Come live with me, and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove,
That valleys, groves, hills and fields,
Woods, or steepy mountain yields.And we will sit upon the rocks,
Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks
By shallow rivers, to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564-1593) English dramatist and poet
“The Passionate Shepherd to His Love,” st. 1-2 (1599 pub.)
(Source)
Quotations by:
Marlowe, Christopher
CHORUS: From jigging veins of rhyming mother-wits,
And such conceits as clownage keeps in pay,
We’ll lead you to the stately tent of war,
Where you shall hear the Scythian Tamburlaine
Threatening the world with high astounding terms,
And scourging kingdoms with his conquering sword.
View but his picture in this tragic glass,
And then applaud his fortunes as you please.
MYCETES: Time passeth swift away;
Our life is frail, and we may die to-day.Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564-1593) English dramatist and poet
Tamburlaine the Great, Part 1, Act 1, sc. 1 (1586-1587)
(Source)
More on the historical Tamburlaine (Tamerlane, Timur).
TAMBURLAINE: Then shall we fight courageously with them?
Or look you I should play the orator?TECHELLES: No; cowards and faint-hearted runaways
Look for orations when the foe is near:
Our swords shall play the orators for us.
TAMBURLAINE: Your births shall be no blemish to your fame;
For virtue is the fount whence honour springs,
And they are worthy she investeth kings.
CHORUS:His Second Part,
Where Death cuts off the progress of his pomp
And murderous Fates throw all his triumphs down.
AMYRUS: Let Earth and Heaven his timeless death deplore,
For both their worths shall equal him no more.Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564-1593) English dramatist and poet
Tamburlaine the Great, Part 2, Act 5, sc. 3 (c. 1587)
Final lines of the play. More on Timur (Tamerlane, Tamburlaine).
MACHIAVEL: I count Religion but a childish Toy,
And hold there is no sinne but Ignorance.Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564-1593) English dramatist and poet
The Jew of Malta, Act 1, Prologue (c. 1590)
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This speech is often considered the Prologue, but differs from the Prologue at Court and the Prologue to the Stage, and in some editions is set apart from Act 1, in others simply at the beginning of it.
The character Machiavel, who only appears in this prologue, is Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527), Italian author of The Prince, whose cut-throat, godless, political pragmatism were considered anathema to the English.
FERNEZE: Excesse of wealth is cause of covetousnesse:
And covetousnesse, oh ’tis a monstrous sinne.Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564-1593) English dramatist and poet
The Jew of Malta, Act 1, sc. 2, l. 124ff (c. 1590)
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The Governor of Malta, having just appropriated Barabas' entire estate to help pay off the Turks.
BARABAS:Religion
Hides many mischiefs from suspicion.Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564-1593) English dramatist and poet
The Jew of Malta, Act 1, sc. 2, ll. 282-283 (c. 1590)
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Planning to send his daughter, Abigail, as a penitent to the nunnery that his confiscated house has been turned to, so that she can recover his treasure left hidden there.
BARABAS: No, Abigail, things past recovery
Are hardly cur’d with exclamations.Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564-1593) English dramatist and poet
The Jew of Malta, Act 3, sc. 1, l. 237ff (c. 1590)
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FRIAR BARNARDINE: Thou hast committed —
BARABAS: Fornication? but that was in another Country;
And besides, the Wench is dead.Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564-1593) English dramatist and poet
The Jew of Malta, Act 4, sc. 1 (c. 1590)
(Source)
Barabas trying to distract the friars from pressing him about the poisoning of the nunnery.
FAUSTUS: Si peccasse negamus, fallimur, et nulla est in nobis veritas;
“If we say that we have no sin,
We deceive ourselves, and there’s no truth in us.”
Why, then, belike we must sin,
And so consequently die.
Ay, we must die an everlasting death.Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564-1593) English dramatist and poet
The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, Act 1, sc. 1 (sc. 1), l. 70ff (1594; 1604 “A” text)
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The quote is from the Bible, 1 John 1:8; Faustus ignores verse 9 which speaks of forgiveness.
The same words are used in the "B" text (w. 1594; pub. 1616), l. 68ff.
Philosophy is odious and obscure;
Both law and physic are for petty wits;
Divinity is basest of the three,
Unpleasant, harsh, contemptible, and vile:
‘Tis magic, magic, that hath ravish’d me.Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564-1593) English dramatist and poet
The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, Act 1, sc. 1 (sc. 1), l. 138ff (1594; 1604 “A” text)
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Declaring to the magicians Valdes and Cornelius his decision to pursue magical studies.
Goethe's Faust (1808-1829) includes a similar litany of studies the title character feels are useless.
In the generally longer 1616 "B" text (l. 131ff), the lines about Divinity studies are omitted:Philosophy is odious and obscure:
Both Law and Physicke are for petty wits,
Tis Magicke, Magicke that hath ravisht me.
FAUSTUS: What doctrine call you this, Che sera, sera:
What will be, shall be? Divinity, adieu!Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564-1593) English dramatist and poet
The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, Act 1, sc. 1 (sc. 1), l. 76ff (1594; 1604 “A” text)
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Giving up on Christian doctrine, since it teaches that all are sinful, and that sinfulness condemns one to death and damnation. (Faustus ignores the ideas of repentance and salvation.)
These lines show up as well in the 1616 "B" text (ll. 75-76).
This is one of the earliest mentions of the phrase che sarà sarà, which shows up first as a 16th Century English heraldic motto.
FAUSTUS: Faustus, begin thine incantations
And try if devils will obey thy hest,
Seeing thou hast prayed and sacrificed to them.
Within this circle is Jehovah’s name,
Forward, and backward, anagrammatised:
Th’abbreviated names of holy saints,
Figures of every adjunct to the heavens,
And characters of signs, and erring stars,
By which the spirits are enforced to rise.
Then fear not, Faustus, to be resolute
And try the utmost magic can perform.[Thunder]
Sint mihi Dei Acherontis propitii! Valeat numen triplex Jehovae! Ignei aerii, aquatani spiritus, salvete! Orientis princeps Beelzebub, inferni ardentis monarcha, et Demigorgon, propitiamus vos, ut appareat, et surgat Mephistophilis Dragon, quod tumeraris; per Jehovam, gehennam, et consecratam aquam quam nunc spargo; signumque crucis quod nunc facio, et per vota nostra, ipse nunc surgat nobis dicatus Mephistophilis![Enter a Devil]
Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564-1593) English dramatist and poet
The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, Act 1, sc. 3 (sc. 3), l. 231ff (1594; 1604 “A” text)
(Source)
Spelling regularized. The 1616 "B" text is the same.
The Latin spell reads (in Eddington/Bevington (1995)):Be propitious to me, gods of Acheron! Let the threefold spirit of Jehovah be strong! Hail to thee, spirits of fire, air, water, and earth! Lucifer, thou prince of the East, Beelzebub, thou monarch of fiery hell, and Demogorgon, we beseech you that Mephistopheles may appear and rise. Why do you delay? By Jehovah, Gehenna, and the holy water I now sprinkle, and by the sign of the cross I now make, and by our prayers, may Mephistopheles himself arise at our command!
FAUSTUS: I see there’s virtue in my heavenly words:
Who would not be proficient in this art?
How pliant is this Mephistophilis,
Full of obedience and humility!
Such is the force of magic and my spells:
No, Faustus, thou art conjuror laureat,
That canst command great Mephistophilis:
Quin regis Mephistophilis fratris imagine.Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564-1593) English dramatist and poet
The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, Act 1, sc. 3 (sc. 3), l. 270ff (1594; 1604 “A” text)
(Source)
After ordering Mephistophiles to leave and change his form into something less hideous. The Latin reads "Return, Mephistopheles, in the shape of a friar" (which he had already ordered, in English, in the immediately preceding lines).
The B-text (1594; 1616) omits the last three lines from the A-text.
FAUSTUS: Where are you damn’d?
MEPHISTOPHILIS: In hell.
FAUSTUS: How comes it, then, that thou art out of hell?
MEPHISTOPHILIS: Why, this is hell, nor am I out of it
Think’st thou that I, who saw the face of God,
And tasted the eternal joys of heaven,
Am not tormented with ten thousand hells,
In being depriv’d of everlasting bliss?Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564-1593) English dramatist and poet
The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, Act 1, sc. 3 (sc. 3), l. 317ff (1594; 1604 “A” text)
(Source)
The 1594 (1616) "B" text has the same dialog (l. 299ff).
FAUSTUS: Stay, Mephistopheles, and tell me,
What good will my soul do thy lord?MEPHISTOPHILES: Enlarge his kingdom.
FAUSTUS: Is that the reason he tempts us thus?
MEPHISTOPHILES: Solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris.
[Misery loves company.]Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564-1593) English dramatist and poet
The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, Act 2, sc. 1 (sc. 5), l. 477ff (1594; 1604 “A” text)
(Source)
Variants of the Latin translation:The same wording is used in the "B" text (1594; 1616), l. 427ff.
- It is a comfort to the wretched to have companions in misery.
- It is a comfort to the unfortunate to have had companions in woe.
- To the unhappy it is a comfort to have had company in misery.
- Solace of the wretched to have companions of pain.
MEPHISTOPHILES: Within the bowels of these elements,
Where we are tortur’d and remain for ever:
Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscrib’d
In one self place; for where we are is hell,
And where hell is, there must we ever be:
And, to conclude, when all the world dissolves,
And every creature shall be purified,
All places shall be hell that are not heaven.Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564-1593) English dramatist and poet
The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, Act 2, sc. 1 (sc. 5), l. 565ff (1594; 1604 “A” text)
(Source)
The same text is used in the "B" text (1594; 1616) at l. 515ff.
The End Times "world dissolves" comes from Isaiah 24:19. "Shall be purified" is a reference to Daniel 12:10.
FAUSTUS. Come, I think hell’s a fable.
MEPHISTOPHILES: Ay, think so still, till experience change thy mind.
Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564-1593) English dramatist and poet
The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, Act 2, sc. 1 (sc. 5), l. 573ff (1594; 1604 “A” text)
(Source)
The "B" text (1594; 1616) as a slight variance in Faust's line:FAUSTUS: I think hell's a mere fable.
MEPHISTOPHILES: Aye, think so still, till experience change thy mind.
FAUSTUS: Tell me what is that Lucifer thy lord?
MEPHISTOPHILIS: Arch-regent and commander of all spirits.
FAUSTUS: Was not that Lucifer an angel once?
MEPHISTOPHILIS: Yes, Faustus, and most dearly lov’d of God.
FAUSTUS: How comes it, then, that he is prince of devils?
MEPHISTOPHILIS: O, by aspiring pride and insolence;
For which God threw him from the face of heaven.Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564-1593) English dramatist and poet
The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, Act 3, sc. 3 (sc. 3), l. 306ff (1594; 1604 “A” text)
(Source)
The lines appear the same in the "B" text (1594; 1616), l. 288ff.
FAUSTUS: Was this the face that launch’d a thousand ships,
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium —
Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss. —
[They kiss]
Her lips suck forth my soul: see, where it flies! —
Come, Helen, come, give me my soul again.
[They kiss again]
Here will I dwell, for heaven is in these lips,
And all is dross that is not Helena.Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564-1593) English dramatist and poet
The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, Act 5, sc. 1 (sc. 13), l. 1358ff (1594; 1604 “A” text)
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The "B" text (1594; 1616) has the same wording (l. 1874ff).
FAUSTUS: Lucifer and Mephistophilis. Ah, gentlemen! I gave them my soul for my cunning!
ALL: God forbid!
FAUSTUS: God forbade it, indeed; but Faustus hath done it.
Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564-1593) English dramatist and poet
The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, Act 5, sc. 2 (sc. 14), l. 32ff (1594; 1604 “A” text)
(Source)
In the expanded "B" text (1594; 1616), the lines (5.2/19; l. 60ff) are similar.FAUSTUS: Why, Lucifer and Mephistophiles. O gentlemen, I gave them my soul for my cunning!
ALL: O, God forbid!
FAUSTUS: God forbade it indeed; but Faustus hath done it.
FAUSTUS. Ah, Faustus,
Now hast thou but one bare hour to live,
And then thou must be damn’d perpetually!
Stand still, you ever-moving Spheres of Heaven,
That time may cease, and midnight never come;
Fair Nature’s eye, rise, rise again, and make
Perpetual day; or let this hour be but
A year, a month, a week, a natural day,
That Faustus may repent and save his soul!
FAUSTUS: No, Faustus, curse thyself, curse Lucifer,
That hath deprived thee of the joys of heaven.
(The clock striketh twelve.)
O, it strikes, it strikes! Now, body, turn to air,
Or Lucifer will bear thee quick to hell.
(Thunder and lightning.)
O soul, be changed into little water drops,
And fall into the ocean, ne’er be found!
My God, my God, look not so fierce on me!
(Enter Devils.)
Adders, and serpents, let me breathe a while!
Ugly hell, gape not. Come not Lucifer!
I’ll burn my books! Ah, Mephistophilis!
(Exeunt Devils with Faustus.) Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564-1593) English dramatist and poet
The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, Act 5, sc. 2 (sc. 19), l. 1498ff (1594; 1604 “A” text)
(Source)
The B-Text (1594; 1616), l. 2081ff, is largely the same, with minor punctuation changes, except that rather than cry "My God, my God," Faustus cries "O mercy, heaven!"
GOOD ANGEL: And now, poor soul, must thy good angel leave thee,
The jaws of hell are open to receive thee. (Exit)Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564-1593) English dramatist and poet
The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, Act 5, sc. 2 (sc. 19), l. 2015ff (1594; 1616 “B” text)
(Source)
This dialog only appears in the "B" text.
BAD ANGEL: Now, Faustus, let shine eyes with horror stare
Into that vast perpetual torture-house.
There are the Furies tossing damned souls
On burning forks; their bodies broil in lead.
There are live quarters broiling on the coals,
That ne’er can die. This ever-burning chair
Is for o’er-tortured souls to rest them in.
These, that are fed with sops of flaming fire,
Were gluttons, and loved only delicates,
And laughed to see the poor starve at their gates.
But yet all these are nothing; thou shalt see
Ten thousand tortures that more horrid be.FAUSTUS: O, I have seen enough to torture me.
BAD ANGEL: Nay, thou must feel them, taste the smart of all.
He that loves pleasure must for pleasure fall.Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564-1593) English dramatist and poet
The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, Act 5, sc. 4 (sc. 19), l. 2018ff (5.4.2018-2029) (1594; 1616 “B” text)
(Source)
This Dante-like scene with the Bad Angel was added in the "B" text.
CHORUS: Cut is the branch that might have grown full straight,
And burnèd is Apollo’s laurel bough,
That sometime grew within this learnèd man.
Faustus is gone. Regard his hellish fall,
Whose fiendful fortune may exhort the wise
Only to wonder at unlawful things,
Whose deepness doth entice such forward wits,
To practise more than heavenly power permits.Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564-1593) English dramatist and poet
The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, Epilogue (1594; 1604 “A” text)
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Final lines of the play, with the further written remark "Terminat hora diem; terminat auctor opus. [Finished the hour of the day; finished the author of the work]"
In the "B" text (written 1594; published 1616), this chorus is replaced by a scene 5.3, with the Scholars returning, finding Faustus torn to pieces by demons, expressing regret, and resolving to give him a funeral.