¹ Heller, Otto, Faust and Faustus, A Study of Goethe's Relation to Marlowe, Washington University Studies, New Series, Language and Literature, No. 2 (1931), p. 73.Google Scholar

² Ch. 1; cf. the very useful compilation Sources of the Faust Tradition from Simon Magus to Lessing, edited by P. M. Palmer and R. P. More (New York: Oxford University Press, 1936), p. 135.

³ Ibid., p. 158.

⁴ Jusserand has voiced his disapproval of this method: “According to the more or less favorable idea they have formed of Marlowe's purity of taste, critics have more or less liberally attributed to different authors the clumsy or ridiculous parts of the drama” (A Literary History of the English People, p. 139).

⁵ Viz., the well-known record in Henslowe's Diary for November 22, 1602, of a payment of £4 to William Birde and Samuel Rowley “for ther adicyones in doctor Fostes” (cf. n. 102 following).

⁶ Ed. Tamburlaine the Great (London, 1930).

⁷ Ed. The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus (New York, 1932), p. 11.—The possibility that Marlowe made use of a supposititious German play is not now seriously regarded. The arguments for such a contributory influence have been examined and discarded by Professor John A. Walz, “A German Faust-Play of the Sixteenth Century,” GR, iii, 1 ff. The extant Faust play, Professor Walz's discovery, which he discusses in this article is shown by him to have no connection with Marlowe.

⁸ Thus Robert Petsch, in the Introduction to his edition of Goethe's Faust (Leipzig, 1925), p. 11. Petsch discusses briefly the Acts of Peter and the Clementines as materials for the Simon Magus legend, but treats the latter as generic prototype only.

⁹ Palmer and More, Sources, etc. Cf. n. 2 above.

¹⁰ Cyprian von Antiochien und die deutsche Faustsage (Erlangen, 1882), pp. 10–11.

¹¹ Ibid., p. 46.

¹² Goethe's Faust nach seiner Entstehung, Idee und Composition (Stuttgart, 1887), pp. 37–52.

¹³ For a general account of Simon Magus in relation to Gnostic philosophy and the early Church, see the scholarly article by G. L. N. Hall in Hastings' Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics. Dr. Hall comments, “The story of Simon Magus survived in the popular mythology of the Middle Ages and contributed some elements to the legend of Faust.” See also the discussion of Gnostic philosophy in relation to other systems of thought in Wilhelm Moeller, History of the Christian Church, translated by Andrew Rutherfurd (New York, 1892), pp. 129–155. Especially useful also are the editorial notes appended to the account of Simon in Eusebius' Church History, Bk. ii, Chapters xiii, xiv (ed. Rev. A. C. McGiffert, Post-Nicene Library, Vol. i).

¹⁴ For bibliography see the Bibliographical Synopsis, Ante-Nicene Library, Vol. ix. I have made use in the present paper of the translation by Alexander Walker in the Ante-Nicene Library, viii, 477–485. This series is hereafter referred to as A-N L. Portions of this treatise are reprinted by Palmer and More, Sources, together with the closely derived Life of Peter in Caxton's Golden Legend and a passage from The Teaching of Simon Cephas in the City of Rome.

¹⁵ Migne, Patrol. Gr., ii, 57–468 (Greek text and Latin translation in parallel columns). Citations in the present paper are from the translation (by several hands) in the Ante-Nicene Library, Vol. viii. No excerpts from the Homilies are printed by Palmer and More, although, as will be shown, this offers similarities with the Continental Faustbook which are not shared by the Recognitions, and hence belongs more properly than the latter among sources of the tradition.

¹⁶ No Greek text is extant; for the Latin text of Rufinus, cf. Migne, Patrol. Gr., i, 1209–1474. Citations in the present paper are from the translation by the Rev. Thomas Smith in Ante-Nicene Library, viii, 75–211. Excerpts covering a fraction of the relevant material are printed by Palmer and More. Bibliography for the Homilies and Recognitions will be found in the Bibliographical Synopsis, A-N L, ix.

¹⁷ Ed. Graesse (Leipzig, 1850); see especially pp. 371–374. This version, based on the Acts of Peter, makes use also of material from the Recognitions, Jerome, Linus, and Leo.

¹⁸ There is variation between the Homilies and Recognitions as to the name given the father of Clement. Cf. n. 21 following.

¹⁹ Ed. cit., pp. 780–784.

²⁰ From the letter of Johannes Tritheim to Johannes Virdung, printed (with translation) by Palmer and More, Sources, pp. 83–86.

²¹ Cf. Horn., xx, Ch. xii, “Faustus appears to his friends with the face of Simon.” The sons of Faustus (Clement's brothers) report the occurrence thus: “. . . our father came in and caught Peter talking to us of him . . . But we were amazed when we looked at him, for we saw the form of Simon, but heard the voice of our father Faustus. And when we were fleeing from him, and abhorring him, our father was astonished at receiving such harsh and hostile treatment from us. But Peter alone saw his natural shape, and said to us: ‘Why do you in horror turn away from your own father?’ But we and our mother said: ‘It is Simon that we see before us, with the voice of our father.’ And Peter said: ‘You recognize only his voice, which is unaffected by magic; but as my eyes also are unaffected by magic I can see his form as it really is, that he is not Simon, but your father Faustus.’ Then, looking to my father, he said: ‘It is not your own true form that is seen by them, but that of Simon, our deadliest foe, and a most impious man’.” Peter promises to restore Faustus eventually to his own shape, but evolves a plan through which in the meantime the metamorphosis, with its consequent confusion of the identities of Simon Magus and Faustus, can be used to confound the magician. In accordance with this plan Faustus, impersonating Simon, publicly retracts the latter's accusations of Peter, and declares, “For I confess to you I am a magician, I am a deceiver, I am a juggler. Yet perhaps it is possible for me by repentance to wipe out the sins which were formerly committed by me” (A-N L, viii, 343–345).

Approximately the same story is told in the Recognitions, Book x, Chapters liii–lxvii (pp. 207–210). Here, however, the names of the characters are transposed; the name of Clement's father, who is Simon's double, is given as Faustinianus, and Faustus is applied to one of Clement's brothers. This variation has given rise to considerable confusion on the part of commentators, some of whom assign the name Faustus, in its significant use as the appellation of a supposed magus, mistakenly to the Recognitions. The latter treatise, again, is the only one considered in the useful discussion of the derivation of the name Faustus by Dr. E. Cushing Richardson, in the Papers of the American Society of Church History, vi, 133–145 (1893). Dr. Richardson notes that a source in the Recognitions for the name Faustus was alluded to by Lagarde in the Prolegomena to his edition of the Clementines in 1865, and that Lagarde's conclusions were discussed by later scholars (cf. his Note 22). Dr. Richardson's paper is referred to in a footnote to an article by Professor Alfred Richards, “Some Faustus Notes,” MLN, xxii, 39–41; but Professor Richards makes no reference in his text to Dr. Richardson's conclusions. Palmer and More cite only the Recognitions, without comment on the names.

The significance of the name of the early Faustus was recognized by Harold G. Meek, in his volume Johann Faustus, the Man and the Myth (Oxford University Press, 1930). Dr. Meek says, “It was this Faustus whom Simon Magus changed in form and face so that he became Simon Magus' double and that men could not tell them apart. For a dealer in magic and spells, no better name was offering than Faustus iunior magus secundus et aeromanticus (sic) with its ready-made associations and its possibilities of passing-off.” Dr. Meek errs, however, in assigning the name Faustus in this application to the Recognitions.

²² Op. cit., p. 12.

²³ Op. cit., p. 45.

²⁴ “Ibi [coram Nerone] Simon Magus subuolare in caelum: sed Petrus precatus est vt decideret. Credo Apostolos habuisse magna certamina, etiamsi non omnia sunt scripta. Faustus Venetiis etiam hoc tentauit. Sed male allisus solo.” From the Explications Melancthoniœ, cf. Palmer and More, Sources, p. 99. Although the incident does not reappear in the Volksbuch, Faustus is therein credited with the power of flight. A second parallel between the contemporary legend of Faust and the tradition of Simon also is referable to Melancthon, though indirectly. In the Christliche Bedenken it is reported that Faust addressed Melancthon thus: “One of these days, when you go to the table I will bring it about that all the pots in your kitchen will fly out of the chimney.” (Palmer and . More, Sources, p. 122.) This recalls one of the alleged performances of Simon: “In his house he makes dishes be seen as borne of themselves to wait upon him, no bearers being seen” (Homilies, ii, xxxii; A-N L, viii, 235). There is a reflection of this in the prose Historie; see n. 23 below.

²⁵ With reference to this point Fischer says: “Hier liegt die Vergleichung der beiden Zauberer so nahe dass sie mit Händen zu. greifen war und schon in einer Schrift die dem ältesten Faustbuche vorherging ausgesprochen wurde” (op. cit., p. 41).

The story of Simon's frustrated flight, which is told in the Acts of Peter, was probably the most widely known of all legendary incidents related of him. It was a frequent subject for painters of the Italian Renaissance (cf. pp. 108–109 below). The incident will be further discussed in this paper in relation to Marlowe.

²⁶ The locus classicus for the account of Simon at the court of Nero is, as has been said, the Acts of Peter. There is some variation in patristic accounts; according to Justin Martyr, the visit of Simon to the Imperial court took place in the reign of Claudius (First Apology, A-N L, i, 171). This is possibly the source of the statement of Eusebius to the same effect (Church History, ed. cit., p. 114). Since most mediæval versions are based ultimately on the Acts of Peter, the court of Nero became the traditional setting.

²⁷ Cf. G. L. N. Hall in the article referred to above (n. 10) : “Faustus, like Simon, enjoyed the companionship of Helen of Troy.” Dr. E. C. Richardson, in the article referred to above, noted that Lagarde, in his Prolegomena, took account of the Helena parallel, and his conclusions were enlarged upon by Steitz in a review of Lagarde in the Studien u. Kritikien in 1867. The connection with the Clementines was “approved” by Erich Schmidt in the Goethe Jahrbuch for 1882. Schaff (Church Hist., ii, 442) notes the resemblance in the name Faustus and the association with Helena, but is skeptical as to possible relationship. Cf. also Meek (pp. cit., p. 92) : “There is much in this episode [sc. the account of Faust's relations with Helen] which sounds like a memory of the tales told of Simon Magus.“

²⁸ Ch. 45; Palmer and More, p. 11. The Volksbuch has: “so wunderschön dass die Studenten nit wüsten ob sie bey ihnen Selbsten weren oder nit, so verwirrt und innbrůnstig waren sie“; and “Mit schönen Kollschwartzen äugen, ein vberauss schon gleissend Angesicht sie sähe sich allenthalben in der Stuben vmb, mit gar frechem und bübischem Gesicht, dass die Studenten gegen jr in Liebe entzündet waren.” Cf. Das Volksbuch vom Doctor Faust, ed. Max Niemeyer (1878), p. 94.

²⁹ Ch. 55; Palmer and More, p. 221.

³⁰ For a summary and analysis of this aspect of Gnostic thought, see Moeller, op. cit., pp. 132–133. See also Lecky, History of Rationalism in Europe, i, 220 ff.

³¹ A-N L, viii, 233; Migne, Patrol. Gr., ii, 94. It should be noted that Simon's companion is called “Luna” in the Recognitions. This name has been explained as resulting from a confusion of Helena with the moon-goddess Selene.

³² Cf. Eusebius, Church History, ed. cit., p. 114; see especially note 12 for numerous references in patristic works to the relationship of Helen and Simon.

³³ The Refutation of All Heresies, Bk. vi, Ch. xiv; A-N L, v, 80. This treatise is an especially valuable primary source for early Christian interpretation of Simon's philosophy.

³⁴ Treatise on the Soul, Ch. xxxiv, A-N L, iii, 215. This passage is apparently an emotionalized version of material in Irenaeus, Against Heresies, A-N L, i, 348.

³⁵ Op. cit., p. 11.—Zahn refers to the inaugural dissertation of E. F. Sommer, De Theophili cum diabolo foedere (Halle, 1844), wherein the “borrowing” of Helen of Troy from the Simon Magus legend is asserted.

³⁶ Op. cit., p. 12.

³⁷ Op. cit., p. 42.

³⁸ Ibid., p. 43.

³⁹ ii, 37.

⁴⁰ Moeller, Wilhelm, op. cit., p. 133.Google Scholar

⁴¹ The phrase is taken from the Acts of Peter (A-N L, viii, 480), but the notion that Simon received diabolic aid of course underlies all accounts of his conjuring activities.

⁴² This conclusion for the career of Simon Magus is that which stands in the popular account derived from the Acts of Peter and popularized through the Legenda Aurea. According to the original account in the Acts of Peter, “he fell into a place called Sacra Via, that is, Holy Way, and was divided into four parts, having perished by an evil fate” (A-N L, viii, 484). The version in Caxton's Englishing of the Legenda is slightly different; here it is reported that he “brake his neck and head and he died there forthwith” (Palmer and More, Sources, p. 40). The longer of the two metrical versions which are included in the Northern Homily Collection follows the Acts of Peter in the point of the quartering of the magician's body, “In foure peces his body brast,” but adds a new legendary touch:

Cf. Horstmann, Altenglische Legenden, Neue Folge (Heilbronn, 1881), pp. 70–71.—According to the shorter version of the same piece in the collection, Simon “fell & brast in-sondere / And his saule went to hell wi*** thondir” (ibid., p. 80). The very early Constitutions of the Holy Apostles gives a somewhat different account of the catastrophe fiom that in the Acts of Peter; according to this the magician was not killed, but “violently dashed against the ground, and had his hip and ankle-bones broken” (A-N L, vii, 453). Arnobius reports that he fell from a height, to “lie prostrate with his legs broken” and later, “worn out with anguish and shame, cast himself down from the roof of a very lofty house” (A-N L, vi, 438). These several accounts of a violent death involving dismemberment and the breaking of bones approximate in varying degree the description of the death of Faustus in the Historie: “They found his body lying on the horse dung, most monstrously torne, and fearfull to beholde, for his head and all his ioynts were dashed to pieces” (Palmer and More, p. 230).

A variant account of the death of Simon is given by Hippolytus, who records that Simon had himself buried alive in the expectation of rising on the third day; “whereas,” according to the chronicler, “he remained in that grave to this day” (A-N L, v, 81). This story seems not to have passed into circulation. The Homilies and Recognitions have nothing to say as to the manner of Simon's death.

⁴³ A number of versions of the Theophilus legend are printed by George Webbe Dasent, Theophilus in Icelandic, Low German and Other Tongues (London, 1845). This collection includes the version in the Legenda Aurea (ed. cit., pp. 593–594). Caxton's Englishing of the latter, together with the much ampler account given by Paulus Diaconus, is printed by Palmer and More, pp. 60–67. These editors discuss the growth of the Theophilus legend and give bibliography. They do not mention, however, the highly important English poem of the fifteenth century, semi-dramatic in form, which was printed by Heuser (Engl. Stud., xxxii, 1–23). The significance of this piece in relation to the Faust tradition was pointed out by Gerould (Saints' Legends, pp. 253–254). In this connection should also be considered the Middle English poem Celestin, which combines with the Theophilus narrative the typically Faustian motivation of desire for superhuman knowledge. (For the text, with discussion, cf. Horstmann, Anglia, i, 55–85; for further comment, cf. Gerould, op. cit., pp. 228–229.)

⁴⁴ “In der Theophilussage—bildet der schriftliche Vertrag mit dem Teufel ein wesentliches Merkmal das zur Vergleichung mit der Faustsage gedient hat” (op. cit., p. 58).

⁴⁵ This possibility is categorically denied by Fischer, in spite of the leading clue offered by the blood-compact: “Bis auf jenes schriftliche Pactum giebt es keinen charakteristischen Vergleichungspunkt zwischen der Sage vom Theophilus und der vom Faust, weshalb jene nicht als der Vorbild oder die Quelle der letzteren anzusehen ist” (op. cit., p. 59). In view of the wide circulation of the legend of Theophilus in Germanic literatures (cf. Basent, op. cit.) which testify to general knowledge of the tradition, it is surely arbitrary to limit the influence of this legend on the Faust tradition to a single indisputable instance of borrowing.

⁴⁶ Op. cit., p. xxx.

⁴⁷ Ibid., pp. 42–52.

⁴⁸ Ibid., pp. 52–55; cf. Historie, Ch. 48. It should be noted, however, that for the anonymous “old man” who admonishes Faustus in the Historie the prototype is provided by the Homilies (A-N L, viii, 305 ff.).

⁴⁹ Palmer and More, p. 225.

⁵⁰ Ibid., pp. 65–66; for Latin original, cf. Dasent, op. cit., p. 69.

⁵¹ The relationships between certain of the versions of the Theophilus legend have been discussed by E. Fr. Sommer, op. cit. (cf. Note 35 below).

⁵² Caxton's Englishing of this version and of the related Justina is printed by Palmer and More, pp. 42–58; for discussion and bibliography, cf. pp. 41–42.

⁵³ Cf. Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia, s.v. Simon Magus. The source of the confusion is further suggested: “This Simon is described by Josephus as a Cypriot (Ant., xx, vii, 2), but this rests on a confusion of the Cyprian capital Cittium with the Samaritan village Gitta.” There is further ground for the confusion of the two figures in the fact that many of Simon's miracles were performed at Antioch. Zahn rejects the theory that the legend of Cyprian sprang from that of Simon (op. cit., pp. 115–117).

⁵⁴ A German translation of this is printed by Zahn, op. cit.

⁵⁵ Simon is said to be well versed in the Greek literature (cf. Recognitions, ii, X; A-N L, viii, 299).

⁵⁶ Large claims for an influence from Cyprian on the Faust tradition are made by Zahn, op. cit.

⁵⁷ An exception must be noted in the scriptural account of Simon (Acts, viii, 9–13) where it is stated that Simon believed and was baptized. The effect of this statement is, however, largely negated by the verses immediately following, which describe the attempt of Simon to purchase the gift of the Holy Ghost with money and the rebuke of Peter to the effect that Simon is still in the “bond of iniquity.” Virtually all allusions to Simon in vernacular literature present him as the father of simony, the false Christ, or a blasphemous magician. It is therefore surprising to find “Simon of Samaria” cited in the Volksbuch and Historie as an example of the sinner repenting before it is too late: “Wie jr sehet das Exempel in der Apostelgeschicht am. 8 Cap. von simony in Samaria, der auch viel Volcks verführet hette, denn man hat jn sonderlich für ein Gott gehalten und jn die Krafft Gottes, oder Simon Sanctus, genannt; diser war aber hernach auch bekehret als er die Predigt S. Philippi gehört liess er sich taüffen“; cited by Zahn, op. cit., p. 11, from W. Braune's Abdruck des Faustbuchs (Halle, 1878), S. 93. This passage is the subject of an exchange of arguments between Zahn and Fischer which does not advance the position of either. The presence in the Faustbooks of a misleading allusion to the canonical account of Simon may be variously accounted for; in any case it does not appreciably modify the atmosphere of popular legend and fictive tradition which fills the Faustbooks.

⁵⁸ Palmer and More, p. 161. This passage does not stand in the German text.

⁵⁹ Horn., ii, Ch. xxxii; A-N L, viii, 235; Migne, ii, 99.

⁶⁰ Palmer and More, p. 179.

⁶¹ Ibid., p. 170.

⁶² Against the Heathen, Bk. ii; A-N L, vi, 438. A fiery chariot for aerial transportation is as old as the prophet Elisha and the impious Phaeton; but belongs first to a sorcerer in the person of Simon.

⁶³ Treatise of the Soul, A-N L, iii, 234.

⁶⁴ To the similarities between the Faustbooks and the Homilies may be added the following parallel. The Historie states: “It is manifest that many vertuous parents have wicked children as Cayn, Ruben,” etc. (Palmer and More, p. 135). The Volksbuch has “Es folget darneben auch off t dass fromme Eltem gottlose vngerahtene Kinder haben, wie am Cain” etc. (ed. cit., p. 11). Cf. Homilies, xix, Ch. ix: “Peter said . . . We see many men who are good the fathers of wicked children . . . For instance, the first man who was created produced the unrighteous Cain” (A-N L, viii, 333; Patrol. Gr., ii, 430).

⁶⁵ Ch. i; Palmer and More, p. 136. Cf. Volksbuch: “Ohne Ruhm war er Redsprechig in der Göttlichen Schrifft wol erfahren” (ed. cit., p. 13).

⁶⁶ Hom., iii, Ch. xl; A-N L, viii, 246. Cf. “Sicque Simon multis ex Scriptura locis assumptis videbatur probare, Deum omni perpessioni esse obnoxium” (Migne, ii, 138).

⁶⁷ Palmer and More, p. 153 ff.; A-N L. viii, 276–277 and 333–335.

⁶⁸ Ch. 3; Palmer and More, p. 139. Cf. Volksbuch: “Auch dass er jm auff alle Interrogatorien nichts vnwarhafftigs respondieren wolle” (ed. cit., p. 16).

⁶⁹ A-N L, viii, 332; translating “Ne speres quod me timore dimoturus sis, ne a te quaeram exemplorum veritatem. Ego enim adeo veritatis sum appetens, ut ejus causa non pigeat me etiam periculum suscipere” (Migne, ii, 427).

⁷⁰ For evidence, cf. Dr. E. C. Richardson, Proceedings of the American Soc. of Ch. Eist., i, 235–248.

⁷¹ Cf. Palmer and More, p. 11.

⁷² For discussion of the activities and reputation of the group, in which Raleigh, Marlowe, and Harriot were leading figures, see especially F. S. Boas, Marlowe and his Circle (1929) and M. C. Bradbrook, The School of Night (Camb. Univ. Press, 1936).

⁷³ Cf. Boas, Marlowe and his Circle, pp. 69–70.

⁷⁴ Palmer and More, p. 37 (Caxton's Golden Legend). The means by which the feigned beheading is carried out in the Acts of Peter differs from that in the play; Simon deceives onlookers into thinking a severed ram's head is his own—a supernatural device recalling that by which Iphigenia is delivered, in one version of the legend, from the headsman's axe. The only instance of trick beheading in the Historie—that involving four jugglers and a water-lily—is obviously remote in suggestion.

⁷⁵ Palmer and More, p. 38.

⁷⁶ This myth is recalled also by a passage in the Historie: “this ceasing came a kennell of hounds, and they chased a great Hart in the hall, and there the Hart was slaine” (Palmer and More, p. 143). Although this passage supplies a “kennell of hounds,” these are not used against a personal enemy.

⁷⁷ Palmer and More, p. 36.

⁷⁸ Ibid., pp. 37–38.

⁷⁹ Ibid., p. 40.—The incident here related of Simon has, in fact, historic connection with the Icarus tradition. It is thought to have been suggested by the story (recorded by Suetonius and others) of an accident which happened in the Circus under Nero to a slave who had been required to enact the part of Icarus; cf. Renan, Antichrist, translated by Joseph Henry Allen (Boston, 1897), p. 60.

⁸⁰ “Notes on Marlowe's Dr. Faustus,” P. Q., xii, 22–23.

⁸¹ The following examples are noted by Mrs. Jameson, Sacred and Legendary Art (Boston and New York, 1895), i, 210:

1. 1.

   1. Giunta Pisano (?), Cathedral, Assisi (1232).

2. 2.

   2. Benozzo Gozzoli (cf. Note 82).

3. 3.

   3. Raphael, in the Vatican.

4. 4.

   4. L. Caracci at Naples.

5. 5.

   5. “Great mosaic after Vanni,” St. Peter's.

6. 6.

   6. “Battoni's great picture,” in the church of S. Maria degli Angeli.

Through the kindness of Miss Franklin and Miss Felton of the staff of the Metropolitan Museum I am enabled to add the following items:

1. 1.

   1. Carlone, Church of San Siro, Genoa (17th cent.).

2. 2.

   2. Mosaic, 12th cent., Palazzo Reale, Palermo.

3. 3.

   3. Alessandro Tiarini, Galleria Doria, Rome.

4. 4.

   4. Relief, 15th cent., Church of St. Peter, Rome.

5. 5.

   5. Tremolieres, P.G.S.M. degli Angeli, Rome.

6. 6.

   6. Francesco Solimena, S. Paolo Maggiore, Naples.

⁸² 1 am indebted to Mrs. Roberta Fansler of the Metropolitan's Educational Staff for calling my attention to an account of this picture in the Bulletin of the Museum for 1915, p. 224, and that by H. Howe in the Burlington Magazine, vii, 377. I take this opportunity of expressing to the authorities of the Metropolitan Museum appreciation of their kind permission to reproduce this photograph.

⁸³ An exception is the incident of Simon's unsuccessful attempt to resuscitate a dead body (cf. Palmer and More, pp. 38–39). Possibly there is a reminiscence of this situation in the lines spoken by Faustus in the Prologue:

This incident also was treated in art; cf. Mrs. Jameson, op. cit., p. 204.

⁸⁴ Quod et si secundum alios Graecorum philosophos audire vis, . . . non te sine dubio latent. Ponunt enim sphaeram aequaliter ex omni parte collectam, et ad omnia similiter respicientem atque a centro terrae aequis spatiis distinctam (Migne, i, 1381).

⁸⁵ Quis astrorum cursus tanta ratione disposuit, ortusque eorum et occasus instituit, certisque et demensis temporibus unicuique tenere coeli ambitum dedit? Quis ad occasum aliis semper tendere, aliis etiam redire in ortum permisit? Quis imposuit modum cursibus sous ut horas et dies et menses et temporum vicissitudines diversis motibus signet? (Migne, i, 1382).

⁸⁶ Sed dicet aliquis eorum qui in disciplina mathesis eruditi sunt, genesim in septem partes dirimi, quae illi climata appellant, dominari vero unicuique climati unam ex septem Steffis, et istas quas exposuimus diversas leges non ab hominibus positas, sed ab istis principibus secundum uniuscujusque voluntatem; et hoc quod stellae visum est, legem ab hominibus observatam (Migne, i, 1413).

⁸⁷ Unde et coelum velut superiorum fabricam igneis atomis, quae***et leviores sunt et sursum semper fugiunt asserunt structam (Migne, i, 1380) . . . Rem fabulosam et inepte compositam dicam (Migne, i, 1379). Italics and bracketed phrases are mine.

⁸⁸ Plato ignem, aquam, aerem, terram; Aristoteles etiam quintum introducit elementum, quod ***, id est incompellabile nominavit, sine dubio ilium indicans, qui in unum quatuor elementa conjungens mundum fecerit (Migne, i, 1378).

There is an allusion in the Historie (ch. 18; Palmer and More, p. 160) to the “fifth essence” apparently in the sense of a divine element, but without any intimation that its name should not be named: “. . . the elements, fire, ayre, water and earth, and all that is contained in them, yea herein there is nothing hidden from me but onely the fift essence, which once thou hadst Faustus at liberty but now Faustus thou hast lost it past recouery.” The Volksbuch speaks plainly of God who created the elements, making no mention of a “fifth essence“: “Der Gott der dich erschaffen hat, hat auch die Welt und alle Elementa vnter dem Himmel erschaffen” (ed. cit., p. 44).

⁸⁹ A-N L, viii, 121; cf. Migne, Patrol. Gr., i, 1295: Respondens ait: Ad ea quae volo responde mihi et die, si visibile istud, ut ais, coelum resolvetur, cur ex initio factum est? Respondit Petrus: Propter hominum praesentem hanc factum est vitam.

⁹⁰ Ch. 1; Palmer and More, p. 136.

⁹¹ A-N L, viii, 98; Migne, i, 1250: “Simon vehementissimus est orator, in arte dialectica et syllogismorum tendiculis enutritus.“

⁹² Act ii, Sc. 1.

⁹³ Palmer and More, p. 151.

⁹⁴ A-N L, viii, 126; Migne, i, 1302.

⁹⁵ A-N L, viii, 99; Migne, i, 1252–55.

⁹⁶ Ibid., 1250–58.

⁹⁷ Ibid., p. 126; Migne, i, 1302.—This passage, doubtless the basis of the “homunculus” tradition, has no bearing on the Marlowe problem.

⁹⁸ The phrase suggests the lines spoken by Faustus (i, i, 61–62): But his dominion that exceeds in this / Stretcheth as far as doth the mind of man.

⁹⁹ It may be said, in support of this humanistic reading of the record, that to the secular vision of Renaissance Italy Simon appeared in no ignoble light. In none of the pictures that I have seen is he presented with grotesque or offensive accent. The picture attributed to Ludovico Caracci (1555–1619) shows him in his headlong fall as a man of splendid physique; the scene gives the suggestion of great power about to be destroyed. And the representation of Simon in a fresco in the Brancacci Chapel which is attributed to Filippino Lippi is described by Mrs. Jameson as “a magnificent figure, who might serve for a Prospero” (op. cit., p. 204).

¹⁰⁰ Cf. Boas, Marlowe and his Circle, p. 75.

¹⁰¹ Ibid., p. 77.