SCENE I.--FAUSTUS _in his study, reading a volume on necromancy_.

FAUSTUS: All things that move between the quiet poles Shall be at my command: emperors and kings Are but obeyed in their several provinces; But his dominion that excels in this Stretches as far as does the mind of man. A sound magician is a demi-god.

[_Enter_ GOOD _and_ EVIL ANGELS.

GOOD ANGEL: O Faustus, lay that damned book aside And gaze not on it, lest it tempt thy soul, And heap God's heavy wrath upon thy head! Read, read the Scriptures--that is blasphemy.

EVIL ANGEL: Go forward, Faustus, in that famous art Wherein all nature's treasure is contained; Be thou on earth as Jove is in the sky, Lord and commander of these elements. [_Exeunt_ ANGELS.

FAUSTUS: How am I glutted with conceit of this! Faustus, begin thine incantations, And try if devils will obey thy hest.

[_Thunder_. FAUSTUS _pronounces the incantation. Enter_ MEPHISTOPHILIS.

MEPHISTOPHILIS: Now, Faustus, what wouldst thou have me do?

FAUSTUS: I charge thee, wait upon me while I live, To do whatever Faustus shall command.

MEPHISTOPHILIS: I am a servant to great Lucifer, And may not follow thee without his leave.

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 loved of God.

FAUSTUS: How comes it, then, that he is prince of devils?

MEPHISTOPHILIS: Oh, by aspiring pride and insolence, For which God threw him out from the face of heaven.

FAUSTUS: And what are you that live with Lucifer?

MEPHISTOPHILIS: Unhappy spirits that fell with Lucifer, conspired against our God with Lucifer, And are forever damned with Lucifer.

FAUSTUS: Where are you damned?

MEPHISTOPHILIS: In hell.

FAUSTUS: How comes it, then, that you are out of hell?

MEPHISTOPHILIS: Why, this is hell, nor am I out of it. Think'st thou that I, that saw the face of God, And tasted the eternal joys of heaven, Am not tormented with ten thousand hells In being deprived of everlasting bliss?

FAUSTUS: Go, bear these tidings to great Lucifer: Seeing Faustus hath incurred eternal death By desperate thoughts against God's deity, Say he surrenders up to him his soul, So he will spare him four-and-twenty years, Having thee ever to attend on me. Then meet me in my study at midnight, And then resolve me of thy master's mind. [_Exeunt_.