So all is straight! And nine is one, And ten is none,
This is the witch’s one-time-one!
Faust
The hag doth as in fever rave.
Mephistopheles
To these will follow many a stave. I know it well, so rings the book throughout; Much time I've lost in puzzling o'er its pages, For downright paradox, no doubt, A mystery remains alike to fools and sages. Ancient the art and modern too, my friend. 'Tis still the fashion as it used to be, Error instead of truth abroad to send By means of three and one, and one and three. 'Tis ever taught and babbled in the schools. Who'd take the trouble to dispute with fools? When words men hear, in sooth, they usually believe, That there must needs therein be something to conceive.
The Witch (continues)
The lofty power Of wisdom’s dower, From all the world conceal'd! Who thinketh not, To him I wot, Unsought it is reveal'd.
Faust
What nonsense doth the hag propound? My brain it doth well-nigh confound. A hundred thousand fools or more, Methinks I hear in chorus roar.
