Faust

He sold his soul to a demon... that reminds me a certain story. That's it. Faust. Although I majored in German literature at the university, I didn't read through any Goethe's works... how embarrassing. Let me remember what the story is like here.

Faust is a famous German magician and alchemist in the date of the Renaissance, around 15C-16C. He seeks advanced knowledge and summons the Devil, Mephistopheles. The Devil gives him a period of pleasure time, at the cost of his soul. It has been used as the archetype for many different fictional works, most notably by Marlowe, Goethe, and Thomas Mann.

All I knew about Faust was a famous line from Goethe's Faust: 時よ止まれ、汝はいかにも美しい (Sorry in Japanese). Faust promised Mephistopheles that he would sell his soul when he satisfied with his life and said this line. I want to know the original German lines and English lines of this part. Let me check...

By the way, Mori Ogai translated this part like this;

己がある「刹那」に「まあ、待て、
お前は実に美しいから」と云ったら、
君は己を縛り上げてくれても好い。
己はそれきり滅びても好い。

Here's the original;

Werd' ich zum Augenblicke sagen:
Verweile doch! du bist so schön!
Dann magst du mich in Fesseln schlagen,
Dann will ich gern zugrunde gehn!

Here's English translation from Project Gutenberg;

When to the moment I shall say,
Linger awhile! so fair thou art!
Then mayst thou fetter me straightway,
Then to the abyss will I depart!

Faust must have died when he said this line, but he didn't. His soul was not taken by Mephistopheles. Instead, God saved his soul. Here's another Deus ex machina.