©Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia

180 FAUST
On to enjoyment, and, uneasy still,
Even in enjoyment languish for desire!
[MEPID9TOPHELES enters.
MEPIDSTOPHELES. Have you not had enough of this
before?
A pretty kind of life to live for ever!
Well enough for a trial. Come, come, let us
Seek something new.
FAUST.
I wish you had something else
To do than thus torment me when I'm quiet.
MEPIDSTOPHELES. Well! well! and if you wish I'll
leave you here
To your delights-never say it again.
Great loss to me, indeed, 'twould be to lose
A petulant, unsocial, crazy creature
Of a companion-kept the whole day long
Busy, and never can make any guess
From my lord's countenance, whether your worship
Is pleased or is displeased by what I do.
FAUST. Aye, there's the tone-that is so very like
him:
Tires me to death-expects me then to thank him!
MEPIDSTOPHELES. Poor child of earth! and couldst
thou, then, have borne
Thy life till now without my aid? 'Twas I
That saved thee from imaginations idle!
I guarded thee with long and anxious care;
And, but for me, even now thou wouldst have been
Idling in other worlds! Why sittest thou there,
Lingering in hollow cave, or rifted rock,
Dull as the moping owl? Why, like the toad,
Dost thou support a. useless lile, deriving
Subsistence from damp moss a.nd dripping stone?
Sweet pastime this! most charming occupation!
I fear you've not forgotten your old trade.
FAUST. Couldst thou conceive what added life is
given
In hours like this, passed in the wilderness,
And couldst thou feel it-still thou wouldst remain
The devil thou art-still hate and poison it !
©Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia