written perhaps just a few years after Doctor Faustus, the various ghosts of Act V.iii visit the king's troubled sleep before battle, all advising him to "despair, and die".
70	Hell calls for right, and with a roaring voice	= justice.
	Says, "Faustus, come; thine hour is almost come;"	= almost appears in the 1616, but not the 1604, edition.
72	And Faustus now will come to do thee right.	= referring to Faustus' hour. = "pay you your due."^5
74	[Mephistophilis gives him a dagger.]
76	Old Man. Ah, stay, good Faustus, stay thy desperate steps!	= stop, delay.
	I see an angel hovers o'er thy head,
78	And, with a vial full of precious grace,	78: Ward notes the allusion to the sacrament of extreme unction, in which a priest grants remission of sins as he anoints a sick or dying person with oil;^11 vial is disyllabic.
	Offers to pour the same into thy soul:
80	Then call for mercy, and avoid despair.
82	Faust. Ah, my sweet friend, I feel
	Thy words to comfort my distressèd soul!
84	Leave me a while to ponder on my sins.
86	Old Man. I go, sweet Faustus; but with heavy cheer,	= sadness; cheer was used to mean "mood" in general.^1
	Fearing the ruin of thy hopeless soul.	= ie. without hope (of salvation).^7
88
	[Exit.]
90
	Faust. Accursèd Faustus, where is mercy now?
92	I do repent; and yet I do despair:
	Hell strives with grace for conquest in my breast:	= ie. against. = ie. divine mercy.^7
94	What shall I do to shun the snares of death?	= avoid.
96	Meph. Thou traitor, Faustus, I arrest thy soul	= take hold of.
	For disobedience to my sovereign lord:
98	Revolt, or I'll in piece-meal tear thy flesh.	= "return to your former allegiance".^1 = into pieces.
100	Faust. Sweet Mephistophilis, entreat thy lord	= ask, beg.
	To pardon my unjust presumptiön,
102	And with my blood again I will confirm
	My former vow I made to Lucifer.
104
	Meph. Do it, then, quickly, with unfeignèd heart,	= ie. not false, unfeigning.
106	Lest greater danger do attend thy drift.	= accompany. = direction or course (he is heading).^4
108	[Faustus stabs his arm,	108-9: the stage direction was added by Dyce.
	and writes on a paper with his blood.]
110
	Faust. Torment, sweet friend, that base and crooked age,	111-3: Faustus blames the Old Man (crooked age) for causing his doubts, and asks Mephistophilis to inflict the greatest torture known in hell on him; Torment is a verb, an imperative.
112	That durst dissuade me from thy Lucifer,	= "who dared".
	With greatest torments that our hell affords.	= provides.
114
	Meph. His faith is great; I cannot touch his soul;
116	But what I may afflict his body with
	I will attempt, which is but little worth.
118
	Faust. One thing, good servant, let me crave of thee,	= ask.
120	To glut the longing of my heart's desire, −	= satiate, satisfy.
	That I might have unto my paramour	= "to be my lover".
122	That heavenly Helen which I saw of late,	= recently.
	Whose sweet embracings may extinguish clean
124	These thoughts that do dissuade me from my vow,
	And keep mine oath I made to Lucifer.
126
	Meph. Faustus, this, or what else thou shalt desire,
128	Shall be performed in twinkling of an eye.	= this still familiar phrase dates back at least to 1303.^1
130	Re-enter Helen.
132	Faust. Was this the face that launched a thousand ships,	132: here appears one of the most famous non-Shakespearean lines from all of the era's drama. Shakespeare borrowed the sentiment for his 1602 Troilus and Cressida, when in Act II.ii Troilus describes Helen, and by extension Cressida, as "a pearl, / Whose price hath launch'd above a thousand ships".
	And burnt the topless towers of Ilium −	133: and caused the sack of Troy (Ilium being another name
134	Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss. −	for Troy); topless = without tops (they are so high), or
		so high as to be immeasurable.^12
136	[Kisses her.]
138	Her lips sucks forth my soul: see, where it flies! −	= the later editions correct this to suck. = ie. out.
	Come, Helen, come, give me my soul again.
140	Here will I dwell, for Heaven be in these lips,
	And all is dross that is not Helena.	= worthless trash.
142	I will be Paris, and for love of thee,
	Instead of Troy, shall Wertenberg be sacked;
144	And I will combat with weak Menelaus,	144: in Book III of the Iliad, the Greek and Trojan armies agreed that their conflict should be settled by single combat between Paris and Helen's husband, the Spartan king Menelaus; overcome and about to be slain, Paris was snatched away from the field and to the safety of his apartment in the palace by the goddess Venus.
	And wear thy colours on my plumèd crest;	= helmet.
146	Yea, I will wound Achilles in the heel,	146: traditions outside of the Iliad described Paris as slaying Achilles by shooting an arrow into his only vulnerable body part, his heel.
	And then return to Helen for a kiss.
148	O, thou art fairer than the evening air
	Clad in the beauty of a thousand stars;	= clothed.
150	Brighter art thou than flaming Jupiter
	When he appeared to hapless Semele;	150-1: Semele was a daughter of the Greek hero Cadmus, and beloved by Jupiter. Jupiter's wife Juno, jealous of Semele, came to her in the shape of her nurse, and convinced her to pray to Jupiter to appear before her in the same brilliant majesty in which he appears before Juno. Having sworn to give Semele anything she asked for, Jupiter was forced to fulfill her request, but for a mere mortal to view a god in his or her true form is fatal, and Semele was accordingly killed by the fire and lightning surrounding the king of the gods.
152	More lovely than the monarch of the sky	152-3: the reference is to the story of the river god Alpheos,
	In wanton Arethusa's azured arms;	who while hunting one day came upon, fell in love with, and pursued the nymph Arethusa; she, unwilling, turned herself into a well, whereupon Alpheos transformed himself into a river which flowed into, and thus united with, the well.^29 As the editors note, in referring to Jupiter (the monarch of the sky) as the protagonist of the myth, Marlowe was mistaken. azured = blue, describing water.
154	And none but thou shalt be my paramour!
156	[Exeunt.]	Faustus' Mistresses: in the History, Faustus asks for Mephistophilis to bring him "seven of the fairest women" that they had seen in their travels around the world; the demon fulfilled this request, bringing the doctor "two Netherland, one Hungarian, one Scottish, two Walloon, one Franklander", which women with "he continued long, yea, even to his last end."
158	Enter the Old Man.	158ff: Dyce suggests the scene switches to the home of the Old Man, but Bullen and others think we have only moved to another room in the doctor's house.
160	Old Man. Accursèd Faustus, miserable man,
	That from thy soul exclud'st the grace of Heaven,
162	And fly'st the throne of his tribunal-seat!	= flies from, flees. = ie. its.
164	Enter Devils.
166	Satan begins to sift me with his pride:	166: sift = test;^1 the allusion is to Luke 22:31: "And the Lord saide: Simon, Simon, beholde Satan hath decided to sift you, as it were wheat" (1568 Bishop's Bible). pride = display of power.^12
	As in this furnace God shall try my faith,	167: reference to Daniel 3, in which the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar threw Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (three Jews who administered part of Babylon) into a furnace for failing to worship a gold statue the king had had built; the trio were unharmed by the fire, and the king rechanneled his people's worship to the God of the Jews.^5
168	My faith, vile hell, shall triumph over thee.
	Ambitious fiends, see how the heavens smile	= heaven(s), almost always pronounced in one syllable, is here disyllabic.
170	At your repulse, and laugh your state to scorn!	= power.^7
	Hence, hell! for hence I fly unto my God.	= "go from here, hell!" = from here.
172
	[Exeunt, − on one side, Devils,
174	on the other, Old Man.]
	SCENE XIV.
	A Room in the House of Faustus.
	Enter Faustus, with Scholars.
1	Faust. Ah, gentlemen!
2
	1st Sch. What ails Faustus?
4
	Faust. Ah, my sweet chamber-fellow, had I lived	5-6: my sweet…lived still = "my dear university roommate (chamber-fellow), if I had stayed living with you, I would have lived forever", ie. since the Scholar, with his positive influence, would presumably have dissuaded Faustus from traveling the path of the damned.
6	with thee, then had I lived still! but now I die
	eternally. Look, comes he not? comes he not?	7: the terrified Faustus is of course speaking of either
8		Lucifer or Mephistophilis.
	2nd Scholar. What means Faustus?
10
	3rd Scholar. Belike he is grown into some sickness	= it seems likely. = fallen.^4
12	by being over-solitary.
14	1st Scholar. If it be so, we'll have physicians to cure
	him. − 'Tis but a surfeit; never fear, man.	= "he over-ate or over-drank". = this is the earliest
16		appearance of this still common expression, per the OED.
	Faust. A surfeit of deadly sin, that hath damned
18	both body and soul.
20	2nd Scholar. Yet, Faustus, look up to Heaven;
	remember God's mercies are infinite.
22
	Faust. But Faustus' offence can ne'er be pardoned:
24	the serpent that tempted Eve may be saved, but not
	Faustus. Ah, gentlemen, hear me with patience, and
26	tremble not at my speeches! Though my heart pants
	and quivers to remember that I have been a student	= ie. resident.^7
28	here these thirty years, O, would I had never seen	= "if only" or "I wish".
	Wertenberg, never read book! and what wonders I	= ie. taken up scholarship.
30	have done, all Germany can witness, yea, all the
	world; for which Faustus hath lost both Germany
32	and the world, yea, Heaven itself, Heaven, the seat
	of God, the throne of the blessed, the kingdom of
34	joy; and must remain in hell for ever, − hell, ah, hell,
	for ever! Sweet friends, what shall become of
36	Faustus, being in hell for ever?
38	3rd Sch. Yet, Faustus, call on God.
40	Faust. On God, whom Faustus hath abjured! on	= rejected.
	God, whom Faustus hath blasphemed! Ah, my God,
42	I would weep! but the devil draws in my tears. Gush
	forth blood, instead of tears! yea, life and soul! − O,
44	he stays my tongue! I would lift up my hands; but	= "keeps me from speaking!"
	see, they hold them, they hold them!
46
	All. Who, Faustus?
48
	Faust. Lucifer and Mephistophilis. Ah, gentlemen,
50	I gave them my soul for my cunning!	= ie. "in return for". = knowledge.
52	All. God forbid!
54	Faust. God forbade it, indeed; but Faustus hath
	done it: for vain pleasure of twenty-four years hath	= "in return for". = idle, foolish.
56	Faustus lost eternal joy and felicity. I writ them a	= happiness. = wrote.
	bill with mine own blood: the date is expired; the	= deed. = ie. arrived.
58	time will come, and he will fetch me.
60	1st Sch. Why did not Faustus tell us of this
	before, that divines might have prayed for thee?	= clergymen, theologians.
62
	Faust. Oft have I thought to have done so; but the
64	devil threatened to tear me in pieces, if I named God,
	to fetch both body and soul, if I once gave ear to
66	divinity: and now 'tis too late. Gentlemen, away, lest	= "go away", or "leave me alone".
	you perish with me.
68
	2nd Sch. O, what shall we do to [save] Faustus?	= save , which appears in the later editions, was missing
70		from this line in the 1604 quarto.
	Faust. Talk not of me, but save yourselves, and
72	depart.
74	3^rd Sch. God will strengthen me; I will stay with
	Faustus.
76
	1st Sch. Tempt not God, sweet friend; but let us into
78	the next room, and there pray for him.
80	Faust. Ay, pray for me, pray for me; and what noise
	soever ye hear, come not unto me, for nothing can
82	rescue me.	80-82: in the History, Faustus advises his friends not to be
		afraid of "any noise or rumbling about the house", for no harm will come to them; Marlowe has subtly changed Faustus' admonition, advising the scholars, should they hear any fearsome sounds, not to try to save him.
84	2nd Scholar. Pray thou, and we will pray that God
	may have mercy upon thee.
86
	Faust. Gentlemen, farewell: if I live till morning,
88	I'll visit you; if not, Faustus is gone to hell.
90	All. Faustus, farewell.
92	[Exeunt Scholars. − The clock strikes eleven.]
94	Faust. Ah, Faustus,
	Now hast thou but one bare hour to live,	= bare may be disyllabic here: ba-yer.
96	And then thou must be damned perpetually! −
	Stand still, you ever-moving spheres of Heaven,	= ie. turning. = another reference to the various spheres containing all the heavenly bodies which rotate around the earth.
98	That time may cease, and midnight never come;	= come to a stop.
	Fair Nature's eye, rise, rise again, and make	= Faustus addresses the sun.
100	Perpetual day; or let this hour be but	= never-ending.
	A year, a month, a week, a natural day,	= an ordinary day, ie. 24 hours.
102	That Faustus may repent and save his soul!
	O lente, lente currite, noctis equi!	= "Oh, slowly, slowly run ye, horses of the night"; from Ovid's collection of poetry, Amores.^5 In the Amores I.13, the narrator has just spent the night with his mistress, whose husband is an old man, and he wonders why Aurora (personified Dawn) is in a hurry to appear; he chastises Aurora severely, suggesting that if Aurora herself had just spent the night with the handsome prince Cephalus whom she loved, she too would cry out for a delay in the arrival of the morning; the narrator ascribes this line to Aurora in this hypothetical moment of anguish.
104	The stars move still, time runs, the clock will strike,	= constantly.
	The devil will come, and Faustus must be damned.
106	O, I'll leap up to my God! − Who pulls me down? −
	See, see, where Christ's blood streams in the firmament!	107: Faustus has a vision of Christ's blood dripping from the sky (firmament).
108	One drop would save my soul, half a drop: ah, my Christ! −	107-8: though printed in verse in the 1604 quarto, these lines do not really scan as verse.
	Ah, rend not my heart for naming of my Christ!
110	Yet will I call on him: O, spare me, Lucifer! −	110: an alexandrine is a line of 6 iambs, and thus 12 syllables, in which the last syllable is stressed; however, a line such as 110, in which the last two syllables are unstressed (ie. LU-ci-fer) is not a true alexandrine; rather, it is still categorized as iambic pentameter, but the line is described as having a triple feminine ending, or just triple ending (a line with one extra unstressed syllable is said to have a feminine double ending; most of Marlowe's lines, containing exactly 12 syllables, the last one being stressed, are said to have masculine endings).
	Where is it now? 'tis gone: and see, where God
112	Stretcheth out his arm, and bends his ireful brows!	= ie. full of anger.
	Mountains and hills, come, come, and fall on me,	113-4: allusion to (1) Hosea 10:8: "then they shall say to the
114	And hide me from the heavy wrath of God!	mountains, 'Cover us', and to the hills, 'Fall upon us'"; and (2) Revelation 6:16: "and said to the hills and rocks, 'Fall on us, and hide us from the presence of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the lamb'" (1568 Bishop's Bible, modern spelling).^5
	No, no!
116	Then will I headlong run into the earth:
	Earth, gape! O, no, it will not harbour me!	= "open up!"
118	You stars that reigned at my nativity,	118: allusion to the oft referred-to belief that the position of the stars at one's birth (nativity) determines one's destiny.
	Whose influence hath allotted death and hell,	119: influence = an astrological term, describing an imagined ethereal fluid flowing from the stars and affecting one's fortunes in life. allotted = "assigned to me"; is Faustus blaming the heavens for his predicament, and so failing to take full responsibility for his own decisions?
120	Now draw up Faustus, like a foggy mist,
	Into the entrails of yon labouring cloud,	121-4: these are tricky lines to interpret, and the ubiquitousness of pronouns doesn't help; but the sense seems to be something like, "(draw me up) into the bowels of the clouds, in which my soul may be separated from my body, and may move on to Heaven"; otherwise, his soul will be forced to accompany the body to hell. labouring = moving.^1 As a way to make sense of the pronouns and assist with the interpretation, Dyce suggests changing cloud to clouds, and further wonders if you and your in lines 122-3 should be they and their.
122	That, when you vomit forth into the air,
	My limbs may issue from your smoky mouths,	= steaming or vaporous, probably describing the cloud(s).^1
124	So that my soul may but ascend to Heaven!
126	[The watch strikes the half-hour.]	= clock.
128	Ah, half the hour is past! 'twill all be past anon:	= "over soon."
	O God,
130	If thou wilt not have mercy on my soul,
	Yet for Christ's sake, whose blood hath ransomed me,	= redeemed.
132	Impose some end to my incessant pain;
	Let Faustus live in hell a thousand years,
134	A hundred thousand, and at last be saved!	= ie. "so long as in the end he is saved!"
	O, no end is limited to damnèd souls!	= ie. there is no limit or fixed period (with respect to time spent in hell).
136	Why wert thou not a creature wanting soul?	= without a soul.
	Or why is this immortal that thou hast?	= referring to his soul.
138	Ah, Pythagoras' metempsychosis, were that true,	= the 6th century B.C. mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras of Samos was the most well-known exponent of the theory of transmigration of the souls, or metempsychosis, in which the souls of living things at the moment of death pass on to other, different bodies.^15 If this theory represented the true state of things, it would obviously relieve Faustus of his burden.
	This soul should fly from me, and I be changed
140	Unto some brutish beast! all beasts are happy,	= into.
	For, when they die,
142	Their souls are soon dissolved in elements;	= ie. into the elements of which all matter is composed, ie. air, earth, fire and water.
	But mine must live still to be plagued in hell.	= forever.
144	Cursed be the parents that engendered me!	= gave birth to.
	No, Faustus, curse thyself, curse Lucifer
146	That hath deprived thee of the joys of Heaven.
148	[The clock strikes twelve.]	= interestingly, in the earlier stage direction (line 126), the
		1604 edition has watch instead of clock.
150	O, it strikes, it strikes! Now, body, turn to air,
	Or Lucifer will bear thee quick to hell!	= alive.
152
	[Thunder and lightning.]
154
	O soul, be changed into little water-drops,
156	And fall into the ocean, ne'er be found!
158	Enter Devils.
160	My God, my God, look not so fierce on me!
	Adders and serpents, let me breathe a while!	161: Adders and snakes = apropos to lines 80-82 above, the History states that the scholars heard from within the room where "Dr. Faustus lay...a mighty noise and hissing, as if the hall had been full of snakes and adders." a while = ie. a little longer.
162	Ugly hell, gape not! come not, Lucifer!	= a reference to the common trope of the "mouth of hell".
	I'll burn my books!−Ah, Mephistophilis!	= just as the Ephesians burned their books of magic when
164		they converted to Christianity: see Acts 19:19.^5
	[Exeunt Devils with Faustus.]
166
	Enter Chorus.
168
	Chorus. Cut is the branch that might have grown full straight,
170	And burnèd is Apollo's laurel-bough,	170: the laurel wreath Faustus received for his learning is now consumed in the fires of hell; the Greek god Apollo is most connected with the laurel tree, as a result of the story of his love for the nymph Daphne; his pursuit of the maiden was frustrated when she was turned into a laurel tree; from its boughs Apollo made himself a wreath.^29
	That sometime grew within this learnèd man.	= once.
172	Faustus is gone: regard his hellish fall,
	Whose fiendful fortune may exhort the wise,	= resulting from the agency of the fiend. = warn.
174	Only to wonder at unlawful things,	174: to satisfy themselves with marveling at (but not actually engaging in) unlawful things.^5
	Whose deepness doth entice such forward wits	= eager intellects.
176	To practice more than heavenly power permits.	175-6: the play ends, as many scenes, acts and plays do, with a rhyming couplet.
178	[Exit.]
180	Terminat hora diem; terminat auctor opus.	180: "the hour finishes the day; the author finishes his work."^14 Mottos were sometimes published at the end of a play; this motto also appeared at the end of the anonymous play Charleymayne or The Distracted Emperor.^8

Marlowe's Invented Words

Like all of the writers of the era, Christopher Marlowe made up words when he felt like it, usually by adding prefixes and suffixes to known words, combining words, or using a word in a way not yet used before. The following is a list of words from Doctor Faustus (1604) that are indicated by the OED as being either the first or only use of a given word, or, as noted, the first use with a given meaning:

anagrammatized

awful (meaning terror-stricken)

breviated (as an adjective)

bright-splendent

centric

concise

depth (meaning profoundness of thought)

diametarily / diametrally (meaning directly)

equivalents (meaning equal parts)

the expression here, there and everywhere

fiendful

fustian (as a noun, meaning lofty language or jargon)

hey-pass

iterating (as a noun)

kill-devil

lines (applied to divination)

mate (meaning marry - but this is uncertain)

to meet with (meaning get even with )

metaphysics (meaning the occult)

the expression never fear

plaud

ponder (meaning meditate on)

proficient (as an adjective)

proud-paced

que / che sera sera

re-enter (as a stage direction)

revolt (meaning to return to one's former allegiance)

sennet

short cut (meaning the most efficient way to accomplish something)

smoky (meaning steaming or reeking)

snipper-snapper

terminine

waxen (meaning covered with wax)

yoky (meaning yoked)

zounds

FOOTNOTES

Footnotes in the text correspond as follows:

1. Oxford English Dictionary (OED) online.

2. Crystal, David and Ben. Shakespeare's Words. London; New York: Penguin, 2002.

3. Dyce, Alexander. The Works of Christopher Marlowe. London: George Routledge and Sons, 1876.

4. Gollancz, Israel, ed. The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus. London: J.M. Dent and Co., 1897.

5. Schelling, Felix E. ed. Christopher Marlowe. New York: American Book Company, 1912.

6. Cunningham, Lt. Col. Francis. The Works of Christopher Marlowe. London: Chatto and Windus, 1879.

7. Ward, Adolphus William, ed. Old English Dramas, Select Plays. Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1892.

8. Bullen, A.H. The Works of Christopher Marlowe, Vol. I. London: John C. Nimmo, 1885.

9. Waltrous, George Ansel. Elizabethan Dramatists. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell and Co., 1903.

10. Sugden, Edward. A Topographical Dictionary to the Works of Shakespeare and His Fellow Dramatists. Manchester: The University Press, 1925.

11. The Catholic Encyclopedia Website. Dualism. Retrieved 3/21/2018: www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=1066.

12. Boas, Frederick S. The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1949.

13. Browne, R. (1719) and Bullokar John (1626). The English Expositor, 12th Ed. London: Printed for W. Churchill, 1719.

14. Latin Phrases Website. Retrieved 4/15/2018: http://latinphrases.me/terminat-hora-diem-terminat-auctor-opus.html.

15. The Encyclopedia Britannica. 11th edition. New York: 1911.

16. Fagles, Robert, trans. Virgil. The Aeneid. New York: Viking Penguin, 2006.

17. Stephen, Leslie, and Lee, Sydney, eds. Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1885-1900.

18. The Catholic Encyclopedia Website. St.Albertus Magnus. Retrieved 3/29/2018: www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=410.

19. Levi, Eliphus. The History of Magic. London: Rider and Company, 1913, 1951.

20. Bailey, N. et al. Dictionarium Britannicum. London: the Lamb, 1730.

21. Halliwell, James O. A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words. London: John Russell Smith, 1878.

22. Metford, J.C.J. Dictionary of Christian Lore and Legend. London: Thames and Hudson Ltd., 1983.

23. Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, undated.

24. Bailey, Nathan. An Universal Etymological English Dictionary. London: Printed for T. Osborne etc., 1763.

25. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Website, John Duns Scotus. Retrieved 4/3/2018: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/duns-scotus/

26. Nares, Robert et al. A Glossary, etc. London: Reeves and Turner, 1888.

27. Sherman, Lucius A. Philip Massinger. New York: American Book Co., 1912.

28. Rocks, Daniel. Textile Fabrics. London: Chapman and Hall, 1876.

29. Smith, W., ed. A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. London: John Murray, 1849.

30. Universe Today Website. Years of the Planets. Retrieved 4/6/2018: https://www.universetoday.com/37507/years-of-the-planets/.