Four Mystery Plays

by Rudolf Steiner

Scene 11

The Temple of the Sun. Hidden site of the mysteries of the Hierophants.

Capesius and Strader appear as in Scene 4.

Retardus (to Capesius and Strader before him):

Ye have brought bitter grief to me, my friends.

The office which I did entrust to you

Ye have administered with ill success.

I call you now before my judgment seat.

To thee, Capesius, I did entrust

Full measure of the spirit, that ideas

Of mankind’s upward striving might compose,

With graceful words, the content of thy speech,

Which should have worked convincingly on man.

Then thine activity I did direct

Into those gatherings of men, wherein

Thou didst Johannes and Maria meet.

Their tendency towards the spirit-sight

Thou shouldst have superseded by the power

Which thy words should have exercised on them.

Instead of that thou didst thyself give up

Unto the influence which flows from them.—

And to thee, Strader, did I show the way

That leads to scientific certainty.

Thou hadst by rigid thinking to destroy

The magic power that comes from spirit-sight.

But yet thou lackedst feeling’s certain touch.

The power of thought did slip away from thee,

When opportunity for conquest came.

My fate is close-entwinéd with your deeds,

Through you are these two seekers after truth

Now lost for evermore from my domain;

For to the brethren I must give their souls.

Capesius:

Thy trusty messenger I could not be.

Thou gav’st me power to picture human life;

And I could well portray whate’er inspired

The souls of men at this time or at that:

But yet it was impossible for me

To gift my words, which painted but the past,

With power to fill and satisfy men’s souls.

Strader:

The weakness which must needs befall me too

Was but a true reflection of thine own.

Knowledge indeed thou couldst give to me:

But not the power to still that yearning voice,

Which strives for truth in every yearning heart.

Deep in mine inmost soul I none the less

Felt other powers continually arise.

Retardus:

See now then what result your weakness brings.

The brethren are approaching with those souls

In whom they will o’erthrow my power. E’en now

Johannes and Maria feel their might.

(Enter Benedictus with Lucifer and Ahriman; behind them Johannes and Maria.)

Benedictus (to Lucifer):

Johannes’ and Maria’s souls have now

No longer room for blind unseeing power:

To spirit-life they have been lifted up.

Lucifer:

Then must I straightway from their souls depart.

The wisdom unto which they have attained,

Doth give them power to see me, and my sway

O’er souls of men doth only last so long

As I remain invisible to them.

Yet doth the power continue which hath been

From the creation of the worlds mine own.

And though I cannot tempt their souls, yet still

My power will cause within their spirit-life

Most beauteous fruits, to ripen and endure.

Benedictus (to Ahriman):

Johannes’ and Maria’s souls have now

Destroyed all error’s darkness in themselves;

And spirit-sight hath been revealed to them.

Ahriman:

I must indeed renounce their spirits then;

For they will turn henceforth unto the light.

Yet one thing hath not yet been ta’en from me;

With sense-appearance to delight their souls.

And though no longer they will deem it truth,

Yet will they see how truth it doth reveal.

(Enter the Other Maria.)

Theodosius (to the Other Maria):

Close intertwinéd was thy destiny

With thine exalted sister’s loftier life:

The light of love I could impart to her:

But not the warmth of love, so long as thou

Didst always let thy noblest impulses

From dim sensations only rise in thee,

And didst not strive to see them clear and bold

In the full light of wisdom’s certainty.

The influence of the Temple does not reach

Unto the nature of vague impulses,

E’en though such impulse wills to work for good.

The Other Maria:

I needs must recognize that noble thought

Can only work salvation in the light.

So to the temple I now wend my way.

My own emotion shall in future times

Not rob the light of love of its results.

Theodosius:

Through this, thine insight, thou dost give me power

To make Maria’s soul-light on the earth

Run smooth and evenly upon its path:

For aye aforetime it must lose its might

In souls, such as thine own was heretofore,

Which would not unify their light with love.

Johannes (to the Other Maria):

I see in thee the nature of that soul,

Which also holdeth sway within mine own.

I was unable to find out the way

Which led to thine exalted sister’s soul

So long as in my heart the warmth of love

From love’s light ever held itself apart.

The sacrifice which to the temple’s shrine

Thou bring’st, shall be repeated in my soul.

Therein the warmth of love shall sacrifice

Itself unto love’s wonder-working light.

Maria:

Johannes, in the realm of spirit-life

Thou hast attained to knowledge through myself.

To spirit knowledge thou canst only add

True soul-existence, when thou findest too

Thine own soul, as thou didst find mine before.

(Enter Philia, Astrid, and Luna.)

Philia:

Then from the whole creation of the worlds

The joy of souls shall be revealed to thee.

Astrid:

From thine whole being then can be outpoured

The light and radiance of the warmth of souls.

Luna:

Then shalt thou dare to live out thine own self,

When such light can illuminate thy soul.

(Enter Felix and Felicia Balde.)

Romanus (to Felix Balde):

Long hast thou from the temple held thyself.

Thou only wouldst admit enlightenment,

When light from thine own soul revealed itself.

Men of thy nature rob me of the power

To give my light unto men’s souls on earth.

They wish to draw from darksome depths alone,

What they should freely offer unto life.

Felix Balde:

Yet ’twas man’s own illusion in itself,

That brought me light from out the darkest depths:

And let me to the temple find my way.

Romanus:

The fact that thou hast hither found thy way

Gives me the power to give light to the will

Of both Johannes and Maria here.

That it no more may follow forces blind,

But from world-aims henceforth direct itself.

Maria:

Johannes, thou hast seen thine own self now

In spirit in myself. Thou shalt live out

Thine own existence as a spirit, when

The world’s light can behold itself in thee.

Johannes (to Felix Balde):

In thee, good brother Felix, do I see

That soul-power which did hold my will fast bound

In its own spirit. Thou wouldst find the way

Unto the temple: with the strength of will

Within my spirit I would fain point out

The path unto the temple of the soul.

Retardus:

Johannes’ and Maria’s souls e’en now

Escape from my domain: how then shall they

Discover all that springs forth from my might?

So long as they did lack within their souls

The fundaments of learning, they did still

Find joy and pleasure in my gifts, but now

I see myself compelled to let them go.

Felicia:

That man without thine aid, may fire himself

To rational thought, that have I shown to thee

From me a learning streams that dare bear fruit.

Johannes:

This learning shall be wedded to the light,

Which from this temple’s source can fill men’s souls.

Retardus:

Capesius, my son, thou art now lost.

Thou hast withdrawn thyself from my domain

Before the temple’s light can shine for thee.

Benedictus:

He hath begun the path. He feels the light.

And he will win the strength to search and know

In his own soul all that, which up till now

Good Dame Felicia hath produced for him.

Strader:

Then I alone seem lost, for of myself

I cannot cast all doubts from out my heart;

And surely I shall never find again

The way that doth unto the temple lead.

Theodora:

From out thine heart a glow of light spreads forth;

A human image now is born therefrom;

And I can hear the words, which do proceed

From this same human form. E’en thus they sound:

‘I have achieved the power to reach the light.’

My friend, trust thou thyself! These very words,

When thy time is fulfilled, thyself shalt speak.

Curtain