Faust: A Tragedy
The personality of Faust, however, is not left to rest upon the mere
traditionary evidence of the vulgar legend. The diligence of German
antiquaries, even before Goethe's Faust gave importance to the
theme, had collected many trustworthy historical testimonies in
confirmation of the common belief. Dürr's Letter on this subject
is dated 1676; and, not seven years afterwards, appeared Neumann's
historical disquisition _De Fausto praestigiatore_. This essay I
have not seen at full length; but from the epitome given of it by
Hauber (_Bibliotheca Magica_, vol. ii. p. 706), I fear that there
may be but too much cause for the remark of Heumann,[*i9] that "it
smacks too much of the young graduate." It was certainly a very
pious motive that induced Neumann, a student of Wittenberg, to
attempt removing from his _alma mater_ the shame of having given
birth, or even education, to such a notorious character as Doctor
Faust; but truth often forces us to admit what fondest prejudice
would fain deny. The next critical essay on Faust, is that of
Heumann, just quoted, in Hauber's Library of Magic, and it
contains the most important of these historical testimonies to the
truth of the Faustish legend, which have since been so
comprehensively exhibited in one work by Doctor Stieglitz.[*i10]
As all the traditions agree in representing Faust as haying studied
at Wittenberg, and there, too, exhibited a number of magical tricks
to his good friends the students, it was natural to suspect that
Luther or Melancthon should, somewhere or other, make mention of
such a notorious character. And, accordingly, Stieglitz follows
Horst (_Zauber-Bibliotheck_, vi. 87) in asserting that Melancthon
actually does make mention of Doctor Faust in one of his epistles;
but as neither of these writers cites the passage, or mentions in
what particular part of Melancthon's work it is to be found, I
barely mention this circumstance on their authority. There is,
however, very great probability that the testimony of Joannes
Manlius, in his Collectanea, the principal one relied on both by
Heumann and Stieglitz, is, in reality, to be considered as a
testimony of Melancthon. Manlius himself[*i11] says of his
Collectanea, "_Labor hic noster collectus ex ore D. Phillippi
Melanchthonis allisque clarissimis viris_," and might, on this
account, as Heumann remarks, have fitly been named _Melancthoniana_,
or Melancthon's Table-Talk. But be this as it may, Manlius'
testimony is most decided, and runs as follows:--"I was acquainted
with a certain person, called Faust of Kundling, a small town in
Wurtemberg. He was a Cracovian Scholasticus, and read lectures on
magic in the university there. He was a great rambler (_vagabatur
passim_), and possessed many secrets. At Venice, wishing to amuse
the populace, he boasted that he would fly up to heaven. The devil
accordingly wafted him up a certain height, but dashed him down
again in such a plight, that he lay half-dead on the ground. A few
years ago, the same John Faust, on the last day of his life, was
found sitting in the common inn of a certain village in the Duchy of
Wittenberg. He was, indeed, a most vile blackguard (_turpissimus
nebula_), of a most filthy life, so much so, indeed, that he once
and again almost lost his life on account of his excesses. The
landlord of the inn asked him why he sat there so sad, contrary to
his wont? "Be not terrified if you shall hear anything on this
night," was his short answer. And at midnight the house was
shaken. Next morning, near mid-day, as Faust did not make his
appearance, the landlord entered into his chamber, and found him
lying beside his bed, with his face on the ground, having been so
slain by the devil. When he was yet alive, he was accompanied by a
dog, which was the devil. ... This Faust the magician, a most vile
beast, and a common sewer of many devils (_cloaca multorum
diabolorum_), was also a great boaster, and pretended that all the
victories of the Imperial armies in Italy were gained by the help of
his magic."[*i12] With this account agrees exactly that given by
Wier,[*i13] the disciple and confidant of the celebrated Cornelius
Agrippa von Nettesheim. Del Rio,[*i14] who wrote at the end of the
sixteenth century, introduces him along with the same Agrippa,
playing tricks on the poor landlords, with whom they sojourned in
their vagabond excursions, by paying them with money which turned
into crumbs and chaff, whenever the magicians were out of sight; but
his connection with such a philosopher as Agrippa is much to be
doubted, as Wier has not even hinted at it in the passage where he
treats expressly of the Doctor.
The only other contemporary writer from whom I shall quote at
length, is Begardi[*i15] whose book, _Zeyger der Gesundheit_," was
published in 1539, and contains the following interesting testimony
to the age and character of Faust, which I give here from the
German, as it stands in Dr. Stieglitz's essay.
"There is yet a celebrated character whom I would rather not have
named; but since I must mention him, I will tell what I know of him
in a few words. Some years ago this man passed through almost all
lands, princedoms, and kingdoms, making his name known to everybody,
and making great show of his skill, not in medicine only, but in
chiromancy, necromancy, physiognomy, visions in crystals, and such
like. And in these things he not only acquired great notoriety, but
also obtained the name of a famous and experienced master. He did
not conceal his name, but called himself Faust, and used to
subscribe himself _philosophus philosophorum_. But of those who were
cheated by him, and complained of the same to me, there is a great
multitude. His promise was great like that of Thessalus in Galen's
days, as also his fame like that of Theophrastus;[*i16] but his
deeds, as I have heard, were almost always found to be very petty
and deceitful, though he was, to speak plainly, not slow at giving,
and especially taking, money, as many a worthy person had cause to
know. But now the matter is not to be remedied; past is past, and
gone is gone. I must even leave the matter as it is; and see thou to
it, that thou treat it as a good Christian ought to do."
Thus far Begardi in his honest naïve language. Heumann cites
further a long passage from Tritheim's Epistolæ Familiares,[*i17]
describing a character altogether similar to that above described by
Manlius and Begardi; with this remarkable difference, that he is not
called Doctor John Faust, as he is by Manlius, and in all the vulgar
traditions, but "_Magister Georgius Faustus Sabellicus, Faustus
Junior._" I think Stieglitz has been too precipitate in concluding
that difference in the name must necessarily imply a difference in
the person. The vagabond wonder-workers of those days were wont to
have a number of names, as the example of Paracelsus alone is
sufficient to show. With regard to the denomination of "Faustus
_junior_," this cannot certainly refer to our John Faust, with
whom this George (if he was a different person) must have been
contemporary. It probably relates to Faust the printer, who has also
been accused of magic, or to some other Faust of the fifteenth
century, whose fame has been now swallowed up in that of Doctor John
Faust of Wittenberg.
Camerarius and Gesner[*i18] also make mention of Doctor Faust; but
let the passages already quoted suffice to prove the historical
reality of our magical hero.
Joining together these historical testimonies and the popular
traditions, it is not difficult to come to a pretty accurate
conclusion as to the real character of Doctor Faust. He appears to
have been a man of extensive learning, especially in medical and
astrological, perhaps too in philological and theological, science.
But, driven by a restless spirit, and a vain desire of popular
applause, he seems to have early abandoned the calm and steady path
that leads to professional eminence, and sought after that noisy but
less substantial fame, which his scientific skill was fitted to
procure for him in the eyes of the gazing multitude. Many of the
greatest philosophers, indeed, as Solomon, Roger Bacon, and
Cornelius Agrippa, have been accounted magicians for no other reason
than their uncommon wisdom, far surpassing that of the age in which
they lived; but there is too much reason to suspect that Faust's
fame as a magician rests upon much more questionable grounds, and
the whole account of his life and exploits leaves upon our mind the
impression that he was a very clever vagabond quack, rather than a
retired and contemplative philosopher. There is much in all that is
told of him that recalls to our mind the biography of Paracelsus, a
man certainly of great genius, but of much greater impudence, who
gained his living by acting upon the folly of mankind.[*i19] By all
accounts, indeed, Faust was a man of much more distinguished
academic learning than Paracelsus, of whom historians even question
whether he ever studied at any university; but as a vagabond, a
boaster, and a wonder-promiser, the one is perhaps only not superior
to the other. With a little knowledge of medicine, a little
classical lore, some dexterity in performing sleight-of-hand
wonders, and a panoply of assurance, a clever man like Faust or
Paracelsus may easily obtain a livelihood, and, what is more, an
imperishable name. For such characters a strolling life is at once a
pleasure and a necessity. Paracelsus soon lost his chair at
Basle,--for a man is never a hero to his _valet-de-chambre_,--and,
if we may believe the common legend, Faust scarcely left a corner of
the earth unvisited, and filled Asia and Europe with his renown.
And verily he has had his reward. Since the time of his death, not
only Germany, but England, France, and Holland, have swarmed with
"prodigious and lamentable histories" of the "great magician
John Faust, with his testament and his terrible death." Magical
books under his name have become as famous as those of
Solomon;[*i20] artists and poets have vied with one another in
rendering his name immortal in the annals of Art; tragedies and
comedies, puppet-plays and operas, ballads and novels, essays, and
dissertations and commentaries, prologues and epilogues, and all the
varied paraphernalia of genius and erudition, have been heaped on
one another, to adorn the trophy of Doctor John Faustus, the great
German quack. The wondrous exploits of Faust are endless, and it
would be an endless task to recount the tithe of them. Were I to
enter upon an exposition of how Doctor Faust first cited
Mephistopheles on a crossroad in the midst of a dark fearful wood
near Wittenberg,--how the Devil visited him frequently in his own
study in all shapes and sizes,--how the Doctor was, after some
hesitation, prevailed on to sell his soul to Lucifer, and to that
effect signed a formal bond with blood drawn from his own arm,--how
he neglected all the warnings of his good genius, and even the
terrible writing that appeared on his wounded arm, /Homo Fuge/!--how
the wily Devil dissuaded him from the quiet of a domestic life, when
he wished to marry, that he might drag him into all kinds of
licentiousness,--how he forced Mephistopheles to answer all his
importunate interrogatories, as to the state of Hell, and the
condition of the damned, which the Devil painted in colours as
terrible as if he had been an Evangelist of the north-west Highland
type,--how Faust was transported into Hell upon the back of
Beelzebub, and left floundering through the chaos of the abyss,--how
he travelled from star to star, and surveyed all the infinity of
worlds, with as much expedition as the imagination of a modern
poet,--how he turned astrologer, and vied with the fame of
Nostradamus,--how he wandered over the whole world, and saw Rome,