Now living matter falleth from above Which I must use. It is the stuff whereof Are demons made, and it is flowing free Within the world of form. A man doth strive To tear from out his being utterly The spirit-substance he received from me. My influence hath been till now quite good, But now he is too near the mystic throng Whom Benedictus through his wisdom's light Hath lent the power enabling them to face Awakening at the cosmic midnight hour. O'er him hath Lucifer his influence cast: So that Maria and Johannes could Release themselves from out his sphere of light. Henceforth to Strader I must closely cling. Once he is mine I'll catch the others too. Johannes wore himself quite dull and blunt Against my shadow;--now he knows me well. Through Strader only can I get at him. And in Maria's case it is the same; Yet Strader will perhaps not recognize The spirit-tangle, which to human eyes Appears as nature, is in fact naught else Than mine own personal spirit-property. And so he may conceive that energy And matter blindly struggle there where I, Denying spirit, fashion spirit-things. 'Tis true the rest have talked to him a lot About my being and about my realm; And yet, methinks, I have not lost him quite. He will forget that Benedictus sent Him hither unto me, but half-awake, That his belief may be dispelled that I Am but a woven thought in human brains. Yet I shall need some earthly help if I Must bring him here before it is too late. Now therefore I will call upon a soul Which in its cleverness considers me To be naught else than some dull foolish clown. He serves me on and off, when I have need. (Ahriman goes off and returns with the soul of Fox, whose figure is a sort of copy of his own. On entering he takes a bandage from the eyes of this person representing the soul.) AHRIMAN: (Aside) Earth-knowledge he must leave here at the door. For he must never understand the things Which here he learns, since he is honest still; No effort would he make, if he once knew The purpose with which I now influence him. He must be able later to forget. (To Fox) Dost thou know doctor Strader, who serves me? THE SOUL OF FOX: He drifts about upon the star of Earth; He would build learned prattle into life; And yet each wind of life will knock him down. He listens eagerly to mystic prigs, And is already stifled by their fog; He now doth try to blind poor Hilary, Whose friend, however, keeps him well in hand, Since all these braggart spirit-whisperings Would otherwise his business quite destroy. AHRIMAN: (Aside)