Authors: J. W. von Goethe,David Luke
7190
MEPHISTOPHELES
. You’d once have cursed these creatures, I must say;
Now you’re in need of them, it seems.
When lovers seek the object of their dreams,
They welcome even monsters on the way.
FAUST
[
to
THE SPHINXES]
.
You who are women, you must tell me true:
Has Helena been seen by one of you?
THE SPHINXES
. We’re not her period: long before her birth
Hercules slew the last Sphinx left on earth.
Ask Chiron:
*
on this ghostly night
He’s galloping around—perhaps he might
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Consent to stop, then he will put you right.
THE SIRENS
. We wish you success as well!
Ulysses? He did not spurn
Our green shore, but stayed to learn
Many a tale he would retell.
Come with us, to where the wide
Sea-waves roll, and we shall hide
Nothing that you long to hear!
A SPHINX
. Scorn, noble stranger, these false hopes.
As Ulysses was bound by ropes,
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By our good counsels now be bound:
Great Chiron’s words, when you have found
Him, they will satisfy your ear.
[Exit
FAUST.]
MEPHISTOPHELES
[
in annoyance]
.
What’s this now, croaking, winging past?
They can’t be seen, they move so fast,
All of them following beak to tail.
Here even a huntsman’s skill would fail.
A SPHINX
. Like winter storms that scour the sky
The Stymphalids come rushing by;
Hercules’ arrows they outfly.
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They have hawks’ beaks, they have goose-feet.
With well-meant croak they try to greet
Their cousins—for we count as such;
They seem to want to keep in touch.
MEPHISTOPHELES
[
nervously]
.
There’s something else, I hear it hissing.
A SPHINX
. The heads of the Lernaean Snake—
You needn’t be alarmed, the rump is missing,
Though they still think they’re on the make.
But tell us, why this agitation?
What, sir, is now your destination?
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What’s to become of you? Why don’t
You go?… You crane your neck—you want
To join that chorus over there. Feel free
To do so! Greet that charming company,
The Lamiae—subde little tarts
With smiling mouths and shameless arts
Such as the satyrs like, designed
To please your lustful goat-foot kind.
MEPHISTOPHELES
. But you will stay here? We shall meet again?
THE SPHINXES
. Yes! By all means, mix with that airy throng.
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We are from Egypt, and our kind has long
Been used to its millennial reign.
And you must honour us: we calculate
The cycles of the sun, and the moon’s state.
Judges over nations, thus
By the pyramids we sit;
Wars, floods, peace—we watch it pass,
Never blink an eye at it.
The river-god is surrounded by tributary streams and nymphs
]
PENEUS
. Gently stir, you whispering rushes,
Reeds, my sisters, make a breeze!
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Rustle lightly, willow-bushes,
Lisp, you trembling poplar-trees,
To my interrupted dream!…
For a fearful tremor wakes me,
A mysterious motion shakes me
From my wandering slumber-stream.
FAUST
[
coming to the river’s edge]
. Leaves and branches interwound,
Arbour-like, and murmuring,
If I hear aright, with sound
As when human voices sing.
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Are the wavelets not like speech,
Breezes fondling each and each?
NYMPHS
[
to
FAUST]
.
Oh come and lie down
In this coolness, refreshed
From your weariness, come,
For our counsel is best:
In this place you shall find
Your lost peace of mind;
Our murmuring, our whispering
Shall lull you to rest.
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FAUST
. A waking vision!—Linger there,
Oh you sweet forms beyond compare,
Projected by my longing eyes!
What is this joy that fills me so?
I have once felt it, long ago:
Are these now dreams, or memories?
How fresh the leaves that gently move
On the dense bushes! Through this grove
Scarce-rippling streamlets steal their way
From all around; that shallow pool
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Unites a hundred springs, so cool
And clean, and there the maidens play!
Young healthy limbs, all mirrored clear
In the moist surface, so that here
My gaze redoubles its delight.
They bathe, a happy company;
The bold swim, some wade cautiously;
All ends in a shrill watery fight.
With these my eyes should drink their fill,
My mind should be content: but still
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It seeks what I have not yet seen.
My gaze would pierce that leafy wall,
That ring of verdure rich and tall,
That veil which hides the lofty queen.
And how strange! Now swans are coming,
From the streams and inlets swimming;
How majestically they drift!
Graceful, pure, in a gregarious
Motion, yet with calm self-glorious
Pride, as heads and beaks they lift…
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One alone, with swelling breast,
Seems serene above the rest,
Bold and swift his course prevails:
Plumage puffing and subsiding
Like the wave-tops he is riding,
To that holy place he sails …
The other swans swim to and fro,
Calmly their brilliant feathers glow,
But then in warlike style they tease
The maidens, and those timid beauties
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Are soon forgetful of their duties
As each her own pursuer flees.
NYMPHS
. Sisters, listen, lay an ear
To the river-bank’s green ground!
If I hear aright, the sound
Of a horse’s hooves draws near.
Who is this that gallops past,
Rides tonight with news so fast?
FAUST
. On the earth I hear a drumming
As of hurried hoof-beats coming.
7320
Far off I see
Good luck approaching me:
Can this already be
My wondrous destiny?
It is a horseman; I can tell
That he is bold and wise as well.
The steed he rides is gleaming white…
I recognize him—I am right—
Philyra’s great and famous son!—
Stop, Chiron, stop! I have to speak to you…
7330
CHIRON
. What’s this? who? what?
FAUST
. Tame your wild pace
CHIRON
. I run
And never rest.
FAUST
. Then take me with you too!
CHIRON
. Jump up! Now I can ask you freely: where
Do you want to go? On the Peneus’ banks
I find you: we can cross if you prefer.
FAUST
[
mounting]
.
I will go where you like! Eternal thanks!…
Great, noble man, you who have won such fame
As mentor to so many heroes—need I name
The Argonauts’ prestigious company,
And all who built the world of poets’ fantasy!
7340
CHIRON
. Well, let that rest. Small credit even the wise
Athene gets in her tutorial guise;
One’s pupils all just end as each is fated,
You’d never know they had been educated.
FAUST
. The learned healer, every plant you know
By name, and how its deep roots grow;
You soothe the wounded, heal the sick—and here
I may embrace such strength, a mind so clear!
CHIRON
. I treated many an injured friend
In battle, helped them to recover;
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But I gave up my practice in the end—
The witches and the priests took over.
FAUST
. You act as truly great men do,
Disclaiming praise that is your due;
With an evasive modesty you speak,
Pretending you are not unique.
CHIRON. YOU
do a wily flatterer’s job;
You’d please a prince or rouse a mob.
FAUST
. Admit to me at least and say:
You saw the noblest heroes of your day—
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You longed for great deeds; how austere your life,
A demigod’s, an emulating strife!—
Say now, of all those valiant men you knew,
Which of them seemed the worthiest to you?
CHIRON
. The Argonauts—all were magnificent;
But in his own way each was excellent,
Inspired by some particular energy,
Outstanding in some special quality
The others lacked. Zeus’s Celestial Twins
*
Were always first where youthful beauty wins
7370
Renown; when swift resolve and help were needed,
The winged Boreads all the rest exceeded;
Jason led well, sagacious, strong, and wise
In councils, and he pleased all women’s eyes;
The contemplative tender Orpheus played
His lyre, and all with wonder were dismayed;
Steered by far-sighted Lynceus, night and day
The sacred ship pursued its perilous way.
Danger faced with companions—that’s the test:
When one acts, and earns praise from all the rest.
7380
FAUST
. And Hercules—did he not play a part?
CHIRON
. Oh, do not stir that passion in my heart!..
Apollo I had never met,
Nor what’s their names, Ares or Hermes yet,
When suddenly these eyes of mine
Beheld one whom mankind hail as divine.
Oh, he was born a king, and he
Grew up a youth most beautiful;
Yet humbly did his elder brother’s will
And served fair women most devotedly.
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Earth will not bear his like again,
Nor Hebe carry heavenwards
Another such. Vain here are poets’ words,
And sculptors hack their stones in vain.
FAUST
. Yet in your own words he is most
Alive, for all the sculptors’ boast.
Now of the finest man I’ve heard from you:
Describe the loveliest woman too!
CHIRON
. What!… Female beauty’s a mere mask,
Too often formal, cold and dead.
7400
Give me a living fountain-head
Of lively appetite for life, that’s what I ask!
Beauty remains serene and self-sufficing:
But grace is irresistibly enticing.
As Helen was, when once she rode me.
FAUST
. You carried her?
CHIRON
. Yes, she bestrode me.
FAUST
. Oh, am I not enough confused
With joy! The very seat she used!
CHIRON
. Indeed, and by the hair she grasped me tight,
As you are doing.
FAUST
. Oh delight
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Beyond endurance! Tell me, how—
She is my only passion now!—
When did she ride you, where and why?
CHIRON
. That I can answer easily.
It was when bandits took her prisoner;
The Twins
*
came to her rescue. But those men,
Unused to such defeats, gave chase again
With renewed rage, nearly recapturing her:
She and her brothers faltered in mid course
At the Eleusinian swamp; I got across
7420
Splashing and swimming, the Twins waded; then
She jumped down, stroked my mane, all wet
It was, and thanked me; how can I forget
Her charming self-assurance, and how wise
Her sweet youth was, what joy to my old eyes!
FAUST
. A little girl of ten!…
CHIRON
. You, I perceive,
Are misled by those scholars’ make-believe.
Mythical woman is a special case:
The poets freely choose her changing face.
She never need grow up, grow old,
7430
Or lose her looks; abducted, so we’re told,
As a young girl, wooed as an aged crone.
In short, the bard’s not bound by time—he makes his own.
FAUST
. So let it be with her: let no time bind her!
On Pherae
*
did not great Achilles find her,
Himself being outside time? What strange delight,
To win such love, defying fate’s dark might!
And shall I not, by passion’s power, draw
Back into life that unique form I saw?
Eternal, godlike being, tender as she
7440
Is noble, lovely in her sublimity!
You saw her once—I have seen her
today
;
She charms my eyes, she charms my heart away,
She rules me now, my fixed, my guiding star:
I cannot live till I find Helena!
CHIRON
. My dear sir, as a man you are entranced;
As spirits, we should call it an advanced
State of derangement. Luckily for you
It is my annual habit, for a few
Moments, to visit Manto: she’s the daughter
7450
Of Aesculapius. Silently she prays
To him that doctors in these latter days
May at last do him honour, mend their ways
And darkened minds, and cease their insolent slaughter