i;o HUMANISM x 



Mephisto then is perfectly clear about his position. 

 And he also sees its hopelessness. He is too complete a 

 pessimist to suppose that his protest can be of avail. 

 He is well aware that he cannot destroy the world he 

 condemns, either wholesale or in detail. 



Und freilich ist damit nicht viel getan. 

 Was sich dem Nichts entgegen stellt 

 Das Etwas, diese plumpe Welt, 

 So viel als ich schon unternommen, 

 Ich wusste nicht ihr beizukommen, 



If he evades therefore Faust s retort 



So setzest du der ewig regen, 

 Der heilsam schaffenden Gewalt 

 Die kalte Teufelsfaust entgegen, 

 Die sich vergebens tiickisch ballt ! 

 Was anders suche zu beginnen, 

 Des Chaos wunderlicher Sohn ! 



it is not that he is under any illusion. He, the Lord, 

 and Faust all agree that his work for evil is futile and 

 productive of good. He has therefore every right to 

 announce himself as 



Ein Teil von jener Kraft, 



Die stets das Bose will und stets das Gute schafft. 



Nor does he deny the Lord s description of his beneficent 

 and stimulating, but from his own point of view futile, 

 activity 



Des Menschen Tatigkeit kann allzuleicht erschlaffen, 



Er liebt sich bald die unbedingte Ruh ; 



Drum geb ich gern ihm den Gesellen zu, 



Der reizt und wirkt und muss, als Teufel, schafifen. 



It is instructive to compare this pessimism with that 

 to which Faust had succumbed at the beginning of the 

 action, and to see how much deeper it cuts. Faust s 

 discontent with the cosmic scheme is quite a petty, 

 personal, and superficial affair. In Faust s first soliloquy 

 the jaded old professor, who has exhausted all the know 

 ledge of his age and finally himself, has, naturally enough, 

 discovered that all is vanity. His lowered vitality can 



