The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Volume 01 · Chapter 81Great Fore-Court of the Palace
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Torches
MEPHISTOPHELES (as overseer leading the way)
This way! this way! Come on! come on! Le Lemures, loose of tether, Of tendon, sinew, and of bone, Half natures, patched together!
LEMURES (in chorus)
At thy behest we're here at hand; Thy destined aim half guessing— It is that we a spacious land May win for our possessing. Sharp-pointed stakes we bring with speed, Long chains wherewith to measure. But we've forgotten why indeed To call us was thy pleasure.
No artist-toil we need today: Sufficeth your own measure here: At his full length the tallest let him lay! Ye others round him straight the turf uprear; As for our sires was done of yore, An oblong square delve ye once more. Out of the palace to the narrow home— So at the last the sorry end must come!
LEMURES (digging, with mocking gestures)
In youth when I did live and love, Methought, it was very sweet! Where frolic rang and mirth was rife, Thither still sped my feet.
Now with his crutch hath spiteful age Dealt me a blow full sore: I stumbled o'er a yawning grave, Why open stood the door!
FAUST (comes forth from the palace, groping his way by the door posts)
How doth the clang of spades delight my soul! For me my vassals toil, the while Earth with itself they reconcile, The waves within their bounds control, And gird the sea with stedfast zone—
MEPHISTOPHELES (aside)
And yet for us dost work alone, While thou for dam and bulwark carest; Since thus for Neptune thou preparest, The water-fiend, a mighty fête; Before thee naught but ruin lies; The elements are our allies; Onward destruction strides elate.
Inspector!
Here.
As many as you may, Bring crowds on crowds to labor here; Them by reward and rigor cheer; Persuade, entice, give ample pay! Each day be tidings brought me at what rate The moat extends which here we excavate.
MEPHISTOPHELES (half aloud)
They speak, as if to me they gave Report, not of a moat—but of a grave.[36]
A marsh along the mountain chain Infecteth what's already won; Also the noisome pool to drain— My last, best triumph then were won: To many millions space I thus should give, Though not secure, yet free to toil and live; Green fields and fertile; men, with cattle blent, Upon the newest earth would dwell content, Settled forthwith upon the firm-based hill, Up-lifted by a valiant people's skill; Within, a land like Paradise; outside, E'en to the brink, roars the impetuous tide, And as it gnaws, striving to enter there, All haste, combined, the damage to repair. Yea, to this thought I cling, with virtue rife, Wisdom's last fruit, profoundly true: Freedom alone he earns as well as life, Who day by day must conquer them anew. So girt by danger, childhood bravely here, Youth, manhood, age, shall dwell from year to year; Such busy crowds I fain would see, Upon free soil stand with a people free; Then to the moment might I say; Linger awhile, so fair thou art! Nor can the traces of my earthly day Through ages from the world depart! In the presentiment of such high bliss, The highest moment I enjoy—'tis this.
(FAUST sinks back, the LEMURES lay hold of him and lay him upon the ground.)
* * * * *
[Footnote 1: For lack of space, scientists and historians have been excluded.]
[Footnote 2: The chief original sources for the life of Goethe are his own autobiographic writings, his letters, his diaries, and his conversations. Of the autobiographic writings the most important are (1) Poetry and Truth from my Life, which ends with the year 1775; (2) Italian Journey, covering the period from September, 1786, to June, 1788; (3) Campaign in France and Siege of Antwerp, dealing with episodes of the years 1792 and 1793; (4) Annals (Tag- und Jahreshefte), which are useful for his later years down to 1823. His letters, forty-nine volumes in all, and his diaries, thirteen volumes, are included in the great Weimar edition of Goethe's works. His conversations, so far as they were recorded, have been well edited by W. von Biedermann, ten volumes, Leipzig, 1889-1896.]
[Footnote 3: This earlier version was long supposed to be lost, but in 1910 a copy of the original manuscript was discovered at Zürich and published. Its six books correspond very nearly to the first four of the final version.]
[Footnote 4: Translator: Charles Wharton Stork.]
[Footnote 5: Adapted from E.A. Bowring.]
[Footnote 6: Translator: E.A. Bowring. (All poems in this section translated by E.A. Bowring, W.E. Aytoun and Theodore Martin appear by permission of Thomas Y. Crowell & Co.)]
[Footnote 7: Translator: E.A. Bowring.]
[Footnote 8: Adapted from E. A. Bowring.]
[Footnote 9: Translator: E. A. Bowring.]
[Footnote 10: Translator: E.A. Bowring.]
[Footnote 11: Translator: E. A. Bowring.]
[Footnote 12: Translator: E. A. Bowring.]
[Footnote 13: Translator: E. A. Bowring.]
[Footnote 14: Translator: E.A. Bowring.]
[Footnote 15: Translator: E. A. Bowring.]
[Footnote 16: Translator: E.A. Bowring.]
[Footnote 17: W.E. Aytoun and Theodore Martin.]
[Footnote 18: Translator: A.I. du P. Coleman.]
[Footnote 19: Translators: W.E. Aytoun and Theodore Martin.]
[Footnote 20: Translators: W. E. Aytoun and Theodore Martin.]
[Footnote 21: The title of a lyric piece composed by Schiller in honor of the marriage of the hereditary prince of Weimar to the Princess Maria of Russia, and performed in 1804.]
[Footnote 22: Translator: E. A. Bowring.]
[Footnote 23: Translation: E. A. Bowring.]
[Footnote 24: Translator: E. A. Bowring.]
[Footnote 25: Translator: A. I. du P. Coleman.]
[Footnote 26: Translator: A. I. du P. Coleman.]
[Footnote 27: Translator: E. A. Bowring.]
[Footnote 28: Translator: A. I. du P. Coleman.]
[Footnote 29: Translator: E.A. Bowring.]
[Footnote 30: Translator: A. L. du P. Coleman.]
[Footnote 31: Harvard Classics (Copyright P. F. Collier & Son).]
[Footnote 32: Harvard Classics (Copyright P. F. Collier & Son).]
[Footnote 33: Permission The Macmillan Co., New York, and G. Bell & Sons, Ltd., London.]
[Footnote 34: Permission The Macmillan Co., New York, and G. Bell and Sons, Ltd., London.]
[Footnote 35: Not and Tod, the German equivalents for Need and Death, form a rhyme. As this cannot be rendered in English, I have introduced a slight alteration into my translation.]
[Footnote 36: The play of words contained in the original cannot be reproduced in translation, the German for Moat being Graben, and for grave Grab.]