Faust [part 1]. Translated Into English in the Original Metres · Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
MEPHISTOPHELES
(_In_ FAUST’S _long mantle_.) Reason and Knowledge only thou despise, The highest strength in man that lies! Let but the Lying Spirit bind thee With magic works and shows that blind thee, And I shall have thee fast and sure!— Fate such a bold, untrammelled spirit gave him, As forwards, onwards, ever must endure; Whose over-hasty impulse drave him Past earthly joys he might secure. Dragged through the wildest life, will I enslave him, Through flat and stale indifference; With struggling, chilling, checking, so deprave him That, to his hot, insatiate sense, The dream of drink shall mock, but never lave him: Refreshment shall his lips in vain implore— Had he not made himself the Devil’s, naught could save him, Still were he lost forevermore! (_A_ STUDENT _enters_.) A short time, only, am I here, And come, devoted and sincere, To greet and know the man of fame, Whom men to me with reverence name. Your courtesy doth flatter me: You see a man, as others be. Have you, perchance, elsewhere begun? Receive me now, I pray, as one Who comes to you with courage good, Somewhat of cash, and healthy blood: My mother was hardly willing to let me; But knowledge worth having I fain would get me. Then you have reached the right place now. I’d like to leave it, I must avow; I find these walls, these vaulted spaces Are anything but pleasant places. Tis all so cramped and close and mean; One sees no tree, no glimpse of green, And when the lecture-halls receive me, Seeing, hearing, and thinking leave me.
All that depends on habitude. So from its mother’s breasts a child At first, reluctant, takes its food, But soon to seek them is beguiled. Thus, at the breasts of Wisdom clinging, Thou’lt find each day a greater rapture bringing. I’ll hang thereon with joy, and freely drain them; But tell me, pray, the proper means to gain them. Explain, before you further speak, The special faculty you seek. I crave the highest erudition; And fain would make my acquisition All that there is in Earth and Heaven, In Nature and in Science too. Here is the genuine path for you; Yet strict attention must be given. Body and soul thereon I’ll wreak; Yet, truly, I’ve some inclination On summer holidays to seek A little freedom and recreation.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.