150 Wer fertig ist, dem ist nichts recht zu machen; Ein Werdender wird immer dankbar sein. Dichter. So gieb mir auch die Zeiten wieder, Da Nebel mir die Welt verhüllten, 160 Ich hatte nichts, und doch genug! Den Drang nach Wahrheit und die Luft am Trug. Gieb ungebändigt jene Triebe, Das tiefe schmerzenvolle Glück, Des Hasses Kraft, die Macht der Liebe, Gieb meine Jugend mir zurück! Tuftige Person. Der Jugend, guter Freund, bedarfst du allenfalls, Wenn mit Gewalt an deinen Hals Sich allerliebste Mädchen hängen, Und wir verehren euch darum nicht minder. 180 Das Alter macht nicht kindisch, wie man spricht, Es findet uns nur noch als wahre Kinder. Director. Der Worte sind genug gewechselt, Laßt mich auch endlich Thaten sehn! Was hilft es, viel von Stimmung reden? 190 Euch ist bekannt, was wir bedürfen, Wir wollen stark Getränke schlürfen; Was heute nicht geschieht, ist morgen nicht gethan, Das Mögliche soll der Entchluß Beherzt sogleich beim Schopfe fassen, Ihr wißt, auf unsern deutschen Bühnen 200 Probirt ein jeder, was er mag; Drum schonet mir an diesem Tag PROLOGUE IN HEAVEN. The three Archangels advance in the order of their dignity. Raphael, the inferior, leads the chant in praise of the sun; Gabriel sings of the revolving earth, its day and night and tides; while Michael, the chief, celebrates the lightning and the thunder, and their all-pervading power; the three then unite to hymn the unfathomable greatness of God, the source of their strength, and the enduring excellence of his works. The spirit of the whole chant may perhaps be best summed up by the verse of the Canticle, "O all ye works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord, praise Him and magnify Him for ever." Its effect is heightened by the speech of Mephistopheles which immediately follows it. He addresses the Lord in a tone of impudent banter, apologising for his own homely words as compared with the Archangels' hymn., He cannot talk of sun and moon, but only of man, the little god of the world; him he finds as odd as he was on the morning of creation; the very gift of reason is his curse, in that he uses it to be more brutish than the brutes; he is like a restless grasshopper, ever up and down, and meddles with all the filth he can find. The Lord thereupon reproves Mephistopheles for his neverending complaints and discontent, to which the latter rejoins that he is really sorry for suffering mankind, and that even he has hardly the heart to plague them. In answer to the query whether he knows Faust, the Lord's servant, he replies that Faust's service is of the strangest sort, that the poor fool hardly belongs to earth, that he is the victim of "Gährung in die Ferne," ever reaching after that which is beyond his reach, and ever unsatisfied. The Lord replies that though Faust's course may be for a time devious, yet that he will finally be brought to the light; whereupon Mephistopheles offers to wager that if he be permitted to lead Faust gently along his path, Faust will be lost to Heaven. Leave is given to Mephistopheles to make the attempt, the time of trial to extend over the whole of Faust's life on earth, and the Lord proclaims that in the end Mephistopheles will be compelled to confess that a good man, though he may grope on long in darkness, never really loses his sense of the right way. Mephistopheles, on the other hand, rejoices at the prospect, if not of ultimate triumph, at any rate of making Faust eat dust and enjoy it. The 13 Lord then explains, firstly, the presence of Mephistopheles in Heaven, and secondly, the permission He has just granted. Mephistopheles is a "Schalf," and the "Schalf” is the least offensive of all the spirits who deny. Faust is a man, and a man needs the spur of some such companion as Mephistopheles to keep his less strenuous nature from relaxing. But the heavenly host, the true sons of God, will find their delight in the pursuit and contemplation of the never-ceasing activity and growth of the universe, and will confirm and stablish with their steadfast thoughts its fleeting and changing semblances. Here Heaven closes, the Archangels separate, and the Prologue concludes with an irreverent remark of Mephistopheles as to the pleasure it affords him to pay an occasional visit to the court of Heaven, and his appreciation of the condescension of the Lord in deigning to converse with him. Prolog im Himmel. Der Herr, die himmlischen Heerschaaren, nachher Die drei Erzengel treten vor. Die Sonne tönt nach alter Weise Gabriel. Und schnell und unbegreiflich schnelle Es schäumt das Meer in breiten Flüssen Am tiefen Grund der Felsen auf, Und Stürme brausen um die Wette, Vom Meer aufs Land, vom Land aufs Meer, 20 Der tiefsten Wirkung rings umher. Der Anblick giebt den Engeln Stärke, Sind herrlich, wie am ersten Tag. Mephistopheles. Da du, o Herr, dich einmal wieder nahst, Ich sehe nur, wie sich die Menschen plagen. Der kleine Gott der Welt bleibt stets von gleichem Schlag 40 Und ist so wunderlich, als wie am ersten Tag. Ein wenig besser würd' er leben, |