The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Volume 01

Scarce have I ta'en my post, when lo!Stirs from behind a guest, whom well I know;Of the most recent school, this time, is he,And quite unbounded will his daring be.

BACCALAUREUS (storming along the passage)

 Open find I door and gate! Hope at last springs up elate, That the living shall no more Corpse-like rot, as heretofore, And, while breathing living breath, Waste and moulder as in death. Here partition, screen, and wall Are sinking, bowing to their fall, And, unless we soon retreat, Wreck and ruin us will greet. Me, though bold, nor soon afraid, To advance shall none persuade. What shall I experience next? Years ago, when sore perplexed, Came I not a freshman here, Full of anxious doubt and fear, On these gray-beards then relied, By their talk was edified? What from musty tomes they drew, They lied to me; the things they knew Believed they not; with falsehood rife, Themselves and me they robbed of life. How?—Yonder is the murky glare, There's one still sitting in the Chair— Drawing near I wonder more— Just as him I left of yore, There he sits, in furry gown, Wrapped in shaggy fleece, the brown! Then he clever seemed, indeed, Him as yet I could not read; Naught will it avail today; So have at him, straight-away!If Lethe's murky flood not yet hath passed,Old Sir, through your bald pate, that sideways bends,The scholar recognize, who hither wends,Outgrown your academic rods at last.The same I find you, as of yore;But I am now the same no more.

MEPHISTOPHELES

 Glad am I that I've rung you here. I prized you then not slightingly; In grub and chrysalis appear The future brilliant butterfly. A childish pleasure then you drew From collar, lace, and curls.—A queue You probably have never worn?— Now to a crop I see you shorn. All resolute and bold your air—But from the absolute forbear!

BACCALAUREUS

 We're in the ancient place, mine ancient Sir, But think upon time's onward flow, And words of double-meaning spare! Quite otherwise we hearken now. You fooled the simple, honest youth; It cost but little art in sooth, To do what none today will dare.

MEPHISTOPHELES

If to the young the naked truth one speaks,It pleases in no wise the yellow beaks;But afterward, when in their turnOn their own skin the painful truth they learn,They think, forsooth, from their own head it came;"The master was a fool," they straight proclaim.

BACCALAUREUS

A rogue perchance!—For where's the teacher foundWho to our face, direct, will Truth expound?Children to edify, each knows the way,To add or to subtract, now grave, now gay.

MEPHISTOPHELES

For learning there's in very truth a time;For teaching, I perceive, you now are prime.While a few suns and many moons have waned,A rich experience you have doubtless gained!

BACCALAUREUS

Experience! Froth and scum alone,Not with the mind of equal birth!Confess! what men have always known,As knowledge now is nothing worth.

MEPHISTOPHELES (after a pause)

I long have thought myself a fool;Now shallow to myself I seem, and dull.

BACCALAUREUS

That pleases me! Like reason that doth sound;The first old man of sense I yet have found!

MEPHISTOPHELES

I sought for hidden treasures, genuine gold—And naught but hideous ashes forth I bore!

BACCALAUREUS

Confess that pate of yours, though bare and old,Than yonder hollow skull is worth no more!

MEPHISTOPHELES (good-naturedly)

Thou know'st not, friend, how rude is thy reply.

BACCALAUREUS

In German to be courteous is to lie.

MEPHISTOPHELES (still moving his wheel-chair ever nearer to the proscenium, to the pit)

Up here I am bereft of light and air;I perhaps shall find a refuge with you there?

BACCALAUREUS

When at their worst, that men would something be,When they are naught, presumptuous seems to me.Man's life is in the blood, and where, in sooth,Pulses the blood so strongly as in youth?That's living blood, which with fresh vigor rife,The newer life createth out of life.There all is movement, something there is done;Falleth the weak, the able presses on!While half the world we 'neath our sway have brought,What have ye done? Slept, nodded, dream'd, and thought,Plan after plan rejected;—nothing won.Age is, in sooth, a fever cold,With frost of whims and peevish need:When more than thirty years are told,As good as dead one is indeed:You it were best, methinks, betimes to slay.

MEPHISTOPHELES

The devil here has nothing more to say.

BACCALAUREUS

Save through my will, no devil dares to be.

MEPHISTOPHELES (aside)

The devil now prepares a fall for thee!

BACCALAUREUS

The noblest mission this of youth's estate.The world was not, till it I did create;The radiant Sun I led from out the sea;Her changeful course the Moon began with me;The Day arrayed herself my steps to meet,The Earth grew green, and blossom'd me to greet:At my command, upon yon primal Night,The starry hosts unveiled their glorious light.Who, beside me, the galling chains unbound,Which cramping thought had cast your spirits round?But I am free, as speaks my spirit-voice,My inward light I follow, and rejoice;Swift I advance, enraptur'd, void of fear,Brightness before me, darkness in the rear. [Exit.]

MEPHISTOPHELES

Go, in thy pride, Original, thy way!—True insight would, in truth, thy spirit grieve!What wise or stupid thoughts can man conceive,Unponder'd in the ages passed away?—Yet we for him need no misgiving have;Changed will he be, when a few years are past;Howe'er absurdly may the must behave,Nathless it yields a wine at last.—

(To the younger part of the audience, who do not applaud.)

Though to my words you're somewhat cold,Good children, me you don't offend;Reflect! The devil, he is old;Grow old then, him to comprehend!

LABORATORY

(After the fashion of the middle ages; cumbrous, useless apparatus, for fantastic purposes)

WAGNER (at the furnace)

 Soundeth the bell, the fearful clang Thrills through these sooty walls; no more Upon fulfilment waits the pang Of hope or fear;—suspense is o'er; The darknesses begin to clear, Within the inmost phial glows Radiance, like living coal, that throws, As from a splendid carbuncle, its rays; Athwart the gloom its lightning plays. A pure white lustre doth appear; O may I never lose it more!— My God! what rattles at the door?

MEPHISTOPHELES (entering)

Welcome! As friend I enter here.

WAGNER

Hail to the star that rules the hour!

(Softly)

On breath and utterance let a ban be laid!Soon will be consummate a work of power.

MEPHISTOPHELES (in a whisper)

What is it, then?WAGNER A man is being made.

MEPHISTOPHELES

A man? and pray what loving pairHave in your smoke-hole their abode?

WAGNER

Nay! Heaven forbid! As nonsense we declareThe ancient procreative mode;The tender point, life's spring, the gentle strengthThat took and gave, that from within hath pressed,And seized, intent itself to manifest,The nearest first, the more remote at length,—This from its dignity is now dethron'd!The brute indeed may take delight therein,But man, by whom such mighty gifts are own'd,Must have a purer, higher origin.

(He turns to the furnace)

It flashes, see!—Now may we trustful hold,That if, of substances a hundred-fold,Through mixture,—for on mixture it depends—The human substance duly we compose,And then in a retort enclose,And cohobate; in still reposeThe work is perfected, our labor ends.

(Again turning to the furnace)

It forms! More clear the substance shows!Stronger, more strong, conviction grows!What Nature's mystery we once did style,That now to test, our reason tries,And what she organized erewhile,We now are fain to crystallize.

MEPHISTOPHELES

Who lives, doth much experience glean;By naught in this world will he be surprised;Already in my travel-years I've seenFull many a race of mortals crystallized.

WAGNER (still gazing intently on the phial)

It mounts, it glows, and doth together run,One moment, and the work is done!As mad, a grand design at first is view'd;But we henceforth may laugh at fate,And so a brain, with thinking-power embued,Henceforth your living thinker will create.

(Surveying the phial with rapture)

The glass resounds, with gracious power possessed;It dims, grows clear; living it needs must be!And now in form of beauty dressed,A dainty mannikin I see.What more can we desire, what more mankind?Unveiled is now what hidden was of late;Give ear unto this sound, and you will find,A voice it will become, articulate.—

HOMUNCULUS (in the phial, to WAGNER)

Now, Fatherkin, how goes it? 'Twas no jest!Come, let me to thy heart be fondly pressed—Lest the glass break, less tight be thine embraceThis is the property of things: the AllScarcely suffices for the natural;The artificial needs a bounded space.

(To MEPHISTOPHELES)

But thou, Sir Cousin, Rogue, art thou too here?At the right moment! Thee I thank. 'Tis clearTo us a happy fortune leadeth thee;While I exist, still must I active be,And to the work forthwith myself would gird;Thou'rt skill'd the way to shorten.

WAGNER

                       Just one word!I oft have been ashamed that knowledge failed,When old and young with problems me assailed.For instance: no one yet could comprehend,How soul and body so completely blend,Together hold, as ne'er to part, while theyTorment each other through the live-long day.So then—

MEPHISTOPHELES

            Forbear! The problem solve for me,Why man and wife so wretchedly agree?Upon this point, my friend, thou'lt ne'er be clear;The mannikin wants work, he'll find it here.

HOMUNCULUS

What's to be done?

MEPHISTOPHELES (pointing to a side door)

Yonder thy gifts display!

WAGNER (still gazing into the phial)

A very lovely boy, I needs must say!

(The side door opens; FAUST is seen stretched upon a couch)

HOMUNCULUS (amazed)

Momentous!

(The phial slips from WAGNER's hands, hovers over FAUST, and sheds a light upon him)

        Girt with beauty!—Water clearIn the thick grove; fair women, who undress;Most lovely creatures!—grows their loveliness:But o'er the rest one shines without a peer,As if from heroes, nay from gods she came;In the transparent sheen her foot she laves;The tender life-fire of her noble frameShe cools in yielding crystal of the waves.—Of swiftly moving wings what sudden noise?What plash, what plunge the liquid glass destroys?The maidens fly, alarmed; alone, the queen,With calm composure gazes on the scene;With womanly and proud delight, she seesThe prince of swans press fondly to her knees,Persistent, tame; familiar now he grows.—But suddenly up-floats a misty shroud,And with thick-woven veil doth over-cloudThe loveliest of all lovely shows.

MEPHISTOPHELES

Why thou in sooth canst everything relate!Small as thou art, as phantast thou art great.I can see nothing—

HOMUNCULUS

 I believe it. Thou,Bred in the north, in the dark ages, how,In whirl of priesthood and knight-errantry,Have for such sights thy vision free!In darkness only thou'rt at home.

(Looking round)

Ye brown, repulsive blocks of stone,Arch-pointed, low, with mould o'ergrown!Should he awake, new care were bred,He on the spot would straight be dead.Wood-fountains, swans, fair nymphs undressed,Such was his dream, presageful, rare;In place like this how could he rest,Which I, of easy mood, scarce bear!Away with him!

MEPHISTOPHELES

I like your plan, proceed!

HOMUNCULUS

Command the warrior to the fight,The maiden to the dancers lead!They're satisfied, and all is right.E'en now a thought occurs, most bright;'Tis classicalWalpurgis-night—Most fortunate! It suits his bent,So bring him straightway to his element!

MEPHISTOPHELES

Of such I ne'er have heard, I frankly own.

HOMUNCULUS

Upon your ear indeed how should it fall?Only romantic ghosts to you are known;Your genuine ghost is also classical.

MEPHISTOPHELES

But whitherward to travel are we fain?Your antique colleagues are against my grain.

HOMUNCULUS

North-westward, Satan, lies thy pleasure-ground;But, this time, we to the south-east are bound.—An ample vale Peneios floweth through,'Mid bush and tree its curving shores it laves;The plain extendeth to the mountain caves,Above it lies Pharsalus, old and new.

MEPHISTOPHELES

Alas! Forbear! For ever be eschewedThose wars of tyranny and servitude!I'm bored with them: for they, as soon as done,Straight recommence; and no one calls to mindThat he in sooth is only played uponBy Asmodeus, who still lurks behind.They battle, so 'tis said, for freedom's rights—More clearly seen, 'tis slave 'gainst slave who fights.

HOMUNCULUS

Leave we to men their nature, quarrel-prone!Each must defend himself, as best he can,From boyhood up; so he becomes a man.The question here is, how to cure this one?

(Pointing to FAUST)

Hast thou a means, here let it tested be;Canst thou do naught, then leave the task to me.

MEPHISTOPHELES

Full many a Brocken-piece I might essay,But bolts of heathendom foreclose the way.The Grecian folk were ne'er worth much, 'tis true,Yet with the senses' play they dazzle you;To cheerful sins the human heart they lure,While ours are reckoned gloomy and obscure.And now what next?

HOMUNCULUS

 Of old thou wert not shy;And if I name Thessalian witches,—why,I something shall have said,—of that I'm sure.

MEPHISTOPHELES (lustfully)

Thessalian witches—well! the people theyConcerning whom I often have inquired.Night after night, indeed, with them to stay,That were an ordeal not to be desired;But for a trial trip—

HOMUNCULUS

 The mantle thereReach hither, wrap it round the knight!As heretofore, the rag will bearBoth him and thee; the way I'll light.

WAGNER (alarmed)

And I?

HOMUNCULUS

 At home thou wilt remain,Thee most important work doth there detain;The ancient scrolls unfolding cullLife's elements, as taught by rule,And each with other then combine with care;Upon the What, more on the How, reflect!Meanwhile as through a piece of world I fare,I may the dot upon the "I" detect.Then will the mighty aim accomplish'd be;Such high reward deserves such striving;—wealth,Honor and glory, lengthen'd life, sound health,Knowledge withal and virtue—possibly.Farewell!

WAGNER

 Farewell! That grieves my heart full sore!I fear indeed I ne'er shall see thee more.

MEPHISTOPHELES

 Now to Peneios forth we wend! We must not slight our cousin's aid.

(To the spectators)

 At last, in sooth, we all depend On creatures we ourselves have made.* * * * *

ACT THE THIRD

BEFORE THE PALACE OF MENELAUS IN SPARTA

Enter HELENA, with a chorus of captive Trojan women PENTHALIS, leader of the chorus

HELENA

The much admired and much upbraided, Helena,From yonder strand I come, where erst we disembark'd,Still giddy from the roll of ocean's billowy surge,Which, through Poseidon's favor and through Euros' might,On lofty crested backs hither hath wafted us,From Phrygia's open field, to our ancestral bays.Yonder King Menelaus, glad of his return,With his brave men of war, rejoices on the beach.But oh, thou lofty mansion, bid me welcome home,Thou, near the steep decline, which Tyndareus, my sire,From Pallas' hill returning, here hath builded up;Which also was adorned beyond all Sparta's homes,What time with Clytemnestra, sister-like, I grew,With Castor, Pollux, too, playing in joyous sport.Wings of yon brazen portals, you I also hail!Through you, ye guest-inviting, hospitable gates,Hath Menelaus once, from many princes chosen,Shone radiant on my sight, in nuptial sort arrayed.Expand to me once more, that I the king's behestMay faithfully discharge, as doth the spouse beseem.Let me within, and all henceforth behind remain,That, charged with doom, till now darkly hath round me stormed!For since, by care untroubled, I these sites forsook,Seeking Cythera's fane, as sacred wont enjoined,And by the spoiler there was seized, the Phrygian,Happened have many things, whereof men far and wideAre fain to tell, but which not fain to hear is heOf whom the tale, expanding, hath to fable grown.

CHORUS

 Disparage not, oh glorious dame, Honor'd possession of highest estate! For sole unto thee is the greatest boon given; The fame of beauty that all over-towers! The hero's name before him resounds, So strides he with pride; Nathless at once the stubbornest yields To beauty, the presence which all things subdues.

HELENA

Enough! I with my spouse, ship-borne, have hither sped,And to his city now by him before am sent.But what the thought he harbors, that I cannot guess.Come I as consort hither? Come I as a queen?Come I as victim for the prince's bitter pangs,And for the evils dire, long suffered by the Greeks?Conquered I am; but whether captive, know I not:For the Immortal Powers fortune and fame for meHave doomed ambiguous; direful ministers that waitOn beauty's form, who even on this threshold here,With dark and threat'ning mien, stand bodeful at my side!Already, ere we left the hollow ship, my spouseLooked seldom on me, spake no comfortable word;As though he mischief brooded, facing me he sat.But now, when to Eurotas' deeply curving shoresSteering our course, scarce had our foremost vessel's beakThe land saluted, spake he, as by God inspired:"Here let my men of war, in ordered ranks, disbark;I marshal them, drawn up upon the ocean strand;But thou, pursue thy way, not swerving from the banks,Laden with fruit, that bound Eurotas' sacred stream,Thy coursers guiding o'er the moist enamelled meads,Until thou may'st arrive at that delightful plain,Where Lacedæmon, once a broad fruit-bearing field,By mountains stern surrounded lifteth now its walls.Set thou thy foot within the tower-crown'd princely house,Assemble thou the maids, whom I at parting left,And with them summon too the wise old stewardess.Bid her display to thee the treasures' ample store,As by thy sire bequeathed, and which, in peace and war,Increasing evermore, I have myself up-piled.All standing shalt thou find in ancient order; for,This is the prince's privilege, that to his home,When he returns at last, safe everything he finds,Each in its proper place, as he hath left it there.For nothing of himself the slave hath power to change."

CHORUS

 Oh gladden now, with glorious wealth, Ever increasing, thine eye and heart! For beautiful chains, the adornment of crowns, Are priding themselves, in haughty repose; But step thou in, and challenge them all, They arm themselves straight; I joy to see beauty contend for the prize, With gold, and with pearls, and with jewels of price.

HELENA

Forthwith hath followed next this mandate of my lord:"Now when in order thou all things hast duly seen,As many tripods take, as needful thou may'st deem,And vessels manifold, which he at hand requires,Who duly would perform the sacrificial rite,The caldrons, and the bowls, and shallow altar-plates;Let purest water, too, from sacred fount be there,In lofty pitchers; further, store of season'd wood,Quick to accept the flame, hold thou in readiness;A knife, of sharpest edge, let it not fail at last.But I all other things to thy sole care resign."So spake he, urging me at once to part; but naught,Breathing the breath of life, the orderer appoints,That, to the Olympians' honor, he to slaughter doom'd:Suspicious seems it! yet, dismiss I further care;To the high Gods' decree be everything referred,Who evermore fulfil, what they in thought conceive;It may, in sooth, by men, as evil or as goodBe counted, it by us, poor mortals, must be borne.Full oft the ponderous axe on high the priest hath raised,In consecration o'er the earth-bowed victim's neck.Nor could achieve the rite, for he was hinderèd,Or by approaching foe, or intervening God.

CHORUS

 What now will happen, canst thou not guess; Enter, queen, enter thou in, Strong of heart! Evil cometh and good Unexpected to mortals; Though foretold, we credit it not. Troya was burning, have we not seen Death before us, terrible death! And are we not here, Bound to thee, serving with joy, Seeing the dazzling sunshine of heaven, And of earth too the fairest, Kind one—thyself—happy are we!

HELENA

Come what come may! Whate'er impends, me it behovesTo ascend, without delay, into the royal house,Long missed, oft yearned-for, well-nigh forfeited;Before mine eyes once more it stands, I know not how.My feet now bear me not so lightly as of yore,When up the lofty steps I, as a child, have sprung.

CHORUS

 Fling now, O sisters, ye Captives who mourn your lot, All your sorrows far from you. Share ye your mistress' joy! Share ye Helena's joy, Who to the dear paternal hearth, Though returning full late in sooth, Nathless with surer, firmer tread Joyfully now approaches! Praise ye the holy ones, Happy restoring ones, God's, the home-leaders, praise ye! Soars the enfranchised one, As upon out-spread wings, Over the roughest fate, while in vain Pines the captured one, yearning-fraught Over the prison-battlements Arms out-stretching, in anguish. Nathless her a god hath seized, The exiled one, And from Ilion's wreck Bare her hitherward back once more, To the ancient, the newly-adornèd Father-house, After unspeakable Pleasure and anguish, Earlier youthful time, Newly quicken'd, to ponder.

PENTHALIS (as leader of the chorus)

Forsake ye now of song the joy-surrounded path,As toward the portal-wings turn ye forthwith your gaze!What see I, sisters? Here, returneth not the queen?With step of eager haste, comes she not back to us?—What is it, mighty queen, that in the palace-halls,Instead of friendly hail, could there encounter thee,And shatter thus thy being? Thou conceal'st it not;For I abhorrence see, impressed upon thy brow,And noble anger, that contendeth with surprise.

HELENA (who has left the folded doors open, excited)

No vulgar fear beseems the daughter of high Zeus,And her no lightly-fleeting terror-hand may touch;But that dire horror which, from womb of ancient Night,In time primeval rising, still in divers shapes,Like lurid clouds, from out the mountain's fiery gorge,Whirls itself forth, may shake even the hero's breast.Thus have the Stygian Gods, with horror fraught, todayMine entrance to the house so marked, that fain I am,Back from the oft-time trod, long-yearned-for threshold now,Like to a guest dismissed, departing, to retire.Yet no, retreated have I hither to the light;No further shall ye drive me, Powers, who'er ye be!Some expiation, I'll devise, then purified,The hearth-flame welcome may the consort as the lord.

LEADER OF THE CHORUS

Discover, noble queen, to us thy handmaidens,Devotedly who serve thee, what hath come to pass!

HELENA

What I have seen ye, too, with your own eyes, shall see,If ancient Night, within her wonder-teeming womb,Hath not forthwith engulfed, once more, her ghastly birth;But yet, that ye may know, with words I'll tell it you:—What time the royal mansion's gloomy inner court,Upon my task intent, with solemn step I trod,I wondered at the drear and silent corridors.Fell on mine ear no sound of busy servitors,No stir of rapid haste, officious, met my gaze;Before me there appeared no maid, no stewardess,Who every stranger erst, with friendly greeting, hailed.But when I neared at length the bosom of the hearth,There saw I, by the light of dimly smouldering fire,Crouched on the ground, a crone, close-veiled, of stature huge,Not like to one asleep, but as absorbed in thought!With accent of command I summon her to work,The stewardess in her surmising, who perchanceMy spouse, departing hence, with foresight there had placed;Yet, closely muted up, still sits she, motionless;At length, upon my threat, up-lifts she her right arm,As though from hearth and hall she motioned me away.Wrathful from her I turn, and forthwith hasten out,Toward the steps, whereon aloft the ThalamosRises adorned, thereto the treasure-house hard by;When, on a sudden, starts the wonder from the floor;Barring with lordly mien my passage, she herselfIn haggard height displays, with hollow eyes, blood-grimed,An aspect weird and strange, confounding eye and thought.Yet speak I to the winds; for language all in vainCreatively essays to body forth such shapes.There see herself! The light she ventures to confront!Here are we master, till the lord and monarch comes;The ghastly brood of Night doth Phoebus, beauty's friend,Back to their caverns drive, or them he subjugates.

[PHORKYAS stepping on the threshold, between the door-posts.]