

i8o HUMANISM x 



earth is as futile as to crown a dyspeptic king of 

 Cocagne, or to equip a blind man with the ring of Gyges. 

 He is too old to enjoy, too young to be indifferent. 



At his first interview Mephistopheles attempts to 

 reawaken Faust s love of life by conjuring up seductive 

 dreams. But at their second meeting Faust receives him 

 with imprecations on life. This convinces Mephistopheles 

 that a miracle is necessary. Faust must be rejuvenated. 

 By drinking the witch s potion he rids himself of the 

 infirmities which thirty years of study have heaped upon 

 his body and his spirit. This is the turning-point of the 

 plot. Without this renewal of youth could Faust have 

 captivated Gretchen or eloped with Argive Helen ? And 

 what savant of fifty-five would not trust himself, even 

 without the devil s aid, to achieve great things, nay, perhaps, 

 to realize the Platonic dream of the domination of the wise, 

 if he could suddenly find himself restored to the vigour 

 of five and twenty ? 



But such a miracle must hopelessly break up the 

 natural course of psychological development, and so 

 Goethe s Faust does not answer the practical question which 

 Pessimism forces on our notice, the question, namely 

 What to do with those for whom life has lost its savour ? 

 I must confess that so far as human sight as yet extends 

 this problem seems insoluble. Perhaps a good rest, a dip 

 in Lethe, and the resumption of a more attractive life 

 might be therapeutic agents of sufficient power, and 

 something of the sort may possibly yet be found to be 

 among the resources of Providence. 



But how about Mephisto s own salvation ? His case is 

 very different, and it has to be considered, without the 

 poet s aid, 1 merely by a study of his character. We must 

 note first that his pessimism is not of Faust s type ; his 

 vitality is not exhausted, nor has he wearied of the world 

 or of himself. He is still willing to be amused, and is 

 certainly amusing. So far therefore from sinking into 



1 In private conversation Goethe seems however to have realized that the 

 spiritual problem he had chosen required to be completed by the salvation of 

 Mephistopheles. Only he did not think his contemporaries were enlightened 

 enough to tolerate this notion. 



