all is silent; in the distance, on the borders of the sky, there are hovering sounds. Not only do we recall the past, but the Past overtakes us and penetrates us with hungry yearning; the ray of Life is broken into singularly distinct colors. Towards the vesper, existence gradually grows fresher and stronger.”—Richter, Flegeljahre.
Perhaps as a contrast to this silence of the sleeping Pan, the Nymphs recall the old Greek tradition of his terrible voice, wherewith he even alarmed the Titans fighting against Jove. In battle, also, his cry was sometimes heard, and we still retain the expression of the sudden, collective terror it was supposed to inspire, in our word panic.
41. The Emperor burns and all his throng.
Although this scene is generally accepted as symbolizing Revolution, its character is not so clear and consistent as to forbid other interpretations. The Emperor’s account of his vision during the magic conflagration, given in the next scene, scarcely harmonizes with an allegorical representation of his own overthrow; and there are various details—such as the Dwarfs (Gnomes) being the conductors of the Emperor to the fount of fire, the Herald holding the wand which Plutus afterwards uses to quench the flame—to which we cannot easily give a political symbolism.
I have quoted Kreyssig’s view (Note 38), and here add that of Köstlin: “When Pan, or the Emperor, arrives with his suite, a deputation of the Gnomes, the spirits of the metals, advances and conducts him to the flowing gold in the chest of Plutus, which they have just discovered. The chief object of the Carnival Masquerade is therewith fulfilled; the Emperor is solemnly declared to be lord of the inexhaustible store of metals hidden in the earth. Then the whole, since it is only illusion and pleasantry, apparently terminates terribly, . . . . not the Revolution, as Düntzer’s gloomy interpretation asserts, but, as it is immediately afterwards styled, a cheerful “jugglery of flame,” which terrifies only to banter, and also serves, through the seeming terror and the speedy quelling of the conflagration, to show the magic art of Faust
