Doctor Faustus

I enjoyed going to the theatre last week to see Faustus. The production was (as far as I could work out) a bit of blend of Goethe's version (which I studied at uni) with Marlowe's version (with which I was completely unfamiliar), and a few other things thrown in for good measure.

Anyway, not knowing the Marlowe version I was pleasantly surprised when it started thusly:

Not marching in the fields of Thrasymene,
Where Mars did mate the warlike Carthagens;
Nor sporting in the dalliance of love,
In courts of kings where state is overturn'd;
Nor in the pomp of proud audacious deeds,
Intends our Muse to vaunt her heavenly verse:
Only this, gentles,--we must now perform
The form of Faustus' fortunes, good or bad:

Thrasymene refers to the Battle of Trasimene where Hannibal and the Carthaginians (Carthagens) destroyed the Roman army in one of the opening encounters of the Second Punic War.