But chiefly be intent to get a hold
O’ the women’s minds: their endless Oh! and Ah!
So thousandfold,
In all its change, obeys a single law,
And, if with half a modest air you come,
You have them all beneath your thumb.
A title first must purchase their reliance,
That you have skill surpassing vulgar science;
Thus have you hold at once of all the seven ends,
Round which another year of labor spends.
Study to press the pulse right tenderly,
And, with a sly and fiery eye,
To hold her freely round the slender waist,
That you may see how tightly she is laced.
Student.
This seems to promise better; here we see
Where to apply and how to use the knife.
Mephistopheles.
Gray, my good friend, is every theory,
But green the golden tree of life.
Student.
I vow I feel as in a dream; my brain
Contains much more than it can comprehend;
Some other day may I come back again,
To hear your wisdom to the end?
Mephistopheles.
What I can teach all men are free to know.
Student.
One little favor grant me ere I go;
It were my boast to take home on this page
[Presenting a leaf from his album.]
Some sapient maxim from a man so sage.
Mephistopheles.
Right willingly.
[He writes, and gives back the book.
Student. [reads]
Eritis sicut Deus scientes bonum et malum.
[He closes the book reverently, and takes his leave.
Mephistopheles.
Follow the ancient saw, and my cousin, the famous old Serpent,
Right soon shalt thou have cause, at thy godlike knowledge to tremble!
Enter Faust.
Faust.
Now, whither bound?
Mephistopheles.
Where’er it pleases you;
The world, both great and small, we view.
O! how it will delight, entrance you,
The merry reel of life to dance through!
Faust.
