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Doctor Faustus His Lamentation,
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XLI
His days ran out like the sand in an hourglass, and when only one month remained of the twenty-four years which he had contracted of the Devil (as ye have read) Doctor Faustus became fainthearted, depressed, deeply melancholic, like unto an imprisoned murderer and highwayman over whose head the sentence hath been pronounced and who now in the dungeon awaiteth punishment and death. Filled with fear, he sobbed and held conversations with himself, accompanying such speeches with many gestures of his hands. He did moan and sigh and fall away from flesh. He kept himself close and could not abide to have the spirit about him.
Doctor Faustus His Lamentation,
that He Must Die at a Young
and a Lusty Age
XLII
Sorrow moved Doctor Faustus to set his grief in words, lest he forget it. Here followeth one such written complaint:
Alas, thou reckless, worthless heart! Thou hast seduced the flesh round about thee, and my fate is fire. The blessedness which once thou didst know is lost.
Alas, Reason and Free Will! What a heavy charge ye do level at these limbs, which may expect naught else than rape of their life!
Alas ye limbs, and thou yet whole body! It was ye who let Reason indict Soul, for I might have chosen succor for my soul by sacrificing thee, my body.
Alas, Love and Hate! Why abide ye both at once in my breast? Your company hath occasioned all mine anguish.
Alas, Mercy and Vengeance! Ye have caused me to strive after glory and rewarded me with infamy.
Alas, Malice and Compassion! Was I created a man that I might suffer those torments which now I see before me?
Alas, alas, is there aught in the wide world that doth not conspire against this wretch?
Alas, of what help is this complaint?
Doctor Faustus Lamenteth Yet Further
XLIII
Alas, alas, wretched man, o thou poor accursed Faustus, now in the number of the damned! I must await the inestimable pains of a death far more miserable than any tortured creature hath yet endured.
Alas, alas, Reason, Willfulness, Recklessness, Free Will! O, what a cursed and inconstant life hast thou led! How unseeing, how careless wast thou! Now become thy parts, soul and body, unseeing and ever more unseen.
Alas, Worldly Pleasure! Into what wretchedness hast thou led me, darkening and blinding mine eyes!
Alas, my timid heart! Where were thine eyes?
And thou my poor soul! Where was thy knowledge?
All ye senses! Where were ye hid?
O, miserable travail! O sorrow and desperation forgotten of God!
Alas, grief over grief, and torment upon woe and affliction! Who will release me? Where am I to hide? Whither must I creep? Whither flee? Wherever I may be, there am I a prisoner.
The heart of Doctor Faustus was so troubled that he could speak no more.
Doctor Faustus His Hideous End
and Spectaculum
XLIV
His twenty-four years were run out. As he lay awake in the night, his spirit came unto him to deliver up his writ, or contract, thus giving him due notice that the Devil would fetch his body in the following night, and allowing him to make any necessary preparations for that event. This occasioned such a renewed moaning and sobbing into the night that the spirit returned, consoling him and saying:
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My Fauste, be not so faint of heart. Thou dost indeed lose thy body, but thy time of judgement is yet far distant. Why surely thou must die--even shouldst thou live for many hundreds of years. The Jews and the Turks must also die expecting the same perdition as thou--even emperors die thus, if they be not Christian. After all, thou knowest not yet what it be that awaiteth thee. Take courage, and despair not so utterly. Dost not remember how the Devil did promise thee a body and soul all of steel, insensitive to the pain which the others will feel in Hell?
This and such like comfort and consolation he gave him, but it was false and not in accord with the Holy Scriptures. Doctor Faustus, having none other expectation than that he must absolve his debt and contract with his skin, did on this same day (in which the spirit had announced that the Devil was about to fetch him) betake himself unto the trusted friends with whom he had spent many an hour, the magisters, baccalaureates and other students, entreating them now to go out to the little village of Rimlich with him, about a half mile removed from the town of Wittemberg, there to take a repast with him. They would not turn him away, but went along and ate a morning meal with many costly courses both of meat and of drink, served by the host at an inn.
Doctor Faustus joined in their merriment, but he was not merry in his heart. Afterward, he entreated all his guests to do him the great kindness of remaining to eat supper with him, too, and to stay the night here as well, for he had something important to tell them. Again they agreed, and they took the evening meal with him also.
It was finished, and a last cup had been passed. Doctor Faustus paid the host, and addressed the students, saying that he wished to inform them of some things. They gave him their attention, and Doctor Faustus said unto them:
M y dear, trusted, and very gracious Lords: I have called you unto me for this good and sufficient cause. For many years now, ye have known what manner of man I be, the arts and the sorcery I have used. All these things come from none other than from the Devil. I fell into such devilish desires through none other cause than these: bad company, mine own worthless flesh and blood, my stiff-necked, godless will, and all the soaring, devilish thoughts I allowed in my head. I gave myself up unto the Devil and contracted with him for a term of twenty-four years, setting my body and soul in forfeit. Now are these twenty-four years run out. I have only this night left. An hourglass standeth before mine eyes, and I watch for it to finish.
I know that the Devil will have his due. As I have consigned my body and soul unto him with my blood in return for certain other costly considerations, I have no doubt that he will this night fetch me. This is why, dear and well-beloved, gracious Lords, I have summoned you here just before the end to take one last cup with me, not concealing from you the manner of my departure. I entreat you now, my dear gracious Brothers and Lords, to bring my cordial and brotherly greetings to my friends and to those who do honor my memory, to bear no ill will toward me but, if ever I have offended you, to forgive me in your hearts. As regardeth my Historia and what I have wrought in those twenty-four years, all these things have been written down for you.
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Now let this my hideous end be an example unto you so long as ye may live, and a remembrance to love God and to entreat Him to protect you from the guile and the deceit of the Devil, praying that the Dear Lord will not lead you into temptation. Cling ye unto Him, falling not away from Him as I damned godless mortal have done, despising and denying Baptism (Christ's own Sacrament), God, all the Heavenly Host and mankind--such a sweet God, who desireth not that one shall be lost. Shun bad company, which would lead you astray as it hath me, go earnestly and often to church, war and strive constantly against the Devil with a steadfast faith in Christ and always walking a godly path.
Finally, my last request is that ye go to bed and let nothing trouble you, but sleep on and take your rest even if a crashing and tumult be heard in this house. Be not afraid. No injury shall befall you. Arise not out of your beds. Should ye find my corpse, convey it unto the earth, for I die both as a bad and as a good Christian. Contrition is in my heart, and my mind doth constantly beg for Grace and for the salvation of my soul. O I know that the Devil will have this body--and welcome he is to it, would he but leave my soul in peace. Now I entreat you: betake yourselves to bed. A good night to you--unto me, an evil, wretched and a frightful one.
Faustus needed great resolve and courage to make this confession and to tell his tale without weakening, and becoming fearful and faint. As for the students, they were cast into great wonderment that a man could be so reckless as thus to imperil body and soul for no more profit than knavery, knowledge and sorcery. But, as they loved him well, they sought to console him thus: Alas dear Fauste, how have ye imperiled yourself! Why remained ye so long silent, revealing none of these things to us? Why, we should have brought learned Theologi who would have torn you out of the Devil's nets and saved you. But now it is too late and surely injurious to body and soul.
Doctor Faustus answered, saying: Such was not permitted me. Often was I amind to seek counsel and succor of godfearing men. Indeed, once an Old Man did charge me to follow his teachings, leave my sorcery and be converted. Then came the Devil, ready to put an end to me (even as he will this night do), saying that in the moment of my conversion--nay, even in the instant of such an intent on my part--all would be over with me.
Upon hearing these words, and understanding that the Devil would surely dispatch Faustus this night, the students urged him to call upon God, begging Him for forgiveness for Jesus Christ's sake, saying:
O God, be merciful unto me poor sinner, and enter not into judgement with me, for I cannot stand before Thee. Although I must forfeit my body unto the Devil, wilt Thou preserve my soul!
Faustus agreed to do this. He tried to pray, but he could not. As it was with Cain, who said his sins were greater than could be forgiven him, so was it with Faustus also, who was convinced that in making his written contract with the Devil he had gone too far. But the students and good lords prayed and wept for Faustus. They embraced one another and, leaving Faustus in his chambers, retired to bed, where none could rightly sleep, for they lay there awake, awaiting the end.
And it came to pass between twelve and one 0' clock in the night that a great blast of wind stormed against the house, blustering on all sides as if the inn and indeed the entire neighborhood would be torn down. The students fell into a great fear, got out of their beds and came together to comfort one another, but they did not stir out of their chamber. The innkeeper went running out of the house, however, and he found that there was no disturbance at all in any other place than his own. The students were lodged in a chamber close by the rooms of Doctor Faustus, and over the raging of the wind they heard a hideous music, as if snakes, adders and other serpents were in the house. Doctor Faustus' door creaked open. There then arose a crying out of Murther! and Help! but the voice was weak and hollow, soon dying out entirely.
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When it was day the students, who had not slept this entire night, went into the chamber where Doctor Faustus had lain, but they found no Faustus there. The parlor was full of blood. Brain clave unto the walls where the Fiend had dashed him from one to the other. Here lay his eyes, here a few teeth. O it was a hideous spectaculum. Then began the students to bewail and beweep him, seeking him in many places. When they came out to the dung heap, here they found his corpse. It was monstrous to behold, for head and limbs were still twitching. 
These students and magisters who were present at Faustus' death gained permission afterwards to bury him in the village. Subsequently, they retired to his domicile where they found the famulus Wagner already mourning his master. This little book, Doctor Faustus His Historia, was already all written out. Now as to what his famulus wrote, that will be a different, new book. On this same day the enchanted Helen and her son Justus Faustus were also gone.
So uncanny did it become in Faustus' house that none could dwell there. Doctor Faustus himself walked about at night, making revelations unto Wagner as regardeth many secret matters. Passers-by reported seeing his face peering out at the windows. Now this is the end of his quite veritable deeds, tale, Historia and sorcery. From it the students and clerks in particular should learn to fear God, to flee sorcery, conjuration of spirits, and other works of the Devil, not to invite the Devil into their houses, nor to yield unto him in any other way, as Doctor Faustus did, for we have before us here the frightful and horrible example of his pact and death to help us shun such acts and pray to God alone in all matters, love Him with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our strength, defying the Devil with all his following, that we may through Christ be eternally blessed. These things we ask in the name of Christ Jesus our only Lord and Savior. Amen. Amen.
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