This realm is threaten’d with a sudden fall;
The elements once fused in mighty life
No longer will reciprocally join
With force of love in unity renew’d
Continually. Scattering, forth they fly,
And each returns unto itself in coldness.
Where was the mighty spirit of our fathers
Which for one purpose brought them into union
That hitherto had stood apart in battle,
And which before this mighty people became
Personified as monarch and as father?
That spirit is no more. What now remains
Is but a spectre which with idle striving
Gropes blindly, hopelessly, for lost possessions.
And could I take such cares across with me?
Could I withdraw me from the common danger?
Could I neglect the chance to show myself
Of courage worthy of my noble sires,
And in a time of trouble by my aid
Shame him who has unworthily oppress’d me?
Now, O my fatherland, thy sacred soil
Has first become my inspiration, now
I feel for the first time the pressing call
To stand by thee so long as life shall last.
I will not let thee go; whate’er the bond
That binds me unto thee is henceforth holy.
Where shall I find that noble-minded man
Who offer’d me his hand so honorably?
To him I will confide my life. In secret
He shall preserve me as a talisman pure!
For if a marvel happens on the earth
It happens through the love of faithful hearts.
The greatness of the peril I dismiss;
I do not dare to think upon my weakness.
A favorable chance when times are ripe
Shall bring to lofty purposes the whole.
And if my father, if my King forget me
Whom once they banish’d and disown’d, their eyes
Astonish’d shall upon me rest, preserv’d
To work for the accomplishment in sorrow
Of what in fortune she had vow’d to do.
He comes! With more delight I see him now
Than when he left me. Seeking me he comes!
He thinks we part; I shall remain to him.
SCENE IX.
Eugenie. Counsellor. Boy bearing a beautiful casket.
Counsellor.
The vessels one by one are putting out
And soon I fear me wilt thou too be call’d.
Receive once more a hearty “Fare-thee-well”
With this slight gift which breathes to weary hearts
Refreshment for the long-continu’d voyage.
Remember me, and oh, may evil days
On which thou yearnest for me never come.
Eugenie.
With pleasure I accept thy graceful gift;
It is a pledge to me of loving care;
Yet send it quickly to thy house again.
And if thou thinkest former thoughts and feelest
As thou hast felt, that still my love could be
A satisfaction to thee, I will follow.
Counsellor.
(After a pause, motioning the Boy to depart.) Is’t possible? Has such a sudden change
Brought round thy will to answer in my favor?
Eugenie.
My will is chang’d indeed; but do not think
That apprehension drove me back to thee.
A feeling that is nobler (let me hide it)
Preserves me for my fatherland, for thee.
Now let the question come: Hast thou the courage,
The lofty courage for renunciation,
To vow thyself to her who must renounce?
Canst thou agree to take me, as a sister
Is taken by a brother, in pure affection?
And wilt thou give me counsel and protection
And peaceful home-life in return for love?
Counsellor.
I think that I could all things bear but one —
The thought of losing thee now I have found thee
Seems unendurable to me. To see thee,
Near thee to be, for thee to live, I count
My sole, my highest fortune. Therefore let
Thy heart alone be privileg’d to set
The terms of the alliance which we pledge.
Eugenie.
Henceforth, the world avoiding, I must live
In deep seclusion only known by thee.
If thou a distant lonely house possessest,
Then give it me and send me thence away.
Counsellor.
A small estate I own, well-situated;
But old and half in ruins is the house.
Thou canst however in that region soon
The loveliest dwelling find at small expense.
Eugenie.
Nay! let me settle in the ancient ruin.
It suits my circumstances and my mind.
And when my fortune brightens I shall find
Material and time for busy action.
So soon as I am thine, accompanied
By some retainer, old and faithful, let me
There find a lonely burial-place, in hope
Soon to return in joyful resurrection.
Counsellor.
When can I make my visit to thee there?
Eugenie.
Thou must await in patience till I summon,
For such a day will come to us perchance
To bind us closer with most solemn bonds.
Counsellor.
Thou layest on me a burden all too heavy.
Eugenie.
Fulfil thy obligations unto me;
That I acknowledge mine be well assur’d.
Thou darest much to offer me thy hand
That thou may’st save me. Should I be discover’d,
Too soon discover’d, much thou mightest suffer.
I bid thee keep the wisest circumspection;
Let no one learn the place from which I came.
Indeed my distant lov’d ones I will visit
In spirit only. Not a single line,
No messenger shall dare to name me there
Where for my rescue glows perchance a spark.
Counsellor.
In this momentous crisis words are vain.
The lips can often counterfeit with boldness
Disinterested love, when in the heart
The monster, selfishness, is grimly lurking.
The power of love is shown by deeds alone.
Thus while I win thee I must yield up all,
Even the sight of thee. I meet the test.
Thy image ever will before my eyes
Seem as it seem’d when first I saw thy face,
An object of attraction and of honor.
Because of thee I wish to live. Thou art
My mistress and my queen. And if the priest
From day to day so long as life may last
Bows low before the God he cannot see,
Which in a moment of supreme conviction
In grand ideal swept before his spirit,
So nothing shall destroy henceforth for me,
However thou may’st hide thyself away,
The glory thou hast shed upon my life.
Eugenie.
How absolutely I confide in thee,
And read the truthful lineaments of thy face,
The accents of thy tongue so free from guile!
How sure I am of what a man thou art,
Upright, warm-hearted, strong, reliable!
Here have the proof than which no higher can be
By any woman in her senses given:
I linger not, I haste to follow thee,
Here is my hand. We go unto the altar!
FAUST: PART TWO
Translated by Anna Swanwick
Goe
the completed writing Part Two of his epic tragedy Faust in 1831. In contrast to Part One, the focus in the final part is no longer on the soul of Faust, which has been sold to the devil, but rather on social phenomena such as psychology, history and politics, in addition to mystical and philosophical topics. The writing of this second part formed the principal occupation of Goethe’s last years. Part Two was never published in the playwright’s lifetime, appearing posthumously in 1832.
The second part opens with Faust awaking in a field of fairies, about to embark on a new cycle of adventures. Unlike Part One, it consists of five acts, each representing a different theme.
The first edition of Part Twoo
CONTENTS
DRAMATIS PERSONÆ
ACT I.
ACT II.
ACT III.
ACT IV.
ACT V.
DRAMATIS PERSONÆ
Faust.
Mephistopheles(in various disguises).
Other characters also in ACT I:
Ariel.
Emperor.
Fool(Mephistopheles).
Chancellor.
Commander-in-Chief.
Treasurer.
Marshal.
Astrologer.
Various Ladies, Gentlemen and Pages of the court. Also numerous male and female masks.
Scene — Chiefly in the different apartments and Pleasure Garden of the Imperial Palace.
Other characters also in ACT II:
Famulus.
Baccalaureus.
Wagner.
Homunculus.
Numerous mythical personages and monsters appearing in the Classical Walpurgis-Night.
Scene — Faust’sStudy; afterwards the Pharsalian Plains.
Other characters also in ACT III:
Helen.
Phorkyad(Mephistopheles).
Lynceus,the Watchman.
Euphorion, Helen’sSon.
Panthalisand Chorus of Trojan women.
Scene — At first the supposed Palace of Menelaus in Sparta; afterwards the Courtyard of a mediæval castle, and finally a rocky dell.
Other characters also in ACT IV:
The three mighty men: Bully, Havequick,and Holdfast.
Speedquick.
The Emperor,and other officers of his Court, as in Act I.
Scene — A high mountainous country and the adjacent neighborhood.
Other characters also in ACT V:
Baucis.
Philemon.
A Wanderer.
Lynceus.
The four gray women: Want, Guilt, Careand Need.
Lemures.
A Penitent,formerly Margaret.
Dr. Marianus.
Chorus of Angels and Penitents and various Heavenly characters.
Scene — The neighborhood of Faust’sPalace, afterwards rocky heights and the higher regions of the sky.
ACT I.
A Pleasing Landscape.
Faust reclining upon flowery turf, restless, seeking sleep.
Twilight.
Circle of spirits, hovering, flit around. — Graceful, tiny forms.
Ariel.
(Song, accompanied by Æolian harps. )
When, in vernal showers descending,
Blossoms gently veil the earth,
When the fields’ green wealth, up-tending,
Gleams on all of mortal birth:
Tiny elves, where help availeth,
Large of heart, there fly apace;
Pity they whom grief assaileth,
Be he holy, be he base.
Ye round this head on airy wing careering,
Attend, in noble Elfin guise appearing;
Assuage the cruel strife that rends his heart,
The burning shaft remove of keen remorse,
From rankling horror cleanse his inmost part:
Four are the pauses of the nightly course;
Them, without rest, fill up with kindly art.
And first his head upon cool pillow lay,
Then bathe ye him in dew from Lethe’s stream;
His limbs, cramp-stiffen’d, will more freely play,
If sleep-refreshed he wait morn’s wak’ning beam.
Perform the noblest Elfin rite,
Restore ye him to the holy light!
Chorus.
(Singly, two or more, alternately and together.) Softly when warm gales are stealing
O’er the green-environ’d ground,
Twilight sheddeth all-concealing
Mists and balmy odors round:
Whispers low sweet peace to mortals,
Rocks the heart to childlike rest,
And of daylight shuts the portals
To these eyes, with care oppress’d.
Night hath now descended darkling,
Holy star is link’d to star;
Sovereign fires, or faintly sparkling,
Glitter near and shine afar;
Glitter here lake-mirror’d, yonder
Shine adown the clear night sky;
Sealing bliss of perfect slumber,
Reigns the moon’s full majesty.
Now the hours are cancell’d; sorrow,
Happiness, have pass’d away:
Whole thou shalt be on the morrow!
Feel it! Trust the new-born day!
Swell the hills, green grow the valleys,
In the dusk ere breaks the morn;
And in silvery wavelets dallies,
With the wind, the ripening corn.
Cherish hope, let naught appall thee!
Mark the East, with splendor dyed!
Slight the fetters that enthrall thee;
Fling the shell of sleep aside!
Gird thee for the high endeavor;
Shun the crowd’s ignoble ease!
Fails the noble spirit never,
Wise to think, and prompt to seize.
[A tremendous tumult announces the uprising of the sun.
Ariel.
Hark! the horal tempest nears!
Sounding but for spirit ears,
Lo! the new-born day appears;
Clang the rocky portals, climb
Phœbus’ wheels with thund’rous chime:
Breaks with tuneful noise the light!
Blare of trumpet, clarion sounding,
Eyesight dazing, ear astounding!
Hear not the unheard; take flight!
Into petal’d blossoms glide
Deeper, deeper, still to bide,
In the clefts, ‘neath thickets! ye,
If it strike you, deaf will be.
Faust.
Life’s pulses reawaken’d freshly bound,
The mild ethereal twilight fain to greet.
Thou, Earth, this night wast also constant found,
And, newly-quicken’d, breathing at my feet,
Beginnest now to gird me with delight:
A strong resolve dost rouse, with noble heat
Aye to press on to being’s sovereign height.
The world in glimmering dawn still folded lies;
With thousand-voiced life the woods resound;
Mist-wreaths the valley shroud; yet from the skies
Sinks heaven’s clear radiance to the depths profound;
And bough and branch from dewy chasms rise,
Where they had droop’d erewhile in slumber furl’d;
Earth is enamell’d with unnumber’d dyes,
Leaflet and flower with dewdrops are impearl’d;
Around me everywhere is paradise.
Gaze now aloft! Each mountain’s giant height
The solemn hour announces, herald-wise;
They early may enjoy the eternal light,
To us below which later finds its way.
Now are the Alpine slopes and valleys dight
With the clear radiance of the new-born day,
Which, downward, step by step, steals on apace. —
It blazes forth, — and, blinded by the ray,
With aching ey
es, alas! I veil my face.
So when a hope, the heart hath long held fast,
Trustful, still striving towards its highest goal,
Fulfilment’s portals open finds at last; —
Sudden from those eternal depths doth roll
An overpowering flame; — we stand aghast!
The torch of life to kindle we were fain; —
A fire-sea, — what a fire! — doth round us close;
Love is it? Is it hate? with joy and pain,
In alternation vast, that round us glows?
So that to earth we turn our wistful gaze,
In childhood’s veil to shroud us once again!
So let the sun behind me pour its rays!
The cataract, through rocky cleft that roars,
I view, with growing rapture and amaze.
From fall to fall, with eddying shock, it pours,
In thousand torrents to the depths below,
Aloft in air up-tossing showers of spray.
But see, in splendor bursting from the storm,
Arches itself the many-colored bow,
An ever-changeful, yet continuous form,
Now drawn distinctly, melting now away,
Diffusing dewy coolness all around!
Man’s efforts there are glass’d, his toil and strife;
Reflect, more true the emblem will be found:
This bright reflected glory pictures life!
Imperial Palace. Throne-Room.
Council of State, in expectation of the Emperor.
Trumpets.
Enter courtiers of every grade, splendidly attir’d. The Emperor ascends the throne; to the right the Astrologer.
Emperor.
I greet you, trusty friends and dear,
Assembled thus from far and wide! —
I see the wise man at my side,
But wherefore is the fool not here?
Page.
Entangled in thy mantle’s flow,
He tripped upon the stair below;
The mass of fat they bare away,
If dead or drunken — who can say?
Second Page.
Forthwith another comes apace,
With wondrous speed to take his place;
Costly, yet so grotesque his gear,
All start amaz’d as he draws near.
Crosswise the guards before his face,
Entrance to bar, their halberds hold —
Yet there he is, the fool so bold.
Mephis.
(Kneeling before the throne.)
What is accurs’d and gladly hail’d?
What is desir’d and chas’d away?
What is upbraid’d and assail’d?
What wins protection every day?
Whom darest thou not summon here?
Whose name doth plaudits still command?
Works of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Page 237