B00ARI2G5C EBOK (19 page)

Among his
billets doux
. A priest may carry

Them piously inside his breviary;

As for the soldier, he’s a nimbler fighter,

I dare say, if his money-belt is lighter.

Forgive me, Majesty, if I trivialize

By such examples our high enterprise.

6110

FAUST
. The abundance of treasure buried deep

Under your lands lies frozen and asleep

Until we waken it. Thought’s utmost scope

Sets a mean limit to such wealth; the hope

Of fancy in its highest flight must fail,

Try as it may, to tell so rich a tale.

Yet worthier spirits whom deep insights bless

Place trust unbounded in this boundlessness.

MEPHISTOPHELES
. Such paper currency, replacing gold

And pearls, is most convenient: you can hold

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A known amount, no sale or bartering

Is needed to enjoy love, wine, or anything

You please. And there are banks to sell you coin;

If not, then temporarily you join

The diggers, sell a golden chain or cup,

And thus the paper debt’s at once paid up

And all the mocking sceptics put to shame.

Everyone’s used to this, they want the same

System continued; thus the Empire far and wide

With jewels, gold, and paper now is well supplied.

6130

THE EMPEROR
. The Empire owes great benefits to you,

And a commensurate reward is due.

We entrust you with the ground in all our lands;

To guard that wealth, yours are the worthiest hands.

You know where we must dig, and at your word

We shall recover this great hidden hoard.

As partners now, joint masters of our treasure,

Fulfil your honourable task with pleasure!

For here two worlds to union are invited,

6140

Upper with lower happily united.
*

THE TREASURER
. Sire, there shall be no strife and no divisions;

I like to have colleagues who are magicians.

[
Exit with
FAUST.]

THE EMPEROR.
Now for some gifts; but you must each confess

What use you intend to make of my largesse.

A PAGE
[
receiving some money]
.

I’ll have high life, song, dance and jollity.

ANOTHER
[
likewise]
.

I’ll go and buy my sweetheart jewellery.

A LORD OF THE BEDCHAMBER
[
accepting gift]
.

From now on I’ll drink wine at twice the price.

ANOTHER
[
likewise]
.

My fingers itch already for the dice!

A KNIGHT-BANNERET
[reflecting].

I’ll pay the debts off now on my estates.

ANOTHER
[
likewise]
.

I’ll watch my fund as it accumulates.

6150

THE EMPEROR
. I hoped it would inspire you to new deeds.

But it’s easy to guess your well-known needs;

It’s obvious that however rich you grow,

Whatever you have been you’ll still be so.

THE FOOL
[
reappearing]
.

Is this a bounty? Shall I get a bit?

THE EMPEROR
. So you’re back! You’ll just live by drinking it.

THE FOOL
. They’re magic papers! What do the words say?

THE EMPEROR
. You’ll misread and misuse them anyway.

THE FOOL
. There are some more that dropped—what shall I do?

THE EMPEROR
. Just take them, it’s a windfall, they’re for you. [
Exit
.]

6160

THE FOOL
. Five thousand crowns! You mean all this is mine?

MEPHISTOPHELES
. So you rose from the dead, you

two-legged bag of wine?

THE FOOL
. I often do, but this time’s the best yet.

MEPHISTOPHELES
. You’re so pleased now, you’re breaking out in sweat.

THE FOOL
. But look, is this worth money?

MEPHISTOPHELES
. It will buy All your big maw and belly want; just try!

THE FOOL.
You mean a house, livestock and farming land?

MEPHISTOPHELES
. Of course! Just offer, they will understand.

THE FOOL
. A castle, hunting forests, fishing streams?

MEPHISTOPHELES
. Ill soon address you as ‘my lord’, it seems.

6170

THE FOOL
. Oh luxury! Ill be a squire this very night! [
Exit
.]

MEPHISTOPHELES
. Call him a wise fool now, and you’ll be right!

MEPHISTOPHELES
. These gloomy passages! Why do you drag me here?

Was all that high society

Not fun enough? There’s plenty of good cheer

Still to enjoy, and much fine trickery!

FAUST
. No need to speak of it; in the old days

You played that game a hundred tedious ways.

Now stop your slithering to and fro

And tell me what I need to know.

6180

They’re pestering me now for action:

The Steward, the Chamberlain want satisfaction.

The Emperor demands to see

Helen and Paris, here, immediately;

The ideal man and woman, to appear

Before his eyes, in figures plain and clear.

So get to work! I mustn’t break my word.

MEPHISTOPHELES
. You promised that? How frivolous, how absurd!

FAUST
. Let me inform you that your pranks

Have consequences, my good friend.

6190

We made him rich and earned his thanks,

And now he must be entertained.

MEPHISTOPHELES
. You think this task’s a simple one;

But it’s a steeper stair to climb,

A stranger region than you’ve ever known,

Which by your new commitments you now dare

To tread, conjuring Helen out of time

Like phantom paper-money from the air.

Easy, you think?—Witches I can supply,

Ghost-goblins, changelings, curious succubi;

6200

But Satan-sweethearts, though quite charming in their way,

Can’t pass for Homer’s heroines even today.

FAUST
. So, here we go again, your old lament!

With you there’s never any guarantee;

Nothing gets done without an extra fee,

Everything is a problem you invent.

She’ll come at once, as I know very well!

Two mumbled words from you will summon her.

MEPHISTOPHELES
. Pagans are not my period, sir;

They’re lodged in their own special hell.

6210

But there’s a way.

FAUST
. Divulge it instantly!

MEPHISTOPHELES
. I do not like to; this is high mystery.

Enthroned in solitude are goddesses—

No place, no space around them, time still less;

I mention them with some uneasiness.

They are
the Mothers
*

FAUST
[
startled]
. Mothers!

MEPHISTOPHELES
. You dread the name?

FAUST
. The Mothers! But how strange ‘the mothers’ sounds!

MEPHISTOPHELES
. Indeed; we hesitate ourselves to speak

Of these great goddesses, and your mortal minds

Have never known them. Go to the depths to seek

6220

Their dwelling! If we need them, you’re to blame.

FAUST
. Which is the way?

MEPHISTOPHELES. NO
way! A path untrodden

Which none may tread; a way to the forbidden,

The unmoved, the inexorable. Make preparation!

There’ll be no locks to unlock, no bolts to slide:

On solitudes you will drift far and wide.

Do you know solitude and desolation?

FAUST
. If these are your wise saws, you might as well

Not speak. They’ve a witch-kitchen smell;

This is all stuff from long ago.

6230

The world was with me, was it not? And there

I learnt and taught nothing but empty air.

If ever I talked sense, told what I know,

They’d shout me down still louder; finally,

Embracing desert solitude to flee

From the vile tricks society played on me,

Rather than have no company at all

I invoked the Devil, as you will recall.

MEPHISTOPHELES
. Yet even if you’d swum the ocean through

And known its boundlessness, even then

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You would see waves roll by and roll again;

Even at the dreadful drowning-point, there too

You would see something. In the still sea-green

There would be darting dolphins to be seen;

There’d be the clouds, sun, moon and starry sky—

But in the eternal void you’ll say goodbye

To sight, not hear the step that steps so far,

Not rest a foot on where you are.

FAUST
. You talk like any ancient mystagogue

Addressing neophytes with words to fog

6250

Their simple minds; but here
per contra
. I

Am sent into your void to magnify

My art and strength there; I am to cat’s-paw

Your chestnuts from the fire. Come then! let’s claw

The meaning out of this. I hope to see

Your Nothing turn to Everything for me.

MEPHISTOPHELES
. My compliments, sir, as you take your leave;

You know the Devil well, I do believe.

Now take this key.

FAUST
. That little thing!

MEPHISTOPHELES
. First seize

It firmly, and respect it, if you please.

6260

FAUST
. It grows in my hand! It shines, it’s all a-glitter!

MEPHISTOPHELES
. Perhaps you now appreciate it better.

Follow it downwards, for this key can read

The hidden map: to the Mothers it will lead.

FAUST
[
shtiddering]
.

The Mothers! Every time it strikes such fear

Into my heart, this word I dare not hear.

MEPHISTOPHELES
. Are you so limited, that a new word

Disturbs you, merely one you’ve not yet heard?

Let nothing trouble you in sound or sense:

By now you should be used to strange events.

6270

FAUST
. Yet must I turn to stone? Not so 111 thrive!

Our sense of awe’s what keeps us most alive.

The world chokes human feeling more and more,

But deep dread still can move us to the core.

MEPHISTOPHELES
. Descend then! I could say ascend; there’s no

Distinction. Flee from all that has been born

To the unbound realm of empty shapes; return

To savour, what has vanished long ago.

Like drifting coils of cloud they will approach you:

Brandish the key, for then they cannot touch you.

6280

FAUST
[with
enthusiasm]
.

I seize it, and at once my spirits rise,

I feel new strength for this great enterprise.

MEPHISTOPHELES
. A glowing tripod will alert your fall

That it has reached the deepest depth of all.

And by that tripod’s light you’ll see the Mothers;

Some sitting, as the case may be, and others

Who stand or walk. Formation, transformation,

The eternal Mind’s eternal delectation.

You’ll pass unseen: the whole world of creatures swarms

As images round them; they see empty forms

6290

And nothing else. But you will be in great

Peril still, and you must be bold: go straight

To the tripod, touch it with the key.

[
FAUST
strikes a decisive commanding attitude with the key
.]

MEPHISTOPHELES
[
watching him]
. Just so!

Then, slave-like, it will follow where you go;

Good fortune’s wings will raise you, never fear!

Before they miss it, you’ll be back up here.

And once you’ve got that brazier, then you may

Summon the famous pair into the day.

No one has ever dared before to do

This deed, and it will be achieved by you.

6300

The incense-cloud, with magic to compel it,

Will assume any godlike shape you tell it.

FAUST
. Well then, what now?

MEPHISTOPHELES
. Strive downwards; stamp, and you

Will sink; you’ll rise again by stamping too.

[
FAUST
stamps and disappears into the earth
.]

I hope he’s well protected by that key.

Will he get back, I wonder? We shall see.

[
THE EMPEROR
With
PRINCES
and
COURTIERS,
walking to and fro
.]

THE CHAMBERLAIN
[
to
MEPHISTOPHELES]
.

You still owe us that spirit scene; you’re late

With it. The Emperor doesn’t like to wait.

THE MARSHAL
. He’s just been asking us when it’s to be.

Delay’s an insult to His Majesty.

6310

MEPHISTOPHELES
. My colleague’s gone to see to it; he knows how

It must be done, he’s working on that now,