STUDY
FAUST, MEPHISTOPHELES
FAUST
A knock? Come in! Who now would break my rest?
MEPHISTOPHELES
‘Tis I!
FAUST
Come in!
MEPHISTOPHELES
Thrice be the words express’d.
FAUST
Then I repeat, Come in!
MEPHISTOPHELES
‘Tis well,
I hope that we shall soon agree!
For now your fancies to expel,
Here, as a youth of high degree,
I come in gold-lac’d scarlet vest,
And stiff-silk mantle richly dress’d,
A cock’s gay feather for a plume,
A long and pointed rapier, too;
And briefly I would counsel you
To don at once the same costume,
And, free from trammels, speed away,
That what life is you may essay.
FAUST
In every garb I needs must feel oppress’d,
My heart to earth’s low cares a prey.
Too old the trifler’s part to play,
Too young to live by no desire possess’d.
What can the world to me afford?
Renounce! renounce! is still the word;
This is the everlasting song
In every ear that ceaseless rings,
And which, alas, our whole life long,
Hoarsely each passing moment sings.
But to new horror I awake each morn,
And I could weep hot tears, to see the sun
Dawn on another day, whose round forlorn
Accomplishes no wish of mine—not one.
Which still, with froward captiousness, impains
E’en the presentiment of every joy,
While low realities and paltry cares
The spirit’s fond imaginings destroy.
Then must I too, when falls the veil of night,
Stretch’d on my pallet languish in despair.
Appalling dreams my soul affright;
No rest vouchsafed me even there.
The god, who throned within my breast resides,
Deep in my soul can stir the springs;
With sovereign sway my energies he guides,
He cannot move external things;
And so existence is to me a weight,
Death fondly I desire, and life I hate.
MEPHISTOPHELES
And yet, methinks, by most ’twill be confess’d
That Death is never quite a welcome guest.
FAUST
Happy the man around whose brow he binds
The bloodstain’d wreath in conquest’s dazzling hour;
Or whom, excited by the dance, he finds
Dissolv’d in bliss, in love’s delicious bower!
O that before the lofty spirit’s might,
Enraptured, I had rendered up my soul!
MEPHISTOPHELES
Yet did a certain man refrain one night
Of its brown juice to drain the crystal bowl.
FAUST
To play the spy diverts you then?
MEPHISTOPHELES
I own,
Though not omniscient, much to me is known.
FAUST
If o’er my soul the tone familiar, stealing,
Drew me from harrowing thought’s bewild’ring maze,
Touching the ling’ring chords of childlike feeling,
With the sweet harmonies of happier days:
So curse I all, around the soul that windeth
Its magic and alluring spell,
And with delusive flattery bindeth
Its victim to this dreary cell!
Curs’d before all things be the high opinion
Wherewith the spirit girds itself around!
Of shows delusive curs’d be the dominion,
Within whose mocking sphere our sense is bound!
Accurs’d of dreams the treacherous wiles,
The cheat of glory, deathless fame!
Accurs’d what each as property beguiles,
Wife, child, slave, plough, whate’er its name!
Accurs’d be mammon, when with treasure
He doth to daring deeds incite:
Or when to steep the soul in pleasure,
He spreads the couch of soft delight!
Curs’d be the grape’s balsamic juice!
Accurs’d love’s dream, of joys the first!
Accurs’d be hope! accurs’d be faith!
And more than all, be patience curs’d!
CHORUS OF SPIRITS (invisible)
Woe! woe!
Thou hast destroy’d
The beautiful world
With violent blow;
‘Tis shiver’d! ’tis shatter’d!
The fragments abroad by a demigod scatter’d!
Now we sweep
The wrecks into nothingness!
Fondly we weep
The beauty that’s gone!
Thou, ‘mongst the sons of earth,
Lofty and mighty one,
Build it once more!
In thine own bosom the lost world restore!
Now with unclouded sense
Enter a new career;
Songs shall salute thine ear,
Ne’er heard before!
MEPHISTOPHELES
My little ones these spirits be.
Hark! with shrewd intelligence,
How they recommend to thee
Action, and the joys of sense!
In the busy world to dwell,
Fain they would allure thee hence
For within this lonely cell,
Stagnate sap of life and sense.
Forbear to trifle longer with thy grief,
Which, vulture-like, consumes thee in this den.
The worst society is some relief,
Making thee feel thyself a man with men.
Nathless, it is not meant, I trow,
To thrust thee ‘mid the vulgar throng.
I to the upper ranks do not belong;
Yet if, by me companion’d, thou
Thy steps through life forthwith wilt take,
Upon the spot myself I’ll make
Thy comrade;—Should it suit thy need,
I am thy servant, am thy slave indeed!
FAUST
And how must I thy services repay?
MEPHISTOPHELES
Thereto thou lengthen’d respite hast!
FAUST
No! no!
The devil is an egoist I know
And, for Heaven’s sake, ’tis not his way
Kindness to any one to show.
Let the condition plainly be exprest!
Such a domestic is a dangerous guest.
MEPHISTOPHELES
I’ll pledge myself to be thy servant here,
Still at thy back alert and prompt to be;
But when together yonder we appear,
Then shalt thou do the same for me.
FAUST
But small concern I feel for yonder world;
Hast thou this system into ruin hurl’d,
Another may arise the void to fill.
This earth the fountain whence my pleasures flow,
This sun doth daily shine upon my woe,
And if this world I must forego,
Let happen then,—what can and will.
I to this theme will close mine ears,
If men hereafter hate and love,
And if there be in yonder spheres
A depth below or height above.
MEPHISTOPHELES
In this mood thou mayst venture it. But make
The compact! I at once will undertake
To charm thee with mine arts. I’ll give thee more
Than mortal eve hath e’er beheld before.
FAUST
What, sorry Devil, hast thou to bestow?
Was ever mortal spirit, in its high endeavor,
Fathom’d by Being such as thou?
Yet food thou least which satisfieth never;
Hast ruddy gold, that still doth flow
Like restless quicksilver away;
A game thou hast, at which none win who play—
A girl who would, with amorous eyen,
E’en from my breast a neighbor snare,
Lofty ambition’s joy divine,
That, meteor-like, dissolves in air.
Show me the fruit that, ere ’tis pluck’d, doth rot,
And trees, whose verdure daily buds anew!
MEPHISTOPHELES
Such a commission scares me not;
I can provide such treasures, it is true.
But, my good friend, a season will come round
When on what’s good we may regale in peace.
FAUST
If e’er upon my couch, stretched at my ease, I’m found,
Then may my life that instant cease!
Me canst thou cheat with glozing wile
Till self-reproach away I cast,—
Me with joy’s lure canst thou beguile;—
Let that day be for me the last!
Be this our wager!
MEPHISTOPHELES
Settled!
FAUST
Sure and fast!
When to the moment I shall say,
“Linger awhile! so fair thou art!”
Then mayst thou fetter me straightway,
Then to the abyss will I depart!
Then may the solemn death-bell sound,
Then from thy service thou art free,
The index then may cease its round,
And time be never more for me!
MEPHISTOPHELES
I shall remember: pause, ere ’tis too late.
FAUST
Thereto a perfect right hast thou.
My strength I do not rashly overrate.
Slave am I here, at any rate,
If thine, or whose, it matters not, I trow.
MEPHISTOPHELES
At thine inaugural feast I will this day
Attend, my duties to commence.—But one thing!—
Accidents may happen, hence
A line or two in writing grant, I pray.
FAUST
A writing, Pedant! dost demand from me?
Man, and man’s plighted word, are these unknown to thee?
Is’t not enough, that by the word I gave,
My doom for evermore is cast?
Doth not the world in all its currents rave,
And must a promise hold me fast?
Yet fixed is this delusion in our heart;
Who, of his own free will, therefrom would part?
How blest within whose breast truth reigneth pure!
No sacrifice will he repent when made!
A formal deed, with seal and signature,
A spectre this from which all shrink afraid.
The word its life resigneth in the pen,
Leather and wax usurp the mastery then.
Spirits of evil! what dost thou require?
Brass, marble, parchment, paper, dost desire?
Shall I with chisel, pen, or graver write?
Thy choice is free; to me ’tis all the same.
MEPHISTOPHELES
Wherefore thy passion so excite,
And thus thine eloquence inflame?
A scrap is for our compact good.
Thou under-signest merely with a drop of blood.
FAUST
If this will satisfy thy mind,
Thy whim I’ll gratify, howe’er absurd.
MEPHISTOPHELES
Blood is a juice of very special kind.
FAUST
Be not afraid that I shall break my word!
The scope of all my energy
Is in exact accordance with my vow.
Vainly I have aspired too high;
I’m on a level but with such as thou;
Me the great spirit scorn’d, defied;
Nature from me herself doth hide;
Rent is the web of thought; my mind
Doth knowledge loathe of every kind.
In depths of sensual pleasure drown’d,
Let us our fiery passions still!
Enwrapp’d in magic’s veil profound,
Let wondrous charms our senses thrill!
Plunge we in time’s tempestuous flow,
Stem we the rolling surge of chance!
There may alternate weal and woe,
Success and failure, as they can,
Mingle and shift in changeful dance!
Excitement is the sphere for man.
MEPHISTOPHELES
Nor goal, nor measure is prescrib’d to you,
If you desire to taste of every thing,
To snatch at joy while on the wing,
May your career amuse and profit too!
Only fall to and don’t be over coy!
FAUST
Hearken! The end I aim at is not joy;
I crave excitement, agonizing bliss,
Enamor’d hatred, quickening vexation.
Purg’d from the love of knowledge, my vocation,
The scope of all my powers henceforth be this,
To bare my breast to every pang,—to know
In my heart’s core all human weal and woe,
To grasp in thought the lofty and the deep,
Men’s various fortunes on my breast to heap,
And thus to theirs dilate my individual mind,
And share at length with them the shipwreck of mankind.
MEPHISTOPHELES
Oh, credit me, who still as ages roll,
Have chew’d this bitter fare from year to year,
No mortal, from the cradle to the bier,
Digests the ancient leaven! Know, this Whole
Doth for the Deity alone subsist!
He in eternal brightness doth exist;
Us unto darkness he hath brought, and here,
Where day and night alternate, is your sphere.
FAUST
But ’tis my will!
MEPHISTOPHELES
Well spoken, I admit!
But one thing puzzles me, my friend;
Time’s short, art long; methinks ’twere fit
That you to friendly counsel should attend.
A poet choose as your ally!
Let him thought’s wide dominion sweep,
Each good and noble quality
Upon your honored brow to heap;
The lion’s magnanimity,
The fleetness of the hind,
The fiery blood of Italy,
The Northern’s stedfast mind.
Let him to you the mystery show
To blend high aims and cunning low;
And while youth’s passions are aflame
To fall in love by rule and plan!
I fain would meet with such a man;
Would him Sir Microcosmus name.
FAUST
What then am I, if I aspire in vain
The crown of our humanity to gain,
Toward which my every sense doth strain?
MEPHISTOPHELES
Thou’rt after all—just what thou art.
Put on thy head a wig with countless locks,
And to a cubit’s height upraise thy socks,
Still thou remainest ever, what thou art.
FAUST
I feel it, I have heap’d upon my brain
The gather’d treasure of man’s thought in vain;
And when at length from studious toil I rest,
No power, new-born, springs up within my breast;
A hair’s breadth is not added to my height;
I am no nearer to the infinite.
MEPHISTOPHELES
Good sir, these things you view indeed,
Just as by other men they’re view’d;
We must more cleverly proceed,
Before life’s joys our grasp elude.
The devil! thou hast hands and feet,
And head and heart are also thine;
What I enjoy with relish sweet—
Is it on that account less mine?
If for six stallions I can pay,
Do I not own their strength and speed?
A proper man I dash away,
As their two dozen legs were mine indeed.
Up then, from idle pondering free,
And forth into the world with me!
I tell you what;—your speculative churl
Is like a beast which some ill spirit leads,
On barren wilderness, in ceaseless whirl,
While all around lie fair and verdant meads.
FAUST
But how shall we begin?
MEPHISTOPHELES
We will go hence with speed,
A place of torment this indeed!
A precious life, thyself to bore,
And some few youngsters evermore!
Leave that to neighbor Paunch! Withdraw?
Why wilt thou plague thyself with thrashing straw?
The very best that thou dost know
Thou dar’st not to the striplings show.
One in the passage now doth wait!
FAUST
I’m in no mood to see him now.
MEPHISTOPHELES
Poor lad! He must be tired, I trow;
He must not go disconsolate.
Hand me thy cap and gown; the mask
Is for my purpose quite first rate.
[He changes his dress.]
Now leave it to my wit! I ask
But quarter of an hour; meanwhile equip,
And make all ready for our pleasant trip!
[Exit FAUST.]
MEPHISTOPHELES (in FAUST’S long gown)
Mortal! the loftiest attributes of men,
Reason and Knowledge, only thus contemn;
Still let the Prince of lies, without control,
With shows, and mocking charms delude thy soul,
I have thee unconditionally then!—
Fate hath endow’d him with an ardent mind,
Which unrestrain’d still presses on forever,
And whose precipitate endeavor
Earth’s joys o’erleaping, leaveth them behind.
Him will I drag through life’s wild waste,
Through scenes of vapid dulness, where at last
Bewilder’d, he shall falter, and stick fast;
And, still to mock his greedy haste,
Viands and drink shall float his craving lips beyond—
Vainly he’ll seek refreshment, anguish-tost,
And were he not the devil’s by his bond,
Yet must his soul infallibly be lost!
A STUDENT enters.
STUDENT
But recently I’ve quitted home,
Full of devotion am I come
A man to know and hear, whose name
With reverence is known to fame.
MEPHISTOPHELES
Your courtesy much flatters me!
A man like other men you see;
Pray have you yet applied elsewhere?
STUDENT
I would entreat your friendly care!
I’ve youthful blood and courage high;
Of gold I bring a fair supply;
To let me go my mother was not fain;
But here I longed true knowledge to attain.
MEPHISTOPHELES
You’ve hit upon the very place.
STUDENT
And yet my steps I would retrace.
These walls, this melancholy room,
O’erpower me with a sense of gloom;
The space is narrow, nothing green,
No friendly tree is to be seen
And in these halls, with benches filled, distraught,
Sight, hearing fail me, and the power of thought.
MEPHISTOPHELES
It all depends on habit. Thus at first
The infant takes not kindly to the breast,
But before long, its eager thirst
Is fain to slake with hearty zest:
Thus at the breasts of wisdom day by day
With keener relish you’ll your thirst allay.
STUDENT
Upon her neck I fain would hang with joy;
To reach it, say, what means must I employ?
MEPHISTOPHELES
Explain, ere further time we lose,
What special faculty you choose?
STUDENT
Profoundly learned I would grow,
What heaven contains would comprehend,
O’er earth’s wide realm my gaze extend,
Nature and science I desire to know.
MEPHISTOPHELES
You are upon the proper track, I find;
Take heed, let nothing dissipate your mind.
STUDENT
My heart and soul are in the chase!
Though, to be sure, I fain would seize,
On pleasant summer holidays,
A little liberty and careless ease.
MEPHISTOPHELES
Use well your time, so rapidly it flies;
Method will teach you time to win;
Hence, my young friend, I would advise,
With college logic to begin!
Then will your mind be so well braced,
In Spanish boots so tightly laced,
That on ’twill circumspectly creep,
Thought’s beaten track securely keep,
Nor will it, ignis-fatuus like,
Into the path of error strike.
Then many a day they’ll teach you how
The mind’s spontaneous acts, till now
As eating and as drinking free,
Require a process;—one! two! three!
In truth the subtle web of thought
Is like the weaver’s fabric wrought:
One treadle moves a thousand lines,
Swift dart the shuttles to and fro,
Unseen the threads together flow,
A thousand knots one stroke combines.
Then forward steps your sage to show,
And prove to you, it must be so;
The first being so, and so the second,
The third and fourth deduc’d we see;
And if there were no first and second,
Nor third nor fourth would ever be.
This, scholars of all countries prize,—
Yet ‘mong themselves no weavers rise.
He who would know and treat of aught alive,
Seeks first the living spirit thence to drive:
Then are the lifeless fragments in his hand,
There only fails, alas! the spirit-band.
This process, chemists name, in learned thesis,
Mocking themselves, Naturæ encheiresis.
STUDENT
Your words I cannot fully comprehend.
MEPHISTOPHELES
In a short time you will improve, my friend,
When of scholastic forms you learn the use;
And how by method all things to reduce.
STUDENT
So doth all this my brain confound,
As if a mill-wheel there were turning round.
MEPHISTOPHELES
And next, before aught else you learn,
You must with zeal to metaphysics turn!
There see that you profoundly comprehend
What doth the limit of man’s brain transcend;
For that which is or is not in the head
A sounding phrase will serve you in good stead.
But before all strive this half year
From one fix’d order ne’er to swerve!
Five lectures daily you must hear;
The hour still punctually observe!
Yourself with studious zeal prepare,
And closely in your manual look,
Hereby may you be quite aware
That all he utters standeth in the book;
Yet write away without cessation,
As at the Holy Ghost’s dictation!
STUDENT
This, Sir, a second time you need not say!
Your counsel I appreciate quite;
What we possess in black and white
We can in peace and comfort bear away.
MEPHISTOPHELES
A faculty I pray you name.
STUDENT
For jurisprudence some distaste I own.
MEPHISTOPHELES
To me this branch of science is well known,
And hence I cannot your repugnance blame.
Customs and laws in every place,
Like a disease, and heir-loom dread,
Still trail their curse from race to race,
And furtively abroad they spread.
To nonsense, reason’s self they turn;
Beneficence becomes a pest;
Woe unto thee, that thou’rt a grandson born!
As for the law born with us, unexpressed;—
That law, alas, none careth to discern.
STUDENT
You deepen my dislike. The youth
Whom you instruct, is blest in sooth!
To try theology I feel inclined.
MEPHISTOPHELES
I would not lead you willingly astray,
But as regards this science, you will find
So hard it is to shun the erring way,
And so much hidden poison lies therein
Which scarce can you discern from medicine.
Here too it is the best, to listen but to one,
And by the master’s words to swear alone.
To sum up all—To words hold fast!
Then the safe gate securely pass’d,
You’ll reach the fane of certainty at last.
STUDENT
But then some meaning must the words convey.
MEPHISTOPHELES
Right! But o’er-anxious thought you’ll find of no avail;
For there precisely where ideas fail,
A word comes opportunely into play;
Most admirable weapons words are found,
On words a system we securely ground,
In words we can conveniently believe,
Nor of a single jot can we a word bereave.
STUDENT
Your pardon for my importunity;
Yet once more must I trouble you:
On medicine, I’ll thank you to supply
A pregnant utterance or two!
Three years! how brief the appointed tide!
The field, heaven knows, is all too wide!
If but a friendly hint be thrown,
‘Tis easier than to feel one’s way.
MEPHISTOPHELES (aside)
I’m weary of the dry pedantic tone,
And must again the genuine devil play.
(Aloud)
Of medicine the spirit’s caught with ease,
The great and little world you study through,
That things may then their course pursue,
As heaven may please.
In vain abroad you range through science’s ample space,
Each man learns only that which learn he can;
Who knows the moment to embrace,
He is your proper man.
In person you are tolerably made,
Nor in assurance will you be deficient:
Self-confidence acquire, be not afraid,
Others will then esteem you a proficient.
Learn chiefly with the sex to deal!
Their thousand ahs and ohs,
These the sage doctor knows,
He only from one point can heal.
Assume a decent tone of courteous ease,
You have them then to humor as you please.
First a diploma must belief infuse,
That you in your profession take the lead:
You then at once those easy freedoms use
For which another many a year must plead;
Learn how to feel with nice address
The dainty wrist;—and how to press,
With ardent, furtive glance, the slender waist,
To feel how tightly it is laced.
STUDENT
There is some sense in that! one sees the how and why.
MEPHISTOPHELES
Gray is, young friend, all theory:
And green of life the golden tree.
STUDENT
I swear it seemeth like a dream to me.
May I some future time repeat my visit,
To hear on what your wisdom grounds your views?
MEPHISTOPHELES
Command my humble service when you choose.
STUDENT
Ere I retire, one boon I must solicit:
Here is my album; do not, Sir, deny
This token of your favor!
MEPHISTOPHELES
Willingly!
[He writes and returns the book.]
STUDENT (reads)
ERITIS SICUT DEUS, SCIENTES BONUM ET MALUM
[He reverently closes the book and retires.]
MEPHISTOPHELES
Let but this ancient proverb be your rule,
My cousin follow still, the wily snake,
And with your likeness to the gods, poor fool,
Ere long be sure your poor sick heart will quake!
FAUST (enters)
Whither away?
MEPHISTOPHELES
‘Tis thine our course to steer.
The little world, and then the great we’ll view.
With what delight, what profit too,
Thou’lt revel through thy gay career!
FAUST
Despite my length of beard I need
The easy manners that insure success;
Th’ attempt I fear can ne’er succeed;
To mingle in the world I want address;
I still have an embarrass’d air, and then
I feel myself so small with other men.
MEPHISTOPHELES
Time, my good friend, will all that’s needful give;
Be only self-possessed, and thou hast learn’d to live.
FAUST
But how are we to start, I pray?
Steeds, servants, carriage, where are they?
MEPHISTOPHELES
We’ve but to spread this mantle wide,
‘Twill serve whereon through air to ride;
No heavy baggage need you take,
When we our bold excursion make.
A little gas, which I will soon prepare,
Lifts us from earth; aloft through air,
Light-laden, we shall swiftly steer;—
I wish you joy of your new life-career.
AUERBACH’S CELLAR IN LEIPZIG
A Drinking Party
FROSCH
No drinking? Naught a laugh to raise?
None of your gloomy looks, I pray!
You, who so bright were wont to blaze,
Are dull as wetted straw today.
BRANDER
‘Tis all your fault; your part you do not bear,
No beastliness, no folly.
FROSCH (pours a glass of wine over his head)
There,
You have them both!
BRANDER
You double beast!
FROSCH
‘Tis what you ask’d me for, at least!
SIEBEL
Whoever quarrels, turn him out!
With open throat drink, roar, and shout.
Hollo! Hollo! Ho!
ALTMAYER
Zounds, fellow, cease your deaf’ning cheers!
Bring cotton-wool! He splits my ears.
SIEBEL
‘Tis when the roof rings back the tone,
Then first the full power of the bass is known.
FROSCH
Right! out with him who takes offence!
A! tara lara da!
ALTMAYER
A! tara lara da!
FROSCH
Our throats are tuned. Come, let’s commence!
(Sings)
The holy Roman empire now,
How holds it still together?
BRANDER
An ugly song! a song political!
A song offensive! Thank God, every morn,
To rule the Roman empire that you were not born!
I bless my stars at least that mine is not
Either a kaiser’s or a chancellor’s lot.
Yet, ‘among ourselves, should one still lord it o’er the rest;
That we elect a pope I now suggest.
Ye know what quality insures
A man’s success, his rise secures.
FROSCH (sings)
Bear, lady nightingale above,
Ten thousand greetings to my love.
SIEBEL
No greetings to a sweetheart! No love-songs shall there be!
FROSCH
Love-greetings and love-kisses! Thou shalt not hinder me!
(Sings)
Undo the bolt! in stilly night,
Undo the bolt! the lover wakes.
Shut to the bolt! when morning breaks.
SIEBEL
Ay, sing, sing on, praise her with all thy might!
My turn to laugh will come some day.
Me hath she jilted once, you the same trick she’ll play.
Some gnome her lover be! where cross-roads meet,
With her to play the fool; or old he-goat,
From Blocksberg coming in swift gallop, bleat
A good night to her from his hairy throat!
A proper lad of genuine flesh and blood,
Is for the damsel far too good;
The greeting she shall have from me,
To smash her window-panes will be!
BRANDER (striking on the table)
Silence! Attend! to me give ear!
Confess, sirs, I know how to live:
Some love-sick folk are sitting here!
Hence, ’tis but fit, their hearts to cheer,
That I a good-night strain to them should give.
Hark! of the newest fashion is my song!
Strike boldly in the chorus, clear and strong!
(He sings)
Once in a cellar lived a rat,
He feasted there on butter,
Until his paunch became as fat
As that of Doctor Luther.
The cook laid poison for the guest,
Then was his heart with pangs oppress’d,
As if his frame love wasted.
CHORUS (shouting)
As if his frame love wasted.
BRANDER
He ran around, he ran abroad,
Of every puddle drinking.
The house with rage he scratch’d and gnaw’d,
In vain,—he fast was sinking;
Full many an anguish’d bound he gave,
Nothing the hapless brute could save,
As if his frame love wasted.
CHORUS
As if his frame love wasted.
BRANDER
By torture driven, in open day,
The kitchen he invaded,
Convulsed upon the hearth he lay,
With anguish sorely jaded;
The poisoner laugh’d; Ha! ha! quoth she,
His life is ebbing fast, I see,
As if his frame love wasted.
CHORUS
As if his frame love wasted.
SIEBEL
How the dull boors exulting shout!
Poison for the poor rats to strew
A fine exploit it is no doubt.
BRANDER
They, as it seems, stand well with you!
ALTMAYER
Old bald-pate! with the paunch profound!
The rat’s mishap hath tamed his nature;
For he his counterpart hath found
Depicted in the swollen creature.
FAUST AND MEPHISTOPHELES
MEPHISTOPHELES
I now must introduce to you
Before aught else, this jovial crew,
To show how lightly life may glide away;
With the folk here each day’s a holiday.
With little wit and much content,
Each on his own small round intent,
Like sportive kitten with its tail;
While no sick-headache they bewail,
And while their host will credit give,
Joyous and free from care they live.
BRANDER
They’re off a journey, that is clear,—
From their strange manners; they have scarce been here
An hour.
FROSCH
You’re right! Leipzig’s the place for me!
‘Tis quite a little Paris; people there
Acquire a certain easy, finish’d air.
SIEBEL
What take you now these travelers to be?
FROSCH
Let me alone! O’er a full glass you’ll see,
As easily I’ll worm their secret out
As draw an infant’s tooth. I’ve not a doubt
That my two gentlemen are nobly born;
They look dissatisfied and full of scorn.
BRANDER
They are but mountebanks, I’ll lay a bet!
ALTMAYER
Most like.
FROSCH
Mark me, I’ll screw it from them yet!
MEPHISTOPHELES (to FAUST)
These fellows would not scent the devil out,
E’en though he had them by the very throat!
FAUST
Good-morrow, gentlemen!
STEBEL
Thanks for your fair salute.
[Aside, glancing at MEPHISTOPHELES.]
How! goes the fellow on a halting foot?
MEPHISTOPHELES
Is it permitted here with you to sit?
Then, though good wine is not forthcoming here,
Good company at least our hearts will cheer.
ALTMAYER
A dainty gentleman, no doubt of it!
FROSCH
You’re doubtless recently from Rippach? Pray,
Did you with Master Hans there chance to sup?
MEPHISTOPHELES
Today we pass’d him, but we did not stop!
When last we met him he had much to say
Touching his cousins, and to each he sent
Full many a greeting and kind compliment.
[With an inclination toward FROSCH.]
ALTMAYER (aside to Frosch)
You have it there!
SIEBEL
Faith! he’s a knowing one!
FROSCH
Have patience! I will show him up anon!
MEPHISTOPHELES
We heard erewhile, unless I’m wrong,
Voices well trained in chorus pealing?
Certes, most choicely here must song
Re-echo from this vaulted ceiling!
FROSCH
That you’re an amateur one plainly sees!
MEPHISTOPHELES
Oh no, though strong the love, I cannot boast much skill.
ALTMAYER
Give us a song!
MEPHISTOPHELES
As many as you will.
SIEBEL
But be it a brand new one, if you please!
MEPHISTOPHELES
But recently returned from Spain are we,
The pleasant land of wine and minstrelsy.
(Sings)
A king there was once reigning,
Who had a goodly flea—
FROSCH
Hark! did you rightly catch the words? a flea!
An odd sort of a guest he needs must be.
MEPHISTOPHELES (sings)
A king there was once reigning,
Who had a goodly flea,
Him loved he without feigning,
As his own son were he!
His tailor then he summon’d—
The tailor to him goes:
Now measure me the youngster
For jerkin and for hose!
BRANDER
Take proper heed, the tailor strictly charge,
The nicest measurement to take,
And as he loves his head, to make
The hose quite smooth and not too large!
MEPHISTOPHELES
In satin and in velvet,
Behold the younker dressed:
Bedizen’d o’er with ribbons,
A cross upon his breast.
Prime minister they made him;
He wore a star of state;
And all his poor relations
Were courtiers, rich and great.
The gentlemen and ladies
At court were sore distressed;
The queen and all her maidens
Were bitten by the pest,
And yet they dared not scratch them
Or chase the fleas away.
If we are bit, we catch them,
And crack without delay.
CHORUS (shouting)
If we are bit, etc.
FROSCH
Bravo! That’s the song for me!
SIEBEL
Such be the fate of every flea!
BRANDER
With clever finger catch and kill!
ALTMAYER
Hurrah for wine and freedom still!
MEPHISTOPHELES
Were but your wine a trifle better, friend,
A glass to freedom I would gladly drain.
SIEBEL
You’d better not repeat those words again!
MEPHISTOPHELES
I am afraid the landlord to offend;
Else freely would I treat each worthy guest
From our own cellar to the very best.
SIEBEL
Out with it then! Your doings I’ll defend.
FROSCH
Give a good glass, and straight we’ll praise you, one and all.
Only let not your samples be too small;
For if my judgment you desire,
Certes, an ample mouthful I require.
ALTMAYER (aside)
I guess, they’re from the Rhenish land.
MEPHISTOPHELES
Fetch me a gimlet here!
BRANDER
Say, what therewith to bore?
You cannot have the wine-casks at the door?
ALTMAYER
Our landlord’s tool-basket behind doth yonder stand.
MEPHISTOPHELES (takes the gimlet) (To FROSCH)
Now only say! what liquor will you take?
FROSCH
How mean you that? Have you of every sort?
MEPHISTOPHELES
Each may his own selection make.
ALTMAYER (to FROSCH)
Ha! Ha! You lick your lips already at the thought.
FROSCH
Good, if I have my choice, the Rhenish I propose;
For still the fairest gifts the fatherland bestows.
MEPHISTOPHELES (boring a hole in the edge of the table opposite to where FROSCH is sitting)
Get me a little wax—and make some stoppers—quick!
ALTMAYER
Why, this is nothing but a juggler’s trick!
MEPHISTOPHELES (to BRANDER)
And you?
BRANDER
Champagne’s the wine for me;
Right brisk, and sparkling let it be!
[MEPHISTOPHELES bores, one of the party has in the meantime prepared the, wax-stoppers and stopped the holes.]
BRANDER
What foreign is one always can’t decline,
What’s good is often scatter’d far apart.
The French your genuine German hates with all his heart,
Yet has a relish for their wine.
SIEBEL (as MEPHISTOPHELES approaches him)
I like not acid wine, I must allow,
Give me a glass of genuine sweet!
MEPHISTOPHELES (bores)
Tokay
Shall, if you wish it, flow without delay.
ALTMAYER
Come! look me in the face! no fooling now!
You are but making fun of us, I trow.
MEPHISTOPHELES
Ah! ah! that would indeed be making free
With such distinguished guests. Come, no delay;
What liquor can I serve you with, I pray?
ALTMAYER
Only be quick, it matters not to me.
[After the holes are all bored and, stopped.]
MEPHISTOPHELES (with strange gestures)
Grapes the vine-stock bears,
Horns the buck-goat wears!
Wine is sap, the vine is wood,
The wooden board yields wine as good.
With a deeper glance and true
The mysteries of nature view!
Have faith and here’s a miracle!
Your stoppers draw and drink your fill!
ALL (as they draw the stoppers and the wine chosen by each runs into his glass)
Oh beauteous spring, which flows so far!
MEPHISTOPHELES
Spill not a single drop, of this beware!
[They drink repeatedly.]
ALL (sing)
Happy as cannibals are we,
Or as five hundred swine.
MEPHISTOPHELES
They’re in their glory, mark their elevation!
FAUST
Let’s hence, nor here our stay prolong.
MEPHISTOPHELES
Attend, of brutishness ere long
You’ll see a glorious revelation.
SIEBEL (drinks carelessly; the wine is spilt upon the ground, and turns to fame)
Help! fire! help! Hell is burning!
MEPHISTOPHELES (addressing the flames)
Stop,
Kind element, be still, I say!
(To the Company)
Of purgatorial fire as yet ’tis but a drop.
SIEBEL
What means the knave! For this you’ll dearly pay!
Us, it appears, you do not know.
FROSCH
Such tricks a second time he’d better show!
ALTMAYER
Methinks ’twere well we pack’d him quietly away.
SIEBEL
What, sir! with us your hocus-pocus play!
MEPHISTOPHELES
Silence, old wine-cask!
SIEBEL
How! add insult, too!
Vile broomstick!
BRANDER
Hold! or blows shall rain on you!
ALTMAYER (draws a stopper out of the table; fire springs
out against him)
I burn! I burn!
SIEBEL
‘Tis sorcery, I vow! Strike home! The fellow is fair game, I trow! [They draw their knives and attack MEPHISTOPHELES.]
MEPHISTOPHELES (with solemn gestures)
Visionary scenes appear!
Words delusive cheat the ear!
Be ye there, and be ye here!
[They stand amazed and gale at one another.]
ALTMAYER
Where am I? What a beauteous land!
FROSCH
Vineyards! unless my sight deceives?
SIEBEL
And clust’ring grapes too, close at hand!
BRANDER
And underneath the spreading leaves,
What stems there be! What grapes I see!
[He seizes SIEBEL by the nose. The others reciprocally do the same, and raise, their knives.]
MEPHISTOPHELES (as above)
Delusion, from their eyes the bandage take!
Note how the devil loves a jest to break!
[He disappears with FAUST; the fellows draw back from one another.]
SIEBEL
What was it?
ALTMAYER
How?
FROSCH
Was that your nose?
BRANDER (to SIEBEL)
And look, my hand doth thine inclose!
ALTMAYER
I felt a shock, it went through every limb!
A chair! I’m fainting! All things swim!
FROSCH
Say! What has happened? What’s it all about?
SIEBEL
Where is the fellow? Could I scent him out,
His body from his soul I’d soon divide!
ALTMAYER
With my own eyes, upon a cask astride,
Forth through the cellar-door I saw him ride—
Heavy as lead my feet are growing.
[Turning to the table.]
I wonder is the wine still flowing!
SIEBEL
‘Twas all delusion, cheat and lie.
FROSCH
‘Twas wine I drank, most certainly.
BRANDER
But with the grapes how was it, pray?
ALTMAYER
That none may miracles believe, who now will say?
WITCHES’ KITCHEN
A large caldron hangs over the fire on a low hearth; various figures appear in the vapor rising from it. A FEMALE MONKEY sits beside the caldron to skim it, and watch that it does not boil over. The MALE MONKEY _with the young ones is seated near, warming himself. The walls and ceiling are adorned with the strangest articles of witch-furniture.
FAUST, MEPHISTOPHELES
FAUST
This senseless, juggling witchcraft I detest!
Dost promise that in this foul nest
Of madness I shall be restored?
Must I seek counsel from an ancient dame?
And can she, by these rites abhorred,
Take thirty winters from my frame?
Woe’s me, if thou naught better canst suggest!
Hope has already fled my breast.
Has neither nature nor a noble mind
A balsam yet devis’d of any kind?
MEPHISTOPHELES
My friend, you now speak sensibly. In truth,
Nature a method giveth to renew thy youth:
But in another book the lesson’s writ;—
It forms a curious chapter, I admit.
FAUST
I fain would know it.
MEPHISTOPHELES
Good! A remedy
Without physician, gold, or sorcery:
Away forthwith, and to the fields repair;
Begin to delve, to cultivate the ground;
Thy senses and thyself confine
Within the very narrowest round;
Support thyself upon the simplest fare;
Live like a very brute the brutes among;
Neither esteem it robbery
The acre thou dost reap, thyself to dung.
This the best method, credit me,
Again at eighty to grow hale and young.
FAUST
I am not used to it, nor can myself degrade
So far, as in my hand to take the spade.
This narrow life would suit me not at all.
MEPHISTOPHELES
Then we the witch must summon after all.
FAUST
Will none but this old beldame do?
Canst not thyself the potion brew?
MEPHISTOPHELES
A pretty play our leisure to beguile!
A thousand bridges I could build meanwhile.
Not science only and consummate art—
Patience must also bear her part.
A quiet spirit worketh whole years long;
Time only makes the subtle ferment strong.
And all things that belong thereto,
Are wondrous and exceeding rare!
The devil taught her, it is true;
But yet the draught the devil can’t prepare.
[Perceiving the beasts.]
Look yonder, what a dainty pair!
Here is the maid! the knave is there!
(To the beasts)
It seems your dame is not at home?
THE MONKEYS
Gone to carouse,
Out of the house,
Thro’ the chimney and away!
MEPHISTOPHELES
How long is it her wont to roam?
THE MONKEYS
While we can warm our paws she’ll stay.
MEPHISTOPHELES (to FAUST)
What think you of the charming creatures?
FAUST
I loathe alike their form and features!
MEPHISTOPHELES
Nay, such discourse, be it confessed,
Is just the thing that pleases me the best.
(To the MONKEYS)
Tell me, ye whelps, accursed crew!
What stir ye in the broth about?
MONKEYS
Coarse beggar’s gruel here we stew.
MEPHISTOPHELES
Of customers you’ll have a rout.
THE HE-MONKEY (approaching and fawning on MEPHISTOPHELES)
Quick! quick! throw the dice,
Make me rich in a trice,
Oh give me the prize!
Alas, for myself,
Had I plenty of pelf,
I then should be wise.
MEPHISTOPHELES
How blest the ape would think himself, if he
Could only put into the lottery!
[In the meantime the young MONKEYS have been playing with a large globe, which they roll forward.]
THE HE-MONKEY
The world behold;
Unceasingly roll’d,
It riseth and falleth ever;
It ringeth like glass!
How brittle, alas!
‘Tis hollow, and resteth never.
How bright the sphere,
Still brighter here!
Now living am I!
Dear son, beware!
Nor venture there!
Thou too must die!
It is of clay;
‘Twill crumble away;
There fragments lie.
MEPHISTOPHELES
Of what use is the sieve
THE HE-MONKEY (taking it down)
The sieve would show, If thou wert a thief or no? [He runs to the SHE-MONKEY, and makes her look through it.]
Look through the sieve!
Dost know him the thief,
And dar’st thou not call him so?
MEPHISTOPHELES (approaching the fire)
And then this pot?
THE MONKEYS
The half-witted sot!
He knows not the pot!
He knows not the kettle!
MEPHISTOPHELES
Unmannerly beast!
Be civil at least!
THE HE-MONKEY
Take the whisk and sit down in the settle!
[He makes MEPHISTOPHELES sit down.]
FAUST (who all this time has been standing before a looking-glass, now approaching, and now retiring front it)
What do I see? What form, whose charms transcend
The loveliness of earth, is mirror’d here!
O Love, to waft me to her sphere,
To me the swiftest of thy pinions lend!
Alas! If I remain not rooted to this place,
If to approach more near I’m fondly lur’d,
Her image fades, in veiling mist obscur’d!—
Model of beauty both in form and face!
Is’t possible? Hath woman charms so rare?
In this recumbent form, supremely fair,
The essence must I see of heavenly grace?
Can aught so exquisite on earth be found?
MEPHISTOPHELES
The six days’ labor of a god, my friend,
Who doth himself cry bravo, at the end,
By something clever doubtless should be crown’d.
For this time gaze your fill, and when you please
just such a prize for you I can provide;
How blest is he to whom kind fate decrees,
To take her to his home, a lovely bride!
[FAUST continues to gaze into the mirror.]
MEPHISTOPHELES [stretching himself on the settle and playing with the whisk, continues to speak.]
Here sit I, like a king upon his throne;
My sceptre this;—the crown I want alone.
THE MONKEYS (who have hitherto been making all sorts of strange gestures, bring MEPHISTOPHELES _a crown, with loud cries)
Oh, be so good,
With sweat and with blood
The crown to lime!
[They handle the crown awkwardly and break it in two pieces, with which they skip about.]
‘Twas fate’s decree!
We speak and see!
We hear and rhyme.
FAUST (before the mirror)
Woe’s me! well-nigh distraught I feel!
MEPHISTOPHELES (pointing to the beasts)
And even my own head almost begins to reel.
THE MONKEYS
If good luck attend,
If fitly things blend,
Our jargon with thought
And with reason is fraught!
FAUST (as above)
A flame is kindled in my breast!
Let us begone! nor linger here!
MEPHISTOPHELES (in the same position)
It now at least must be confessed,
That poets sometimes are sincere.
[The caldron which the SHE-MONKEY has neglected begins to boil over; a great flame arises, which streams up the chimney. The WITCH comes down the chimney with horrible cries.]
THE WITCH
Ough! ough! ough! ough!
Accursed brute! accursed sow!
The caldron dost neglect, for shame!
Accursed brute to scorch the dame!
(Perceiving FAUST and MEPHISTOPHELES._)
Whom have we here?
Who’s sneaking here?
Whence are ye come?
With what desire?
The plague of fire
Your bones consume!
[She dips the skimming-ladle into the caldron and throws flames at FAUST, MEPHISTOPHELES, and the MONKEYS. The MONKEYS whimper.]
MEPHISTOPHELES (twirling the whisk which he holds in his hand, and striking among the glasses and pots)
Dash! Smash!
There lies the glass!
There lies the slime!
‘Tis but a jest;
I but keep time,
Thou hellish pest,
To thine own chime!
[While the WITCH steps back in rage and astonishment.]
Dost know me! Skeleton! Vile scarecrow, thou!
Thy lord and master dost thou know?
What holds me, that I deal not now
Thee and thine apes a stunning blow?
No more respect to my red vest dost pay?
Does my cock’s feather no allegiance claim?
Have I my visage masked today?
Must I be forced myself to name?
THE WITCH
Master, forgive this rude salute!
But I perceive no cloven foot.
And your two ravens, where are they?
MEPHISTOPHELES
This once I must admit your plea;—
For truly I must own that we
Each other have not seen for many a day.
The culture, too, that shapes the world, at last
Hath e’en the devil in its sphere embraced;
The northern phantom from the scene hath pass’d;
Tail, talons, horns, are nowhere to be traced!
As for the foot, with which I can’t dispense,
‘Twould injure me in company, and hence,
Like many a youthful cavalier,
False calves I now have worn for many a year.
THE WITCH (dancing)
I am beside myself with joy,
To see once more the gallant Satan here!
MEPHISTOPHELES
Woman, no more that name employ!
THE WITCH
But why? what mischief hath it done?
MEPHISTOPHELES
To fable-books it now doth appertain;
But people from the change have nothing won.
Rid of the evil one, the evil ones remain.
Lord Baron call thou me, so is the matter good;
Of other cavaliers the mien I wear.
Dost make no question of my gentle blood;
See here, this is the scutcheon that I bear!
[He makes an unseemly gesture.]
THE WITCH (laughing immoderately)
Ha! Ha! Just like yourself! You are, I ween,
The same mad wag that you have ever been!
MEPHISTOPHELES (to FAUST)
My friend, learn this to understand, I pray!
To deal with witches this is still the way.
THE WITCH
Now tell me, gentlemen, what you desire?
MEPHISTOPHELES
Of your known juice a goblet we require.
But for the very oldest let me ask;
Double its strength with years doth grow.
THE WITCH
Most willingly! And here I have a flask,
From which I’ve sipp’d myself ere now;
What’s more, it doth no longer stink;
To you a glass I joyfully will give.
(Aside.)
If unprepar’d, however, this man drink,
He hath not, as you know, an hour to live.
MEPHISTOPHELES
He’s my good friend, with whom ’twill prosper well;
I grudge him not the choicest of thy store.
Now draw thy circle, speak thy spell,
And straight a bumper for him pour!
[The WITCH, with extraordinary gestures, describes a circle, and places strange things within it. The glasses meanwhile begin to ring, and the caldron to sound and make music. Lastly, she brings a great book; places the MONKEYS in the circle to serve her as a desk, and to hold the torches. She beckons FAUST to approach.]
FAUST (to MEPHISTOPHELES)
Tell me, to what doth all this tend?
Where will these frantic gestures end?
This loathsome cheat, this senseless stuff
I’ve known and hated long enough.
MEPHISTOPHELES
Mere mummery, a laugh to raise!
Pray don’t be so fastidious! She
But as a leech, her hocus-pocus plays,
That well with you her potion may agree.
[He compels FAUST to enter the circle.]
[The, WITCH, with great emphasis, begins to declaim from the book.]
This must thou ken:
Of one make ten,
Pass two, and then
Make square the three,
So rich thou’lt be.
Drop out the four!
From five and six,
Thus says the witch,
Make seven and eight.
So all is straight!
And nine is one,
And ten is none,
This is the witch’s one-time-one!
FAUST
The hag doth as in fever rave.
MEPHISTOPHELES
To these will follow many a stave.
I know it well, so rings the book throughout;
Much time I’ve lost in puzzling o’er its pages,
For downright paradox, no doubt,
A mystery remains alike to fools and sages.
Ancient the art and modern too, my friend.
‘Tis still the fashion as it used to be,
Error instead of truth abroad to send
By means of three and one, and one and three.
‘Tis ever taught and babbled in the schools.
Who’d take the trouble to dispute with fools?
When words men hear, in sooth, they usually believe,
That there must needs therein be something to conceive.
THE WITCH (continues)
The lofty power
Of wisdom’s dower,
From all the world conceal’d!
Who thinketh not,
To him I wot,
Unsought it is reveal’d.
FAUST
What nonsense doth the hag propound?
My brain it doth well-nigh confound.
A hundred thousand fools or more,
Methinks I hear in chorus roar.
MEPHISTOPHELES
Incomparable Sibyl cease, I pray!
Hand us thy liquor without more delay.
And to the very brim the goblet crown!
My friend he is, and need not be afraid;
Besides, he is a man of many a grade,
Who hath drunk deep already.
[The WITCH, with many ceremonies, pours the liquor into a cup; as FAUST lifts it to his mouth, a light flame arises.]
MEPHISTOPHELES
Gulp it down!
No hesitation! It will prove
A cordial, and your heart inspire!
What! with the devil hand and glove,
And yet shrink back afraid of fire?
[The WITCH dissolves the circle. FAUST steps out.]
MEPHISTOPHELES
Now forth at once! thou dar’st not rest.
WITCH
And much, sir, may the liquor profit you!
MEPHISTOPHELES (to the WITCH)
And if to pleasure thee I aught can do,
Pray on Walpurgis mention thy request.
WITCH
Here is a song, sung o’er, sometimes you’ll see,
That ’twill a singular effect produce.
MEPHISTOPHELES (to FAUST)
Come, quick, and let thyself be led by me;
Thou must perspire, in order that the juice
Thy frame may penetrate through every part.
Then noble idleness I thee will teach to prize,
And soon with ecstasy thou’lt recognize
How Cupid stirs and gambols in thy heart.
FAUST
Let me but gaze one moment in the glass!
Too lovely was that female form!
MEPHISTOPHELES
Nay! nay!
A model which all women shall surpass,
In flesh and blood ere long thou shalt survey.
(Aside.)
As works the draught, thou presently shalt greet
A Helen in each woman thou dost meet.
A STREET
FAUST (MARGARET passing by).
FAUST
Fair lady, may I thus make free
To offer you my arm and company?
MARGARET
I am no lady, am not fair, Can without escort home repair. [She disengages herself and exit.]
FAUST
By heaven! This girl is fair indeed!
No form like hers can I recall.
Virtue she hath, and modest heed,
Is piquant too, and sharp withal.
Her cheek’s soft light, her rosy lips,
No length of time will e’er eclipse!
Her downward glance in passing by,
Deep in my heart is stamp’d for aye;
How curt and sharp her answer too,
To ecstasy the feeling grew!
[MEPHISTOPHELES enters.]
FAUST
This girl must win for me! Dost hear?
MEPHISTOPHELES
Which?
FAUST
She who but now passed.
MEPHISTOPHELES
What! She?
She from confession cometh here,
From every sin absolved and free;
I crept near the confessor’s chair.
All innocence her virgin soul,
For next to nothing went she there;
O’er such as she I’ve no control!
[Illustration: MARGARET From the Painting by Wilhelm von Kaulbach]
FAUST
She’s past fourteen.
MEPHISTOPHELES
You really talk
Like any gay Lothario,
Who every floweret from its stalk
Would pluck, and deems nor grace, nor truth,
Secure against his arts, forsooth!
This ne’er the less won’t always do.
FAUST
Sir Moralizer, prithee, pause;
Nor plague me with your tiresome laws!
To cut the matter short, my friend,
She must this very night be mine,—
And if to help me you decline,
Midnight shall see our compact end.
MEPHISTOPHELES
What may occur just bear in mind!
A fortnight’s space, at least, I need,
A fit occasion but to find.
FAUST
With but seven hours I could succeed;
Nor should I want the devil’s wile,
So young a creature to beguile.
MEPHISTOPHELES
Like any Frenchman now you speak,
But do not fret, I pray; why seek
To hurry to enjoyment straight?
The pleasure is not half so great,
As when at first, around, above,
With all the fooleries of love,
The puppet you can knead and mold
As in Italian story oft is told.
FAUST
No such incentives, do I need.
MEPHISTOPHELES
But now, without offence or jest!
You cannot quickly, I protest,
In winning this sweet child succeed.
By storm we cannot take the fort,
To stratagem we must resort.
FAUST
Conduct me to her place of rest!
Some token of the angel bring!
A kerchief from her snowy breast,
A garter bring me—any thing!
MEPHISTOPHELES
That I my anxious zeal may prove,
Your pangs to soothe and aid your love,
A single moment will we not delay,
Will lead you to her room this very day.
FAUST
And shall I see her?—Have her?
MEPHISTOPHELES
No!
She to a neighbor’s house will go;
But in her atmosphere alone
The tedious hours meanwhile you may employ
In blissful dreams of future joy.
FAUST
Can we go now?
MEPHISTOPHELES
‘Tis yet too soon.
FAUST
Some present for my love procure! [Exit.]
MEPHISTOPHELES
Presents so soon! ’tis well! success is sure!
Full many a goodly place I know,
And treasures buried long ago;
I must a bit o’erlook them now. [Exit.]
EVENING. A SMALL AND NEAT ROOM
MARGARET (braiding and binding up her hair)
I would give something now to know
Who yonder gentleman could be!
He had a gallant air, I trow,
And doubtless was of high degree:
That written on his brow was seen—
Nor else would he so bold have been.
[Exit]
MEPHISTOPHELES
Come in! tread softly! be discreet!
FAUST (after a pause)
_Begone and leave me, I entreat!
MEPHISTOPHELES (looking round)
Not every maiden is so neat.
[Exit]
FAUST (gazing round)
Welcome sweet twilight, calm and blest,
That in this hallow’d precinct reigns!
Fond yearning love, inspire my breast,
Feeding on hope’s sweet dew thy blissful pains!
What stillness here environs me!
Content and order brood around.
What fulness in this poverty!
In this small cell what bliss profound!
[He throws himself on the leather arm-chair beside the bed.]
Receive me thou, who hast in thine embrace,
Welcom’d in joy and grief the ages flown!
How oft the children of a by-gone race
Have cluster’d round this patriarchal throne!
Haply she, also, whom I hold so dear,
For Christmas gift, with grateful joy possess’d,
Hath with the full round cheek of childhood, here,
Her grandsire’s wither’d hand devoutly press’d.
Maiden! I feel thy spirit haunt the place,
Breathing of order and abounding grace.
As with a mother’s voice it prompteth thee
The pure white cover o’er the board to spread,
To stew the crisping sand beneath thy tread.
Dear hand! so godlike in its ministry!
The hut becomes a paradise through thee!
And here—
[He raises the bed curtain.]
How thrills my pulse with strange delight!
Here could I linger hours untold;
Thou, Nature, didst in vision bright,
The embryo angel here unfold.
Here lay the child, her bosom warm
With life; while steeped in slumber’s dew,
To perfect grace, her godlike form,
With pure and hallow’d weavings grew!
And thou! ah here what seekest thou?
How quails mine inmost being now!
What wouldst thou here? what makes thy heart so sore?
Unhappy Faust! I know thee now no more.
Do I a magic atmosphere inhale?
Erewhile, my passion would not brook delay!
Now in a pure love-dream I melt away.
Are we the sport of every passing gale?
Should she return and enter now,
How wouldst thou rue thy guilty flame!
Proud vaunter—thou wouldst hide thy brow—
And at her feet sink down with shame.
MEPHISTOPHELES
Quick! quick! below I see her there.
FAUST
Away! I will return no more!
MEPHISTOPHELES
Here is a casket, with a store
Of jewels, which I got elsewhere.
Just lay it in the press; make haste!
I swear to you, ’twill turn her brain;
Therein some trifles I have placed,
Wherewith another to obtain.
But child is child, and play is play.
FAUST
I know not—shall I?
MEPHISTOPHELES
Do you ask?
Perchance you would retain the treasure?
If such your wish, why then, I say,
Henceforth absolve me from my task,
Nor longer waste your hours of leisure.
I trust you’re not by avarice led!
I rub my hands, I scratch my head,—
[He places the casket in the press and closes the lock.]
Now quick! Away!
That soon the sweet young creature may
The wish and purpose of your heart obey;
Yet stand you there
As would you to the lecture-room repair,
As if before you stood,
Arrayed in flesh and blood,
Physics and metaphysics weird and gray!—
Away!
[Exeunt.]
MARGARET (with a lamp)
Here ’tis so close, so sultry now,
[She opens the window.]
Yet out of doors ’tis not so warm.
I feel so strange, I know not how—
I wish my mother would come home.
Through me there runs a shuddering—
I’m but a foolish timid thing!
[While undressing herself she begins to sing.]
There was a king in Thule,
True even to the grave;
To whom his dying mistress
A golden beaker gave.
At every feast he drained it,
Naught was to him so dear,
And often as he drained it,
Gush’d from his eyes the tear.
When death came, unrepining
His cities o’er he told;
All to his heir resigning,
Except his cup of gold.
With many a knightly vassal
At a royal feast sat he,
In yon proud hall ancestral,
In his castle o’er the sea.
Up stood the jovial monarch,
And quaff’d his last life’s glow,
Then hurled the hallow’d goblet
Into the flood below.
He saw it splashing, drinking,
And plunging in the sea;
His eyes meanwhile were sinking,
And never again drank he.
[She opens the press to put away her clothes, and perceives the casket.]
How comes this lovely casket here? The press
I locked, of that I’m confident.
‘Tis very wonderful! What’s in it I can’t guess;
Perhaps ’twas brought by some one in distress,
And left in pledge for loan my mother lent.
Here by a ribbon hangs a little key!
I have a mind to open it and see!
Heavens! only look! what have we here!
In all my days ne’er saw I such a sight!
Jewels! which any noble dame might wear,
For some high pageant richly dight
This chain—how would it look on me!
These splendid gems, whose may they be?
[She puts them on and steps before the glass.]
Were but the earrings only mine!
Thus one has quite another air.
What boots it to be young and fair?
It doubtless may be very fine;
But then, alas, none cares for you,
And praise sounds half like pity too.
Gold all doth lure,
Gold doth secure
All things. Alas, we poor!
PROMENADE
FAUST walking thoughtfully up and down. To him MEPHISTOPHELES
MEPHISTOPHELES
By all rejected love! By hellish fire I curse,
Would I knew aught to make my imprecation worse!
FAUST
What aileth thee? what chafes thee now so sore?
A face like that I never saw before!
MEPHISTOPHELES
I’d yield me to the devil instantly,
Did it not happen that myself am he!
FAUST
There must be some disorder in thy wit!
To rave thus like a madman, is it fit?
MEPHISTOPHELES
Think! only think! The gems for Gretchen brought,
Them hath a priest now made his own!—
A glimpse of them the mother caught,
And ‘gan with secret fear to groan.
The woman’s scent is keen enough;
Doth ever in the prayer-book snuff;
Smells every article to ascertain
Whether the thing is holy or profane,
And scented in the jewels rare,
That there was not much blessing there.
“My child,” she cries; “ill-gotten good
Ensnares the soul, consumes the blood;
With them we’ll deck our Lady shrine,
She’ll cheer our souls with bread divine!”
At this poor Gretchen ‘gan to pout;
‘Tis a gift-horse, at least, she thought,
And sure, he godless cannot be,
Who brought them here so cleverly.
Straight for a priest the mother sent,
Who, when he understood the jest,
With what he saw was well content.
“This shows a pious mind!” Quoth he:
“Self-conquest is true victory.
The Church hath a good stomach, she, with zest,
Whole countries hath swallow’d down,
And never yet a surfeit known.
The Church alone, be it confessed,
Daughters, can ill-got wealth digest.”
FAUST
It is a general custom, too,
Practised alike by king and jew.
MEPHISTOPHELES
With that, clasp, chain, and ring, he swept
As they were mushrooms; and the casket,
Without one word of thanks, he kept,
As if of nuts it were a basket.
Promised reward in heaven, then forth he hied—
And greatly they were edified.
FAUST
And Gretchen!
MEPHISTOPHELES
In unquiet mood
Knows neither what she would or should;
The trinkets night and day thinks o’er;
On him who brought them, dwells still more.
FAUST
The darling’s sorrow grieves me, bring
Another set without delay!
The first, methinks, was no great thing.
MEPHISTOPHELES
All’s to my gentleman child’s play!
FAUST
Plan all things to achieve my end!
Engage the attention of her friend!
No milk-and-water devil be,
And bring fresh jewels instantly!
MEPHISTOPHELES
Ay, sir! Most gladly I’ll obey.
[FAUST exit.]
MEPHISTOPHELES
Your doting love-sick fool, with ease,
Merely his lady-love to please,
Sun, moon, and stars in sport would puff away.
[Exit.]