[794] And Priam, too.
AGAMEMNON
[795] Here is not Troy.
CASSANDRA
[795] Where a Helen is, I think is Troy.
AGAMEMNON
[796] Fear thou no mistress, though a slave.
CASSANDRA
[796] Freedom is near at hand.
AGAMEMNON
[797] Live on, secure.
CASSANDRA
[797] For me, death is security.
AGAMEMNON
[798] For thee there is naught to fear.
CASSANDRA
[798] But much for thee.
AGAMEMNON
[799] What can a victor fear?
CASSANDRA
[799] What he doth not fear.
AGAMEMNON
[800] Ye faithful slaves, restrain her till she throw off the god, lest in her wild frenzy she do some harm. But thee, O father, who the dire thunder hurlest, and driv’st the clouds, who the stars and lands dost rule, to whom in triumph victors bring their spoils; and thee, sister of thine almighty lord, Argolian Juno, gladly with votive flocks, with gifts from Araby, and with suppliant offerings of entrails will I adore.
[Exit into the palace.]
CHORUS OF ARGIVE WOMEN
[808] O Argos, ennobled by thy noble citizens, Argos, dear to the step-dame though enraged, ever mighty sons thou fosterest and hast made even the odd number of the gods. That hero of thine by his twelve labours earned the right to be chosen for the skies, great Hercules, for whom, the world’s law broken, Jove doubled the hours of dewy night, bade Phoebus more slowly drive his hastening car, and thy team to turn back with laggard feet, O pale Phoebe. Backward the star turned his steps, the star who changes from name to name, and marvelled still to be called Hesperus, evening star. Aurora stirred at the accustomed hour of dawn, but, sinking back, laid her head and neck upon the breast of her aged husband. The rising, yea, and the setting of the sun felt the birth of Hercules; a hero so mighty could not be begotten in a single night. For thee the whirling universe stood still, O boy, destined to mount the skies.
[829] The lightning-swift lion of Nemea felt thy power, crushed by thy straining arms, and the Parrhasian hind, the ravager of Arcady’s fields, felt thee, too, and loud bellowed the savage bull, leaving the fields of Crete. The hydra, fertile in death, he overcame and forbade new births from each neck destroyed; the mated brethren, springing three monsters from a single body, he crushed, leaping on them with his crashing club, and brought to the east the western herd, spoil of the three-formed Geryon. He drove the Thracian herd which the tyrant fed, not on the grass of the Strymon or on the banks of the Hebrus; cruel, he offered his savage horses the gore of strangers – and the blood of their driver was the last to stain red their jaws. Warlike Hippolyte saw the spoil snatched from about her breast; and by his shafts down from the riven sky from high heaven fell the Stymphalian bird. The tree, laden with golden fruit, shrank from his hands, unused to such plucking, and the bough, relieved of its burden, sprang into the air. The cold, sleepless guardian heard the sound of the clinking metal, only when heavy laden Alcides was leaving the grove all stripped of its tawny gold. Dragged to the upper world by triple fetters, the infernal dog was silent, nor with any mouth did he bay, shrinking from the hues of unexperienced light. Under thy leadership fell the lying house of Dardanus and suffered the arrows, once again to be feared; under thy leadership in as many days Troy fell as it took years thereafter.
CASSANDRA
[867] [Alone upon the stage.] A great deed is done within, a match for ten years of war. Ah! What is this? Rise up, my soul, and take the reward of thy madness – we are conquerors, we conquered Phrygians! ’Tis well! Troy has risen again! In thy fall, O father, thou hast dragged down Mycenae; thy conqueror gives way! Never before did my mind’s prophetic frenzy give sight to mine eyes so clear; I see, I am in the midst of it, I revel in it; ’tis no doubtful image cheats my sight; let me gaze my fill.
[875] A feast is spread within the royal house and thronged with guests, like that last banquet of the Phrygians; the couches gleam with Trojan purple, and their wine they quaff from the golden cups of old Assaracus. Lo, he himself in broidered vestments lies on lofty couch, wearing on his body the proud spoils of Priam. His wife bids him doff the raiment of his foe and don instead the mantle her own fond hands have woven – I shudder and my soul trembles at the sight! Shall an exile slay a king? an adulterer a husband? The fatal hour has come. The banquet’s close shall see the master’s blood, and gore shall fall into the wine. The deadly mantle he has put on delivers him bound treacherously to his doom; the loose, impenetrable folds refuse outlet to his hands and enshroud his head. With trembling right hand the half-man stabs at his side, but hath not driven deep; in mid stroke he stands as one amazed. But he, as in the deep woods a bristling boar, though with the net entangled, still tries for freedom, and by his struggling draws close his bonds and rages all in vain, – he strives to throw off the blinding folds all around him floating, and, though closely enmeshed, seeks for his foe. Now Tyndaris in mad rage snatches the two-edged axe and, as at the altar the priest marks with his eye the oxen’s necks before he strikes, so, now here, now there, her impious hand she aims. He has it! the deed is done! The scarce severed head hangs by a slender part; here blood streams o’er his headless trunk, there lie his moaning lips. And not yet do they give o’er; he attacks the already lifeless man, and keeps hacking at the corpse; she helps him in the stabbing. Each one in this dire crime answers to his own kin – he is Thyestes’ son, she, Helen’s sister. See, Titan, the day’s work done, stands hesitant whether his own or Thyestes’ course to run.
[Remains beside the altar.]
[Enter ELECTRA, leading her young brother, ORESTES.]
ELECTRA
[910] Fly, O sole avenger of our father’s death, fly and escape our enemies’ miscreant hands. O’erthrown is our house to its foundations, our kingdom fallen.
[913] But who is yonder stranger, driving his chariot at speed? Come brother, I will hide thee ‘neath my robe. Why, foolish heart, dost thou shrink away? Strangers dost fear? ’Tis our home that must be feared. Put away now thy trembling dread, Orestes; the trusty protection of a friend I see.
[Enter STROPHIUS in a chariot, accompanied by his son PYLADES.]
STROPHIUS
[918] I, Strophius, had Phocis left, and now am home returning, made glorious by the Elean palm. The cause of my coming hither was to congratulate my friend, o’erthrown by whose hand and crushed by ten years of war has Ilium fallen. [He notices ELECTRA’s distress.] But who is that yonder, watering her sad face with tears, fear-struck and sorrowful? One of the royal house I recognize. Electra! What cause of weeping can be in this glad house?
ELECTRA
[925] My father lies murdered by my mother’s crime; they seek the son to share in his father’s death; Aegisthus holds the throne by guilty love secured.
STROPHIUS
[928] Alas! no happiness if of lengthened stay.
ELECTRA
[929] By the memory of my father I beseech thee, by his sceptre known to all the world, by the fickle gods: take this boy, Orestes, and hide the holy theft.
STROPHIUS
[932] Although murdered Agamemnon warns me to beware, I will brave the danger and gladly, Orestes, will I steal thee off. Good fortune asks for faith, adversity demands it. [Takes ORESTES into the chariot.] Take thou this crown, won in the games, as an ornament for thy head, and, holding this victor’s bough in thy left hand, shield thy face with its great branch, and may that palm, the gift of Pisaean Jove, afford thee at once a covering and an omen. And do thou, Pylades, who standest as comrade to guide thy father’s car, learn faith from the example of thy sire. And now, do you, my horses, whose speed all Greece has seen, flee from this treacherous place in headlong flight.
[Exeunt at great speed.]
ELECTRA
[944] [Looking after them.] He has departed, gone, his car at a reckless pace h
as vanished from my sight. Now free from care shall I await my foes, and willingly oppose myself to death.
[947] [She sees CLYTEMNESTRA approaching.] Here is the bloody conqueror of her lord, with the signs of murder on her blood-stained robe. Her hands are still reeking with blood fresh-spilled, and her savage features bear tokens of her crime. I’ll take me to the altar. Let me be joined, Cassandra, with thy fillets, since I fear like doom with thee.
[Enter CLYTEMNESTRA.]
CLYTEMNESTRA
[953] Foe of thy mother, unfilial and froward girl, by what custom doest thou, a maid, seek public gatherings?
ELECTRA
[955] Because I am a maid have I left the adulterer’s home.
CLYTEMNESTRA
[956] Who would believe thee maid?
ELECTRA
[956] A child of thine?
CLYTEMNESTRA
[957] More gently with thy mother!
ELECTRA
[957] Dost thou teach piety?
CLYTEMNESTRA
[958] Thou hast a mannish soul, a heart puffed up; but, tamed by suffering, shalt thou learn to play a woman’s part.
ELECTRA
[960] If perchance, I mistake not, a sword befits a woman.
CLYTEMNESTRA
[961] And thinkest thou, mad one, thou art a match for us?
ELECTRA
[962] For you? What other Agamemnon is that of thine? Speak thou as widow; lifeless if thy lord.
CLYTEMNESTRA
[964] The unbridled tongue of an unfilial girl hereafter as queen I’ll check; meanwhile be quick and tell where is my son, where is thy brother.
ELECTRA
[967] Far from Mycenae.
CLYTEMNESTRA
[967] Restore me now my son.
ELECTRA
[968] And do thou restore my father.
CLYTEMNESTRA
[968] Where does he hide?
ELECTRA
[969] In peace and safety, where he fears no new-made king; for a righteous mother ’tis enough.
CLYTEMNESTRA
[970] But too little for an angry one. Thou shalt die this day.
ELECTRA
[971] So but it be by this hand of thine. I leave the altar. If ’tis thy pleasure in my throat to plunge the sword, I offer my throat to thee; of if, as men smite sheep, thou wouldst cut off my neck, my bent neck waits thy stroke. The crime is ready; thy right hand, smeared and rank with a husband’s slaughter, purge with this blood of mine.
[Enter AEGISTHUS.]
CLYTEMNESTRA
[978] Thou partner equally in my perils and my throne, Aegisthus, come. My child undutifully insults her mother, and keeps her brother hidden.
AEGISTHUS
[981] Mad girl, hold thy impious tongue, and speak not words unworthy of thy mother’s ears.
ELECTRA
[983] Shall he e’en give instruction, the worker of an impious crime, one criminally begot, whom even his own parents cannot name, son of his sister, grandson of his sire?
CLYTEMNESTRA
[986] Aegisthus, why dost hesitate to strike off her wicked head with the sword? Let her at once give up her brother or her life.
AEGISTHUS
[988] Mured in a dark, rocky dungeon shall she spend her life and, by all kinds of tortures racked, perchance she will consent to give back him she now conceals. Resourceless, starving, in prison pent, buried in filth, widowed ere wedded, in exile, scorned by all, denied the light of day, then will she, though too late, yield to her doom.
ELECTRA
[994] Oh, grant me death.
AEGISTHUS
[994] Shouldst plead against, I’d grant. An unskilled tyrant he who punishes by death.
ELECTRA
[996] Is aught worse than death?
AEGISTHUS
[996] Yes, life, if thou longest to die. Away, ye slaves, with this unnatural girl; far from Mycenae bear her, and in the remotest corner of the realm chain her immured in the black darkness of a cell, that prison walls may curb the unmanageable maid.
[ELECTRA is dragged away.]
CLYTEMNESTRA
[1001] [Indicating CASSANDRA.] But she shall pay her penalty with death, that captive bride, that mistress of the royal bed. Drag her away, that she may follow the husband whom she stole from me.
CASSANDRA
[1004] Nay, drag me not, I will precede your going. I hasten to be first to bear news unto my Phrygians – of the sea covered with the wrecks of ships, of Mycenae taken, of the leader of a thousand leaders (that so he might meet doom equal to Troy’s woes) slain by a woman’s gift – by adultery, by guile. Take me away; I hold not back, but rather give you thanks. Now, now ’tis sweet to have outlived Troy, ’tis sweet.
CLYTEMNESTRA
[1012] Mad creature, thou shalt die.
CASSANDRA
[1012] On you, as well, a madness is to come.
DOCTOR FAUSTUS (B TEXT) by Christopher Marlowe
Circa 1590
First published in 1604, eleven years after Marlowe’s death and at least twelve years after the first performance of the play, Doctor Faustus is based on the famous story, in which a man sells his soul to the devil for power and knowledge. The Admiral’s Men performed the play twenty-five times in the three years between October 1594 and October 1597. On 22 November 1602, the Diary of Philip Henslowe records a £4 payment to Samuel Rowley and William Bird for additions to the play, which suggests a revival soon after that date.
The powerful effect of the early productions is indicated by the legends that quickly accrued around them. In Histriomastix, his 1632 polemic against the drama, William Prynne records the tale that actual devils once appeared on the stage during a performance of Faustus, “to the great amazement of both the actors and spectators”. Some people were allegedly driven mad, “distracted with that fearful sight”. John Aubrey recorded a related legend, that Edward Alleyn, lead actor of The Admiral’s Men, devoted his later years to charitable endeavors, like the founding of Dulwich College, in direct response to this incident.
Two versions of the play exist, which are both included in the edition of Marlowe’s works. The first is the 1604 quarto, printed by Valentine Simmes for Thomas Law; known as the A text. The title page attributes the play to “Ch. Marl.”. The text is short for an English Renaissance play, having only 1485 lines. The second version (the B text) is the 1616 quarto, published by John Wright, with an enlarged and altered text. The B version omits 36 lines but adds 676 new lines, making it roughly one third longer than the A version.A major change between texts A and B is the name of the devil summoned by Faustus. Text A states the name is “Mephistophilis”, while the version of text B states “Masturtophilis”. The name of the devil is in each case a reference to Mephistopheles, though these names are both of Marlowe’s invention.
The 1604 version is believed by most scholars to be closer to the play as originally performed in Marlowe’s lifetime, and the 1616 version to be a posthumous adaptation by other hands. However, some disagree, seeing the 1604 version as an abbreviation and the 1616 version as Marlowe’s original fuller version.
THE B TEXT
DRAMATIS PERSONAE.
THE POPE.
THE EMPEROR OF GERMANY.
RAYMOND, king of Hungary.
DUKE OF SAXONY.
BRUNO.
DUKE OF VANHOLT.
MARTINO,|
FREDERICK,| gentlemen.
BENVOLIO, |
FAUSTUS.
VALDES, | friends to FAUSTUS.
CORNELIUS,|
WAGNER, servant to FAUSTUS.
Clown.
ROBIN.
DICK.
Vintner.
Horse-courser.
Carter.
An Old Man.
Scholars, Cardinals, ARCHBISHOP OF RHEIMS, Bishops, Monks,
Friars, Soldiers, and Attendants.
DUCHESS OF VANHOLT.
Hostess.
LUCIFER.
BELZEBUB.
/>
MEPHISTOPHILIS.
Good Angel.
Evil Angel.
The Seven Deadly Sins.
Devils.
Spirits in the shapes of ALEXANDER THE GREAT, of his Paramour,
of DARIUS, and of HELEN.
Chorus.
This play was taken from our edition of Marlowe’s Complete Works:
THE TRAGICAL HISTORY OF DOCTOR FAUSTUS
FROM THE QUARTO OF 1616.
Enter CHORUS.
CHORUS. Not marching in the fields of Thrasymene,
Where Mars did mate the warlike Carthagens;
Nor sporting in the dalliance of love,
In courts of kings where state is overturn’d;
Nor in the pomp of proud audacious deeds,
Intends our Muse to vaunt her heavenly verse:
Only this, gentles, — we must now perform
The form of Faustus’ fortunes, good or bad:
And now to patient judgments we appeal,
And speak for Faustus in his infancy.
Now is he born of parents base of stock,
In Germany, within a town call’d Rhodes:
At riper years, to Wittenberg he went,
Whereas his kinsmen chiefly brought him up.
So much he profits in divinity,
That shortly he was grac’d with doctor’s name,
Excelling all, and sweetly can dispute
In th’ heavenly matters of theology;
Till swoln with cunning, of a self-conceit,
His waxen wings did mount above his reach,
And, melting, heavens conspir’d his overthrow;
For, falling to a devilish exercise,
And glutted now with learning’s golden gifts,
He surfeits upon cursed necromancy;
Nothing so sweet as magic is to him,
Which he prefers before his chiefest bliss:
And this the man that in his study sits.
[Exit.]
FAUSTUS discovered in his study.
FAUSTUS. Settle thy studies, Faustus, and begin
To sound the depth of that thou wilt profess:
Having commenc’d, be a divine in show,
Yet level at the end of every art,
Masters of the Theatre Page 18
