Scene I:
Dante: Oh where has Virgil gone! It seem that now I am to wander through this eternal damnation alone with no poet to guide me. Perchance another soul, one with experience of this journey of torment, can offer a way into the depth, so that I might continue my journey on the hope that Virgil and I shall be reunited. You, soul of the damned, I require the knowledge on how I may trudge onwards in this cavernous abyss.
Faustus: I too sought knowledge once, not for traversing in the dark, nor to gain God's grace. A Deō ambulāvī.
Dante: Please, spirit, It is of the utmost importance that I venture forward.
Faustus: You see, there was a time, when thou wast not yet conceived, when the world above could not provide the knowledge necessary to stave my hunger. I lusted for more, and nothing of the world of man could satisfy me. I delved into the dark arts and auctioned my soul in the quest to educate myself in a way that had not been achieved before. Alas! Like Icarus I flew too close to the sun and so my eternal punishment caught up with me. I should have known that the twenty-four years would have past more swiftly than I hadst anticipated. Oh, curséd fate, why had I not repented when I hadst the time.
Dante: What's wrong with the knowledge that man possesses? Do you think yourself a higher being? The forbidden apple needs not be bitten twice. Affectus deī semper vivit. You should have trusted God's holiness and dedicated yourself to the scriptures long ago. There is no excuse for you sins.
Faustus: The temptation of power was too great. Mephostophilis seduced me!
Dante: Still, no offer can outweigh your eternal soul, now you're cast into this dis to spend the rest of your days.
Faustus: O, what have I, Faustus, done to deserve such a punishment. Surely the pursuit of such a vitreous art alone cannot have denied me God's forgiveness. Why does this punishment never end, only repeat and cause me greater misery and despair.
Dante: You deserve the punishment you receive. From what I surmise you had twenty-four years to repent and turn to the light of God, read the scripture, pray, or simply reject sin. Instead you spent it gallivanting around, and giving in to your temptations. Your soul did not benefit the world in the slightest.
Faustus: Ay, if only I had more time. If only I had not been swayed by my sweet Mephostophilis who turned me on this path of damnation. O woe is Faustus.
Dante: It was not Mephostophilis who made you waste away your time or who chose to meet. You called upon him, willing to bargain eternity. Yet still, even with this I have no doubt that God offered you a chance at redemption.
Faustus: The blood! How could I not recognize the sign that was sent to me. It must have been God trying to stop me from completing the pact. I believed that I could save lives, but I did not even save my soul.
Dante: I wish to spend no more time on this discussion. Perhaps another soul, one with more useful knowledge, can be of greater assistance.