Faust (trans. Bayard Taylor)/Act II/I
I.
A HIGH-ARCHED, NARROW, GOTHIC CHAMBER, FORMERLY FAUST’S, UNCHANGED.
Mephistopheles.
(coming forth from behind a curtain.53 While he holds it up
and looks behind him, Faust is seen lying stretched out upon
an antiquated bed).
and looks behind him, Faust is seen lying stretched out upon
an antiquated bed).
LIE there, ill-starred! seduced, unwise,
To bonds that surely hold the lover!
Whom Helena shall paralyze
Not soon his reason will recover.
(Looking around him.)
I look about, and through the glimmer
Unchanged, uninjured, all appears:
The colored window-panes, methinks, are dimmer,
The cobwebs have increased with years.
The ink is dry, the paper old and brown,
But each thing in its place I find:
Even the quill is here laid down,
Wherewith his compact with the Devil he signed.
Yea, deeper in, the barrel’s red
With trace of blood I coaxed him then to shed.
A thing so totally unique
The great collectors would go far to seek.
Half from its hook the old fur-robe is falling,
That ancient joke of mine recalling,
How once I taught the boy such truth
As still, it may be, nourishes the youth.
The wish returns, with zest acuter,
Aided by thee, thou rough disguise,
Once more to take on airs as college tutor,
As one infallible in one’s own eyes.
The savans' this assurance know:
The Devil lost it, long ago!
(He shakes the fur which he has taken down: moths, crickets,
and beetles fly out.)
To bonds that surely hold the lover!
Whom Helena shall paralyze
Not soon his reason will recover.
(Looking around him.)
I look about, and through the glimmer
Unchanged, uninjured, all appears:
The colored window-panes, methinks, are dimmer,
The cobwebs have increased with years.
The ink is dry, the paper old and brown,
But each thing in its place I find:
Even the quill is here laid down,
Wherewith his compact with the Devil he signed.
Yea, deeper in, the barrel’s red
With trace of blood I coaxed him then to shed.
A thing so totally unique
The great collectors would go far to seek.
Half from its hook the old fur-robe is falling,
That ancient joke of mine recalling,
How once I taught the boy such truth
As still, it may be, nourishes the youth.
The wish returns, with zest acuter,
Aided by thee, thou rough disguise,
Once more to take on airs as college tutor,
As one infallible in one’s own eyes.
The savans' this assurance know:
The Devil lost it, long ago!
(He shakes the fur which he has taken down: moths, crickets,
and beetles fly out.)
Chorus of Insects.
Welcome, and hail to thee!
Patron, to-day:
We’re flying and humming,
We hear and obey.
Singly and silently
Us thou hast sown;
Hither, by thousands,
Father, we ’ve flown.
The imp in the bosom
Is snugly concealed;
But lice in the fur-coat
Are sooner revealed.
Patron, to-day:
We’re flying and humming,
We hear and obey.
Singly and silently
Us thou hast sown;
Hither, by thousands,
Father, we ’ve flown.
The imp in the bosom
Is snugly concealed;
But lice in the fur-coat
Are sooner revealed.
Mephistopheles.
What glad surprise I feel, from this young life bestowed!
One reaps in time, if one has only sowed.
Once more I ’ll shake the ancient fleeces out:
Still here and there a chance one flies about.—
Off, and around! in hundred thousand nooks
Hasten to hide yourselves—among the books,
There, in the pasteboard’s wormy holes,
Here, in the smoky parchment scrolls,
In dusty jars, that broken lie,
And yonder skull with empty eye.
In all this trash and mould unmatched,
Crotchets forever must be hatched.54
(He puts on the fur-mantle.)
Come, once again upon my shoulders fall!
Once more am I the Principal.
But ’t is no good to ape the college;
For where are those who will my claim acknowledge?
(He pulls the bell, which gives out a shrill, penetrating sound,
causing the halls to tremble and the doors to fly open.)
One reaps in time, if one has only sowed.
Once more I ’ll shake the ancient fleeces out:
Still here and there a chance one flies about.—
Off, and around! in hundred thousand nooks
Hasten to hide yourselves—among the books,
There, in the pasteboard’s wormy holes,
Here, in the smoky parchment scrolls,
In dusty jars, that broken lie,
And yonder skull with empty eye.
In all this trash and mould unmatched,
Crotchets forever must be hatched.54
(He puts on the fur-mantle.)
Come, once again upon my shoulders fall!
Once more am I the Principal.
But ’t is no good to ape the college;
For where are those who will my claim acknowledge?
(He pulls the bell, which gives out a shrill, penetrating sound,
causing the halls to tremble and the doors to fly open.)
Famulus.
(tottering hither down the long, dark gallery).
What a sound! What dreadful quaking!
Stairs are rocking, walls are shaking;
Through the colored windows brightening
I behold the sudden lightning;
Floors above me crack and rumble,
Lime and lumber round me tumble,
And the door, securely bolted,
Is by magic force unfolded.—
There! How terrible! a Giant
Stands in Faust’s old fur, defiant!
As he looks, and beckons thither,
I could fall, my senses wither.
Shall I fly, or shall I wait?
What, O what shall be my fate!
What a sound! What dreadful quaking!
Stairs are rocking, walls are shaking;
Through the colored windows brightening
I behold the sudden lightning;
Floors above me crack and rumble,
Lime and lumber round me tumble,
And the door, securely bolted,
Is by magic force unfolded.—
There! How terrible! a Giant
Stands in Faust’s old fur, defiant!
As he looks, and beckons thither,
I could fall, my senses wither.
Shall I fly, or shall I wait?
What, O what shall be my fate!
Mephistopheles. (beckoning).
Come hither, Friend! Your name is Nicodemus.
Famulus.
Most honored Sir, such is my name—Oremus!
Mephistopheles.
Dispense with that!
Famulus.
O joy! you know me yet.
Mephistopheles.
Old, and a student still,—I don’t forget,
Most mossy Sir! Also a learned man
Continues study, since naught else he can.
’T is thus one builds a moderate house of cards;
The greatest minds ne’er end them, afterwards.
Your master is a skilful fellow, though:
The noble Doctor Wagner all must know.
The first in all the learned world is he,
Who now together holds it potently,
Wisdom increasing, daily making clearer.
How thirst for knowledge listener and hearer!
A mighty crowd around him flocks.
None for the rostrum e’er were meeter:
The keys he holds as doth Saint Peter,
The Under and the Upper he unlocks.
His light above all others sparkles surer,
No name or fame beside him lives:
Even that of Faust has grown obscurer;
’T is he alone invents and gives.
Most mossy Sir! Also a learned man
Continues study, since naught else he can.
’T is thus one builds a moderate house of cards;
The greatest minds ne’er end them, afterwards.
Your master is a skilful fellow, though:
The noble Doctor Wagner all must know.
The first in all the learned world is he,
Who now together holds it potently,
Wisdom increasing, daily making clearer.
How thirst for knowledge listener and hearer!
A mighty crowd around him flocks.
None for the rostrum e’er were meeter:
The keys he holds as doth Saint Peter,
The Under and the Upper he unlocks.
His light above all others sparkles surer,
No name or fame beside him lives:
Even that of Faust has grown obscurer;
’T is he alone invents and gives.
Famulus.
Pardon, most honored Sir! if I am daring
To contradict you, in declaring
All that upon the subject has no bearing;
For modesty is his allotted part.
The incomprehensible disappearing
Of that great man to him is most uncheering;
From his return he hopes new strength and joy of heart.
As in the days of Doctor Faust, the room,
Since he’s away, all things unchanged,
Waits for its master, long estranged.
To venture in, I scarce presume.—
What stars must govern now the skies!
It seemed as if the basements quivered;
The door-posts trembled, bolts were shivered:
You had not entered, otherwise.
To contradict you, in declaring
All that upon the subject has no bearing;
For modesty is his allotted part.
The incomprehensible disappearing
Of that great man to him is most uncheering;
From his return he hopes new strength and joy of heart.
As in the days of Doctor Faust, the room,
Since he’s away, all things unchanged,
Waits for its master, long estranged.
To venture in, I scarce presume.—
What stars must govern now the skies!
It seemed as if the basements quivered;
The door-posts trembled, bolts were shivered:
You had not entered, otherwise.
Mephistopheles.
Where may his present dwelling be?
Lead me tohim! Bring him to me!
Lead me tohim! Bring him to me!
Famulus.
His prohibition is so keen!
I do not dare to intervene.
For months, his time unto the great work giving,
In most secluded silence he is living.
The daintiest of distinguished learners,
His face is like a charcoal-burner’s,
From nose to ears all black and deadened;
His eyes from blowing flames are reddened:
Thus he, each moment, pants and longs,
And music make the clattering tongs.
I do not dare to intervene.
For months, his time unto the great work giving,
In most secluded silence he is living.
The daintiest of distinguished learners,
His face is like a charcoal-burner’s,
From nose to ears all black and deadened;
His eyes from blowing flames are reddened:
Thus he, each moment, pants and longs,
And music make the clattering tongs.
Mephistopheles.
An entrance why should he deny me?
I’ll expedite his luck, if he ’ll but try me!
(The Famulus goes off: Mephistopheles seats himself with
gravity.)
Scarce have I taken my position here,
When there, behind, I see a guest appear.
I know him; he is of the school new-founded,
And his presumption will be quite unbounded.
I’ll expedite his luck, if he ’ll but try me!
(The Famulus goes off: Mephistopheles seats himself with
gravity.)
Scarce have I taken my position here,
When there, behind, I see a guest appear.
I know him; he is of the school new-founded,
And his presumption will be quite unbounded.
Baccalaureus55 (storming along the corridor).
Doors and entrances are open!
Well,—at last there ’s ground for hoping
That no more, in mouldy lumber,
Death-like, doth the Living slumber,
To himself privations giving,
Till he dies of very living!
Well,—at last there ’s ground for hoping
That no more, in mouldy lumber,
Death-like, doth the Living slumber,
To himself privations giving,
Till he dies of very living!
All this masonry, I’m thinking,
To its overthrow is sinking;
And, unless at once we hurry,
Us will crash and ruin bury.
Daring though I be, ’t were murther
Should I dare to venture further.
To its overthrow is sinking;
And, unless at once we hurry,
Us will crash and ruin bury.
Daring though I be, ’t were murther
Should I dare to venture further.
What is that I see before me?
Here, (what years have since rolled o’er me!)
Shy and unsophisticated,
I as honest freshman waited;
Here I let the gray-beards guide me,
Here their babble edified me!
Here, (what years have since rolled o’er me!)
Shy and unsophisticated,
I as honest freshman waited;
Here I let the gray-beards guide me,
Here their babble edified me!
Out of dry old volumes preaching,
What they knew, they lied in teaching;
What they knew, themselves believed not,
Stealing life, that years retrieved not.
What!—in yonder cell benighted
One still sits, obscurely lighted!
What they knew, they lied in teaching;
What they knew, themselves believed not,
Stealing life, that years retrieved not.
What!—in yonder cell benighted
One still sits, obscurely lighted!
Nearer now, I see, astounded,
Still he sits, with furs surrounded,—
Truly, as I saw him last,
Roughest fleeces round him cast!
Then adroit he seemed to be,
Not yet understood by me:
Still he sits, with furs surrounded,—
Truly, as I saw him last,
Roughest fleeces round him cast!
Then adroit he seemed to be,
Not yet understood by me:
But to-day ’t will naught avail him—
O, I'll neither fear, nor fail him!
O, I'll neither fear, nor fail him!
If, ancient Sir, that bald head, sidewards bending,
Hath not been dipped in Lethe’s river cold,
See, hitherward, your grateful scholar wending,
Outgrown the academic rods of old.
You ’re here, as then when I began;
But I am now anether man.
Hath not been dipped in Lethe’s river cold,
See, hitherward, your grateful scholar wending,
Outgrown the academic rods of old.
You ’re here, as then when I began;
But I am now anether man.
Mephistopheles.
I’m glad my bell your visit brought me.
Your talents, then, I rated high;
The worm, the chrysalid soon taught me
The future brilliant butterfly.
Your curly locks and ruffle-laces
A childish pleasure gave; you wooed the graces.
A queue, I think, you ’ve never worn?
But now your head is cropped and shorn.
Quite bold and resolute you appear.
But don’t go, absolute, home from here!56
Your talents, then, I rated high;
The worm, the chrysalid soon taught me
The future brilliant butterfly.
Your curly locks and ruffle-laces
A childish pleasure gave; you wooed the graces.
A queue, I think, you ’ve never worn?
But now your head is cropped and shorn.
Quite bold and resolute you appear.
But don’t go, absolute, home from here!56
Baccalaureus.
Old master, in your old place leaning,
Think how the time has sped, the while!
Spare me your words of double meaning!
We take them now in quite another style.
You teased and vexed the honest youth;
You found it easy then, in truth,
To do what no one dares, to-day.
Think how the time has sped, the while!
Spare me your words of double meaning!
We take them now in quite another style.
You teased and vexed the honest youth;
You found it easy then, in truth,
To do what no one dares, to-day.
Mephistopheles.
If to the young the simple truth we say,
The green ones find it nowise pleasant play;
But afterwards, when years are over,
And they the truth through their own hide discover,
Then they conceive, themselves have found it out:
“The master was a fool!” one hears them shout.
The green ones find it nowise pleasant play;
But afterwards, when years are over,
And they the truth through their own hide discover,
Then they conceive, themselves have found it out:
“The master was a fool!” one hears them shout.
Baccalaureus.
A rogue, perhaps! What teacher will declare
The truth to us, exactly fair and square?
Each knows the way to lessen or exceed it,
Now stern, now lively, as the children need it.
The truth to us, exactly fair and square?
Each knows the way to lessen or exceed it,
Now stern, now lively, as the children need it.
Mephistopheles.
Beyond a doubt, there is a time to learn;
But you are skilled to teach, I now discern.
Since many a moon, some circles of the sun,
The riches of experience you have won.
But you are skilled to teach, I now discern.
Since many a moon, some circles of the sun,
The riches of experience you have won.
Baccalaureus.
Experience! mist and froth alone!
Nor with the mind at all coequal:
Confess, what one has always known
Is not worth knowing, in the sequel!
Nor with the mind at all coequal:
Confess, what one has always known
Is not worth knowing, in the sequel!
Mephistopheles (after a pause).
It ’s long seemed so to me. I was a fool:
My shallowness I now must ridicule.
My shallowness I now must ridicule.
Baccalaureus.
I’m glad of that! I hear some reason yet—
The first old man of sense I ever met!
The first old man of sense I ever met!
Mephistopheles.
I sought for hidden treasures, grand and golden,
And hideous coals and ashes were my share.
And hideous coals and ashes were my share.
Baccalaureus.
Confess that now your skull, though bald and olden,
Is worth no more than is yon empty, there!
Is worth no more than is yon empty, there!
Mephistopheles (amiably).
Know’st thou, my friend, how rude thou art to me?
Baccalaureus.
One lies, in German, would one courteous be.
Mephistopheles.
(wheeling his chair still nearer to the proscenium, to the spectators).
Up here am I deprived of light and air:
Shall I find shelter down among you there?
Up here am I deprived of light and air:
Shall I find shelter down among you there?
Baccalaureus.
It is presumptuous, that one will try
Still to be something, when the time’s gone by.
Man’s life lives in his blood, and where, in sooth,
So stirs the blood as in the veins of youth?
There living blood in freshest power pulsates,
And newer life from its own life creates.
Then something ’s done, then moves and works the man;
The weak fall out, the sturdy take the van.
While half the world beneath oxr yoke is brought,
What, then, have you accomplished? Nodded—thought—
Dreamed, and considered—plan, and always plan!
Age is an ague-fever, it is clear,
With chills of moody want and dread;
When one has passed his thirtieth year,
One then is just the same as dead.57
*T were best, betimes, to put you out o’ the way.
Still to be something, when the time’s gone by.
Man’s life lives in his blood, and where, in sooth,
So stirs the blood as in the veins of youth?
There living blood in freshest power pulsates,
And newer life from its own life creates.
Then something ’s done, then moves and works the man;
The weak fall out, the sturdy take the van.
While half the world beneath oxr yoke is brought,
What, then, have you accomplished? Nodded—thought—
Dreamed, and considered—plan, and always plan!
Age is an ague-fever, it is clear,
With chills of moody want and dread;
When one has passed his thirtieth year,
One then is just the same as dead.57
*T were best, betimes, to put you out o’ the way.
Mephistopheles.
The Devil, here, has nothing more to say.
Baccalaureus.
Save through my will, no Devil can there be.
Mephistopheles (aside).
The Devil, though, will trip thee presently!
Baccalaureus.
This is Youth’s noblest calling and most fit!
The world was not, ere I created it;
The sun I drew from out the orient sea;
The moon began her changeful course with me;
The Day put on his shining robes, to greet me;
The Earth gréw green, and burst in flower to meet me,
And when I beckoned, from the primal night
The stars unveiled their splendors to my sight.
Who, save myself, to you deliverance brought
From commonplaces of restricted thought?
I, proud and free, even as dictates my mind,
Follow with joy the inward light I find,
And speed along, in mine own ecstasy,
Darkness behind, the Glory leading me!
[Exit
The world was not, ere I created it;
The sun I drew from out the orient sea;
The moon began her changeful course with me;
The Day put on his shining robes, to greet me;
The Earth gréw green, and burst in flower to meet me,
And when I beckoned, from the primal night
The stars unveiled their splendors to my sight.
Who, save myself, to you deliverance brought
From commonplaces of restricted thought?
I, proud and free, even as dictates my mind,
Follow with joy the inward light I find,
And speed along, in mine own ecstasy,
Darkness behind, the Glory leading me!
[Exit
Mephistopheles.
Go hence, magnificent Original!—
What grief on thee would insight cast!
Who can think wise or stupid things at all,
That were not thought already in the Past?
Yet even from him we ’re not in special peril;
He will, erelong, to other thoughts incline:
The must may foam absurdly in the barrel,
Nathless it turns at last to wine,
(To the younger parterre, which does not applaud.)
My words, I see, have left you cold;
For you, my children, it may fall so:
Consider now, the Devil’s old;
To understand him, be old also!
What grief on thee would insight cast!
Who can think wise or stupid things at all,
That were not thought already in the Past?
Yet even from him we ’re not in special peril;
He will, erelong, to other thoughts incline:
The must may foam absurdly in the barrel,
Nathless it turns at last to wine,
(To the younger parterre, which does not applaud.)
My words, I see, have left you cold;
For you, my children, it may fall so:
Consider now, the Devil’s old;
To understand him, be old also!