Act II: Classical Walpurgis-Night — Telchines of Rhodes Faust, Part 2
TELCHINES OF RHODES.
On Sea-Horses and Sea-Dragon:, wielding Neptitnis Trident,
WE'VE forged for old Neptune the trident that urges
To smoothness and peace the refractory surges
When Jove tears the clouds of the tempest asunder,
'Tis Neptune encounters the roll of the thunder :
The lightnings above may incessantly glow,
But wave upon wave dashes up from below.
And all that, between them, the terrors o'erpower,
Long tossed and tormented, the Deep shall devour;
And thence he hath lent us his sceptre to-day. —
Now float we contented, in festal array.
You, to Helios consecrated.
To the bright Day's blessing fated,—
You to this high Hour we hail :
Luna's worship shall prevail!
O loveliest Goddess by night over-vaulted !
Thou hearest with rapture thy brother exalted :
To listen to Rhodes thou wilt lean from the skies ;
To him, there, the pseans eternally rise.
When the day he begins, when he ends its career,
His beam is the brightest that falls on us here.
The mountains, the cities, the sea and the shore,
Are lovely and bright to the God they adore :
No mist hovers o'er us, and should one appear,
A beam and a breeze, and the Island is clear !
There Phoebus his form may by hundreds behold,-
Colossal, as youth, as the Gentle, the Bold ;
For we were the first whose devotion began
To shape the high Gods in the image of IVIan.
But leave them to their boasting, singing !
Beside the holy sunbeams, bringing
All life, their dead works are a jest.
They melt and cast, with zeal impassioned,
And what they once in bronze have fashioned,
They think it's something of the best.
These proud ones are at last made lowly :
The forms of Gods, that stood and shone.
Were by an earthquake overthrown,
And long since have been melted wholly.
This earthly toil, whate'er it be,
Is never else than drudgery :
A better life the waves declare thee,
And now to endless seas shall bear thee
Proteus-Dolphin.
(ffe transforms himself).
'Tis done ! Behold!
Unto thy fairest fortune waken :
Upon my back shalt thou be taken,
And wedded to the Ocean old.
Yield to the wish so wisely stated,
And at the source be thou created !
Be ready for the rapid plan !
There, by eternal canons wending,
Through thousand, myriad forms ascending.
Thou shalt attain, in time, to Man.
(HOMUNCULUS mounts the Protcus-Dol/hin.')
In spirit seek the watery distance !
Boundless shall there be thine existence, 2
And where to move, thy will be free.
But struggle not to higher orders !
Once Man, within the human borders,
Then all is at an end for thee.
That's as it haps : 'tis no ill fate
In one's own day to be true man and great.
to ThALES).
Some one, perchance, of thine own kind!
Their lives continue long, I find ;
For with thy pallid phantom-peers
I've seen thee now for manj hundred years.
on the rocks).
See ! what rings of cloudlets, gliding
Round the moon, in circles play!
They are doves whom Love is guiding,
With their wings as white as day.
Paphos either sends them fleetly,
All her ardent birds, to us,
And our festival completely
Crowns with purest rapture, thus !
advancing to Thales),
Though some nightly wanderer's vision
Deem yon ring an airj' spectre,
We, the spirits, with decision
Entertain a view correcter :
They are doves, whose convoy gathers
Round my daughter's chariot-shell,
\Vith a flight of wondrous spell,
Learned in old days of the fathers.
That I also think is best.
Which the true man comfort gives,
\Mien in warm and peacful nest
Something holy for him lives.
(on sea-bulls, sea-heifeis, and sea-rams'),
In hollow caves on Cyprus' shore,
By the Sea-God still unbattered.
Not yet by Seismos shattered.
By eternal winds breathed o'er.
And still, as in days that are measured,
Contented and silently pleasured,
The chariot of Cypris we've treasured.
By the murmurs, the nightly vibrations,
O'er the waves and their sweetest pulsations,
Unseen to the new generations.
The loveliest daughter we lead.
We fear not, as lightly we hie on,
Either Eagle or wing-lifted Lion,
Either Crescent or Cross,
Though the sky it emboss, —
Though it changefuUy triumphs and flashes,
In defeat to forgetfulness dashes,
Lays the fields and the cities in ashes!
Straightway, with speed,
The loveliest of mistresses forth we lead.
Lightly moved, with paces graver,
Circle round the car again ;
Line on line inwoven, waver
Snake-like in a linking chain, —
Stalwart Nereids, come, enring us,
Rudest women, wild and free ;
Tender Dorides, ye bring us
Her, the Mother of the Sea, —
Galatea, god-like woman.
Worthiest immortality,
Yet, like those of lineage human,
Sweet with loving grace is she.
(in chorus, mounted on dolphins, passing Nereus).
Lend us, Luna, light and shadow.
Show this youthful flower and fire!
For we bring beloved spouses,
Praying for them to our sire.
[To Nereus.)
They are boys, whom we have rescued
From the breaker's teeth of dread ;
They, on reeds and mosses bedded,
Back to light and life we led :
Now must they, with glowing kisses,
Thank us for the granted blisses ;
On the youths thy favour shed !
Lo, now ! what double gains your deed requite !
You show compassion, and you take dehght.
If thou praiscst our endeavour,
Father, grant the fond request, —
Let us hold them fast for ever
On each young, immortal breast.
Take joy in what you've finely captured,
And shape to men the youthful crew ;
I cannot grant the boon enraptured
Which only Zeus can give to you.
The billows, as they heave and rock you,
Allow to love no firmer stand,
So, when these fancies fade and mock yoa,
Send quietly the youths to land.
Fair boys, we must part, forsooth ;
Yet we love you, we vow it !
We have asked for eternal truth,
But the Gods will not allow it.
We sailor-boys, if still you would
Give love, as first 3ou gave it,
We've never had a life so good.
And would not better have it !
(Galatea approaches on her chariot of shell!)
'Tis thou, O mj' darling!
O, Sire ! what delight !
Linger, ye dolphins ! I cling to the sight.
Already past, they swiftly wander
On, in circling courses wheeling !
What care they for the heart's profoundest fcelin:
Ah, would they took me with them yonder!
Yet a single glance can cheer
All the livelong barren jear.
Hail ! All hail ! with newer voices :
How my spirit rejoices,
By the True and the Beautiful penetrated !
From Water was everything first created !
Water doth everything still sustain !
Ocean, grant us thine endless reign!
If the clouds thou wert sending not,
The swelling streams wert spending not,
The winding rivers bending not.
And all in thee were ending not.
Could mountains, and plains, and the world itself, be ?
The freshest existence is nourished by thee.
(chorus of the collective circles).
The freshest; existence flows ever from thee !
They turn and wheel again, afar ;
No longer face to face they are.
In linking circles, wide extending, — •
In their festive dances blending, —
The covmtless cohorts now appear.
But Galatea's chariot-shell
Still I see, and see it well :
It shines like a star
Through the crowds intwining.
Love from the tumult still is shining!
Though ne'er so far,
It shimmers bright and clear,
Ever true and near.
This softly heaving brine on,
Whatever I may shine on
Is all with beauty crowned.
Vvithin this moisture living,
Thy lamp now first is giving
A clear and splendid sound.
V/hat mystery new, 'mid. the crowds that are wheeling,
Is now to our vision its wonders revealing ?
What flames round the shell at the feet of the Queen ?-
Now flaring in force, and now shining serene,
As if by the pulses of love it were fed.
Homunculus is it, by Proteus misled ! . . .
And these are the signs of imperious yearning.
The presage of swelling, impatiently spurning :
He'll shiver his glass on the glittering throne —
He glows and he flashes, and now he hath flown!
What fiery man-el the billows enlightens,
As one on the other is broken and brightens ?
It flashes, and wavers, and hitherward plays !
On the path of the Night are the bodies ablaze.
And all things around are with flames overrun :
Then Eros be ruler, who all things begun !
Hail, ye Waves ! Hail, Sea unbounded
By the holy Fire surrounded !
Water, Hail ! Hail, Fire, the splendid !
Hail, Adventure rarely ended !
Hail, ye Airs that softly flow !
Hail, j'e caves of Earth below!
Honoured now and evermore
Be the Elemental Four !
TELCHINES OF RHODES.
On Sea-Horses and Sea-Dragons, wielding Neptune's Trident.
CHoRUus.
E ’ve forged for old Neptune the trident that urges
To smoothness and peace the refractory surges.
When Jove tears the clouds of the tempest asunder,
’"T is Neptune encounters the roll of the thunder :
The lightnings above may incessantly glow,
But wave upon wave dashes up from below,
And all that, between them, the terrors o’erpower,
Long tossed and tormented, the Deep shall devour ;
And thence he hath lent us his sceptre to-day. —
Now float we contented, in festal array.
SIRENS.
You, to Helios consecrated,
To the bright Day’s blessing fated, —
You to this high Hour we hail:
Luna’s worship shall prevail !
TELCHINES.
O loveliest Goddess by night over-vaulted !
Thou hearest with rapture thy brother exalted:
To listen to Rhodes thou wilt lean from the skies;
To him, there, the pzxans eternally rise.
When the day he begins, when he ends its career,
His beam is the brightest that falls on us here.
The mountains, the cities, the sea and the shore,
Are lovely and bright to the God they adore:
No mist hovers o’er us, and should one appear,
A beam and a breeze, and the Island is clear!
There Pheebus his form may by hundreds behold, —
Colossal, as youth, as the Gentle, the Bold;
For we were the first whose devotion began
To shape the high Gods in the image of Man.
PROTEUS.
But leave them to their boasting, singing!
Beside the holy sunbeams, bringing
All life, their dead works are a jest.
They melt and cast, with zeal impassioned,
And what they once in bronze have fashioned,
They think it’s something of the best.
These proud ones are at last made lowly:
The forms of Gods, that stood and shone,
Were by an earthquake overthrown,
And long since have been melted wholly.
This earthly toil, whate’er it be,
Is never else than drudgery :
A better life the waves declare thee,
And now to endless seas shall bear thee
Proteus-Dolphin.
(He transforms himself.)
*T is done! Behold!
Unto thy fairest fortune waken:
Act L. 215
Upon my back shalt thou be taken,
And wedded to the Ocean old.
THALES,
Yield to the wish so wisely stated,
And at the source be thou created!
Be ready for the rapid plan !
There, by eternal canons wending,
Through thousand, myriad forms ascending,
Thou shalt attain, in time, to Man.
(Homuncutus mounts the Proteus-Dolphin.)
Proteus.
In spirit seek the watery distance!
Boundless shall there be thine existence,
And where to move, thy will be free.
But struggle not to higher orders!
Once Man, within the human borders,
Then all is at an end for thee.
THALES.
That ’s as it haps: ’t is no ill fate
In one’s own day to be true man and great.
=
Proteus (fo THALES).
Some one, perchance, of thine own kind!
Their lives continue long, I find;
For with thy pallid phantom-peers
I’ve seen thee now for many hundred years.
SIRENS (on the rocks).
See! what rings of cloudlets, gliding
Round the moon, in circles play!
They are doves whom Love is guiding,
With their wings as white as day.
Paphos hither sends them fleetly,
All her ardent birds, to us,
And our festival completely
Crowns with purest rapture, thus!
NeREws (advancing to THALES).
Though some nightly wanderer’s vision
Deem yon ring an airy spectre,
We, the spirits, with decision
Entertain a view correcter :
They are doves, whose convoy gathers
Round my daughter’s chariot-shell,
With a flight of wondrous spell,
Learned in old days of the fathers.
THALES.
That I also think is best,
Which the true man comfort gives,
When in warm and peaceful nest
Something holy for him lives.
Psyitir anD Mars ©
(on sea-bulls, sea-heifers and sea-rams).
In hollow caves on Cyprus’ shore,
' By the Sea-God still unbattered,
Not yet by Seismos shattered,
By eternal winds breathed o’er,
And still, as in days that are measured,
Contented and silently pleasured,
The chariot of Cypris we ’ve treasured.
By the murmurs, the nightly vibrations,
O’er the waves and their sweetest pulsations,
Unseen to the new generations,
The loveliest daughter we lead.
We fear not, as lightly we hie on,
Either Eagle or wing-lifted Lion,
Either Crescent or Cross,
218 Faust,
Though the sky it emboss, —
Though it changefully triumphs and flashes,
In defeat to forgetfulness dashes,
Lays the fields and the cities in ashes !
Straightway, with speed,
The loveliest of mistresses forth we lead.
SIRENS.
Lightly moved, with paces graver,
Circle round the car again ;
Line on line inwoven, waver
Snake-like in a linking chain, —
Stalwart Nereids, come, enring us,
Rudest women, wild and free ;
Tender Dorides, ye bring us
Her, the Mother of the Sea, —
Galatea, godlike woman,
Worthiest immortality,
Yet, like those of lineage human,
Sweet with loving grace is she.
DoriIDEs
(in chorus, mounted on dolphins, passing NEREUS).
Lend us, Luna, light and shadow,
Show this youthful flower and fire!
Act I. 219.
For we bring beloved spouses,
Praying for them to our sire.
(To Nereus.)
They are boys, whom we have rescued
From the breaker’s teeth of dread;
They, on reeds and mosses bedded,
Back to light and life we led:
Now must they, with glowing kisses,
Thank us for the granted blisses ;
On the youths thy favor shed!
NEREUS.
Lo, now! what double gains your deed requite!
You show compassion, and you take delight.
Doripes.
If thou praisest our endeavor,
Father, grant the fond request, —
Let us hold them fast forever
On each young, immortal breast.
NEREUS.
Take joy in what you ’ve finely captured,
And shape to men the youthful crew ;
I cannot grant the boon enraptured
Which only Zeus can give to you.
The billows, as they heave and rock you,
Allow to love no firmer stand,
So, when these fancies fade and mock you,
Send quietly the youths to land.
DorIDEs.
Fair boys, we must part, forsooth;
Yet we love you, we vow it!
We have asked for eternal truth,
But the Gods will not allow it.
THe Yourus.
We sailor-boys, if still you would
Give love, as first you gave it,
= We ’ve never had a life so good,
And would not better have it!
(GaLATEA approaches on her chariot of shell.) x
NEREUS.
"T is thou, O my darling!
GALATEA.
O, Sire! what delight!
Linger, ye dolphins! I cling to the sight. |
NEREUS.
Already past, they swiftly wander
On, in circling courses wheeling!
What care they for the heart’s profoundest feeling?
Ah, would they took me with them yonder !
Yet a single glance can cheer
All the livelong barren year.
THALES.
Hail! All hail! with newer voices:
How my spirit rejoices,
By the True and the Beautiful penetrated !
From Water was everything first created!
Water doth everything still sustain !
Ocean, grant us thine endless reign!
If the clouds thou wert sending not,
The swelling streams wert spending not,
The winding rivers bending not,
And all in thee were ending not,
Could mountains, and plains, and the world itself, be?
The freshest existence is nourished by thee!
Ecuo
(chorus of the collective circles).
The freshest existence flows ever from thee!
NEREwuS.
They turn and wheel again, afar ;
No longer face to face they are.
In linking circles, wide extending, —
In their festive dances blending, —
. The countless cohorts now appear.
But Galatea’s chariot-shell
Still I see, and see it well:
It shines like a star
Through the crowds intwining.
Love from the tumult still is shining!
Though ne’er so far,
It shimmers bright and clear,
aa
Ever true and near.
Homuncu.us.
This softly heaving brine on,
Whatever I may shine on
Is all with beauty crowned.
PROTEUS.
Within this moisture living,
Thy lamp now first is giving
A clear and splendid sound.
Act LT. 223
NEREUvS.
What mystery new, ’mid the crowds that are wheeling,
Is now to our vision its wonders revealing ?
What flames round the shell at the feet of the Queen ? — |
Now flaring in force, and now shining serene,
As if by the pulses of love it were fed.
THALES.
Homunculus is it, by Proteus misled! ...
And these are the signs of imperious yearning,
The presage of swelling, impatiently spurning:
He’ll shiver his glass on the glittering throne —
He glows and he flashes, and now he hath flown!
SIRENS.
What fiery marvel the billows enlightens,’
As one on the other is broken and brightens ?
It flashes, and wavers, and hitherward plays!
On the path of the Night are the bodies ablaze,
And all things around are with flames overrun:
Then Eros be ruler, who all things begun !
Hail, ye Waves! Hail, Sea unbounded,
By the holy Fire surrounded!
Water, hail! Hail, Fire, the splendid!
Hail, Adventure rarely ended!
ALL TOGETHER.
Hail, ye Airs that softly flow!
Hail, ye caves of Earth below!
Honored now and evermore
Be the Elemental Four!
Act Ill, 225