'"The  names  Philemon  and  Baucis,'  said  I,  'transport  me
to  the  Phrygian  shore,  reminding  me  of  that  famous  antique
pair  ;  but  this  scene  is  laid  in  modern  times  and  in  a  Chris-
tian region.'

" '  My  Philemon  and  Baucis,'  said  Goethe,  '  have  nothing
to  do  with  that  antique  pair  and  the  legend  concerning  them.
X  only  gave  them  the  same  names,  to  dignify  the  characters.
The  persons  and  circumstances  are  similar,  and  the  names
thus  will  have  a  good  effect.'  "  —  Eckermann,  June  6,  1831.
153.  Where  the  Sea's  blue  arc  is  spanned.
The  Wanderer  is  introduced  in  order  that  the  changes
which  Faust  has  wrought  in  the  region  may  be  described.
The  sea,  which  broke  on  the  downs  where  the  fornler  was
wrecked,  years  before,  is  now  only  seen  as  a  blue  horizon-
line  in  the  distance.
446  FAUST.
154.  Knaves  in  vain  by  Vay  were  storming.
The  original  line  is  :  "  Tags  umsonst  die  Knechte  Idrmten."
Some  translators  have  rendered  the  word  umsonst  into  "  un-
paid," because  it  has  frequently  the  meaning  of  "gratis."
The  other  and  equally  correct  rendering  is  suggested  to  me
by  the  circumstance  that  the  workmen  were  employed  by
night  as  well  as  by  day.  The  account  which  the  old  couple
give  of  Faust's  cruelty  must  not  be  taken  too  literally  :  they
are  no  friends  of  innovation.
155.     My  grand  estate  lacks  full  design.
The  Warder,  Lynceus,  is  here  introduced  for  the  purpose
of  describing  the  action.  Schnetger,  it  is  true,  says  he  is
the  "  prophetic  vision  of  the  Poet,"  mourning  over  the  de-
struction of  the  Beautiful  by  the  modern  Industrial  Spirit ;
but  I  find  in  him  no  symbolism  whatever,  —  certainly  noth-
ing which  connects  hira  with  his  namesake  of  the  Helena.
