The latter left him to his reflections, laughed inwardly at his resolution, and shortened the time with the sweet idea of soon being able to breathe the pleasant vapours of hell. He determined to have a bitter laugh at Satan, who had represented to him as a man of superior strength of mind this Faustus, whom he now saw completely dejected even before he knew the horrors of his fate. He compared his present downcast and timid looks with the haughty and bold glances he had cast upon him when he first made him appear before his magic circle. His hatred against him increased, and he rejoiced in his black soul when he saw Worms lie before them in the plain.
They rode towards the celebrated city; and when they were about half a mile distant from it, they perceived a gibbet, to which was suspended a tall, slender youth. Faustus lifted up his eyes
and gazed upon him. The evening wind blew freshly among his long hair, which half-concealed his face, and swung his body to and fro. Faustus burst into tears at this spectacle, and cried, with trembling voice:
“Poor youth! hanging at the cursed tree before thou hadst reached the flower of life! What sin hast thou committed, which induced the tribunal of men to cut thee off so soon?”
Devil (in a solemn and impressive tone). Faustus, this is thy work.
Faustus. My work!
Devil. Thy work. Look at him closer. He is thy eldest son.
Faustus looked up, recognised him, and sunk from his horse.
Devil. Cry and groan! The hour approaches in which I must remove the thick veil from before thine eyes, and blow away, with a single breath, the labyrinth in which thou hast so long wandered. I will fling light upon the moral world, and show thee how thou hast outraged it by each of thy actions. I, a devil, will show thee what
are the consequences when a worm like thyself dares to stop the wheel of so exact and so enormous a machine. Dost thou remember the youth whom I, at our departure from Mayence, saved from drowning by thy command? I gave thee warning, but thou wouldst obey the rash impulse of thy heart. If thou hadst permitted that miscreant to perish, thy son would not now be rotting on yon gibbet. He on whose account thou didst change the order of things, insinuated himself, shortly after thy departure, into the society of thy young wife. The glitter of the gold which we had left her in such abundance, attracted him much more than her youth and beauty. It was no difficult thing for him to win the affections of her who had been forsaken by thee; and in a short time he gained such influence over her, that she delivered up herself and all she possessed to his will and control. Thy old father endeavoured to oppose his shameless sway; but the young man insulted him and beat him: the poor old man sought an asylum in the workhouse, where he died, a few days ago, of grief for thee and thy family.