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 neighbour 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,
Enamour'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 honoured brow to heap; The lion's magnanimity,
The fleetness of the hind, The fiery blood of Italy, The Northern's steadfast
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,
Towards 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 fell 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 youngster evermore! Leave that to neighbour
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 And A Student
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 for ever, And
whose precipitate endeavour 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
Your 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, Naturae encheiresis.
Student
Your words I cannot full 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, an 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
