What am I now? What was I once?

What’s to be willed? What’s to be done?

What use the eye’s clearest sight!

It glances from your royal might.

From the Eastwards we pressed on,

And suddenly the West were gone.

So wide and long the people massed,

The first knew nothing of the last.

The first rank fell: the next stood fast,

The third ranks’ lances unsurpassed:

Each man was like a hundredfold,

Thousands died there, all untold.

We pressed forwards: we stormed on,

We were masters, then were gone:

And where I ruled as chief today,

Tomorrow robbed, and stole away.

We looked – and rapid was that look:

The loveliest women there we took,

We took the oxen from the stall,

We took the horses, took them all.

But my delight was to discover

The rarest things I could uncover:

And what other men might grasp,

To me was only withered grass.

I was on the trail of treasure,

Whatever my sharp eye could measure,

In every pocket I could see,

Every chest was glass to me.

Heaps of gold, they were mine,

And the noblest gems I’d find:

Yet now the emeralds alone

Are worthy to adorn your throne.

Sway there now ‘twixt ear and lip,

You pearly spheres from oceans deep:

A place the rubies dare not seek,

So pale beside your rosy cheek.

And so the riches, every prize,

I set down here before your eyes:

Before your feet I gladly yield,

The spoils of many a bloody field.

As many chests as I’ve brought you,

I’ve many iron caskets too:

Let me follow your path still

And your treasure chambers fill.

You’d scarcely mounted to the throne,

When all bowed down, to you alone,

Wisdom, riches, worldly power,

Before your grace, that very hour.

I held it all fast: that is true

But now it’s loosed, and all for you.

I thought its worth was plain to see,

But now it’s nothing much, to me.

Everything I’ve owned will pass

From me like mown and withered grass.

O, give me just one brightening glance,

And all the value’s in its dance!

Faust

Quickly, remove the heap that boldness won,

And take no blame for it, but seek no praise.

All is hers already, that the castle

Hides in its lap: you offer these few things

In vain. Go and pile treasure on treasure,

In due order. Present a fine array

Of unseen splendours! Let the vaulted halls

Gleam like the clearest sky, let Paradise

Be created from their dead existence.

Quickly let flowery carpet on carpet

Be unrolled beneath her foot: she’ll step

On softest ground: and let her noble gaze,

Blinding all but the Gods, fall on splendour.

Lynceus

What the lord commands is nothing,

For the servants, a mere plaything:

This exalted beauty rules

Over blood and treasure too.

The whole army now is tamed,

All the swords are blunt again,

Near this form of noble gold,

The sun itself is pale and cold,

Near the riches of her face

All is but an empty space.

Helen (To Faust.)

I wish to speak to you, come here then

Beside me! For the empty place invites

Its lord, and so secures this place for me.

Faust

First, let my loyal dedication please you,

While I kneel, noble lady: let me kiss

The gracious hand that lifts me to your side.

Confirm me as co-regent of a realm

Of unknown borders, win now for yourself

Protector, slave, worshipper all in one!

Helen

So many wonders do I see, and hear

Amazement grips me, there’s much I would know.

But teach me why that man spoke aloud

With curious speech, familiar but strange.

Each sound seeming to give way to the next,

And when a word gave pleasure to the ear,

Another came, as if to caress the first.

Faust

If my people’s speech already pleases you,

O, you’ll be delighted with our singing:

It completely satisfies the heart and mind.

But to be sure of it, we’ll practise too:

Alternate speech entices, calls it, forth.

Helen

You’ll tell me how to speak with lovely art?

Faust

It’s easy, it must pour forth from the heart.

And if the breast then overflows with yearning,

One looks around and asks –

Helen

– who else is burning.

Faust

Not backwards, forwards is the spirit’s sight,

This moment now, alone, –

Helen

– is our delight.

Faust

She’s treasure and commitment, wealth and land:

What confirmation does she give –

Helen

– my hand.

Chorus

Who’s offended that our Princess

Grants the master of the castle

A show of friendliness?

Let’s confess, that we’re as fully

Prisoners, as we’ve been till now

Since the shameful overthrow

Of Ilium, and the anxious,

Sad, and labyrinthine voyage.

Women, used to men’s desires,

Are not particular,

They are proficient.

And they award an equal right

To shepherds with their golden hair,

Dark, fauns perhaps, bristling there,

As opportunity affords,

To bodies in their vigour.

Already they sit closer, closer,

Drawn towards each other,

Shoulder to shoulder, knee to knee,

Hand in hand they sway

Across the thrones’

Soft cushioned, majesty.

Their private raptures

Revealed so boldly

To the eyes of the people.

Helen

I feel so far away and yet so near,

And gladly say now: ‘Here, I am! Here!’

Faust

I scarcely breathe, I tremble, speech is dead:

This is a dream: time and place have fled.

Helen

I seem exhausted, yet created new,

Enmeshed with you, the unknown and the true.

Faust

Don’t seek to analyse so rare a fate!

Our duty is to live: though but a day.

Phorkyas (Entering suddenly.)

Spell the letters in love’s primer,

Only loving, pass your time here,

Passing, let love be sublime here,

But the moment isn’t right.

Don’t you feel it, this dark presage?

Don’t you hear the trumpet’s message?

Your destruction is in sight.

Menelaus with his army

Is advancing on you quickly,

Arm yourself, for bitter fight!

Overwhelmed by the winners,

And defiled, like Deiphobus,

You’ll all pay, for this delight.

First the lighter vessels shatter,

Then, for this one, at the altar,

The newly sharpened axe shines bright.

Faust

Rash disturbance! Insistent, she comes pushing in here:

Senseless haste is wrong, even where there’s danger.

Unlucky news makes the fairest messenger ugly:

You, ugliest of all, bring only bad news gladly.

But you’ll not succeed for once: disturb the air

With your empty breath. There’s no danger looming here,

Your danger’s only an idle threat to me.

(Calls, and explosions from the towers, trumpets and cornets, martial music. A powerful army marches past.)

No! Now you’ll see the heroes gather,

The whole wide land will here unite:

He deserves the ladies’ favour,

Who, in their defence, shall fight.

(To the leaders, who step forward from the ranks, and advance.)

Rage silently, and do your duty,

Then you’ll achieve the victory,

You, the prime of northern beauty,

You, the flower of the east.

Cased in steel, with steel gleaming,

The army shatters realms at will,

They appear: the earth is shaking,

They advance, it echoes still.

At Pylos, once, we came to shore,

Old Nestor is no longer living,

Our independent army saw

Us shatter all the mighty kings.

From these walls, in an instant,

Send Menelaus back to sea:

There robbing, killing, is his errand,

As is his wish and destiny.

Dukes, I greet you every one,

Commanded by the Spartan Queen:

At her feet lay vale and mountain,

Win the kingdoms in between.

Germans, with your walls and towers,

Defend Corinth and her bays!

Then Achaia’s hundred gorges

I’ll trust to you, the Goths, always.

Let the Franks advance on Elis,

Messene, to the Saxons brave,

Normans, hold the Argolis,

Rule the shore: and rule the wave.

When everyone has his own land,

At foreign foes, let force be aimed,

While Sparta holds the high command

Our Queen’s ancestral domain.

She’ll behold you each, delighting

In lands, possessed of every right:

And at her feet you’ll seek her blessing,

Acknowledgement, and law and light.

(Faust descends from the throne: the Princes form a circle round him to receive individual commands and instructions.)

Chorus

Who wants the loveliest for himself,

First, above everything,

Would be wise to have weapons about him:

He might well gain by flattery

Whoever is noblest on Earth:

But he won’t possess her in peace:

The sly, and insidious tempt her from him,

Robbers will boldly steal her from him:

He must prepare to foil them.

So I praise our Prince the while,

And think him nobler than the rest,

Since he combines wisdom and strength,

So that the powerful show obedience,

Waiting his every command.

They follow his orders faithfully,

Each as much for his own profit

As for the ruler’s reward and thanks,

Winning the highest fame for both.

Who now will drag her away

From the powerful possessor?

She belongs to him: let her be his,

Doubly bestowed by us, so she

And he, are surrounded inside by thick walls,

Outside, by the greatest of armies.

Faust

The gifts that, on those here, I bestow –

To each of them a prosperous land –

Are great and glorious, let them go!

We in the middle take our stand.

In their rivalry they’ll protect you

Half-island ringed by leaping waves,

While these slender hills connect you

To Europe’s last great mountain range.

This land, that outshines every land,

Be blessed for every race forever,

Delivered to my Queen’s command,

That, long ago now, wondered at her,

There, by Eurotas’ whispering light,

She broke radiant from the shell,

That brightness dazzling the sight

Of siblings: Leda’s eyes, as well.

This land now turns to you alone,

Offering you its noblest flower:

Oh, though the whole world is your own,

Let your country hold you in its power!

And though you may endure the sun’s cold arrow

Up there, on the mountain’s jagged height,

See, how the rocky hillside’s green below, now,

Where the goat may crop its meagre right.

The sources leap, all streams rush down as one,

Gorge, slope, and meadow are already green.

On a hundred hills, rock-folded, steep and broken,

The scattered woolly flocks are clearly seen.

Spread all around, with cautious measured stride,

The horned cattle tread the dizzy edge:

But here there’s shelter that the caves provide,

Hundreds to hide them all, on the rocky ledge.

Pan guards them too: and lively nymphs live there,

In the damp fresh space of bushy clefts,

And, yearning upward to the higher air,

The crowded tree its slender branches lifts.

Primeval woods! The mighty oaks their cap:

Whose stubborn boughs stick out from them, in state:

While kindly maples, pregnant with sweet sap,

Soar cleanly upward, toying with the weight.

Pure mother’s milk, in that still realm of shadows,

Flows rich, in readiness for lamb and child:

Fruit’s not lacking, gift of fertile meadows,

And from the hollow trunk drips honey mild.

Here well-being’s granted all the race,

Cheek and lips both to joy consent,

Each one is immortal, in their place:

And all there are healthy and content.

And thus the lovely child, of purest days,

Grows, and achieves his father’s strength.

We’re amazed, the question’s still, always:

Are these gods, or are they truly men?

When Apollo took a shepherd’s form,

The fairest of them was like the sun:

Since, where pure Nature is the norm,

Then all the worlds must move as one.

(Taking his seat beside her.)

So, this have you, and this have I achieved:

Let the past fade behind us: it is gone!

Oh, know yourself from highest gods conceived,

To the first world, alone then, you belong.

No solid fortresses shall ring you round!

In eternal youth, stands as it stood –

So our stay with all delight be crowned –

Arcadia in Sparta’s neighbourhood.

Lured here to tread this blessed ground,

You fled towards a happy destiny!

Let our thrones as arbours now be found,

Our joy be Arcadian, and free!

(The scene is completely transformed. Bowers are built against a range of rocky caverns. A shadowy grove runs to the foot of the rocks that rise on all sides. Faust and Helen are not visible: the Chorus lie scattered about in sleep.)