[Enter Mephistopheles.]

MEPHISTOPHELES: As thou, O Lord, once more art kind enough To interest Thyself in our affairs, And ask, ‘How goes it with you there below?’ And as indulgently at other times Thou tookest not my visits in ill part, Thou seest me here once more among Thy household. Though I should scandalize this company, You will excuse me if I do not talk In the high style which they think fashionable; My pathos certainly would make You laugh too, Had You not long since given over laughing. Nothing know I to say of suns and worlds; I observe only how men plague themselves;— The little god o’ the world keeps the same stamp, As wonderful as on creation’s day:— A little better would he live, hadst Thou Not given him a glimpse of Heaven’s light Which he calls reason, and employs it only To live more beastlily than any beast. With reverence to Your Lordship be it spoken, He’s like one of those long-legged grasshoppers, Who flits and jumps about, and sings for ever The same old song i’ the grass. There let him lie, Burying his nose in every heap of dung.

NOTES: _38 certainly would editions 1839; would certainly 1824. _47 beastlily 1824; beastily editions 1839.

THE LORD: Have you no more to say? Do you come here Always to scold, and cavil, and complain? Seems nothing ever right to you on earth?

MEPHISTOPHELES: No, Lord! I find all there, as ever, bad at best. Even I am sorry for man’s days of sorrow; I could myself almost give up the pleasure Of plaguing the poor things.

THE LORD: Knowest thou Faust?

MEPHISTOPHELES: The Doctor?

THE LORD: Ay; My servant Faust.

MEPHISTOPHELES: In truth He serves You in a fashion quite his own; And the fool’s meat and drink are not of earth. His aspirations bear him on so far That he is half aware of his own folly, For he demands from Heaven its fairest star, And from the earth the highest joy it bears, Yet all things far, and all things near, are vain To calm the deep emotions of his breast.

THE LORD: Though he now serves Me in a cloud of error, I will soon lead him forth to the clear day. When trees look green, full well the gardener knows That fruits and blooms will deck the coming year.

MEPHISTOPHELES: What will You bet?—now am sure of winning— Only, observe You give me full permission To lead him softly on my path.

THE LORD: As long As he shall live upon the earth, so long Is nothing unto thee forbidden—Man Must err till he has ceased to struggle.

MEPHISTOPHELES: Thanks. And that is all I ask; for willingly I never make acquaintance with the dead. The full fresh cheeks of youth are food for me, And if a corpse knocks, I am not at home. For I am like a cat—I like to play A little with the mouse before I eat it.

THE LORD: Well, well! it is permitted thee. Draw thou His spirit from its springs; as thou find’st power Seize him and lead him on thy downward path; And stand ashamed when failure teaches thee That a good man, even in his darkest longings, Is well aware of the right way.

MEPHISTOPHELES: Well and good. I am not in much doubt about my bet, And if I lose, then ’tis Your turn to crow; Enjoy Your triumph then with a full breast. Ay; dust shall he devour, and that with pleasure, Like my old paramour, the famous Snake.

THE LORD: Pray come here when it suits you; for I never Had much dislike for people of your sort. And, among all the Spirits who rebelled, The knave was ever the least tedious to Me. The active spirit of man soon sleeps, and soon He seeks unbroken quiet; therefore I Have given him the Devil for a companion, Who may provoke him to some sort of work, And must create forever.—But ye, pure Children of God, enjoy eternal beauty;— Let that which ever operates and lives Clasp you within the limits of its love; And seize with sweet and melancholy thoughts The floating phantoms of its loveliness.