GOETHE'S FAUST
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
PROLOGUE IN HEAVEN
Prologue | Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI | Part VII
THE LOAD. THE HEAVENLY HOSTS. Afterwards MEPHISTOPHELES.
Time three Archangels come forward
RAPHAEL
1 The Sun, in ancient guise, competing With brother spheres in rival song, With thunder-march, his orb completing, Moves his predestin'd course along; His aspect to the powers supernal Gives strength, though fathom him none may; Transcending thought, the works eternal Are fair as on the primal day.
GABRIEL
2 With speed, thought baffling, unabating, Earth's splendour whirls in circling flight; Its Eden-brightness alternating With solemn, awe-inspiring night; Ocean's broad waves in wild commotion, Against the rocks' deep base are hurled; And with the spheres, both rock and ocean Eternally are swiftly whirled.
MICHAEL
3 And tempests roar in emulation From sea to land, from land to sea, And raging form, without cessation, A chain of wondrous agency, Full in the thunder's path careering,
4 Flaring the swift destructions play; But, Lord, Thy servants are revering The mild procession of thy day.
THE THREE
5 Thine aspect to the powers supernal Gives strength, though fathom thee none may; And all thy works, sublime, eternal, Are fair as on the primal day.
MEPHISTOPHELES
6 Since thou, O Lord, approachest us once more, And how it fares with us, to ask art fain, Since thou hast kindly welcom'd me of yore, Thou see'st me also now among thy train. Excuse me, fine harangues I cannot make, Though all the circle look on me with scorn; My pathos soon thy laughter would awake, Hadst thou the laughing mood not long forsworn. Of suns and worlds I nothing have to say, I see alone mankind's self-torturing pains. The little world-god still the self-same stamp retains, And is as wondrous now as on the primal day. Better he might have fared, poor wight, Hadst thou not given him a gleam of heavenly light; Reason, he names it, and doth so Use it, than brutes more brutish still to grow. With deference to your grace, he seems to me Like any long-legged grasshopper to be, Which ever flies, and flying springs, And in the grass its ancient ditty sings. Would he but always in the grass repose! In every heap of dung he thrusts his nose.
THE LORD
7 Hast thou naught else to say? Is blame In coming here, as ever, thy sole aim? Does nothing on the earth to thee seem right?
MEPHISTOPHELES
8 No, Lord! I find things there, as ever, in sad plight. Men, in their evil 'clays, move my compassion; Such sorry things to plague is nothing worth.
THE LORD
9 Know'st thou my servant, Faust?
MEPHISTOPHELES
10 The doctor?
THE LORD
11 Right
MEPHISTOPHELES
12 He serves thee truly in a wondrous fashion. Poor fool! His food and drink are not of earth. An inward impulse hurries him afar, Himself half conscious of his frenzied mood; From heaven claimeth he the fairest star, And from the earth craves every highest good, And all that's near,, and all that's far, Fails to allay the tumult in his blood.
THE LORD
13 Though in perplexity he serves me now, I soon will lead him where more light appears; When buds the sapling, doth the gardener know That flowers and fruit will deck the coming years.
MEPHISTOPHELES
14 What wilt thou wager? Him thou yet shall lose, If leave to me thou wilt but give, Gently to lead him as I choose!
THE LORD
15 So long as he on earth cloth live, So long 'tis not forbidden thee. Man still must err, while he doth strive.
MEPHISTOPHELES
16 I thank you; for not willingly I traffic with the dead, and still aver That youth's plump blooming cheek I very much prefer. I'm not at home to corpses; 'tis my way, Like cats with captive mice to toy and play.
THE LORD
17 Enough! 'tis granted thee! Divert This mortal spirit from his primal source; Him, canst thou seize, thy power exert And lead him on thy downward course, Then stand abash'd, when thou perforce must own, A good man in his darkest aberration, Of the right path is conscious still.
MEPHISTOPHELES
18 'Tis done! Full soon thou'lt see my exultation; As for my bet no fears I entertain. And if my end I finally should gain, Excuse my triumphing with all my soul. Dust he shall eat, ay, and with relish take, As did my cousin, the renowned snake.
THE LORD
19 Here too thou'rt free to act without control; I ne'er have cherished hate for such as thee. Of all the spirits who deny, The scoffer is least wearisome to me. Ever too prone is man activity to shirk, In unconditioned rest he fain would live; Hence this companion purposely I gives, Who stirs, excites, and must, as devil, work. But ye, the genuine sons of heaven, rejoice! In the full living beauty still rejoice! May that which works and lives, the ever-growing, In bonds of love enfold you, mercy-fraught, And Seeming's changeful forms, around you flowing, Do ye arrest, in ever-during thought! (Heaven closes, the Archangels disperse.)
MEPHISTOPHELES (alone)
20 The ancient one I like sometimes to see, And not to break with him am always civil; 'Tis courteous in so great a lord as he, To speak so kindly even to the devil.
THE TRAGEDY OF FAUST
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
21 Characters in the Prologue for the Theatre
THE MANAGER. THE DRAMATIC POET. MERRYMAN.
22 Characters in the Prologue in Heaven
23 THE LORD. RAPHAEL, GABRIEL, MICHAEL, (The Heavenly Host). MEPHISTOPHELES.
24 Characters in the Tragedy FAUST. MEPHISTOPHELES. WAGNER, a Student. MARGARET. MARTHA, Margaret's Neighbour. VALENTINE, Margaret's Brother. OLD PEASANT. A STUDENT. ELIZABETH, an Acquaintance of Margaret's. Faoscn, BRANDER, SIEBEL, ALTMAYER, (Guests in Auerbach's Wine Cellar). Witches; old and yonng; Wizards, Will-o'-the-Wisp, Witch Pedlar, Protophantasmist, Servibilis, Monkeys, Spirits, Journeymen, Country-folk, Citizens, Beggar, Old Fortune-teller, Shepherd, Soldier, Students, &c.
25 In the Intermezzo
26 OBERON. TITANIA. ARIEL. PUCK, &C, &C.
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