UBOENDB
128
LEGENDS
earth '\ he resorts to magic and evokes the Devil. A
demon, who is called Mephistopheles, appears, and a
compact is made whereby for a stated term (later on
fixed at twenty-four years) he agrees to be Faust's
servant, in return for which the latter pledges his soul
to the Devil. This compact is sealed with Faust's
blood. For a time the sorcerer lives in powpr and
splendour, performing strange deeds and experiencing
marvellous adventures. But at the end of the stated
term the Devil claims his prey. A strange tumult is
heard at ni^ht, and the next morning Faust's man-
gled corpse IS foimd on a heap of refuse.
The book itself is totally devoid of literary merit. Its purpose is purely didactic; the magician's awful fate is held up as a solemn warning to all who might be tempted to resort to black art. The f undamenteJ idea of the story is the wickedness of striving for forbidden knowledge by sinful means. The anonymous author, who, judging from the general tone of the book, was probably a Lutheran pastor, emphatically disapproves of the spirit of free inauiry that cnaracterizes the period following the great oiscoveries and the Reformation. Of subsequent editions, that of Widmann (1599) seems to nave been the chief source of later versions. Here the anti-Catholic tendency, unmistakable in the first edition, is still further emphasized. Faust's downfall is directly attributed to the cult of the Catho- lic Church. There are besides a number of changes, usually with a didactic purpose and to the detriment of the literary quality of the book. A lenethy com- mentary is also addca. A new edition of Widmann's version was given by Pfitzer in 1674, and an abbrevi- ated edition was brought out about 1725, by one who calls himself a "man of Christian sentiments". But the popularity of the legend was due not so much to the chap-books as to the crude dramatic performances given by bands of strolling players. In these perform- ances English actors played an important part. On the basis of an English' translation of the German chap-book, Christopher Marlowe wrote his well known drama of Faustus (first performed in 1595), and this
Slay was performeid in Germany by English actors. >f the German Faust plays we have but scanty knowl- edge. Ajs we know them from the eighteenth centurj^ they were coarse farces in which buffoonery and sensa- tionalism were relied on for success. Such plays dis- appeared from the literary stage when French classi- cism prevailed. But the Faust play survived as a puppet-show given by showmen at fairs to amuse the yoimg and uncritical, and such a show inspired the young Goethe with the idea of writine his famous masterpiece. Already Lessing had called attention to the dnsunatic possibilities of the subject, and tried his hand at a Faust drama of which he had sketched a scene (cited in the seventeenth "Literaturbrief", 1759).
The old Faust legend as presented in the chap-books and the plays is essentially a tragedy of sin and dam- nation, a characteristic product of the age of the Ref- ormation. In older legends of great sinners like Rob- ert the Devil, the eflicacy of penitence was proclaimed, the sa\'ing power of the Church was emphasized. With the Reformation this was changed. The rigid Lutheran orthodox theology denied the redeemmg powers of the ancient Church and this harsh spirit is reflected in the legend. The sinner who leagues with the Devil was irrevocably damned. Goethe, the en- lightened humanitarian, disagreed with this concep- tion. For him Faust was not a presumptuous sensual- ist, but a titanic striver after truth, a representative of humanity's noblest aspirations, and, whatever his sins and errors might be, in the end he was to be saved. In Goethe's "Faust" (see Germany, loc. cit. tupra) the legend has received its classic form.
For a fairly complete bibliography of the hnmenM fitereture of the subject down to 1884 consult Enqkl, ZtuamnunaUlluno der Faust-Sehriften vom W. Jahrhundert bU mitte 188A (Olden- burs* 1885); see also Fibchsb, OoHhet Faxtal in Oodh&'
IUlt OeschidUswiBsenschaftt VII (Freiburg im Br. and liepxig,
1897) • 298-^360 (here ail the literaiy testimonials conceming the
historical Faust are adduced and discussed). Consult also the
introduction to Thomas, Cfoethe*8 Fatut (Boston. 1899).
Abthur F. J. Remt.
Legends of the Saints. — Under the term legend the modern concept would include every untrue tale. But it is not so very long since its meaning has been extended thus far, nor is such a definition historically justifiable. That which was understood by the word legend, at the time when the concept arose, in- cluded both truth and fiction (considered from the standpoint of modern historical criticism) . And this is what the numerous friends of the legend amons the German poets, since the days of the Romantic School, understand by the term. The legenda included facts which were historically genuine, as well as narra- tive which we now class as unhistorical legend. The term is a creation of the Middle Ages, and has its source in the reading of the prayers used in Divine service. Since the c&ys of the martyrs, the Church recalled to mind her famous dead in the prayers of the Mass and in the Office, by commemoratmg the names noted in the martyrologies and making mention of in- cidents in their lives and martyrdom. When the lectio became a matter of precept, the reading matter in the office for the day became in a precise sense legenda (that which must be read). After the thir- teenth century the word legenda was regarded as the equivalent of vita and passio, and, in the fifteenth century, the liber ledionarius is comprised under what is known as *' legend". Thus, historically con- sidered, legend is the story of the saints. As by this time it had unfortunately happened that the stories of the saints were supplemented and embellished by the people according to their primitive theological conceptions and inclinations, the legend became to a large extent fiction. The age of the Reformation received the legend in this form. On accoimt of the im- portance wmch the saints possessed even among Protestants, especially as the instruments of Divine grace, the legends have remained in use to this day,
Particularly m sermons. The edition of the "Vit® 'atrum", which Georg Major published at Witten- berg in 1544 by Luther's orders^ closely follows Atha- nasius, Rufinus, and Jerome, rejecting merely the ob- vious fantasies and aberrations, such as, for example, were to be seen in the "Vita s. Barbar»", the "Le- genda Aurea" of the thirteenth century, or in the " Vita s. Simeonis Stylitffi" of Pseudo-Antonius. But the opposition to the ancient Church became intensi- fied, and led to the Reformers' breach with the saints. Simultaneously, the legends of the saints disappear from Protestantism, and it is only in the nineteenth century, after the brief appearance of Romanticism, that they again find entrance into official Protestant- ism in connexion with the attempts of Ferdinand Piper (d. 1899 at Berlin) to revive the popular cal- endars.
In the usage of the Catholic Church and of the people, the legend plays the same part tondav as in the Middle Ages. Here also science has taught that distinctions are to be made. Thus it was felt that not all the legends we possess were of equal value, and especially that the editions of the lives of the saints were entirely imsatisfactory. It was the Jesuit Heri- bert Rosweyde of Utrecht who, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, imdertook to remedy matters by referring to the most ancient texts, and by pointing out how the tales developed. Rosweyde wished merely to correct the old collections; his idea was to treat the martyrologies. beginning with the most an- cient, from the philological standpoint. But his scheme was forthwith taken up by his order, and after his death (1629) was carried out on a large scale, with
