Act II: Classical Walpurgis-Night — Rocky Coves of the Aegean Sea Faust, Part 2

ROCKY COVES OF THE AGEAN SEA.®
The Moon delaying in the Zenith.

SIRENS
(couched upon the cliffs around, fluting and singing).

HOUGH erewhile, by spells nocturnal,
Thee Thessalian hags infernal

Downward drew, with guilt intended, —
Look, from where thine arch is bended,
On the multitudinous, splendid
Twinkles of the billowy Ocean!
Shine upon the throngs in motion
O’er the waters, wild and free!
To thy service vowed are we:

Fairest Luna, gracious be!

NEREIDS AND I RITONS
(as Wonders of the Sea).

Call with clearer, louder singing,
Through the Sea’s broad bosom ringing,
Call the tenants of the Deep!

When the storm swept unimpeded

We to stillest depths receded ;

Forth at sound of song we leap.

See! delighted and elated,

We ourselves have decorated,

With our golden crowns have crowned us,
With our spangled girdles bound us,
Chains and jewels hung around us!

All are spoils which you purvey !
Treasures, here in shipwreck swallowed,
You have lured, and we have followed

You, the Demons of our bay.

SIRENS.

In the crystal cool, delicious, 1
Smoothly sport the happy fishes, |
Pliant lives that nothing mar ;

Yet, ye festive crowds that gather,

We, to-day, would witness, rather,

That ye more than fishes are.

NEREIDS AND I RITONS.

We, before we hither wandered,

Thoroughly the question pondered :

Sisters, Brothers, speed afar !
Briefest travel, light endurance,
Yield the validest assurance

That we more than fishes are.

SIRENS.
Off! they have left the place,

Steering away to Samothrace,?!

Vanished with favoring wind.

[ They depart.

What is their purpose there, in the dreary

Domain of the lofty Cabiri?

Gods are they, but the strangest crew,

Ever begetting themselves anew,

And unto their own being blind.

In thy meridian stay,
Luna! — graciously delay,

That the Night still embrace us,

And the Day not chase us!

Act LT. 201

THALES
(on the shore, to Homuncutus).

I fain would lead thee unto Nereus old.
Not distant are we from his cavern cold,
But stubbornness is his delight,

The peevish and repulsive wight.
Howe’er the human race has tried,

The Grumbler ’s never satisfied :

Yet he the Future hath unsealed,

And men thereto their reverence yield,
And give him honor in his station.

Many his benefits have tasted.

HomuNCcUuLUS.

Then let us try, without more hesitation!

My glass and flame will not at once be wasted.

NEREwsS.

Are human voices those that reach mine ear?

At once my wrath is kindled, keen and clear.
Aspiring forms, that high as Gods would ramble,
Yet ever damned their own selves to resemble.
In ancient years could I divinely rest,

Yet was impelled to benefit the Best ;

And when, at last, I saw my deeds completed,

It fully seemed as were the work defeated.

THALES.
And yet we trust thee, Graybeard of the Sea!
Thou art the Wise One: drive us not from thee!
Behold this Flame, in man’s similitude:

It yields itself unto thy counsel good.

NEREUS.
What! Counsel? When did ever men esteem it?
Wise words in hard ears are but lifeless lore.
Oft as the Act may smite them when they scheme it,
The People are as self-willed as before. |
How warned I Paris, in paternal trust,
Before a foreign woman woke his lust !
Upon the Grecian strand he stood so bold;
I saw in spirit, and to him foretold
The smoky winds, the overwhelming woe,
Beams all a-blaze, murder and death below, —
Troy’s judgment-day, held fast in lofty rhyme,
A terror through a thousand years of time!
My words seemed sport unto the reckless one:
His lust he followed: fallen was Ilion, —

A giant carcass, stiff, and hacked with steel,

| Act LT.

To Pindus’ eagles ’t was a welcome meal.
Ulysses, too! did I not him presage

The wiles of Circe and the Cyclops’ rage?

His paltering mind, his crew’s inconstant strain,
And what not all ?—and did it bring hiyh gain?
Till him, though late, the favoring billow bore,

A much-tossed wanderer, to the friendly shore.

THALES.

Such conduct, truly, gives the wise man pain,
And yet the good man once will try again.
An ounce of gratitude, his help repaying,
Tons of ingratitude he sees outweighing.
And nothing trifling now we beg of thee;
The boy here wishes to be born, and be.

NEREUS.

Let not my rarest mood be spoiled, I pray!

Far other business waits for me to-day.

I’ve hither bidden, by the wave and breeze,

The Graces of the Sea, the Dorides.”

Olympus bears not, nor your lucent arch,

Such lovely forms, in such a lightsome march:
They fling themselves, in wild and wanton dalliance,

From the sea-dragons upon Neptune’s stallions,

Blent with the element so freely, brightly,

That even the foam appears to lift them lightly.
In Venus’ chariot-shell, with hues of morn,
Comes Galatea, now the fairest, borne;

Who, since that Cypris turned from us her face,
In Paphos reigns as goddess in her place.

Thus she, our loveliest, long since came to own,
As heiress, templed town and chariot-throne.
Away! the father’s hour of rapture clips

Hate from the heart, and harshness from the lips.
Away to Proteus! Ask that wondrous man

Of Being’s and of Transformation’s plan !

[ He retires towards the sea.

THALES.
We, by this step, gain nothing : one may meet
Proteus, and straight he melts, dissolving fleet. |
Though he remain, he only says
That which confuses and astonishes.
However, of such counsel thou hast need;

So, at a venture, let us thither speed! |
[ They depart.

S1RENS (on the rocks above).

What is ’t, that, far advancing,
Glides o’er the billows dancing?

Act LT, 205

As, when the winds are shifted,

Shine snowy sails, uplifted,

So shine they o’er the waters,
Transfigured Ocean-daughters.

We ’ll clamber down, and, near them,

Behold their forms, and hear them.

NEREIDS AND I RITONS.

What in our hands we bear you
Much comfort shall prepare you.
Chelone’s buckler giant

Shines with its forms defiant : —
They ’re Gods that we are bringing:
High songs must you be singing!

SIRENS.
Small to the sight,
Great in their might, —

Saviours of the stranded,

Ancient Gods, and banded.

NEREIDS AND I RITONS.

We bring you the Cabiri

To festals calm and cheery ;

Faust,

For where their sway extendeth
Neptune the realm befriendeth,

SIRENS.
We yield to your claim;
When a shipwreck came,
Irresistibly you

Protected the crew.

NEREIDS AND TriTons.
Three have we brought hither,93
The fourth refused us altogether :
He was the right one, said he, —
Their only thinker ready.

SIRENS,

One God the other God
Smites with the scoffer’s rod:
Honor all grace they bring,
Fear all evil they fling!

NEREIDS AND TRITONS.

Seven are they, really.

SIRENS,

Where, then, stay the other three?

Act Lf. 207

NEREIDS AND T RITONS.
The truth we cannot gather:
Ask on Olympus, rather !
There pines the eighth, forgotten,
By no one ever thought on!
In grace to us entreated,

But not yet all completed.

These incomparable, unchainable,™
Are always further yearning,

With desire and hunger burning
For the Unattainable!

SIRENS.

These are our ways:
The God that sways
Sun, Moon, or other blaze,

We worship: for it pays.

NEREIDS AND TRITONS.
Highest glory for us behold,
Leading these festals cheery !

SIRENS.

The heroes of the ancient time

Fail of their glory’s prime,

Where and howe’er it may unfold;
Though they have won the Fleece of Gold, —
Ye, the Cabiri!

(Repeated as full chorus.)
Though they have won the Fleece of Gold, —
We! Ye! the Cabiri!

(The NEReE1Ds and TRITONS move past.)

Homuncut_us.
These Malformations, every one,
Had earthen pots for models : 95
Against them now the wise men run,

And break their stubborn noddles.

THALES.

That is the thing one wishes, just !

The coin takes value from its rust.

Proteus (unperceived).
This pleases me, the old fable-ranger !

The more respectable, the stranger.

THALES.

Where art thou, Proteus ?

PRoTEus
(speaking ventriloqually, now near, now at a distance).

Here! and here!

THALES,

I pardon thee thine ancient jeer.
Cheat not a friend with vain oration:

Thou speak’st, I know, from a delusive station.

Proteus (as if at a distance).
Farewell !

Tua es (softly to Homuncutus).

He is quite near: shine brilliantly !
For curious as a fish is he;
‘And in whatever form he hide,
A flame will make him hither glide.

HomuNCULUS.

At once a flood of light I'll fling, -
Yet softly, lest the glass should spring.

PRoTEvus
(in the form of a giant tortoise).

What shines so fair, so graciously ?

THALES (covering Homuncutus).
Good! If thou wishest, canst thou nearer see.
Be not annoyed to take a little trouble,
And show thyself on man’s foundation double.
What we disclose, to whomsoe’er would see it,

With our will only, by our favor, be it!

Proteus (in a noble form).

Still world-wise pranks thou failest to forget.

THALES.
To change thy form remains thy pleasure yet.

(He uncovers Homuncutus.)

Proteus (astonished).

A shining dwarf! The like I ne’er did see!

THALES.

He asks thy counsel, he desires to be.

He is, as I myself have heard him say,

(The thing ’s a marvel!) only born half-way.
He has no lack of qualities ideal,

But far too much of palpable and real.

Till now the glass alone has given him weight,

And he would fain be soon incorporate.

Proteus.

Thou art a genuine virgin’s-son:

Finished, ere thou shouldst be begun!

THALES (whispering).
Viewed from another side, the thing seems critical :

He is, methinks, hermaphroditical |

Proteus.
Then all the sooner ’t will succeed:
Let him but start, ’t will be arranged with speed.
No need to ponder here his origin;
On the broad ocean’s breast must thou begin!
One starts there first within a narrow pale,9
And finds, destroying lower forms, enjoyment:
Little by little, then, one climbs the scale,
And fits himself for loftier employment.

HomunculuLuws.

Here breathes and blows a tender air ;

And I delight me in the fragrance rare,

Proteus.

Yea, verily, my loveliest stripling !

And farther on, far more enjoyable.

Around yon narrow spit the waves are rippling,
The halo bright and undestroyable !

There to the host we ’l] nearer be,

Now floating hither o’er the sea.

Come with me there!

THALES.

I ’ll go along.

Homuncu.us.

A spirit-purpose, triply strong !

1 acces V.