The Rudolf Steiner Archive

23. Excerpt from Goethe's “Classical Walpurgis Night” I

[ 1 ] So, as has been decreed, we shall proceed with the “Classical Walpurgis Night.” Now, recall that in response to Faust’s words:

I do not wish to be healed! My will is strong!
Then I would be as vile as the rest (V 7459–7460)

[ 2 ] that the scene had been changed. Then came the other scene, in which Chiron says:

Do not miss out on the healing power of the noble spring!
Hurry down! We are here (V 7461–7462)

[ 3 ] until Manto appears. So that was a different scene; this [mention of] the transformation is missing from the editions. But now the scene is to go back again to the one that was actually the very first in our account. What the book actually means, however, is that it goes back to the scene: “Peneios, surrounded by waters and nymphs”—that is the one to which we should return. But, isn’t it true that in our version, in this scene—[“Peneios, surrounded by waters and nymphs”]—the sphinxes were no longer visible, whereas now the sphinxes must, of course, be there.

[ 4 ] So we have to set the stage similarly to the first scene—the very first scene we had. And the key point is that Goethe is, first and foremost, striving to vividly illustrate the difference between the entire Nordic world and the classical Greek world. The spirits of the Nordic world—the fifth post-Atlantean epoch, as we say—are essentially bound to a tranquil earth. Earthquakes actually occur only as far as Göttingen; everything north of the Göttingen zone is essentially an earthquake-free area. And, of course, the phenomena referred to here are connected to these factors.

[ 5 ] The entire structure of the Greek pantheon was already linked to the fact that nature itself was restless—that nature was, so to speak, inherently capable of metamorphosis, participating in what humanity did and what the spirit world did. But this is precisely why Faust is to return to the fourth post-Atlantean epoch, the Greek world, so that his destiny may unfold in harmony with nature. And this is what Goethe seeks to demonstrate here by following up on the scene we had earlier: “On the Upper Peneios.”

[ 6 ] At first, it is the sirens—the sirens who, at first, can hold their voices back somewhat, because they are, so to speak, among themselves now, not affecting people here. But what is peculiar is that they are taken by surprise precisely by the movement of the earth, by the earthquake. At first, they want, so to speak, to be the song of the water, the song of the Peneios. The first verses are, so to speak, the waves that have remained standing in the water. The water waves flow away beneath the sound waves, so that the sirens, in a sense, submerge beneath the waves, but the water waves flow away; the siren waves remain standing waves, wanting only to rise and fall within the flowing water waves. That is the meaning of the first lines about the sirens. Something like this:

SIRENS:
Plunge into the waters of the Peneios!
It is fitting to swim there amid the lapping waves,
To sing song after song,
For the benefit of that ill-fated people. (V 7495–7498)

[ 7 ] The “unfortunate people” here refer to the water people, all the water spirits.

Without water, there is no salvation!
Let us march with our radiant army
Hastily to the Aegean Sea,
And every pleasure would be ours. (V 7499–7502)

[ 8 ] They are simply not inclined to travel toward the Aegean Sea; instead, they remain as standing waves while the water flows away beneath them. And while they are playing with the water like this, the earthquake strikes, taking them by surprise; they first notice it when the wave rebounds. They thought the wave was receding; [but] the wave rebounds.

Earthquake.

SIRENS:
The wave returns, foaming,
No longer flowing down its bed;
The seabed rises, the water surges,
Gravel and shore crack and smoke.
Let’s flee! Come, everyone, come!
No one for whom this miracle is of any use.
Away! You noble, joyful guests,
To the seaside festival so cheerful,
Sparkling, where the trembling waves,
Lapping at the shore, swell softly;
There, where Luna shines twice as bright,
Moistening us with holy dew.
There, a life of freedom,
Here, a fearful earthquake;
Let every wise person hurry away!
It is terrifying around this place. (V 7503–7518)

[ 9 ] So: dark, rhythmic, only hinting at the shudder, allowing the shudder to dissolve into the artistic. Now the earth rises. Near the Peneios, the earth rises. The waves first hinted at the earth’s rising. From the depths, the earthquake pushes a mountain forward. As the mountain advances, the god of the earthquake, the god of the moving earth—Seismos—becomes visible. One first hears him, while he is not yet visible, in the depths:

SEISMOS (rumbling and rumbling deep below):
One more powerful push,
Lifted obediently with our shoulders!
That’s how we’ll make it to the top,
Where everything must make way for us. (V 7519–7522)

[ 10 ] This is what the sphinxes—which represent tranquility within the dynamic cosmos and are the counterpart to this dynamic cosmos—now realize.

SPHINX:
What a loathsome trembling,
An ugly, horrifying foreboding!
What a wavering, what a quaking,
Swaying back and forth!
What an unbearable vexation!
Yet we do not move from this spot,
even if all of hell were to break loose. (V 7523–7529)

[ 11 ] A little break. Now comes the mountain that keeps appearing. – I’m just curious to see how you’ll handle all this! – The mountain keeps getting higher and higher.

SPHINX:
Now a vault rises
Miraculously.

[ 12 ] They do not look upon the mountain with favor, but rather with horror. The sphinx continues:

It is the same one,
That old man, long since grayed,
Who built the island of Delos,
For the sake of a woman in labor,
Lifting her up from the waves. (V 7530–7535)

[ 13 ] Namely: for the sake of Leto, who was to give birth to Apollo, he raised up the island of Delos—Seismos.

For the sake of a woman in labor
He lifted her up from the waves.
He, striving, straining, pushing,
Arms taut, back arched,
With the bearing of Atlas,
He lifts the ground, the grass, the earth,
Gravel, grit, sand, and silt,
The quiet beds of our shore. (V 7536–7541)

[ 14 ] Now a gap is opening up.

Thus he tears a path
Across the valley’s tranquil blanket. (V 7542–7543)

[ 15 ] And now a caryatid appears; she can be seen lifting a rocky mountain out of the ground up to her waist.

Straining, yet never weary,
A colossal caryatid;
Bearing a fearsome stone framework,
Still embedded in the ground up to her bust. (V 7544–7547)

[ 16 ] So the caryatid is still embedded in the ground up to her bust; that is how she is supporting this stone base.

But let's continue—

[ 17 ] the sphinxes defend,

But it shall not go any further,
The sphinxes have taken their seats. (V 7548–7549)

[ 18 ] So they want to remain calm; after all, they are the calm in the turbulent cosmos. Seismos, however, is going about his business—or at least does not want to be disturbed—and now also highlights the positive aspects of his office. So, having brought the whole thing up there—with the help of the colossal caryatid—he defends himself against the sphinxes:

SEISMOS:
I brought this about all by myself,
People will finally admit it;
And if I hadn’t shaken and rattled things up,
How beautiful would this world be?
How would your mountains stand up there
In magnificent, pure ether-blue,
Had I not pushed them forth
To create a picturesque, enchanting spectacle?
When, in the presence of the highest ancestors,
I behaved boldly against the night and chaos
And, in the company of Titans,
Struck with Pelion and Ossa as if they were balls.
We romped on in youthful fervor,
Until, weary, at last
We wickedly placed Parnassus—like a double cap—
Wickedly placed the two mountains upon it …
Apollo now delights in lingering there
With the blissful chorus of the Muses.
Even Jupiter, with his thunderbolts
I lifted his throne high into the air. (V 7550–7569)

[ 19 ] He keeps pushing.

Now, with immense striving,
I surge upward from the abyss
And loudly call upon joyful inhabitants
To come to me for new life. (V 7570–7573)

[ 20 ] So he storms in with his worlds. The sphinxes—they actually represent a kind of calm in the whole situation; Seismos had been defending himself against them. – And now: The sphinxes have been listening to him and are now, for their part, responding to what he has said.

SPHINX:
Ancient, one must admit,
Is this what has been brought up here (V 7574–7575) –

[ 21 ] “Emporgebirgt” is actually a very good German word; it means “raised up in the manner of mountains.” Goethe attempts to turn “Gebirge” (mountains) into a verb: the result is “Gebirge” – “emporgebirgt.”

Had we not seen it with our own eyes,
How it struggled up from the ground.
A thicket-covered forest spreads upward,
And rock upon rock presses forward;
Not even a sphinx would turn its gaze toward it:
We will not be disturbed in our sacred seat. (V 7576–7581)

[ 22 ] “A Sphinx”—this is incorrect; it should read: “‘ne Sphinx.” The griffins are now heading toward the mountain:

GREIFE:
Gold in flakes, gold in glitter
I see it trembling through the cracks.
Don’t let such a treasure be stolen from you;
Hurry up and scoop it out. (V 7582–7585)

[ 23 ] And now the goldfinches are coming; they’re approaching so quickly; they are the spirits of nature of the rising mountain, all making their presence felt there. And as the mountain rises, the goldfinches are now approaching as well:

CHORUS OF ANTS:
Just as the giants
Pushed him up,
You restless little feet,
Hurry upward!
Dart in and out!
In cracks like these
Every little crumb
Is worth having.
Even the tiniest bit
You must discover,
As quickly as possible
In every nook and cranny.
You must be thorough,
You teeming multitudes;
Bring in only the gold!
Let the mountain go.

GREIFE:
Come in! Come in! Nothing but heaps of gold!
We’ll lay our claws on it;
These are locks of the finest kind,
The greatest treasure is safely guarded. (V 7586–7605)

[ 24 ] And now the chorus of Pygmies comes up from another direction. It must be quite a crowd—many children who are Pygmies; at the front, a row of Pygmy elders, then a generalissimo, a Pygmy field marshal, leading them; this is how this Pygmy army approaches:

PYGMEES:
We’ve truly taken our seats,
We don’t know how it happened;
Don’t ask where we come from,
For we’re simply here!
Every land is suited
As a merry seat of life;
If a crevice in the rock appears,
The dwarf is already at hand.
Dwarf and dwarf-maiden, quick to work,
Each pair exemplary;
We do not know if it was the same way
Back in Paradise.
But we find it best here,
And gratefully bless our star;
For in the East as in the West
Mother Earth gladly brings forth life. (V 7606–7621)

[ 25 ] Now, from some corner—this needs to be sorted out—come five little figures: four fingerlings and a thumbling. These are the dactyls.

DATES:
She brought forth
The little ones in a single night;
She will bring forth the smallest ones,
And they, too, will find their match.

[ 26 ] Now, the Pygmy elders:

ELDER OF THE PYGMEES:
Hurry and take
a comfortable seat!
Hurry to work;
Hurry to build strength!
There is still peace;
Build your forges,
Armor and weapons
To equip the army.

All you fireflies,
Busy in the swarm,
Bring us metals!
And you, dactyls,
Tiny ones, so many,
You are commanded
To fetch wood!
Pile up
Secret flames,
Bring us coal!

[ 27 ] Now the Pygmy Generalissimo:

GENERALISSIMUS:
With bow and arrow
Freshly armed!
At that pond
Shoot the herons for me,
Countless nesting,
Haughtily strutting,
All at once!
Every last one;
So that we may appear
With helmets and finery. (V 7622–7653)

[ 28 ] He must have a sword. Now put the dactyls—those are the finger pieces—and the isams together:

IMSEN AND DACTYLS:
Who will save us!
We can do it, Iron,
They forge chains.
To break free
It’s not time yet,
So be pliable.

THE HERONS OF IBYCUS:
Cries of murder and laments of the dying!
Anxious fluttering of wings!
What groans, what moans
Rise up to our heights!
They have all already been slain,
The lake reddened by their blood;
Deformed greed
Robs the heron of its noble grace.
Yet it already flutters upon the helmet
Of these pot-bellied, bow-legged scoundrels.
You comrades of our army,
Migrating flocks of the sea,
We call upon you to take vengeance
In a cause so closely related.
Let no one spare strength or blood,
Eternal enmity to this brood! (V 7654–7675)
(They scatter, cawing, into the skies.)

[ 29 ] Now here is the mountain—in the center—over there on the left are the sphinxes, and somewhere over there, on the far right, Mephisto appears, prevented by the mountain from returning to the sphinxes. He is on his way back to the sphinxes; after all, he promised he would return; but he cannot see them because the mountain has risen.

MEPHISTOPHELES:
I knew well how to master the Nordic witches,
But I’m not exactly at ease with these foreign spirits.
The Blocksberg remains a most comfortable spot,
Wherever one may be, one always finds one’s way there.
Lady Ilse watches over us from her rock,
On its heights, Heinrich will be lively,
The snorers may snarl at our misery,
But everything is settled for a thousand years.
Who here knows where he’s going or standing,
Or whether the ground beneath him might not be swelling? …
I wander merrily through a smooth valley
And behind me, suddenly, rises
A mountain—though scarcely worthy of the name,
Yet high enough to separate me from my sphinxes
—Here, many a fire still flickers
Down through the valley, and blazes with adventure …
Still, the gallant choir dances and hovers before me, alluring and elusive,
mischievously teasing. (V 7676–7693)

[ 30 ] Namely, the Lamian women, who are now following him.

Go easy on it! So used to snacking,
Wherever you are, you’re always looking for something to grab. (V 7694–7695)

[ 31 ] So the lamia must be costumed here in such a way that they are covered with a skin, wearing a very beautiful mask; it must be put on in such a way that it can be quickly thrown off backward, and that the lamia take on the forms as described here. So the Lamiae are metamorphoses; they must be able to transform quickly. And so the Lamiae appear:

LAMIEN (dragging Mephistopheles along):
Faster, faster!
And on and on!
Then hesitating again,
Chatting away.
It’s so cheerful,
To drag the old sinner
Dragging after us,
Toward heavy penance
With stiffened steps
He comes stumbling along,
Stumbling along;
He drags his leg,
As we flee from him,
Right behind us! (V 7696–7709)

[ 32 ] Mephistopheles on the right.

MEPHISTOPHELES (standing still):
Cursed fate! Deceived men!
Men seduced ever since Adam! (V 7710–7711)

[ 33 ] That's how he calls himself—“the men”!

Everyone grows old, but who grows wise?
Weren’t you already foolish enough!
We know the people are fundamentally worthless;
With corseted bodies and made-up faces;
They have nothing wholesome to say in reply,
Wherever you touch them, rotten to the core.
You know it, you see it, you can feel it,
And yet you dance when those hussies whistle!
(V 7712–7719)

[ 34 ] He touches them and finds that they are rotten; they are simply stuffed and covered with something. The lamia remain silent for a moment:

LAMIEN (pausing):
Stop! He comes to his senses, hesitates, stands still;
Tell him he won’t get away from you! (V 7720–7721)

[ 35 ] So they want to get closer to him. Mephistopheles takes a few steps forward.

MEPHISTOPHELES (walking forward):
Go ahead! And don’t let yourself be drawn into
the folly of doubt;
For if there were no witches,
who would want to be a devil!

LAMIEN (most gracefully):
Let us circle around this hero;
Love will surely
Declare itself for one in his heart.

MEPHISTOPHELES:
Though with an uncertain glow
You lovely ladies appear to me,
And so I do not wish to scold you. (V 7722–7731)

[ 36 ] And now comes the worst one—she walks straight toward him. Empusa is one of the Lamia:

EMPUSE (insistently):
Not even me! As one of them
Let me join your group.

LAMIEN:
There’s too much of that in our circle,
It always ruins our game.

EMPUSE (to Mephistopheles):
Greetings from Mühmichen Empuse,
The bride with the donkey’s hoof;
You have only a horse’s hoof,
And yet, dear cousin, warmest greetings! (V 7732–7739)

[ 37 ] So she has a donkey’s foot. Now she pulls the scarf back and reveals a donkey’s head. Before that, he just looks at her, and it seems as if she were very beautiful. Now she has to pull back the scarf. She is, in fact, very beautiful, but her head transforms—just as everyone else does—into a donkey’s head.

MEPHISTOPHELES:
Here I expected nothing but strangers
But alas, I find close relatives,
It’s like leafing through an old book:
From the Harz Mountains to Hellas, nothing but cousins! (V 7740–7743)

[ 38 ] Click here.

EMPUSE:
I know exactly how to act,
I could transform myself into many things;
But in your honor, I have now
Put on this little donkey’s head.

MEPHISTOPHELES:
I notice that among these people
kinship means a great deal;
But whatever may happen,
I would rather deny this donkey’s head.
LAMIEN: Leave this nasty woman alone—she’s scaring away
whatever seems beautiful and lovely;
whatever would be beautiful and lovely,
She’s coming this way—it’s over!

MEPHISTOPHELES:
Even these little maidens, delicate and slender,
I find them all suspicious;
And behind such rosy cheeks
I fear metamorphoses as well.

LAMIEN:
Go ahead and try! There are plenty of us.
Go for it! And if you’re lucky in the game,
Grab the best prize for yourself.
What’s with all this lecherous drivel?
You’re a wretched suitor,
strutting about and acting so grand! –
Now he’s mingling with our crowd;
Let your masks slip away, little by little,
and reveal your true selves to him.

MEPHISTOPHELES:
I’ve chosen the most beautiful one for myself …
(Embracing her.)

[ 39 ] Give her a little hug.

Oh, woe is me! What a scrawny broom! (V 7744–7770)

[ 40 ] So he wraps his arm around her a little, and now her cloak flies off behind her. So he’s holding a very frail, scrawny, broom-like one in his hand. He grabs another one:

(taking another one)
And this one? … What a disgraceful face!

LAMIEN:
Do you deserve better? I don’t think so.

MEPHISTOPHELES:
I’d like to take the little one as collateral … (V 7771–7773)

[ 41 ] So, a third one.

Lacerte slips from my hands!
And the smooth braid, like a snake.
Instead, I grab the long one,
Then I seize a thyrsus!
The pine cone as the head.
Where is this leading? … Another thick one,
That might perhaps refresh me;
I’ll take one last chance! So be it!
Quite sticky, slimy—Orientalers pay
A high price for that …
But alas! The puffball bursts in two! (V 7774–7784)

[ 42 ] So she must be absolutely torn apart! – I'm just curious to see how you'll stage that!

LAMIEN:
Fly apart, sway, and hover
Like lightning, encircling with black flight
The intruding son of a witch!
Unsteady, terrifying circles!
Silent wings, bats!
He’s getting off far too easily. (V 7785–7790)

[ 43 ] They leave, they disappear—the lamias. Mephistopheles shudders.

MEPHISTOPHELES:
It seems I haven’t become much wiser;
It’s absurd here, absurd in the North,
Ghosts here and there, devious,
People and poets, insipid.
It’s just a masquerade here,
Just as everywhere else, a dance of the senses.
I reached for lovely masked features
And grasped beings that made me shudder …
I’d gladly deceive myself,
If only it lasted longer.
(lost among the rocks)
Where am I? Where is this leading?
That was a path; now it’s a nightmare.
I came this way on smooth paths,
And now I’m faced with scree.
In vain I climb up and down,
Where will I find my sphinxes again?
I never would have imagined it so wild,
such a mountain in a single night!
That’s what I call a wild witch’s ride,
they’re bringing their Blocksberg along. (V 7791–7810)

[ 44 ] That is precisely the point: In the north, the witches do not bring their Blocksberg with them; here, they are so closely connected to nature that they bring their own Blocksberg with them; here, nature is still an integral part of their being.

[ 45 ] But now an Oread appears atop the rocks. So that is a rock nymph; she must be placed at the top.

OREAS (from the natural rock):
Come up here! My mountain is ancient,
Standing in its original form.
Admire the rugged rocky paths,
The outermost branches of Mount Pindus.
I stood unshaken just like this,
When Pompey fled over me.
Beside me, the figment of delusion,
Already vanishes at the crowing of the rooster.
I often see such fairy tales arise
And suddenly vanish again.

MEPHISTOPHELES:
Glory to you, venerable head!
Crowned with the mighty strength of oak;
The brightest moonlight
Cannot penetrate this darkness. –
Yet beside the bushes there glows
A light that shines quite modestly.
How all this must fit together!
Truly! It is a homunculus.
From whence do you come, you little fellow? (V 7811–7829)

[ 46 ] So by now Homunculus has arrived; he, too, is meant to find his way into nature here—into nature and [into] human nature. Faust finds his way to Helena, with whom he unites after journeying through the elements with her. The Homunculus makes his way into the countryside, all the way to Galatee’s shell-drawn chariot, against which he shatters—thus seeking to [find his way] into nature; [and to beings] who are still connected to nature; and Mephistopheles [seeks connection with] beings and figures who are still as closely related to nature as he is, [and] finds his way to the Phorkyades. All seek a connection to nature. While in the North, humans have been separated from nature—petrified out of it—here, everything is connected to nature. And when something happens in human life, something also happens in nature.

HOMUNCULUS:
I float from place to place
And would dearly love to come into being,
Eager to shatter my glass in two;
But what I’ve seen so far,
I wouldn’t dare venture in there.
Just to tell you in confidence:
I’m on the trail of two philosophers,
I listened as they cried: Nature! Nature!
I do not wish to part from them,
They must surely know the nature of the world;
And in the end I shall surely learn,
Where it is wisest for me to turn.

MEPHISTOPHELES:
Do that on your own.
For where ghosts have taken their seats,
The philosopher is welcome too.
So that one may rejoice in his art and favor,
He creates a dozen new ones right away.
If you’re not mistaken, you’ll never come to your senses!
If you want to come into being, come into being on your own!

HOMUNKULUS:
Good advice isn't something to be dismissed either.

MEPHISTOPHELES:
Go on then! Let’s see what happens next. (V 7830–7850)
(they part)

[ 47 ] The homunculus remains there; Mephistopheles walks a little further away. The two philosophers now approach the homunculus; one of them holds the view that everything originated from water—a view that is, of course, refuted here by the situation itself, since the mountain was formed here by seismos—that is, volcanoes, earthquakes, and volcanic forces. Thus, Thales is refuted from the outset by the situation. Anaxagoras holds the view that everything arises from fire—fiery forces, volcanic forces. Thus, Thales is at a disadvantage here from the outset, for he is refuted by the situation itself. The homunculus is to learn how things come into being, precisely from this seething activity, from what is happening there. This is where the two philosophers intervene—Greek natural philosophers who, even more so than later philosophers, are connected to nature and therefore still understand something of nature. They speak: Anaxagoras, who is more enthusiastic; Thales, the more sedate, broader-minded one.

ANAXAGORAS (to Thales):
Your stubborn mind refuses to yield,
Is more needed to convince you?

[ 48 ] Thales on the left.

THALES:
The wave bends readily to every wind,
But keeps its distance from the rugged cliff.

ANAXAGORAS:
This rock is formed by the fumes of fire.

THALES:
Life arose from moisture.

HOMUNKULUS (between the two):
Let me walk by your side,
For I myself long to come into being!

ANAXAGORAS:
Have you, O Thales, ever in a single night,
Brought forth such a mountain from mud?
(V 7851–7852)

[ 49 ] So [presumably addressing the actor playing Thales]: That refutes your argument; your argument is nonsense. – Thales claims that everything was formed from mud and settled by the force of water.

THALES:
Nature and its living flow have never been
Dependent on day and night and the hours;
It shapes every form with order,
And even on a grand scale, it is not force.

ANAXAGORAS:
But this was it! A fire as grim as Pluto’s,
The monstrous explosive force of Aeolian vapors,
Broke through the ancient crust of the flat ground,
So that a new mountain had to rise at once.

[ 50 ] Thales, left of center.

THALES:
What, then, will continue as a result?
He is there, too, and that is good, after all.
With such disputes, one wastes time and delays
And yet only patiently leads the people by the rope.

[ 51 ] Anaxagoras on the right.

ANAXAGORAS:
The mountain swells rapidly with Myrmidons,
To dwell in the crevices of the rocks;
Pygmies, titmice, thumbelinas
And other industrious little creatures.
(to the homunculus)
You have never strived for greatness,
Having lived a reclusive, limited life;
If you can accustom yourself to rule,
I will have you crowned king.

HOMUNKULUS:
What does my Thales say? –

THALES:
I won’t speculate;
With the small, one does small deeds,
With the great, the small becomes great.
Look! The black cloud of cranes!
It threatens the agitated people
And would thus threaten the king.
With sharp beaks and clawed legs,
They swoop down on the little ones;

A storm of doom is already flashing across the sky.
A sacrilege killed the herons
Surrounding the tranquil pond of peace.
But that rain of murderous projectiles
Brings a cruel, bloody blessing of vengeance,
Stirring the fury of their close relatives
Against the Pygmies’ sacrilegious blood.

What good are shields, helmets, and spears now?
What good is the Heron’s Beam to the dwarves?
As Daktyl and Imse take cover,
The army is already faltering, fleeing, and collapsing. (V 7861–7899)

[ 52 ] So he thinks that everything is coming to an end, and he doesn’t like all this illusory life. He thinks that nature and the Earth should have come into being in a completely different way than they actually did. Of course, even the greatest philosophers come up with theories that don’t align with nature. And then they say, “So much the worse for nature!”

[ 53 ] Anaxagoras now applies this—everything that has come into being, which has arisen through lunar forces, that is, lunar forces that have remained behind in the Earth’s evolution—Anaxagoras now applies this to the Moon as well. A solemn pause ensues after Thales has delivered his bourgeois, philistine speech.

[ 54 ] Thales represents Greek culture already giving way to bourgeoisie—the Philistine mentality. And so, a solemn pause sets in. The moon rises.

[ 55 ] Anaxagoras is magnificent:

ANAXAGORAS (after a pause, solemnly):
If until now I could praise the subterranean ones,
In this case, I turn my gaze upward …
You! Eternal and ageless one above,
Three-named and three-form,
I call upon you in the midst of my people’s sorrow,
Diana, Luna, Hecate!
You who expand the heart, who are profound in the deepest sense,
You who appear serene, yet are fiercely intense,
Open the dreadful maw of your shadows,
May the ancient power be revealed without magic! (V 7900–7909)
(Pause)

[ 56 ] It is as if he were seeing fiery masses, clouds of fire, approaching. [Anaxagoras] fearfully.

ANAXAGORAS:
Have I been answered too quickly!
Has my plea
To those heights
Disrupted the order of nature?

And larger, ever larger, it draws near
The throne encircled by the goddess,
Terrifying to the eye, monstrous.
Its fire glows red in the gloom …

[ 57 ] Anxious, fearful.

Don’t come any closer! O menacing, mighty circle,
You are bringing ruin upon us, our land, and the sea!
So is it true that the women of Thessaly
In sacrilegious, magical trust
Chanted you off your path?
Wrenched the most pernicious things from you? …
The luminous shield has darkened,
Suddenly it cracks and flashes and sparks,
What a clatter! What a hiss!
Thunder, the roar of the wind in between! –
Humbly at the steps of the throne! –
Forgive me! I have summoned it. (V 7910–7929)
(Throws himself face down.)

[ 58 ] Thales moves a little closer, puzzled.

THALES:
Just think of all that this man has heard and seen!
I’m not quite sure what happened to us;
Nor did I feel it the same way he did.
Let’s admit it, these are crazy hours,
And Luna sways quite comfortably
In her place, just as before. (V 7930–7935)

[ 59 ] He is, after all, the quintessential philistine, the bourgeois philistine!

HOMUNCULUS:
Look at the pygmy’s seat,
The mountain was round, now it’s pointed.
I felt a tremendous crash,
The rock had fallen from the moon;
At once, without asking,
crushed and slain both friend and foe.
Yet I must praise such arts,
which, in a single night,
both from below and from above,
brought this mountain structure into being. (V 7936–7945)

[ 60 ] So another peak had formed on the rock. That tremendous impact—that was what Anaxagoras had seen.

THALES:
Be quiet! It was just a thought.
Let them go, that vile brood!
It’s just as well you weren’t king.
Now off to the cheerful seaside festival,
Where marvelous guests are welcomed and honored. (V 7945–7950)
(They depart.)

[ 61 ] On the other side, Mephistopheles approaches reluctantly, clearing his throat.

MEPHISTOPHELES
(climbing on the opposite side):
There I must drag myself up steep rocky steps,
Through the gnarled roots of ancient oaks!
On my head, the resinous mist
Has a hint of pitch, and that finds favor with me;
First, the sulfur … Here, among these Greeks
There’s scarcely a trace of such a thing to be smelled;
But I’d be curious to find out
What they use to stoke the torments of Hell and its flames. (V 7951–7958)

[ 62 ] Now a dryad appears, in the middle.

DRYAS:
In your own land, be wise as a native,
In a foreign land, you are not skilled enough.
You should not turn your thoughts toward home,
To revere the dignity of the sacred oaks here. (V 7959–7962)

[ 63 ] Mephistopheles, standing on the right.

MEPHISTOPHELES:
One thinks of what one has left behind,
What one was accustomed to remains a paradise.
But tell me: what is that in the cave over there,
In the dim light, crouching in three heaps?
(V 7963–7966)

[ 64 ] There he points to the cave where the Phorcids are, on the right.

DRYAS:
The Phorkyades! Venture to that place,
And speak to them, if you do not shudder.

MEPHISTOPHELES:
Why not! – I see something and am amazed.
As proud as I am, I must admit to myself:
I’ve never seen anything like this,
They’re worse than mandrakes …
Will anyone still find the original sins
Even the slightest bit ugly,
When they behold this trio?
We did not suffer them on the thresholds
Of the most dreadful of our hells.
Here it takes root in the land of beauty,
Which is called “antique” with glory …
They stir; they seem to sense me, (V 7967–7980)

[ 65 ] So they came together.

[ 66 ] They chirp and whistle, these vampire bats.

PHORKYADES:
Give me the eye, sisters, so that it may ask,
Who dares come so close to our temples.

MEPHISTOPHELES:
Most revered one! Allow me to approach you
And receive your blessing threefold.
I step forward, still a stranger,
Yet, if I am not mistaken, a distant relative.
I have already beheld venerable gods,
Bowed deeply before Ops and Rhea, (V 7981–7989)

[ 67 ] Ops is Saturn's sister and wife; Rhea, as we know.

The Fates themselves, daughters of Chaos, your sisters,
I saw them yesterday—or the day before yesterday;
But I have never beheld anyone like you,
I am silent now and feel enraptured.

PHORKYADES:
This spirit seems to have a mind of its own.

MEPHISTOPHELES:
It just surprises me that no poet praises you.
And tell me! How did this come to be? How could it have happened?
I have never seen anyone more worthy than you in a painting;
Let the chisel try to capture your likeness,
not Juno, Pallas, Venus, or the like.

PHORKYADES:
Lost in solitude and the stillest night,
The three of us have never even thought of it!

MEPHISTOPHELES:
How could it be otherwise? Since you, removed from the world,
see no one here, and no one sees you.
You would have to dwell in such places,
Where splendor and art reign side by side,
Where every day, nimbly, in double time,
A block of marble steps into life as a hero.
Where—

PHORKYADES:
Be silent, and do not stir our desires!
What good would it do us, even if we knew better?
Born of the night, kindred to the night,
Almost ourselves, yet unknown to all.

MEPHISTOPHELES:
In that case, there’s not much to say,
One can also entrust oneself to others.
For the three of you, one eye is enough, one tooth is enough,
So it was probably done that way in mythology as well
To encapsulate the essence of the three in two,
Leaving the third image to me,
For a short time.

[ 68 ] EINE: What do you think—how did it go?

THE OTHERS:
Let's give it a try! — but without an eye or a tooth.

MEPHISTOPHELES:
Now you’ve just taken away the best part;
How perfect the sternest image would be then!

ONE:
Just turn a blind eye—it’s easy enough to do,
So let that one greedy soul be seen right away,
And, in profile, you’ll immediately achieve
A perfect resemblance to us, like siblings.

MEPHISTOPHELES:
All honor to you! So be it!

[ 69 ] PHORKYADES: So be it!

MEPHISTOPHELES (as Phorkyas, seen in profile):
Here I am.
Chaos’s beloved son!

PHORKYADES:
We are undeniably the daughters of Chaos.

MEPHISTOPHELES:
Now they rebuke me—oh, what a disgrace! Hermaphrodites.

PHORKYADES:
Among the three sisters, what a beauty!
We have two eyes, two sets of teeth.

MEPHISTOPHELES:
I must hide from everyone’s sight,
To terrify the devils in the pit of hell. (Exits)
(V 7990–8033)

[ 70 ] [Mephistopheles] exits to the right.

[ 71 ] That’s quite a scene. – I’m just curious to see how you’re going to pull all this off! – The lamiae, for example, must first be very beautiful, then one of them must be ugly; one a scrawny broom, the other a thyrsus with a pine cone on her head. One must burst open—he has to split her open—because she’s actually a puffball mushroom that bursts open.

[ 72 ] Empusa—it’s better to cover her with a cloth; she stands there in profile, and he [Mephistopheles] just needs to get a clear look at her face; then the cloth is pulled away, and the donkey’s head remains.

[ 73 ] The sirens dressed in the same costumes as last year. Oread from the natural rock: This is an old mountain, not a new one—an old mountain covered with oak leaves that has been there for a long time. What is newly raised may essentially be masses of rock; these have neither trees nor soil, just masses of rock.

[ 74 ] The cranes are heavy. They could be puppets lowered from above. The words should be spoken forcefully, with a slightly croaking tone; some music could accompany this. Perhaps it could be sung.