{ "meta": { "schema_version": "1.1", "endpoint": "/api/sources/goethe-works/faust/faust-i/28-scene-25-dungeon.json" }, "work": { "slug": "faust-i", "name": "Faust I (1808)" }, "parents": [ { "slug": "goethe-works", "name": "Works of Goethe", "url": "/sources/goethe-works/" }, { "slug": "faust", "name": "Faust (Parts I and II)", "url": "/sources/faust/" } ], "chapter": { "num": 28, "slug": "28-scene-25-dungeon", "title": "Scene XXV — Dungeon", "of": 28, "words": 46223, "text": "Faust\n(with a bunch of keys and a lamp, before an iron door).\nSHUDDER, long unfelt, comes o'er me ;\n\n™ Mankind's collected woe o'erwhelms me, here.\nShe dwells within the dark, damp walls before me,\nAnd all her crime was a delusion dear!\nWhat! I delay to free her?\nI dread, once again to see her?\n\nOn! my shrinking only brings Death more near.\n(He grasps the lock: the sound of singing is heard inside.)\n\nMy mother, the harlot,%73\nWho put me to death;\n\nMy father, the varlet,\nWho eaten me hath!\n\nLittle sister, so good,\n\nLaid my bones in the wood,\nIn the damp moss and clay:\n\nScene XXV. 293\n\nThen was I a beautiful bird 0 the wood;\nFly away! Fly away!\n\nFaust (unlocking).\n\nShe does not dream her lover listens near;\n\nThat he the rattling chain, the rustling straw, can hear.\n\n(He enters.)\n\nMarcaret (hiding herself on the pallet).\n\nWoe! woe! They come. O death of bitterness!\n\nFaust (whispering).\n\nHush! hush! The hour is come that frees thee.\n\nMarcaret (throwing herself before him).\n\nArt thou a man, then pity my distress!\n\nFaust.\nThy cries will wake the guards, and they will seize thee!\n\n(He takes hold of the fetters to unlock them.)\n\nMarcaretT (on her knees).\n\nWho, headsman! unto thee such power\n\nOver me could give?\n\n294 faust.\n\nThou 'rt come for me at midnight-hour:\nHave mercy on me, let me live!\n\nIs *t not soon enough when morning chime has rung?\n(She rises.)\n\nAnd I am yet so young, so young !\n\nAnd now Death comes, and ruin!\n\nI, too, was fair, and that was my undoing.\n\nMy love was near, but now he's far;\n\nTorn lies the wreath, scattered the blossoms are.\nSeize me not thus so violently !\n\nSpare me! What have I done to thee?\n\nLet me not vainly entreat thee!\n\nI never chanced, in all my days, to meet thee!\n\nFaust.\n\nShall I outlive this misery ?\n\nMARGARET.\n\nNow am I wholly in thy might.\n\nBut let me suckle, first, my baby!\n\nI blissed it all this livelong night ;\n\nThey took 't away, to vex me, maybe,\n\nAnd now they say I killed the child outright.\nAnd never shall I be glad again.\n\nScene XXV. 295\n\nThey sing songs about me! 't is bad of the folk to do it!\nThere 's an old story has the same refrain ;\n\nWho bade them so construe it ?\n\nFaust ( falling upon his knees).\n\nHere lieth one who loves thee ever,\n\nThe thraldom of thy woe to sever.\n\nMarecaret ( flinging herself beside him).\n\nO let us kneel, and call the Saints to hide us!\nUnder the steps beside us,\n\nThe threshold under,\n\nHell heaves in thunder !\n\nThe Evil One\n\nWith terrible wrath\n\nSeeketh a path\n\nHis prey to discover !\n\nFaust (aloud).\nMargaret! Margaret !\n\nMarcaretT (attentively listening).\nThat was the voice of my lover!\n\n(She springs to her feet: the fetters fall off.)\n\n296 Faust.\n\nWhere is he? I heard him call me.\n\nIam free! No one shall enthrall me.\n\nTo his neck will I fly,\n\nOn his bosom lie!\n\nOn the threshold he stood, and Margaret! calling,\nMidst of Hell's howling and noises appalling,\nMidst of the wrathful, infernal derision,\n\nI knew the sweet sound of the voice of the vision!\n\nFaust.\n°'T is I!\nMarGareT.\n'T is thou! O, say it once again !\n(Clasping him.)\n\"T is he! 't is he! Where now is all my pain?\nThe anguish of the dungeon, and the chain?\n'T isthou! 'Thou comest to save me,\nAnd I am saved ! —\nAgain the street I see\nWhere first I looked on thee;\nAnd the garden, brightly blooming,\nWhere I and Martha wait thy coming.\n\nFaust (struggling to leave).\n\nCome! Come with me!\n\nScene XXV. 297\n\nMARGARET.\n\nDelay, now!\nSo fain I stay, when thou delayest !\n\n(Caressing him.)\n\nFaust.\nAway, now !\nIf longer here thou stayest,\nWe shall be made to dearly rue it.\n\nMARGARET.\n\nKiss me!—canst no longer do it?\nMy friend, so short a time thou 'rt missing,\nAnd hast unlearned thy kissing?\nWhy is my heart so anxious, on thy breast?\nWhere once a heaven thy glances did create me,\nA heaven thy loving words expressed,\nAnd thou didst kiss, as thou wouldst suffocate me —\nKiss me!\nOr Ill kiss thee!\n\n(She embraces him.)\nAh, woe! thy lips are chill,\nAnd still.\nHow changed in fashion\n\n298 faust.\n\nThy passion!\nWho has done me this ill ?\n\n(She turns away from him.)\n\nFaust.\nCome, follow me! My darling, be more bold:\nIll clasp thee, soon, with warmth a thousand-fold ;\nBut follow now! \"F is all I beg of thee.\n\nMarcareT (turning to him).\n\nAnd is it thou? Thou, surely, certainly ?\n\n| Faust.\n*T is I! Come on!\n\nMarGaRET.\nThou wilt unloose my chain,\nAnd in thy lap wilt take me once again.\nHow comes it that thou dost not shrink from me? —\n\nSay, dost thou know, my friend, whom thou mak'st free?\n\nFaust.\n\nCome! come! The night already vanisheth.\n\nMARGARET.\n\nMy mother have I put to death;\nI've drowned the baby born to thee.\n\nScene XXV. 299\n\nWas it not given to thee and me?\nThee, too!—'T is thou! It scarcely true doth seem —\nGive me thy hand! 'T is not a dream!\nThy dear, dear hand ! — But, ah, 't is wet!\nWhy, wipe it off! Methinks that yet\nThere 's blood thereon.\nAh, God! what hast thou done?\nNay, sheathe thy sword at last!\nDo not affray me!\n\nFaust.\nO, let the past be past !\nThy words will slay me!\n\nMARGARET.\n\nNo, no! Thou must outlive us.\n\nNow I 'll tell thee the graves to give us:\nThou must begin to-morrow\n\nThe work of sorrow!\n\nThe best place give to my mother,\n\nThen close at her side my brother,\n\nAnd me a little away, |\n\nBut not too very far, I pray!\n\nAnd here, on my right breast, my baby lay!\nNobody else will lie beside me! —\n\n300 Faust.\n\nAh, within thine arms to hide me, ©\n\nThat was a sweet and a gracious bliss,\n\nBut no more, no more can J attain it!\n\nI would force myself on thee and constrain it,\nAnd it seems thou repellest my kiss :\n\nAnd yet 't is thou, so good, so kind to see!\n\nFaust.\n\nIf thou feel'st it is I, then come with me!\n\nMARGARET.\nOut yonder?\n~ Faust.\nTo freedom.\nMarGARET.\n\nIf the grave is there,\nDeath lying in wait, then come!\nFrom here to eternal rest :\nNo further step — no, no!\n\nThou goest away! O Henry, if I could go!\n\nFaust.\n\nThou canst! Just will it! Open stands the door.\n\nMARGARET.\n\nI dare not go: there 's no hope any more.\n\nScene XXV. 301\n\nWhy should I fy? They 'll still my steps waylay\nIt is so wretched, forced to beg my living,\n\nAnd a bad conscience sharper misery giving!\n\nIt is so wretched, to be strange, forsaken,\n\nAnd I'd still be followed and taken!\n\nFaust.\n\nIll stay with thee.\nMarGarRE&T.\n\nBe quick! Be quick!\nSave thy perishing child!\nAway! Follow the ridge\nUp by the brook,\nOver the bridge,\nInto the wood,\nTo the left, where the plank is placed\nIn the pool!\nSeize it in haste!\n\"T is trying to rise, :\n\"T is struggling still !\nSave it! Save it!\n\nFaust.\nRecall thy wandering will!\nOne step, and thou art free at last !\n\n302 Faust.\n\nMARGARET.\n\nIf the mountain we had only passed !\n\nThere sits my mother upon a stone, —\n\nI feel an icy shiver !\n\nThere sits my mother upon a stone,\n\nAnd her head is wagging ever.\n\nShe beckons, she nods not, her heavy head falls o'er ;\nShe slept so long that she wakes no more.\n\nShe slept, while we were caressing :\n\nAh, those were the days of blessing!\nFaust.\nHere words and prayers are nothing worth ;\nI ll venture, then, to bear thee forth.\nMarcarbtT.\n\nNo—let me go! Ill suffer no force!\nGrasp me not so murderously !\n\nI 've done, else, all things for the love of thee.\n\nFaust.\n\nThe day dawns: Dearest! Dearest !\n\nMARGARET.\n\nDay? Yes, the day comes, — the last day breaks for me!\n\nScene XXV. 303\n\nMy wedding-day it was to be! *74\n\nTell no one thou hast been with Margaret!\nWoe for my garland! The chances\n\nAre over — 't is all in vain! |\n\nWe shall meet once again,\n\nBut not at the dances!\n\nThe crowd is thronging, no word is spoken:\nThe square below\n\nAnd the streets overflow:\n\nThe death-bell tolls, the wand is broken.\n\nI am seized, and bound, and delivered —\nShoved to the block — they give the sign!\nNow over each neck has quivered\n\nThe blade that is quivering over mine.\n\nDumb lies the world like the grave!\n\nFaust.\n\nO had I ne'er been born!\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES (appears outside).\n\nOff! or you 're lost ere morn.\nUseless talking, delaying and praying!\nMy horses are neighing :\n\nThe morning twilight is near.\n\n304 faust.\n\nMarRGARET.\n\nWhat rises up from the threshold here?\nHe! he! suffer him not!\n\nWhat does he want in this holy spot ?\n\n- He seeks me!\n\nFaust.\n\nThou shalt live.\n\nMARGARET.\n\nJudgment of God! myself to thee I give.\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES (fo Faust).\n\nCome! or II] leave her in the lurch, and thee!\n\nMarGARET.\n\nThine am I, Father! rescue me!\nYe angels, holy cohorts, guard me,'75\nCamp around, and from evil ward me!\n\nHenry! I shudder to think of thee.\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES,\n\nShe is judged ! 17\n\nScene XXV. 305\n\nVoice (from above).\n\nShe is saved!\n\n(MeEPpPHISTOPHELES ¢o Faust.)\n\nHither to me!\n\n(He disappears with Faust.)\n\nVoice (from within, dying away).\nHenry! Henry!\n\nNOTES.\n\nDenn bei den alten lieben Todten\n\nBraucht man Erklarung, will man Noten;\n\nDie Neuen glaubt man blank zu verstehn,\nDoch ohne Dolmetsch wird's auch nicht gehn.\n\nGorTHE.\n\nDigitized by Google\n\nINTRODUCTION.\n\nN a work which has been the subject of such extensive and continual com-\nment, the passages which seem to require elucidation have, for the most\npart, been already determined. At every point where the reader is supposed to\nbe doubtful in regard to the true path, not one, but a score of tracks has been\nprepared for him. From the exhaustive and somewhat wearisome work of\nDintzer to the latest critical essay which has issued from the German press, the\nreferences in the text to contemporary events or fashions of thought have been\ndetected ; the words of old or new coinage have been tested and classified; and\nthe obscure passages have received such a variety of interpretation, that they\nfinally grow clear again by the force of contrast.\n\nMy first intention was, to give the substance of German criticism concerning\nboth parts of Faust; but the further I advanced, the more unprofitable appeared\nsuch a plan. The work itself grew in clearness and coherence in proportion\nas I withdrew from the cloudy atmosphere of its interpreters. I have examined\nevery commentary of importance, from Schubarth (1820) and Hinrichs (1825)\nto Kreyssig (1866), with this advantage, at least, — that each and al] have led me\nback to find in the author of Faust his own best commentator. After making\nacquaintance, sometimes at the cost of much patience, with the theories of many\nsincere though self-asserting minds, and ascertaining what marvellous webs of\nmeaning may be spun by the critic around a point of thought, simple enough in\nits poetical sense, I have always returned to Goethe's other works, to his corre-\nspondence (especially with Schiller and Zelter) and his conversations, sure of\ngaining new light and refreshment.*\n\n* Tam glad to find that this method, drawn from my own experience, is substantially confirmed\nby Mr. Lewes, who, in his' Life of Goethe (Book VI.), says: Critics usually devote their whole\nattention to an exposition of the Idea of Faust; and it seems to me that in this laborious search\nafter a remote explanation they have overlooked the more obvious and natural explanation fur-\nnished by the work itself. The reader who has followed me thus far will be aware that I have\nlittle sympathy with that Philosophy of Art which consists in translating Art into Philosophy,\nand that I trouble myself, and him, very little with 'considerations on the Idea.' Experience tells\n\n310° Faust.\n\nI should only confuse the reader by attempting to set forth all the forms of\nintellectual, ethical, or theological significance which have been attached to the\ncharacters of Faust. The intention of the work, reduced to its simplest element,\nis easily grasped; but if every true poet builds larger than he knows, this\ndrama, completed by the slow accretion of sixty years of thought, may be as-\nsumed to have a vaster background of design, change, and reference than almost\nanything else in Literature. Like an old Gothic pile, its outline is sometimes\nobscured in a labyrinth of details, While, in the Notes which succeed, it will\nnow and then be necessary for me to give the conflicting interpretations, I shall\nendeavor to wander from the text as little as possible, and, even when dealing\nwith enigmas, to keep open a way past, if not through them. The embarrassing\nabundance of the material is somewhat diminished for me by the omission of all\ntechnical or philological criticism, and my chief task will be to distinguish be-\ntween those helps which all readers require and the points which are interesting\nonly to special students of the work.\n\nIn many instances, I have simply illustrated the text by parallel passages.\nWhere I have discovered these, in Goethe's works or correspondence, they have\noften been of service in suggesting (in the absence of any direct evidence) the\nprobable time when certain scenes were written, and thereby the interests or\ninfluences which may have then swayed the author's mind. The variation in\ntone between different parts of the work, though sometimes very delicate, is\nalways perceptible; and the reader to whom the original is an unknown tongue\nneeds all the side-lights which can be thrown upon its translated forms.\n\nThe * Paralipomena\" (Supplementary Fragments) to Faust have not hereto-\nfore been given by any English translator. Yet in a work of such importance\nwe may also learn from what the author has omitted, not less than from what he\nhas accepted. 'The variations made in his original design assist us to a clearer\ncomprehension of the design itself. I consider, therefore, that the passages of\nthe '' Paralipomena\" have, properly, the character of explanatory notes; and\nfor this reason I have inserted each, as nearly as possible, in its appropriate\nplace, instead of giving them in a body, as in the standard German edition of\nGoethe.\n\nPerhaps the most satisfactory commentary on Faust would be a biography of\nGoethe, written with special reference to this one work. In the Chronology\nof Faust (Appendix II.) I have given such particulars as are necessary to the\nillustration of its interrupted yet life-long growth. It has not been found pos-\n\nme that the Artists themselves had quite other objects in view than that of developing an Idea;\nand experience further says that the Artist's public is by no means primarily anxious about the\nIdea, but leaves it entirely to the critics, — who cannot agree upon the point among them-\nselves.\"\n\nNotes. | 311\n\nsible to combine the Notes and the Chronology without confusing the material ;\nyet the two should be taken as parallel explanations, which the reader needs to\nfollow at the same time. In conclusion, Jet me beg him not to be discouraged,\nif, on the first reading, the meaning of some passages, and their significance as\nportions of an ** incommensurable \" plan, — as Goethe himself characterized it,\n— should not be entirely clear. When he has become familiar with the history\nof the work, and is able to overlook it as a whole, the fitness — or the unfitness\n—of the multitude of parts becomes gradually evident; the compressed mean-\nings expand into breadth and distinctness; and even those enigmas which seem\nto defy an ultimate analysis will charm him by dissolving into new ones, or by\nshowing him forms of thought which fade and change as he seeks to retain\nthem. |\n\nDigitized by Google\n\nNOTES.\n\n1. DepICcATION.\n\nThe Dedication was certainly not\nwritten earlier than the year 1797,\nwhen Goethe, encouraged by Schiller's\nhearty interest in the work, determined\nto complete the '* Fragment\" of the\nFirst Part of Faust, published in 1790.\nTwenty-four years had _ therefore\nelapsed since the first scenes of the work\nwere written: the poet was forty-eight\nyears old, and the conceptions which\nhad haunted him in his twenty-first\nyear seemed already to belong to a dim\nand remote Past. The shadowy forms\nof the drama, which he again attempts\nto seize and hold, bring with them the\nphantoms of the friends to whom his\nearliest songs were sung. Of these\nfriends, his sister Cornelia, Merck,\nLenz, Basedow, and Gotter were dead ;\nKlopstock, Lavater, and the Stolbergs\nwere estranged ; and Jacobi, Klinger,\nKestner, and others were separated from\nhim by the circumstances of their lives.\n, Gotter died in March, 1797, and, as it is\nevident from Goethe's letters to Schiller\nthat he worked upon Faust only in the\nmonths of May and June, inthat year, the\nDedication was probably then written.\n\nNothing of Goethe has been more\nfrequently translated than these four\nstanzas,—-and nothing, I may add, is\nmore difficult to the translator.\n\n' 2, PRELUDE ON THE STAGE. \"\n\nI am unable to ascertain precisely\nwhen this was written: from Goethe's\ncorrespondence, some inferences, which\npoint to the year 1798, may be drawn.\nIt is unnecessary to follow the critics in\ntheir philosophical analyses of this pre-\nlude, which is sufficiently explained by\ncalling it a '* poetic preface\" to the\nwork. Géschen's edition of Goethe's\nworks, in 1790, had not been a success-\nful venture: the '¢ Fragment \" of Faust,\nalthough fully appreciated by the few,\nseemed to have made no impression upon\nthe public, while it had been assailed and\nridiculed by the author's many liter-\nary enemies. Goethe always published\nhis poctical works without a preface;\nbut in the \" Prelude on the Stage\" he\nmakes use of the characters to contrast\nthe Poet's purest activity with the tastes\nand desires of'the Public, two classes of\nwhich are represented by the Manager\nand Merry-Andrew. The dialogue in-\ndicates, in advance, the various elements\n\n— imagination, fancy, shrewd experi-\nence, folly, and '* dramatic nonsense \"\n—which will be woven into the work.\nAt the same time, it indirectly admits\nand accounts for the author's unpop-\nularity, and the lack of recognition\nwhich he still anticipates.\n\n3. The posts are set, the booth of boards\ncompleted.\n\nThe ' booth of boards\" purposely\nrefers to the rude, transportable pup-\npet theatres in which Goethe first saw\nFaust represented. There is already a\nforeshadowing of some of the qualities\nof Faust and Mephistopheles in the\nPoet and Manager.\n\n4. They come to look, and they prefer to\n\nStare.\n\nGoethe writes, in 1802 (* Weimari-\nscher Hoftheater\"): 'One can show\nthe public no greater respect than in\nforbearing to treat it as amob. The\nmob hurry unprepared to the theatre,\ndemand that which may be immediate-\nly enjoyed, desire to stare, be amazed,\nJaugh, weep, and therefore compel\nthe managers, who are dependent on\nthem, to descend more or less to their\nlevel.\"\n\n5- Who offers much, brings something\nunto many.\n\n'One should give his works the\ngreatest possible variety and excellence,\nso that each reader may be able to se-\nlect something for himself, and thus, in\nhis own way, become a participant.\"—\nGoethe to Schiller (1798).\n\nFaust.\n\n6. This, aged Sirs, belongs to you.\n\nIt is the Poets whom the Merry-An-\ndrew thus addresses. His assertion of\nthe perpetual youth of Genius is not\nironical, but (as appears from the Man-\nager's remarks) is intended as a compli-\nment.\n\n'*'To carry on the feelings of child-\nhood into the powers of manhood, to\ncombine the child's sense of wonder\nand novelty with the appearances which\nevery day, for perhaps forty years, had\nrendered familiar, —\n\n© Both sun and moon, and stars throughout the\nyear,\nAnd man and woman,' —\n\nthis is the character and privilege of\ngenius, and one of the marks which\ndistinguish genius from talent.\" —Co/e-\nridge.\n\n7. From Heaven, across the World, to\nHell.\n\nGoethe saysto Eckermann (in 1827):\n'© People come and ask, what idea I\nhave embodied in my Faust? As if\nI knew, myself, and could express it!\n'From Heaven, across the World, to\nHell' — that might answer, if need\nwere; but it is not an idea, only the\ncourse of the action.\"\n\nThe reference in this line, curiously\nenough, is to the course of action in the\nold Faust-Legend, not to the close of\nthe Second Part, the scene of which is\nlaid in Heaven, instead of Hell. Yet\nat the time when the line was written\nthe project of the Second Part—in\noutline, at least—was completed. Did\n\n. Notes.\n\nGoethe simply intend to keep his secret\nfrom the reader ?\n\n8. Protocve 1n HEaven.\n\nSome of Goethe's commentators sup-\npose that this Prologue was added by\nhim, from the circumstance that the de-\nsign of Faust was not understood, in\nthe **Fragment\" first published. It\nappears to have been written in June,\n1797, before the 'Prelude on the\nStage,\" and chiefly for the purpose of\nsetting forth the moral and intellectual\nproblem which underlies the drama.\nAlthough possibly suggested by the\nPrologue in Hell of two of the puppet-\nplays, its character is evidently drawn\nfrom the interviews of Satan with the\nLord, in the first and second chapters\nof Job. Upon this point, Goethe (in\n1825) said to Eckermann: ** My Me-\nphistopheles sings a song of Shakespeare ;\nand why should he not?) Why should\nI give myself the trouble to compose a\nnew song, when Shakespeare's was just\nthe right one, saying exactly what was\nnecessary? If, therefore, the scheme\nof my Faust has some resemblance to\nthat of Job, that is also quite right, and\nI should be praised rather than cen-\nsured on account of it.\"\n\nThe earnest reader will require no\nexplanation of the problem propound-\ned in the Prologue. Goethe states it\nwithout obscurity, and solves it in noun-\ncertain terms at the close of the Second\nPart. The mocking irreverence of Me-\nphistopheles, in the presence of the\nLord, although it belongs to the char-\nacter which he plays throughout, seems\n\nto have given some difficulty to the\nearly English translators. Lord Leve-\nson Gower terminates the Prologue\nwith the Chant of the Archangels;\nMr. Blackie omits it entirely, but adds\nit in an emasculated form, as an Ap-\npendix; while Dr. Anster satisfies his\nspirit of reverence by printing Der\nHerr where the English text requires,\n«©The Lord.\" Coleridge's charge of\n«' blasphemy \" evidently refers to this\nPrologue; but at the time when he\nmade the charge, Coleridge was hardly\ncapable of appreciating the spirit in\nwhich Faust was written.\n\nIt is very clear, from hints which\nGoethe let fall, that he at one time con-\ntemplated the introduction into Faust\nof the doctrine ascribed to Origen, —\nthat it was possible for Satan to repent\nand be restored to his former place\nas an angel of light. Falk reports\nGoethe as saying: * Yet even the clever\nMadame de Staél was greatly scandal-\nized that I kept the devil in such good-\nhumor. In the presence of God the\nFather, she insisted upon it, he ought\nto be more grim and spiteful. What\nwill she say if she sees him promoted\na step higher,—nay, perhaps, meets\nhim in heaven?\" On another occa-\nsion, he exclaimed (if we may trust\nFalk): 'At bottom, the most of us\ndo not know how either to love or\nto hate. They 'don't like' me! An\ninsipid phrase!—I don't like them\neither. Especially when, after my\ndeath, my Walpurgis-Sack comes to be\nopened, and all the tormenting Stygian\nspirits, imprisoned until then, shall be\n\nlet loose to plague all even as they\nplagued me; or if, in the continuation\nof Faust, they should happen to come\nupon a passage where the Devil him-\nself receives Grace and Mercy from\nGod, —that, I should say, they would\n\nnot soon forgive!\"\n\ng. CHANT oF THE ARCHANGELS.\n\nThe three Archangels advance in the\norder of their dignity, as it is given in the\n«© Celestial Hierarchy\" of Dionysius\nAreopagita ; who was also Dante's au-\nthority on this point (Paradiso, Canto\nXXVIII). Raphael, the inferior, com-\nmences, and Michael, the chief, closes\nthe chant.\n\nShelley speaks of this '¢ astonishing\nchorus,\" and very truly says: 'It is\nimpossible to represént in another lan-\nguage the melody of the versification :\neven the volatile strength and delicacy\nof the ideas escape in the crucible of\ntranslation, and the reader is surprised\nto find a caput mortuum.\"\n\nI shall not, however, imitate Shelley\nin adding a literal translation. Here,\nmore than in almost any other poem,\nthe words acquire a new and indescriba-\nble power from their rhythmical colloca-\ntion. The vast, wonderful atmosphere\nof space which envelops the lines could\nnot be retained in prose, however ad-\nmirably literal. 'The movement of the\noriginal is as important as its meaning.\nShelley's translation of the stanzas, how-\never, is preferable to Hayward's, which\ncontains five inaccuracies.\n\nThe magnificent word Donnergang —\n\"* thunder-march \" (first stanza, fourth\n\nFaust.\n\nline) —had already occurred in a fine\nline of one of Schiller's earliest poems,\n— ' Elysium\" :—\n\n\"Berge bebten unter dessen Donnergang.\"\n\n10. Pardon, this troop I cannot follow\n\nafter.\n\nMephistopheles here refers to the\nChant of the Archangels. His mock-\ning spirit is at once manifested in these\nlines, and in his ironical repetition of\n\"the earliest day.\"\n\n11. While Man's desires and aspira-\ntions stir,\n\nHe cannot choose but err.\n\nThe original of this is the single,\n\n- well-known line: Es irr? der Mensch,\n\nso lang er strebt. It has seemed to me\nimpossible to give the full meaning of\nthese words—that error is a natural\naccompaniment of the struggles and as-\npirations of Man—in a single line.\nHere, as in a few other places, I do not\nfeel bound to confine myself to the ex-\nact measure and limit of the original.\nThe reader may be interested in com-\nparing some other versions : —\n\nHaywarp.— Man is liable to error,\nwhile his struggle lasts.\n\nAnstrer.— Man's hour on Earth is\nweakness, error, strife.\n\nBrooxs.— Man errs and staggers\nfrom his birth.\n\nSwanwicx.— Man, while hestriveth,\n1s prone to err.\n\nBiackie.— Man must still err, so\nlong he strives.\n\nMartin. — Man, while his struggle\nlasts, is prone to stray.\n\nNotes.\n\nBeresForp.— Man errs as long as\nlasts his strife.\n\nBircu. — Man's prone to err in ac-\nquisition. (!)\n\nBiaze. — L'homme s'égare, tant qu'il\ncherche son but.\n\n12. 4 good man, through obscurest as-\npiration,\nHas still an instinct of the one true\nway.\n\nIn these lines the direction of the\nplot is indicated. They suggest, in\nadvance, its moral dénouement, at the\nclose of the Second Part. Goethe, on\none occasion, compared the * Prologue\nin Heaven\" to the overture of Mo-\nzart's Don Giovanni, in which a certain\nmusical phrase occurs which is not\nrepeated until the fiza/e; and his com-\nparison had reference to the idea ex-\npressed in these lines.\n\n13. But ye, God's sons in love and duty.\n\nHere the Lord, turning away from\nMephistopheles, suddenly addresses the\nArchangels and the Heavenly Hosts,\nThe expression Das Werdende, in the\nthird following line, which I have\ntranslated '* Creative Power,\" means,\nliterally, ''that which is developing\ninto being.\" Shelley, who was not,\nand did not pretend to be, a good Ger-\nman scholar, entirely misses the mean-\ning of the closing quatrain, notwith-\nstanding he avoids the rhymed transla-\ntion. His lines,\n\n\"Let that which ever operates and lives\n\nClasp you within the limits of its love;\n\nAnd seize with sweet and melancholy thought\nThe floating phantoms of its loveliness,\"\n\nhave nothing of the suggestive force and\nfulness of the original.\n\nHayward quotes, apparently from a\nprivate letter, Carlyle's interpretation\nof the passage: ' There is, clearly,\nno translating of these lines, especially\non the spur of the moment; yet It\nseems to me that the meaning of them\nis pretty distinct. 'The Lord has just\nremarked, that man (poor fellow) needs\na devil, as travelling companion, to spur\nhim on by means of Denial; where-\nupon, turning round (to the angels and\nother perfect characters), he adds, * But\nye, the genuine sons of Heaven, joy ye\nin the living fulness of the beautiful\n(not of the logical, practical, contradic-\ntory, wherein man toils imprisoned) :\nlet Being (or Existence), which is every-\nwhere a glorious birth, into higher be-\ning, as it forever works and lives, en-\ncircle you with the soft ties of love;\nand whatsoever wavers in the doubtful\nempire of appearance ' (as all earthly\nthings do), 'that do ye, by enduring\nthought, make firm.\" Thus would Das\nWerdende, the thing that is a-being,\nmean no less than the universe (the\nvisible universe) itself; and I para-\nphrase it by ' Existence, which is every-\nwhere a birth, into higher Existence,'\nand make a comfortable enough kind of\nsense out of that quatrain.\"\n\nThe intention of the passage, we\nmight suppose, is sufficiently clear. It\nwas Goethe's habit, as an author, to\nquietly ignore the conventional the-\nology of his day: yet Mr. Heraud in-\nsists that \"* The Lord\" of the Prologue\nis the Second Person of the Trinity,\n\nand that the four lines commencing with\nDas Werdende are simply another form\nof invoking 'the fellowship of the Holy\nGhost!\"\nthese lines—the first half implying a\nbenediction, and the second half a com-\nmand —has been retained in the trans-\nlation.\n\nThe unusual construction of\n\n14. Faust's Monologue.\n\nThis scene, from its commencement\nto the close of Wagner's interview with\nFaust, was probably written as early as\n1773. In style, as well as in substance,\nit suggests the puppet-play rather than\nthe published Faust legend. In Wabr-\nheit und Dichtung, Goethe says, in de-\nscribing his intercourse with Herder,\nin Strasburg (1770): ' The puppet-\nplay echoed and vibrated in many tones\nthrough my mind. I, also, had gone\nfrom one branch of knowledge to an-\nother, and was early enough convinced\nof the vanity of all. I had tried life\nin many forms, and the experience had\nleft me only the more unsatisfied and\nworried. I now carried these thoughts\nabout with me, and indulged myself in\nthem, in lonely hours, but without\ncommitting anything to writing. Most\nof all, I concealed from Herder my\nmystic-cabalistic chemistry, and every-\nthing connected with it.\"\n\n_ The text of various puppet-plays,\nwhich has been recovered by Simrock,\nVon der Hagen, and other zealous Ger-\nman scholars, enables us to detect the\nsource of Goethe's conception, — the\noriginal corner-stone whereupon he\nbuilded. In the play, as given in Ulm\n\n=\n\nFaust.\n\nand Strasburg, there is a brief Pro-\nlogue in Hell, in which Pluto orders\nthe temptation of Faust. Notwith-\nstanding the variation of the action in\nthe different plays, the opening scene\npossesses very much the same character\nin all of them. As performed by Schiitz,\nabout the beginning of this century,\nFaust is represented as seated ata table,\nupon which lies an open book. His\nsoliloquy commences thus: « With all\nmy learning, I, Johannes Faust, have\naccomplished just so much, that I must\nblush with self-shame. I am ridiculed\neverywhere, no one reads my books, all\ndespise me. How fain am I to be-\ncome more perfect! Therefore I am\nrigidly resolved to instruct myself in\nnecromancy.\"\n\nIn Geisselbrecht's puppet-play, Faust\nalso sits at a table and turns over the\nleaves of a book. He says: 'I seek\nfor learning in this book and cannot\nfind it. Though I study all books\nfrom end to end, I cannot discover the\ntouchstone of wisdom. O, how un-\nfortunate art thou, Faust! I have all\nalong thought that my luck must change,\nbut in vain..... O Fatherland! thus\nthou rewardest my industry, my labor,\nthe sleepless nights I have spent in\nfathoming the mysteries of Theology !\nBut, no! By Heaven, I will no longer\ndelay, I will take upon myself all labor,\nso that I may penetrate into that which\nis concealed, and fathom the mysteries\nof nature!\"\n\nIn the Augsburg puppet-play, Faust\nexclaims: '*I, too, have long investi-\ngated, have gone through all arts and\n\nNotes.\n\nsciences. I became a Theologian, con-\nsulted authorities, weighed all, tested\nall, — polemics, exegesis, dogmatism.\nAll was babble: nothing breathed of\nDivinity! I became a Jurist, endeav-\nored to become acquainted with Justice,\nand learned how to distort justice. I\nfound an idol, shaped by the hands of\nself-interest and self-conceit, a bastard\nof Justice, not herself. I becamea Phy-\nsician, intending to learn the human\nstructure, and the methods of support-\ning it when it gives way; but I found\nnot what I sought, —I only found the\nart of methodically murdering men. I\nbecame a Philosopher, desiring to know\nthe soul of man, to catch Truth by the\nwings and Wisdom by the forelock ;\n' and I found shadows, vapors, follies,\nbound into a system!\"\n\nThe reader is referred to the ' Faust-\nLegend\"? (Appendix I.) for further in-\nformation concerning these plays. I\nhave given the above quotations, to in-\ndicate Goethe's starting-point — which\nis also his point of divergence — from\nthe popular story. —\n\nI have also added the opening scene\nof Marlowe's ' Faustus\"? (Appendix\nIIT.) for the sake of convenient com-\nparison.\n\n15. Fh! Up, and seck the broad, free\nland !\n\n«* Moreover, there are forces which\nIncrease one's productiveness in rest\nand sleep; but they are also found in\nmovement. 'There are such forces in\nwater, and especially in the atmosphere.\nIn the fresh air of the open fields is\n\nwhere we properly belong; it is as if\nthe Spirit of God is there immedi-\nately breathed upon man, and a divine\npower exercises its influence over him.\"\n\n— Goethe to Eckermann (1828).\n%\n16. From Nostradamus' very band,\n\nThe astrologer Nostradamus (whose\nreal name was Michel de Notre-Dame)\n«was born at St. Remy, in Provence, in\nthe year 1503. At first celebrated asa\n\nphysician, he finally devoted himself to\n\nastrology, and published, in 1555, a\ncollection of prophecies in rhymed\nquatrains, entitled Les Prophecies de\nMichel Nostradamus, which created an\nimmediate sensation, and found many\nbelievers; especially as the death of\nHenry II. of France seemed to verify\none of his mystical predictions. He\nwas appointed physician to Charles IX.\nand continued the publication of his\nprophecies, asserting, however, that the\nstudy of the planetary aspects was not\nalone sufficient, but that the gift of\nsecond-sight, which God grants only to\na few chosen persons, is also necessary.\nHe died in the year 1566; and even as\nlate as the year 1781 his prophecies\nwere included in the Roman Index Ex-\npurgatorius, for the reason that they de-\nclare the downfall of the Papacy.\n\n17. The Sign of the Macrocosm.\n\nThe term '* Macrocosm\" was used\nby Pico di Mirandola, Paracelsus, and\nother mystical writers, to denote the\nuniverse. They imagined a mysteri-\nous correspondence between the Mac-\nrocosm (the world in large) and the\n\nMicrocosm (the world in little), or\nMan; and most of the astrological\ntheories were based on the influence of\nthe former upon the latter. Fromsome\nof Goethe's notes, still in existence, we\nlearn that during the time®when the\nconception of Faust first occupied his\nmind (1770-73), he read Welling's\nOpus Mago-Cabbalisticum, Paracelsus,\nValentinus, the Aurea Catena Homeri,\nand even the Latin poet Manilius.\n\nMr. Blackie, in his Notes, quotes a\ndescription of the Macrocosm from a\nLatin work of Robert Fludd, published\nat Oppenheim in 1619; but the theory\nhad already been given inthe Heptap/us\nof Pico di Mirandola (about 1490).\nThe universe, according to him, con-\nsists of three worlds, the earthly, the\nheavenly, and the super-heavenly. The\nfirst includes our planet and its envelop-\ning space, as far as the orbit of the\nmoon; the second, the sun and stars;\nthe third, the governing Divine influ-\nences. 'The same phenomena belong\nto each, but have different grades of\nmanifestation. 'Thus the physical ele-\nment of fire exists in the earthly sphere,\nthe warmth of the sun in the heavenly,\nand a seraphic, spiritual fire in the em-\npyrean; the first burns, the second\nquickens, the third loves. 'In addi-\ntion to these three worlds (the Macro-\ncosm),\"\" says Pico, '*there is a fourth\n(the Microcosm), containing all em-\nbraced within them. This is Man, in\nwhom are included a body formed of\nthe elements, a heavenly spirit, reason,\nan angelic soul, and a resemblance to\nGod.\"\n\nFaust.\n\nThe work of Cornelius Agrippa,\nDe Occulta Philosopbia, which was also\nknown to Goethe, contains many refer-\nences to these three divisions of the\nMacrocosm, and their reciprocal influ-\nences. 'The latter are described in the\npassage commencing: '* How each the\nWhole its substance gives!\"\n\nHayward quotes, as explanatory of\nthese lines, the following sentence from\nHerder's Ideen zur Philosophie der Ge-\nschichte der Menschbeit: «When, there-\nfore, I open the great book of Heaven,\nand see before me this measureless pal-\nace, which alone, and everywhere, the\nGodhead only has power to fill, I con-\nclude, as undistractedly as I can, from\nthe whole to the particular, and from\nthe particular to the whole.\"\n\nThe four lines which Faust appar-\nently quotes (\"What says the sage,\nnow first I recognize'') are not from\nNostradamus. They may possibly have\nbeen suggested by something in Jacob\nBoehme's first work, \" Aurora, or the\nRising Dawn,\" but it is not at all ne-\ncessary that they should be an actual\nquotation.\n\n18. The Sign of the Earth Spirit.\n\n«©The Archzus of the Orphic doc-\ntrine, the spirit of the elementary world,\nof the powerful, multiformed earthly\nuniverse, to which Faust feels himself\nnearer.\" — Diantzer.\n\n«The mighty and multiform uni-\nversality of the Earth itself.\" —\nFalk.\n\n*«