_Passage in the First Part of Faust._--
"_Faust._ Es Klopft? Herein! Wer will mich wieder plagen?
_Mephistopheles._ Ich bin's.
_Faust._ Herein!
_Mephis._ Du musst es dreimal sagen.
_Faust._ Herein denn!
_Mephis._ So gefällst du mir."
Why must he say it _three_ times? Is this a superstition that can be traced
in other countries than Germany? In Horace we have Diana thus addressed:
"_Ter_ vocata audis, adimisque letho,
Diva triformis."--Lib. iii. Ode 22.
But she is there the benign Diana, not Hecate.
Are we to understand the passage to mean, that the number _three_ has a
magical influence in summoning spirits; or to teach that the power of evil
is so overruled by a higher Power, that he cannot approach to begin his
work of temptation and ruin unless he be, not once merely, or twice, but
_three_ times, called by the free will and act of the individual who is
surrendering himself to his influence? The subject seems worthy of
elucidation.