kon
his weight in the moment when it dies beneath his powerful foot.

_Faustus_. Mocker! and what, then, is the spirit within me, which, if it
once get fairly on the ladder, will mount from step to step into
infinity? What are its limits?

_Devil_. The length of your own nose. But, if you called me out of hell
merely for this chit-chat, permit me to return for ever. I have long
known your inclination to prate about that which you do not understand.

_Faustus_. Thy bitterness pleases me; it chimes in with my humour, and I
should like to be better acquainted with thee. What is thy name?

_Devil_. Leviathan; which signifies _all_, for I can do all.

_Faustus_. Hear the braggart! Are devils, then, so boastful?

_Devil_. 'Twas said merely to do honour to the shape in which thou seest
me: but words are vain. Set me to the proof. What dost thou require?

_Faustus_. Require? What an indefinite word for a devil! If thou art
what thou seemest, anticipate desires, and gratify them ere they become
wishes.

_Devil_. The noble steed champs the bit in fury when curbed by a timid
rider: how he then resembles the man who feels wings that could bear him
into light, yet who is kept down in the dark abyss! Faustus, thou art
one of those fiery spirits who are not contented with the scanty meal of
knowledge which Omniscience has set before them. Great is thy strength,
mighty is thy soul, and bold thy will; but the curse of finite reason
lies upon thee, as it does upon all. Faustus, thou art as great as man
can be.

_Faustus_. Masquerading fiend, return into hell; must thou, too, deceive
us by flattery?

_Devil_. Faustus, I am a spirit formed of flaming light; I saw the
monstrous worlds arise out of nothing: thou art of dust, and of
yesterday. Do I flatter thee?

_Faustus_. And yet must thou serve me if I command.

_Devil_. For that I expect the approbation of hell, besides a reward;
neither man nor devil will work for nothing.

_Faustus_. What reward dost thou expect?

_Devil_. To have that which animates thee; that which would make thee my
equal if it had power.

_Faustus_. I were well off then, truly; yet, adept as thou art, thou
knowest little of men, if thou doubtest the strength of one who has set
himself free from the bonds which nature has drawn so tightly round our
hearts. How gentle did they appear to me once, when the eye of my youth
clothed men and the world in the pure colours of mor