(The scene is entirely changed. Close arbors recline against a series of rocky caverns. A shady grove extends to the base of the encircling rocks. FAUST and HELENA are not seen. The CHORUS lies sleeping, scattered here and there.)
PHORKYAS
How long these maids have slept, in sooth I cannot tell;
Or whether they have dreamed what I before mine eyes
Saw bright and clear, to me is equally unknown.
So wake I them. Amazed the younger folks shall be,
Ye too, ye bearded ones, who sit below and wait,
Hoping to see at length these miracles resolved.
Arise! Arise! And shake quickly your crisped locks!
Shake slumber from your eyes! Blink not, and list to me!
CHORUS
Only speak, relate, and tell us, what of wonderful hath chanced!
We more willingly shall hearken that which we cannot believe;
For we are aweary, weary, gazing on these rocks around.
PHORKYAS
Children, how, already weary, though you scarce have rubbed your eyes?
Hearken then! Within these caverns, in these grottoes, in these bowers,
Shield and shelter have been given, as to lover-twain idyllic,
To our lord and to our lady—
CHORUS
How, within there?
PHORKYAS
Yea, secluded
From the world; and me, me only, they to secret service called.
Highly honored stood I near them, yet, as one in trust beseemeth,
Round I gazed on other objects, turning hither, turning thither,
Sought for roots, for barks and mosses, with their properties acquainted;
And they thus remained alone.
CHORUS
Thou would’st make believe that yonder, world-wide spaces lie within,
Wood and meadow, lake and brooklet; what strange fable spinnest thou!
PHORKYAS
Yea, in sooth, ye inexperienced, there lie regions undiscovered:
Hall on hall, and court on court; in my musings these I track.
Suddenly a peal of laughter echoes through the cavern’d spaces;
In I gaze, a boy is springing from the bosom of the woman
To the man, from sire to mother: the caressing and the fondling,
All love’s foolish playfulnesses, mirthful cry and shout of rapture,
Alternating, deafen me.
Naked, without wings, a genius, like a faun, with nothing bestial,
On the solid ground he springeth; but the ground, with counter-action,
Up to ether sends him flying; with the second, third rebounding
Touches he the vaulted roof.
Anxiously the mother calleth: Spring amain, and at thy pleasure;
But beware, think not of flying, unto thee is flight denied.
And so warns the faithful father: In the earth the force elastic
Lies, aloft that sends thee bounding; let thy toe but touch the surface,
Like the son of earth, Antæus, straightway is thy strength renewed.
And so o’er these rocky masses, on from dizzy ledge to ledge,
Leaps he ever, hither, thither, springing like a stricken ball.
But in cleft of rugged cavern suddenly from sight he vanished;
And now lost to us he seemeth, mother waileth, sire consoleth,
Anxiously I shrug my shoulders. But again, behold, what vision!
Lie there treasures hidden yonder? Raiment broidered o’er with flowers
He becomingly hath donned;
Tassels from his arms are waving, ribbons flutter on his bosom,
In his hand the lyre all-golden, wholly like a tiny Phoebus,
Boldly to the edge he steppeth, to the precipice; we wonder,
And the parents, full of rapture, cast them on each other’s heart;
For around his brow what splendor! Who can tell what there is shining?
Gold-work is it, or the flaming of surpassing spirit-power?
Thus he moveth, with such gesture, e’en as boy himself announcing
Future master of all beauty, through whose limbs, whose every member,
Flow the melodies eternal: and so shall ye hearken to him,
And so shall ye gaze upon him, to your special wonderment.
CHORUS
This call’st thou marvelous,
Daughter of Creta?
Unto the bard’s pregnant word
Hast thou perchance never listened?
Hast thou not heard of Ionia’s,
Ne’er been instructed in Hellas’
Legends, from ages primeval,
Godlike, heroical treasure?
All, that still happeneth
Now in the present,
Sorrowful echo ’tis,
Of days ancestral, more noble;
Equals not in sooth thy story
That which beautiful fiction,
Than truth more worthy of credence,
Chanted hath of Maia’s offspring!
This so shapely and potent, yet
Scarcely-born delicate nursling,
Straight have his gossiping nurses
Folded in purest swaddling fleece,
Fastened in costly swathings,
With their irrational notions.
Potent and shapely, ne’ertheless,
Draws the rogue his flexible limbs,
Body firm yet elastic,
Craftily forth; the purple shell,
Him so grievously binding,
Leaving quietly in its place;
As the perfected butterfly,
From the rigid chrysalid,
Pinion unfolding, rapidly glides,
Boldly and wantonly sailing through
Sun-impregnated ether.
So he, too, the most dextrous,
That to robbers and scoundrels,
Yea, and to all profit-seekers,
He a favoring god might be,
This he straightway made manifest,
Using arts the most cunning.
Swift from the ruler of ocean he
Steals the trident, yea, e’en from Arès
Steals the sword from the scabbard;
Arrow and bow from Phoebus too,
Also his tongs from Hephæstos
Even Zeus’, the father’s, bolt,
Him had fire not scared, he had ta’en.
Eros also worsted he,
In limb-grappling, wrestling match;
Stole from Cypria as she caressed him,
From her bosom, the girdle.
(An exquisite, purely melodious lyre-music resounds from the cave. All become attentive, and appear soon to be inwardly moved; henceforth, to the pause indicated, there is a full musical accompaniment.)
PHORKYAS
Hark those notes so sweetly sounding;
Cast aside your fabled lore:
Gods, in olden time abounding,—
Let them go! their day is o’er.
None will comprehend your singing;
Nobler theme the age requires:
From the heart must flow, up-springing,
What to touch the heart aspires.
[She retires behind the rock.]
CHORUS
To these tones, so sweetly flowing,
Dire one! dost incline thine ears,
They in us, new health bestowing,
Waken now the joy of tears.
Vanish may the sun’s clear shining,
In our soul if day arise,
In our heart we, unrepining,
Find what the whole world denies.
(HELENA, FAUST, EUPHORION in the costume indicated above)
EUPHORION
Songs of childhood hear ye ringing,
Your own mirth it seems; on me
Gazing, thus in measure springing,
Leap your parent-hearts with glee.
HELENA
Love, terrestrial bliss to capture,
Two in noble union mates;
But to wake celestial rapture,
He a precious three creates.
FAUST
All hath been achieved. For ever
I am thine, and mine thou art,
Blent our beings are—oh never
May our present joy depart!
CHORUS
Many a year of purest pleasure,
In the mild light of their boy,
Crowns this pair in richest measure.
Me their union thrills with joy!
EUPHORION
Now let me gambol,
Joyfully springing!
Upward to hasten
Through ether winging,
This wakes my yearning,
This prompts me now!
FAUST
Gently! son, gently!
Be not so daring!
Lest ruin seize thee
Past all repairing,
And our own darling
Whelm us in woe!
EUPHORION
From earth my spirit
Still upward presses;
Let go my hands now,
Let go my tresses,
Let go my garments,
Mine every one!
HELENA
To whom, bethink thee,
Now thou pertainest!
Think how it grieves us
When thou disdainest
Mine, thine, and his,—the all
That hath been won.
CHORUS
Soon shall, I fear me,
The bond be undone!
HELENA and FAUST
Curb for thy parents’ sake,
To us returning,
Curb thy importunate
Passionate yearning!
Make thou the rural plain
Tranquil and bright.
EUPHORION
But to content you
Stay I my flight.
(Winding among the CHORUS and drawing them forth to dance)
Round this gay troop I flee
With impulse light.
Say is the melody,
Say is the movement right?
HELENA
Yea, ’tis well done; advance,
Lead to the graceful dance
These maidens coy!
FAUST
Could I the end but see!
Me this mad revelry
Fills with annoy.
EUPHORION and the CHORUS
(Dancing and singing, they move about in interweaving lines)
Moving thine arms so fair
With graceful motion,
Tossing thy curling hair
In bright commotion;
When thou with foot so light
Over the earth doth skim,
Thither and back in flight,
Moving each graceful limb;
Thou hast attained thy goal,
Beautiful child,
All hearts thou hast beguiled,
Won every soul. [Pause.]
EUPHORION
Gracefully sporting,
Light-footed roes,
New frolic courting
Scorn ye repose:
I am the hunter,
Ye are the game.
CHORUS
Us wilt thou capture,
Urge not thy pace;
For it were rapture
Thee to embrace,
Beautiful creature,
This our sole aim!
EUPHORION
Through trees and heather,
Bound all together,
O’er stock and stone!
Whate’er is lightly won,
That I disdain;
What I by force obtain,
Prize I alone.
HELENA and FAUST
What vagaries, sense confounding!
Naught of measure to be hoped for!
Like the blare of trumpet sounding,
Over vale and forest ringing.
What a riot! What a cry!
CHORUS (entering quickly one by one)
Us he passed with glance scorn-laden;
Hastily still onward springing,
Bearing now the wildest maiden
Of our troop, he draweth nigh.
EUPHORION (bearing a young maiden)
I this wilful maid and coy
Carry to enforced caress;
For my pleasure, for my joy
Her resisting bosom press,
Kiss her rebel lips, that so
She my power and will may know.
MAIDEN
Loose me! in this frame residing,
Burns a spirit’s strength and might;
Strong as thine, our will presiding
Swerveth not with purpose light.
Thinkest, on thy strength relying,
That thou hast me in a strait?
Hold me, fool! thy strength defying,
For my sport, I’ll scorch thee yet!
[She flames up and flashes into the air.]
Follow where light breezes wander,
Follow to rude caverns yonder,
Strive thy vanish’d prey to net!
EUPHORION (shaking off the last flames)
Rocks all around I see,
Thickets and woods among!
Why should they prison me?
Still am I fresh and young.
Tempests, they loudly roar,
Billows, they lash the shore;
Both far away I hear;
Would I were near!
[He springs higher up the rock.]
HELENA, FAUST, and CHORUS
Wouldst thou chamois-like aspire?
Us thy threaten’d fall dismays!
EUPHORION
Higher must I climb, yet higher,
Wider still must be my gaze.
Know I now, where I stand:
‘Midst of the sea-girt land,
‘Midst of great Pelops’ reign,
Kin both to earth and main.
CHORUS
Canst not near copse and wold
Tarry, then yonder,
Ripe figs and apple-gold
Seeking, we’ll wander;
Grapes too shall woo our hand,
Grapes from the mantling vine.
Ah, let this dearest land,
Dear one, be thine!
EUPHORION
Dream ye of peaceful day?
Dream on, while dream ye may!
War! is the signal cry,
Hark! cries of victory!
CHORUS
War who desireth
While peace doth reign,
To joy aspireth
Henceforth in vain.
EUPHORION
All whom this land hath bred,
Through peril onward led,
Free, of undaunted mood,
Still lavish of their blood,
With soul untaught to yield,
Rending each chain!
To such the bloody field,
Brings glorious gain.
CHORUS
High he soars,—mark, upward gazing,—
And to us not small doth seem:
Victor-like, in harness blazing,
As of steel and brass the gleam!
EUPHORION
Not on moat or wall relying,
On himself let each one rest!
Firmest stronghold, all defying,
Ever is man’s iron breast!
Dwell for aye unconquered would ye?
Arm, by no vain dreams beguiled!
Amazons your women should be,
And a hero every child!
CHORUS
O hallowed Poesie,
Heavenward still soareth she!
Shine on, thou brightest star,
Farther and still more far!
Yet us she still doth cheer;
Even her voice to hear,
Joyful we are.
EUPHORION
Child no more; a stripling bearing
Arms appears, with valor fraught
Leagued with the strong, the free, the daring,
In soul already who hath wrought.
Hence away!
No delay!
There where glory may be sought.
HELENA and FAUST
Scarcely summoned to life’s gladness,
Scarcely given to day’s bright gleam,
Downward now to pain and sadness
Wouldst thou rush, from heights supreme!
Are then we
Naught to thee?
Is our gracious bond a dream?
EUPHORION
Hark! What thunders seaward rattle,
Echoing from vale to vale!
‘Mid dust and foam, in shock of battle,
Throng on throng, to grief and bale!
And the command
Is, firm to stand;
Death to face, nor ever quail.
HELENA, FAUST, and CHORUS
Oh what horror! Hast thou told it!
Is then death for thee decreed?
EUPHORION
From afar shall I behold it?
No! I’ll share the care and need!
HELENA, FAUST and CHORUS
Rashness to peril brings,
And deadly fate!
EUPHORION
Yet—see a pair of wings
Unfoldeth straight!
Thither—I must, I must—
Grudge not my flight!
[He casts himself into the air; his garments support him for a moment; his head flames, a trail of light follows him.]
CHORUS
Icarus! Icarus!
Oh woeful sight!
(A beautiful youth falls at the parents’ feet; we imagine that in the dead we recognize a well-known form; yet suddenly the corporeal part vanishes; the aureole rises like a comet to heaven; dress, mantle, and lyre remain lying on the ground.)
HELENA and FAUST
Follows on joy new-born
Anguishful moan!
EUPHORION’S VOICE, (from the depths)
Leave me in realms forlorn,
Mother, not all alone! [Pause.]
CHORUS (dirge)
Not alone—for hope we cherish,
Where thou bidest thee to know!
Ah, from daylight though thou perish,
Ne’er a heart will let thee go!
Scarce we venture to bewail thee,
Envying we sing thy fate:
Did sunshine cheer, or storm assail thee,
Song and heart were fair and great.
Earthly fortune was thy dower,
Lofty lineage, ample might,
Ah, too early lost, thy flower
Withered by untimely blight!
Glance was thine the world discerning,
Sympathy with every wrong,
Woman’s love for thee still yearning,
And thine own enchanting song.
Yet the beaten path forsaking,
Thou didst run into the snare;
So with law and usage breaking,
On thy wilful course didst fare;
Yet at last high thought has given
To thy noble courage weight,
For the loftiest thou has striven—
It to win was not thy fate.
Who does win it? Unreplying,
Destiny the question hears,
When the bleeding people lying,
Dumb with grief, no cry uprears!—
Now new songs chant forth, in sorrow
Deeply bowed lament no more;
Them the earth brings forth tomorrow,
As she brought them forth of yore!
[Full pause. The music ceases.]
* * * * *
ACT THE FIFTH
OPEN COUNTRY
WANDERER
Yes, ’tis they, their branches rearing,
Hoary lindens, strong in age;—
There I find them, reappearing,
After my long pilgrimage!
‘Tis the very spot;—how gladly
Yonder hut once more I see,
By the billows raging madly,
Cast ashore, which sheltered me!
My old hosts, I fain would greet them,
Helpful they, an honest pair;
May I hope today to meet them?
Even then they aged were.
Worthy folk, in God believing!
Shall I knock? or raise my voice?
Hail to you if, guest receiving,
In good deeds ye still rejoice!
BAUCIS (a very aged woman)
Stranger dear, beware of breaking
My dear husband’s sweet repose!
Strength for brief and feeble waking
Lengthened sleep on age bestows.
WANDERER
Mother, say then, do I find thee,
To receive my thanks once more,
In my youth who didst so kindly,
With thy spouse, my life restore?
Baucis, to my lips half-dying,
Art thou, who refreshment gave?
[The husband steps forth.]
Thou Philemon, strength who plying,
Snatched my treasure from the wave?
By your flames, so promptly kindled,
By your bell’s clear silver sound—
That adventure, horror-mingled,
Hath a happy issue found.
Forward let me step, and gazing
Forth upon the boundless main,
Kneel, and thankful prayers upraising,
Ease of my full heart the strain!
[He walks forward upon the downs.]
PHILEMON (to BAUCIS)
Haste to spread the table, under
The green leafage of our trees.
Let him run, struck dumb with wonder,
Scarce he’ll credit what he sees.
[He follows the wanderer. Standing beside him.]
Where the billows did maltreat you,
Wave on wave in fury rolled,
There a garden now doth greet you,
Fair as Paradise of old.
Grown more aged, as when stronger,
I could render aid no more;
And, as waned my strength, no longer
Rolled the sea upon the shore;
Prudent lords, bold serfs directing,
It with trench and dyke restrained;
Ocean’s rights no more respecting,
Lords they were, where he had reigned.
See, green meadows far extending;—
Garden, village, woodland, plain.
But return we, homeward wending,
For the sun begins to wane.
In the distance sails are gliding,
Nightly they to port repair;
Bird-like, in their nests confiding,
For a haven waits them there.
Far away mine eye discerneth
First the blue fringe of the main;
Right and left, where’er it turneth,
Spreads the thickly-peopled plain.
IN THE GARDEN
The three at table
BAUCIS (to the stranger)
Art thou dumb? No morsel raising
To thy famished lips?
PHILEMON
I trow,
He of wonders so amazing
Fain would hear; inform him thou.
BAUCIS
There was wrought a wonder truly,
Yet no rest it leaves to me;
Naught in the affair was duly
Done, as honest things should be!
PHILEMON
Who as sinful can pronounce it?
‘Twas the emperor gave the shore;—
Did the trumpet not announce it
As the herald passed our door?
Footing firm they first have planted
Near these downs. Tents, huts, appeared;
O’er the green, the eye, enchanted,
Saw ere long a palace reared.
BAUCIS
Shovel, axe, no labor sparing,
Vainly plied the men by day;
Where the fires at night shone flaring,
Stood a dam, in morning’s ray.
Still from human victims bleeding,
Wailing sounds were nightly borne;
Seaward sped the flames, receding;
A canal appeared at morn!
Godless is he, naught respecting;
Covets he our grove, our cot;
Though our neighbor, us subjecting,
Him to serve will be our lot.
PHILEMON
Yet he bids, our claims adjusting,
Homestead fair in his new land.
BAUCIS
Earth, from water saved, mistrusting,
On thine own height take thy stand.
PHILEMON
Let us, to the chapel wending,
Watch the sun’s last rays subside;
Let us ring, and prayerful bending,
In our father’s God confide!
PALACE
Spacious ornamental garden; broad, straight canal. FAUST in extreme old age, walking about, meditating.
LYNCEUS, THE WARDER (through a speaking trumpet)
The sun sinks down, the ships belated
Rejoicing to the haven steer.
A stately galley, deeply freighted,
On the canal, now draweth near;
Her chequer’d flag the breeze caresses
The masts unbending bear the sails:
Thee now the grateful seaman blesses,
Thee at this moment Fortune hails.
[The bell rings on the downs.]
FAUST (starting)
Accursed bell! Its clamor sending,
Like spiteful shot it wounds mine ear!
Before me lies my realm unending;
Vexation dogs me in the rear;
For I, these envious chimes still hearing,
Must at my narrow bounds repine;
The linden grove, brown but thence peering,
The moldering church, these are not mine.
Refreshment seek I, there repairing?
Another’s shadow chills my heart,
A thorn, nor foot nor vision sparing,—
O far from hence could I depart!
WARDER (as above)
How, wafted by the evening gales, Blithely the painted galley sails; On its swift course, how richly stored! Chest, coffer, sack, are heaped aboard. A splendid galley, richly and brilliantly laden with the produce of foreign climes.
MEPHISTOPHELES. THE THREE MIGHTY COMRADES
CHORUS
Here do we land,
Here are we now.
Hail to our lord;
Our patron, thou!
(They disembark. The goods are brought ashore.)
MEPHISTOPHELES
So have we proved our worth—content
If we our patron’s praises earn:
With but two ships abroad we went,
With twenty we to port return.
By our rich lading all may see
The great successes we have wrought.
Free ocean makes the spirit free:
There claims compunction ne’er a thought!
A rapid grip there needs alone;
A fish, a ship, on both we seize.
Of three if we the lordship own,
Straightway we hook a fourth with ease,
Then is the fifth in sorry plight—
Who hath the power, has still the right;
The What is asked for, not the How.
Else know I not the seaman’s art:
War, commerce, piracy, I trow,
A trinity, we may not part.
THE THREE MIGHTY COMRADES
No thank and hail;
No hail and thank!
As were our cargo
Vile and rank!
Disgust upon
His face one sees
The kingly wealth
Doth him displease!
MEPHISTOPHELES
Expect ye now
No further pay;
For ye your share
Have ta’en away.
THE THREE MIGHTY COMRADES
To pass the time,
As was but fair;
We all expect
An equal share.
MEPHISTOPHELES
First range in order,
Hall on hall,
These wares so costly,
One and all!
And when he steps
The prize to view,
And reckons all
With judgment true,
He’ll be no niggard;
As is meet,
Feast after feast
He’ll give the fleet,
The gay birds come with morning tide;
Myself for them can best provide.
[The cargo is removed.]
MEPHISTOPHELES (to FAUST)
With gloomy look, with earnest brow
Thy fortune high receivest thou.
Thy lofty wisdom has been crowned;
Their limits shore and sea have bound;
Forth from the shore, in swift career,
O’er the glad waves, thy vessels steer;
Speak only from thy pride of place,
Thine arm the whole world doth embrace.
Here it began; on this spot stood
The first rude cabin formed of wood;
A little ditch was sunk of yore
Where plashes now the busy oar.
Thy lofty thought, thy people’s hand,
Have won the prize from sea and land.
From here too—
FAUST
That accursed here!
It weighs upon me! Lend thine ear;—
To thine experience I must tell,
With thrust on thrust, what wounds my heart;
To bear it is impossible—
Nor can I, without shame, impart:
The old folk there above must yield;
Would that my seat those lindens were;
Those few trees not mine own, that field,
Possession of the world impair.
There I, wide view o’er all to take,
From bough to bough would scaffolds raise;
Would, for the prospect, vistas make
On all that I have done to gaze;
To see at once before me brought
The master-work of human thought,
Where wisdom hath achieved the plan,
And won broad dwelling-place for man.—
Thus are we tortured;—in our weal,
That which we lack, we sorely feel!
The chime, the scent of linden-bloom,
Surround me like a vaulted tomb.
The will that nothing could withstand,
Is broken here upon the sand:
How from the vexing thought be safe?
The bell is pealing, and I chafe!
MEPHISTOPHELES
Such spiteful chance, ’tis natural,
Must thy existence fill with gall.
Who doubts it! To each noble ear,
This clanging odious must appear;
This cursed ding-dong, booming loud,
The cheerful evening-sky doth shroud,
With each event of life it blends,
From birth to burial it attends,
Until this mortal life doth seem,
Twixt ding and dong, a vanished dream!
FAUST
Resistance, stubborn selfishness,
Can trouble lordliest success,
Till, in deep angry pain one must
Grow tired at last of being first!
MEPHISTOPHELES
Why let thyself be troubled here?
Is colonizing not thy sphere?
FAUST
Then go, to move them be thy care!
Thou knowest well the homestead fair,
I’ve chosen for the aged pair—
MEPHISTOPHELES
We’ll bear them off, and on new ground
Set them, ere one can look around.
The violence outlived and past,
Shall a fair home atone at last.
[He whistles shrilly.]
THE THREE enter
MEPHISTOPHELES
Come! straight fulfil the lord’s behest;
The fleet tomorrow he will feast.
THE THREE
The old lord us did ill requite;
A sumptuous feast is ours by right.
MEPHISTOPHELES (to the spectators)
What happ’d of old, here happens too:
Still Naboth’s vineyard meets the view.
(I Kings, xvi.)
DEEP NIGHT
LYNCEUS THE WARDER (on the watch-tower singing)
Keen vision my birth-dower,
I’m placed on this height,
Still sworn to the watch-tower,
The world’s my delight.
I gaze on the distant,
I look on the near,
On moon and on planet,
On wood and the deer:
The beauty eternal
In all things I see;
And pleased with myself
All bring pleasure to me.
Glad eyes, look around ye
And gaze, for whate’er
The sight they encounter,
It still hath been fair!
(Pause)
Not alone for pleasure-taking
Am I planted thus on high;
What dire vision, horror-waking,
From yon dark world scares mine eye!
Fiery sparkles see I gleaming
Through the lindens’ two-fold night;
By the breezes fanned, their beaming
Gloweth now with fiercer light!
Ah! the peaceful hut is burning;
Stood its moss-grown walls for years;
They for speedy help are yearning—
And no rescue, none appears!
Ah the aged folk, so kindly,
Once so careful of the fire,
Now, to smoke a prey, they blindly
Perish, oh misfortune dire!
‘Mid red flames, the vision dazing,
Stands the moss-hut, black and bare;
From the hell, so fiercely blazing,
Could we save the honest pair!
Lightning-like the fire advances,
‘Mid the foliage, ‘mid the branches;
Withered boughs,—they flicker, burning,
Swiftly glow, then fall;—ah me!
Must mine eyes, this woe discerning,
Must they so far-sighted be!
Down the lowly chapel crashes
‘Neath the branches’ fall and weight;
Winding now, the pointed flashes
To the summit climb elate.
Roots and trunks the flames have blighted,
Hollow, purple-red, they glow!
(Long pause. Song)
Gone, what once the eye delighted,
With the ages long ago!
FAUST (on the balcony, toward the downs)
From above what plaintive whimper?
Word and tone are here too late!
Wails my warder; me, in spirit
Grieves this deed precipitate!
Though in ruin unexpected
Charred now lie the lindens old,
Soon a height will be erected,
Whence the boundless to behold.
I the home shall see, enfolding
In its walls, that ancient pair,
Who, my gracious care beholding,
Shall their lives end joyful there.
MEPHISTOPHELES and THE THREE (below)
Hither we come full speed. We crave
Your pardon! Things have not gone right!
Full many a knock and kick we gave,
They opened not, in our despite;
Then rattled we and kick’d the more,
And prostrate lay the rotten door;
We called aloud with threat severe,
Yet sooth we found no listening ear.
And as in such case still befalls,
They heard not, would not hear our calls;
Forthwith thy mandate we obeyed,
And straight for thee a clearance made.
The pair—their sufferings were light,
Fainting they sank, and died of fright.
A stranger, harbor’d there, made show
Of force, full soon was he laid low;
In the brief space of this wild fray,
From coals, that strewn around us lay,
The straw caught fire; ’tis blazing free,
As funeral death-pyre for the three.
FAUST
To my commandments deaf were ye!
Exchange I wished, not robbery.
For this your wild and ruthless part;—
I curse it! Share it and depart!
CHORUS
The ancient saw still rings today:
Force with a willing mind obey;
If boldly thou canst stand the test,
Stake house, court, life, and all the rest!
[Exeunt.]
FAUST
The stars their glance and radiance veil;
Smoulders the sinking fire, a gale
Fans it with moisture-laden wings,
Vapor to me and smoke it brings.
Rash mandate—rashly, too, obeyed!—
What hither sweeps like spectral shade?
MIDNIGHT
Four gray women enter
FIRST
My name, it is Want.
SECOND
And mine, it is Blame.
THIRD
My name, it is Care.
FOURTH
Need, that is my name.
THREE (together)
The door is fast-bolted, we cannot get in;
The owner is wealthy, we may not within.
WANT
There fade I to shadow.
BLAME
There cease I to be.
NEED
His visage the pampered still turneth from me.
CARE
Ye sisters, ye cannot, ye dare not go in;
But Care through the key-hole an entrance may win.
[CARE disappears.]
WANT
Sisters, gray sisters, away let us glide!
BLAME
I bind myself to thee, quite close to thy side.
NEED
And Need at your heels doth with yours blend her breath.[35]
THE THREE
Fast gather the clouds, they eclipse star on star.
Behind there, behind, from afar, from afar,
There comes he, our brother, there cometh he—
Death.
FAUST (in the palace)
Four saw I come, but only three went hence.
Of their discourse I could not catch the sense;
There fell upon mine ear a sound like breath,
Thereon a gloomy rhyme-word followed—Death;
Hollow the sound, with spectral horror fraught!
Not yet have I, in sooth, my freedom wrought;
Could I my pathway but from magic free,
And quite unlearn the spells of sorcery,
Stood I, oh nature, man alone ‘fore thee,
Then were it worth the trouble man to be!
Such was I once, ere I in darkness sought,
And curses dire, through words with error fraught,
Upon myself and on the world have brought;
So teems the air with falsehood’s juggling brood,
That no one knows how them he may elude!
If but one day shines clear, in reason’s light—
In spectral dream envelopes us the night;
From the fresh fields, as homeward we advance—
There croaks a bird: what croaks he? some mischance!
Ensnared by superstition, soon and late;
As sign and portent, it on us doth wait—
By fear unmanned, we take our stand alone;
The portal creaks, and no one enters,—none.
(Agitated)
Is some one here?
CARE
The question prompteth, yes!
FAUST
What art thou then?
CARE
Here, once for all, am I.
FAUST
Withdraw thyself!
CARE
My proper place is this.
FAUST (first angry, then appeased. Aside)
Take heed, and speak no word of sorcery.
CARE
Though by outward ear unheard,
By my moan the heart is stirred;
And in ever-changeful guise,
Cruel force I exercise;
On the shore and on the sea,
Comrade dire hath man in me
Ever found, though never sought,
Flattered, cursed, so have I wrought.
Hast thou as yet Care never known?
FAUST
I have but hurried through the world, I own.
I by the hair each pleasure seized;
Relinquished what no longer pleased,
That which escaped me I let go,
I’ve craved, accomplished, and then craved again;
Thus through my life I’ve storm’d—with might and main,
Grandly, with power, at first; but now indeed,
It goes more cautiously, with wiser heed.
I know enough of earth, enough of men;
The view beyond is barred from mortal ken;
Fool, who would yonder peer with blinking eyes,
And of his fellows dreams above the skies!
Firm let him stand, the prospect round him scan,
Not mute the world to the true-hearted man
Why need he wander through eternity?
What he can grasp, that only knoweth he.
So let him roam adown earth’s fleeting day;
If spirits haunt, let him pursue his way;
In joy or torment ever onward stride,
Though every moment still unsatisfied!
CARE
To him whom I have made mine own
All profitless the world hath grown:
Eternal gloom around him lies;
For him suns neither set nor rise;
With outward senses perfect, whole,
Dwell darknesses within his soul;
Though wealth he owneth, ne’ertheless
He nothing truly can possess.
Weal, woe, become mere phantasy;
He hungers ‘mid satiety;
Be it joy, or be it sorrow,
He postpones it till the morrow;
Of the future thinking ever,
Prompt for present action never.
FAUST
Forbear! Thou shalt not come near me!
I will not hear such folly. Hence!
Avaunt! This evil litany
The wisest even might bereave of sense.
CARE
Shall he come or go? He ponders;—
All resolve from him is taken;
On the beaten path he wanders,
Groping on, as if forsaken.
Deeper still himself he loses,
Everything his sight abuses,
Both himself and others hating,
Taking breath—and suffocating,
Without life—yet scarcely dying,
Not despairing—not relying.
Rolling on without remission:
Loathsome ought, and sad permission,
Now deliverance, now vexation,
Semi-sleep,—poor recreation,
Nail him to his place and wear him,
And at last for hell prepare him.
FAUST
Unblessèd spectres! Ye mankind have so
Treated a thousand times, their thoughts deranging;
E’en uneventful days to mar ye know,
Into a tangled web of torment changing!
‘Tis hard, I know, from demons to get free,
The mighty spirit-bond by force untying;
Yet Care, I never will acknowledge thee,
Thy strong in-creeping, potency defying.
CARE
Feel it then now; as thou shalt find
When with a curse from thee I’ve wended:
Through their whole lives are mortals blind—
So be thou, Faust, ere life be ended!
[She breathes on him.]
FAUST (blind)
Deeper and deeper night is round me sinking;
Only within me shines a radiant light.
I haste to realize, in act, my thinking;
The master’s word, that only giveth might.
Up, vassals, from your couch! my project bold,
Grandly completed, now let all behold!
Seize ye your tools; your spades, your shovels ply;
The work laid down, accomplish instantly!
Strict rule, swift diligence,—these twain
The richest recompense obtain.
Completion of the greatest work demands
One guiding spirit for a thousand hands.
GREAT FORE-COURT OF THE PALACE
Torches
MEPHISTOPHELES (as overseer leading the way)
This way! this way! Come on! come on!
Le Lemures, loose of tether,
Of tendon, sinew, and of bone,
Half natures, patched together!
LEMURES (in chorus)
At thy behest we’re here at hand;
Thy destined aim half guessing—
It is that we a spacious land
May win for our possessing.
Sharp-pointed stakes we bring with speed,
Long chains wherewith to measure.
But we’ve forgotten why indeed
To call us was thy pleasure.
MEPHISTOPHELES
No artist-toil we need today:
Sufficeth your own measure here:
At his full length the tallest let him lay!
Ye others round him straight the turf uprear;
As for our sires was done of yore,
An oblong square delve ye once more.
Out of the palace to the narrow home—
So at the last the sorry end must come!
LEMURES (digging, with mocking gestures)
In youth when I did live and love,
Methought, it was very sweet!
Where frolic rang and mirth was rife,
Thither still sped my feet.
Now with his crutch hath spiteful age
Dealt me a blow full sore:
I stumbled o’er a yawning grave,
Why open stood the door!
FAUST (comes forth from the palace, groping his way by the door posts)
How doth the clang of spades delight my soul!
For me my vassals toil, the while
Earth with itself they reconcile,
The waves within their bounds control,
And gird the sea with stedfast zone—
MEPHISTOPHELES (aside)
And yet for us dost work alone,
While thou for dam and bulwark carest;
Since thus for Neptune thou preparest,
The water-fiend, a mighty fête;
Before thee naught but ruin lies;
The elements are our allies;
Onward destruction strides elate.