till I feel
That one need not be slavish--

FAUST

Who are you?
What are you talking of? How did you get here?

SATAN

I am, sir, Nicholas Satan, at your service.

FAUST

Nicholas Satan! Quite a name. Perhaps
Some relative of the illustrious one?

SATAN

Himself.

FAUST
Stop this cheap foolishness! Who are you?
Or shall I ring for the police?

SATAN

I am
Satan. If I appeared with colored fire
And lightnings round me, you would doubt no more.
But like your narrow and near-sighted age,
You know me not in my own natural shape.
Now let this end! Here is my proof. You once
Summoned me to your aid, and, when I came,
Weakly rejected me. You were a boy
In college, and a woman blackmailed you--
A low, crude matter. I had settled it
Swiftly, if you had let me. We alone,
We three, on Harvard Bridge--night--and beneath,
A practicable river: ah, it was
A child's task! But you faltered.... You recall,
Possibly.

FAUST

I recall.... So you are he.
I did not know you.

SATAN

Let's forget the past.
We meet now under happier auspices.

FAUST

Incredible.

SATAN

No, quite an honest fact
Am I.

FAUST

I hardly can persuade myself
Whether to laugh or pull a solemn face
At seeing you. It is preposterous!
I thought that you were dead--a myth--a wraith.

SATAN

Dead? That is rich!

FAUST

Well ... don't you think yourself
A slight anachronism?

SATAN

My young friend,
I am no laughing matter. With the times
I, too, have changed, and am as up-to-date
As the Ritz-Carlton.

FAUST

But your horns and tail
And pitchfork? Not a vestige do I see
Of your famed look! You have no frightful glance;
I cannot even so far flatter you
As to say special badness makes your face
Great and distinguished. If you're Prince of Hell,
How villanously have the poets lied!

SATAN

They have lied, always, horribly, of me!
I am not half so black as they allege.
You know, exaggeration is to them
What whiskey is to most men. But time bursts
Their bubbles--or at least we come to take
Their work as merely art. Thus their description
As art is not so bad; but if you seek
For truth, it's outright libel.

FAUST

I admit
It has a certain perfectness of evil
Lacking in you.

SATAN