MEPHISTOPHELES

I shall remember:  pause, ere ’tis too late.

FAUST

Thereto a perfect right hast thou. 
My strength I do not rashly overrate. 
Slave am I here, at any rate,
If thine, or whose, it matters not, I trow.

MEPHISTOPHELES

At thine inaugural feast I will this day
Attend, my duties to commence.—­But one thing!—­
Accidents may happen, hence
A line or two in writing grant, I pray.

FAUST

A writing, Pedant! dost demand from me? 
Man, and man’s plighted word, are these unknown to thee? 
Is’t not enough, that by the word I gave,
My doom for evermore is cast? 
Doth not the world in all its currents rave,
And must a promise hold me fast? 
Yet fixed is this delusion in our heart;
Who, of his own free will, therefrom would part? 
How blest within whose breast truth reigneth pure! 
No sacrifice will he repent when made! 
A formal deed, with seal and signature,
A spectre this from which all shrink afraid. 
The word its life resigneth in the pen,
Leather and wax usurp the mastery then. 
Spirits of evil! what dost thou require? 
Brass, marble, parchment, paper, dost desire? 
Shall I with chisel, pen, or graver write? 
Thy choice is free; to me ’tis all the same.

MEPHISTOPHELES

Wherefore thy passion so excite,
And thus thine eloquence inflame? 
A scrap is for our compact good. 
Thou under-signest merely with a drop of blood.

FAUST

If this will satisfy thy mind,
Thy whim I’ll gratify, howe’er absurd.

MEPHISTOPHELES

Blood is a juice of very special kind.

FAUST

Be not afraid that I shall break my word! 
The scope of all my energy
Is in exact accordance with my vow. 
Vainly I have aspired too high;
I’m on a level but with such as thou;
Me the great spirit scorn’d, defied;
Nature from me herself doth hide;
Rent is the web of thought; my mind
Doth knowledge loathe of every kind. 
In depths of sensual pleasure drown’d,
Let us our fiery passions still! 
Enwrapp’d in magic’s veil profound,
Let wondrous charms our senses thrill! 
Plunge we in time’s tempestuous flow,
Stem we the rolling surge of chance! 
There may alternate weal and woe,
Success and failure, as they can,
Mingle and shift in changeful dance! 
Excitement is the sphere for man.

MEPHISTOPHELES

Nor goal, nor measure is prescrib’d to you,
If you desire to taste of every thing,
To snatch at joy while on the wing,
May your career amuse and profit too! 
Only fall to and don’t be over coy!