Chapter II: Part 2

Would you attain, my dear friend,
to the loftiest summit of wisdom,
Dare it and be not afraid,
should you by prudence be scoffed.

Prudence shortsightedly sees
of the shores but the one that recedeth.
But she can never discern
that one for which you set sail.

Weisheit und Klugheit.

Willst du, Freund, die erhabensten Höh’n
der Weisheit erfliegen,
Wag’ es auf die Gefahr,
dass dich die Klugheit verlacht.

Die kurzsichtige sieht
nur das Ufer, das dir zurückflieht,
Jenes nicht, wo dereinst
landet dein muthiger Flug.

WISDOM, MORALITY AND RELIGION.

The Highest.

Do you desire the highest, the greatest?
A plant can instruct you.

What it unconsciously is,
will it! ’Tis all you can do.

Das Höchste.

Suchst du das Höchste, das Grösste?
Die Pflanze kann es dich lehren;

Was sie willenlos ist,
sei du es wollend -- das ist’s!

Piety and Natural Science.

Had ye the power, O ye dreamers,
to grasp your ideals completely,
Certainly you would revere
Nature, for that is her due.

Had ye, philistines, the power,
to conceive the great whole of all nature,
Surely your path could but lead
up to ideal domains.

Natur und Vernunft.

Wär’t ihr, Schwärmer, im Stande,
die Ideale zu fassen,
O so verehrtet ihr auch,
wie sich’s gebührt, die Natur.

Wär’t ihr, Philister, im Stand,
die Natur im Grossen zu sehen,
Sicher führte sie selbst
euch zu Ideen empor.

Misrepresented.

Moralists pillory Nature,
and yet she is holy and healthy!

Reason’s divinity is
vilely by bigots debased.

Fratzen.

Fromme gesunde Natur!
Wie stellt die Moral dich an Pranger!

Heil’ge Vernunft! Wie tief
stürzt dich der Schwärmer herab!

Philosopher and Bigot.

While the philosopher standeth on earth,
eyes heavenward raising,

Bigots lie, eyes in the mud,
stretching their legs to the skies.

Der Philosoph und der Schwärmer.

Jener steht auf der Erde,
doch schauet das Auge zum Himmel,

Dieser, die Augen im Koth,
recket die Beine hinauf.

Theological Hedonists.

Folks that seek pleasure in all
will with gluttony relish ideas;

Knives they will carry, and forks
up to celestial repasts.

Theophagen.

Diesen ist alles Genuss.
Sie essen Ideen und bringen

In das Himmelreich selbst
Messer und Gabel hinauf.

Friend and Enemy.

Dear is the friend whom I love;
but the enemy useful. The former

Helps me my utmost to dare,
enemies teach me the ought.

Freund und Feind.

Theuer ist mir der Freund,
doch auch den Feind kann ich nützen.

Zeigt mir der Freund, was ich kann,
lehrt mich der Feind, was ich soll.

Distinction.

There’s a nobility, too,
in the empire of morals. For common

Natures will pay with their deeds,
noble ones with what they are.

Unterschied der Stände.

Adel ist auch in der sittlichen Welt.
Gemeine Naturen

Zahlen mit dem was sie thun,
edle mit dem, was sie sind.

Perfection.

No one should be like the other,
but each one should be like the Highest!

“Tell me how that to attain!”
Perfect must ev’ry one be.

Aufgabe.

Keiner sei gleich dem Andern,
doch gleich sei Jeder dem Höchsten!

Wie das zu machen? Es sei
Jeder vollendet in sich.

Goodness and Greatness.

Only two virtues exist.
How I wish they were always united!

Goodness should always be great;
greatness should always be good.

Güte and Grösse.

Nur zwei Tugenden gibt’s.
O, wären sie immer vereinigt,

Immer die Güte auch gross,
immer die Grösse auch gut!

The One Thing Needed.

Whether the smartest thou art
does not matter, but this is important,

That thou be honest throughout,
both at the council and home.

Die Hauptsache.

Ob du der Klügste seist,
daran ist wenig gelegen;

Aber der Biederste sei,
so wie bei Rathe, zu Haus.

Our Duty.

Always aspire to the whole,
and can you alone independent

Not be a whole by yourself,
serve then as part of the whole.

Pflicht für Jeden.

Immer strebe zum Ganzen;
und kannst du selber kein Ganzes

Werden, als dienendes Glied
schliess’ an ein Ganzes dich an.

Difference in Oneness.

Truth is the same to us all;
yet to each her appearance will vary.

When she remaineth the same,
diff’rent conceptions are true.

Wahrheit.

Eine nur ist sie für Alle,
so siehet sie Jeder verschieden,

Dass es Eines doch bleibt,
macht das Verschiedene wahr.

Repetition.

Let me repeat it a hundred,
a thousand times: “Error is error.”

Whether proclaimed by the great,
or by the smallest of men.

Wiederholung.

Hundertmal werd’ ich’s euch sagen
und tausendmal: Irrthum ist Irrthum!

Ob ihn der grösste Mann,
ob ihn der kleinste beging.

Utility.

Truth that will injure is dearer to me
than available error,

Truth hath a balm for the wounds
which she may sometimes inflict.

Was nutzt.

Schädliche Wahrheit, wie zieh’ ich sie vor
dem nützlichen Irrthum!

Wahrheit heilet den Schmerz,
den sie vielleicht uns erregt.

Harm.

Whether an error will harm us?
Not always! but certainly erring

Always will harm us. How much,
friends, you will see in the end.

Was schadet.

Ist ein Irrthum wohl schädlich?
Nicht immer, aber das Irren,

Immer ist’s schädlich, wie sehr,
sieht man am Ende des Wegs.

Discipline.

Never the truth does us harm.
As a mother she sometimes will punish.

Rearing with firmness her child,
checking the flattering maid.

Zucht.

Wahrheit ist niemals schädlich,
sie straft -- und die Strafe der Mutter

Bildet das schwankende Kind,
wehret der schmeichelnden Magd.

Comfort.

Error accompanies us;
yet a yearning inviolate in us

Constantly leadeth our mind
nearer and nearer to truth.

Trost.

Nie verlässt uns der Irrthum,
doch zieht ein höher Bedürfniss

Immer den strebenden Geist
leise zur Wahrheit hinan.

Analytical Truth-Seekers.

Do you take truth for an onion
whose layers you singly can peel off?

Never on truth can you draw
save you deposit it first.[23]

Analytiker.

Ist denn die Wahrheit ein Zwiebel,
von dem man die Häute nur abschält?

Was ihr hinein nicht gelegt,
ziehet ihr nimmer heraus.

Depreciated Coin.

Princes are coining mean coppers
that poorly are plated with silver,
Stamping their portraits thereon.
Long the deceit remains hid.

Thus the enthusiast stampeth,
as genuine, nonsense and errors.
Many accept them as good,
lacking the touchstone of truth.

Schlechte Münze.

Fürsten prägen so oft
auf kaum versilbertes Kupfer
Ihr bedeutendes Bild;
lange betrügt sich das Volk.

Schwärmer prägen den Stempel
des Geists auf Lügen und Unsinn.
Wem der Probierstein fehlt,
hält sie für redliches Gold.

Ritual.

“How these assiduous clerics
are ringing their bells to the people
Only to cause them to come
vain repetitions to make!”

Do not find fault with the clergy;
they know the demands of the people:
Vain repetitions, observe!
always will gladden man’s heart.

Ceremoniendienst.

Wie sie klingeln, die Pfaffen!
Wie angelegen sie’s machen,
Dass man komme, nur ja
plappre, wie gestern so heut!

Scheltet mir nicht die Pfaffen!
sie kennen des Menschen Bedürfniss:
Denn wie ist er beglückt,
plappert er morgen wie heut!

Mystics.

That is the very mysterious secret
that round us lies open,

Compassing always our minds,
but from our sight ’tis concealed.

An die Mystiker.

Das ist eben das wahre Geheimniss,
das Allen vor Augen

Liegt, euch ewig umgiebt,
aber von Keinem gesehn.

Light and Color.

Live, thou Eternally-One,
in the realm of immutable oneness,

Color, in changes so rich,
kindly descend upon earth.

Licht und Farbe.

Wohne, du ewiglich Eines,
dort bei dem ewiglich Einen!

Farbe, du wechselnde, komm
freundlich zum Menschen herab!

Not Irreligious.

What my religion? I’ll tell you!
There’s none among all you may mention

Which I embrace.--And the cause?
Truly, religion it is!

Mein Glaube.

Welche Religion ich bekenne?
Keine von allen,

Die du mir nennst! “Und warum
keine?” Aus Religion.

Our Father.

Though you may work and aspire,
you will never escape isolation,

Till with her might to the All
Nature has knitted your soul.

Der Vater.

Wirke, so viel du willst,
du stehest ewig allein da,

Bis an das All die Natur
dich, die gewaltige, knüpft.

NOTES.

Notes.

[1] Page 30, Note 1.--The name “Huss” means “goose.” When Huss was condemned to die at the stake he said:

_“Nach mir wird kommen ein Schwan, Den sollen sie ungebraten lah’n.”_

[After me a swan will rise, Whom they will not roast likewise.]

This doggerel with its grim humor on so tragic an occasion is commonly and naturally regarded as foretelling the coming of Martin Luther.

[2] Page 55, Note 2.--Professor Wolf was the first to prove that the Iliad and the Odyssey consisted of a number of epic poems by different poets, which were collected under the name of Homer. For Goethe’s feeling with regard to criticism see the translator’s book _Goethe_, page 273.

[3] Page 60, Note 3.--This distich is addressed to Karl Philip Moritz, author of an interesting novel in the form of an autobiography, _Anton Reiser_.

[4] Page 61, Note 4.--This is addressed to F. H. Jacobi, who had written two philosophical novels, _Woldemar_ and _Allwill_. The difference between him and Moritz is sufficiently characterized in this and the preceding distich.

[5] Page 63, Note 5.--This satirizes the sensuous novels of Timotheus Hermes.

[6] Page 64, Note 6.--Directed against Platner, whose philosophy was a declamation of platitudes. The distich is true of almost all the debates that take place in literary clubs after the reading of a paper.

[7] Page 71, Note 7.--Goethe wrote this in criticism of Reichardt’s praise of the French Revolution.

[8] Page 77, Note 8.--This and the following three distichs are directed against Nicolai, who was the owner of a large publishing-house, but at the same time a mediocre author, shallow and conceited.

[9] Page 85, Note 9.--The Stolberg brothers had been liberal, but suddenly turned Roman Catholic.

[10] Page 86, Note 10.--The pious Count Leopold Stolberg, exaggerating the value of Christian art while deprecating classic taste, said that he would give a whole collection of Greek urns for one Faience vase painted in the manner of Raphael.

[11] Page 87, Note 11.--The censure is true in its general application; but the Xenion is aimed at a man (Johann Heinrich Jung, whose _nom de plume_ was Heinrich Stilling) who did not deserve this castigation. See _Goethe_, page 16.

[12] Page 88, Note 12.--A severe description of Johann Caspar Lavater. See _Goethe_, page 28.

[13] Page 89, Note 13.--Also directed against Reichardt. (See Note 7.)

[14] Pages 94 and 102, Note 14.--Schiller renders “Hades” by “Hell” which here retains the classical meaning and does not imply the idea of punishment.

[15] Page 104, Note 15.--Karl Leonard Reinhold (born in Vienna October 26, 1758) was educated as a Jesuit and became professor of philosophy in the Jesuit college of the Barnabites, but renounced the faith of his youth in 1783 and left Vienna for Weimar, where he married the daughter of the poet Wieland. He became professor of philosophy at the University of Jena in 1787 and 1794 in Kiel, where he died April 10, 1823. He was a Kantian and wrote much on Kantian philosophy.

[16] Page 112, Note 16.--Very good as a general criticism. Goethe, however, was on the wrong track, in directing this distich against Newton’s theory of color.

[17] Page 116, Note 17.--Kant called his philosophy transcendental idealism, and his followers insisted upon the importance of transcendentalism. They were opposed by naturalists, who scorned theory and insisted on the facts of experience.

For the meaning of the word “transcendental” see the translator’s _Fundamental Problems_, p. 30 _et passim_, and _Primer of Philosophy_, p. 66. “Transcendent” means what transcends human knowledge, i. e., what is unknowable, but “transcendental” is in Kantian terminology non-sensory or formal knowledge such as pure logic and arithmetic, involving the principles of theory or systematic abstract thought.

[18] Page 120, Note 18.--Here the term “natural law” does not mean laws of nature but the juridical principle based upon primitive natural conditions.

[19] Page 121, Note 19.--Samuel von Puffendorf (1632-1694) was a famous jurist and professor of natural law in Berlin. (See previous note.)

[20] Pages 122 and 123, Note 20.--Kant declared that the man who performed his duty because it gave him pleasure was less moral than he who did it against his own inclinations.

[21] Page 124, Note 21.--Schiller was a disciple and follower of Kant, who finds the conditions of knowledge in the thinking subject, not in the object that is thought. Since a thinking being does not acquire an insight into the laws of form by experience, but establishes them _a priori_, Kant believes that things have to conform to cognition and not cognition to things. Man thus produces truth out of his own being, and imports it into the objective world. Now it is true that truth and the criterion of truth, namely reason, develop together with mind; for indeed reason is the characteristic feature of mind. Things are real, not true, and truth can dwell in mental representations only. But considering the fact that mind develops from and by experience which originates by a contact with objects, and that reason is but the formal element extracted from experience and systematized--a consideration which Kant did not make because he never proposed the problem of the origin of mind--we shall find that the nature of reason and truth are not purely subjective. Reason is not an arbitrary classification of things (as the nominalists believe), but a formula that describes the necessary and universal relations of the objective world.--For a critical exposition of the problem see the translator’s books on Kant: _The Surd of Metaphysics_ and _Kant’s Prolegomena_ in which the question “Are there things in themselves?” is answered in the negative, but the existence of forms in themselves is insisted upon. See also the chapters on the “_A Priori_ and the Formal” in his _Primer of Philosophy_; “The Origin of the _A Priori_” in his _Fundamental Problems_; and “The Origin of Mind” in _The Soul of Man_.

[22] Page 134, Note 22.--The caesura has here been placed contrary to the classical rule.

[23] Page 158, Note 23.--Truth cannot directly be taken from reality but is the product of work, for facts must be observed, stated, and systematized so as to become truth.

INDEX.

Index.

Action and motives, 44.

Admiration Society, Mutual, 58.

Analytical truth-seekers, 158.

Answer, My, 97, 105, 107.

Anti-Xenions, 9.

Apollo, 85.

Appearance not sham, 101.

Aristotle, 94.

Art, 56, 130; Christian, 168.

Astronomers, 133.

Authority, Those in, 71.

Authors, Two different, 60, 61.

Baal priests, 45.

Barkers, 71.

Beauty, Oneness of, 38.

Beethoven, 3.

Being and possession, 36.

_Belles lettres_, Servant and, 62.

Berkeley, 99.

Bigot and philosopher, 144.

Bigots, 143; (_Schwärmer_), 25.

Blank verse, 19-21.

Boisterous, 28.

Born is the poet, 129.

Bottle wine, How to, 119.

Bubble in me, A, 99.

Bucolic caesura, 16-17.

Caesura, 14-15, 171;
Bucolic, 16-17.

Catalectic, 14.

Celestial repasts, Pleasure in, 145.

Changes and oneness, 162.

Christian art, 168.

Clerics, 160.

Coin, 73;
Depreciated, 159.

Collector, The, 78.

Color and light, 162.

Columbus, 136-137.

Committee, A, 74.

Common natures and noble ones, 147.

Conception makes three, 104.

Connoisseur, 86.

Conscience, 107.

Cork-tree, The, 119.

Counters, Valueless, 73.

Cow or goddess, 132.

Creation, 131.

Creator and world, 135.

Critics, 54, 68.

Crudity, 79.

Dactylic pentameter, 21-22.

Danube, Nicolai on the, 77.

Death, 46; and immortality, 48.

Descartes, 96; Answer to, 97.

Destinies, Various, 39.

Devil, Licentiousness and the, 63.

Dilettante, 59.

Discipline, 156.

Discussion and monologues, 64.

Dissection, 72.

Distich a fountain, 27;
The elegiac, 13ff.

Distinction, 147.

Divinity, 42.

Dreamers, 142.

Dunce, The whole a, 74.

Dupe will turn rogue, 84.

Duty, Our, 151.

Empiricists, 113.

Enemy useful, 146.

Enthusiast, 5, 56, 159.

Erring will harm, 155.

Error and truth, 157, 159;
hid, 112;
is error, 153;
Truth dearer than, 154.

Errors, 126.

Eternity, 40.

Eyes in the mud, 144.

Facts and their treatment, 61.

Fate, Our common, 29.

Father, Our, 164.

Fathom thyself, 35.

Fichte, 103.

Fiction and truth, 134.

Flaw, A, 112.

Folly and insanity, 43.

Foot and meter, 13.

Form, Truth and, 130.

Formless material, 78.

Fountain, The distich a, 27.

Friend and enemy, 146.

Frog, 72.

Genius, a gift, 129;
and nature, 37, 136;
when it slips, 43.

Gift, Genius a, 129.

Goddess or cow, 132.

Goethe and Schiller, 3ff., _et passim_.

Good from the bad, 131.

Goodness and greatness, 149.

Growth, Propagation and, 39.

Hades, Philosophers in, 91-108.

Half-bird, The, 89.

Harmony, 34.

Heart and reason, 34;
of hearts, Thine own, 35.

Hedonists, Theological, 145.

Hell, 169.

Hephthemimeres, 16.

Heracles, Zeus to, 42.

Hermes, Timotheus, 63, 168.

Heroic hexameter, 17.

Highest, The, 141.

Homer, 55, 167.

Honest throughout, Be, 150.

_Horen, Die,_ 6f.

Human, knowledge, 124-125;
life, 47.

Hume, David, 102.

Huss, 30, 167.

Hypocrites (_Heuchler_), 25.

I and not-I, 103.

Iambic trimeter, 19-21.

Ice-floe, 49.

Ideal, Road to, 46.

Imitations, 131.

Immortality and death, 48.

Immutable, The, 40.

Incompetent reviewers, 54.

Indestructible, 49.

Insanity, Folly and, 43.

Investigation, Questionable, 72.

Irreligious, Not, 163.

Jacobi, F. H., 61, 167.

Kant, 3, 101, 102, 169, 170, 171;
and his interpreters, 118.

Kantian’s decision, The, 123.

Key, The, 35.

Language and logic spoiled, 57;
qualitative and quantitative, 18;
shaping verse, 59.

Lavater, Johann Caspar, 88, 168.

Leibniz, 100.

Letter, Spirit and, 73.

Licentiousness and the Devil, 63.

Life limited, 47.

Light and color, 162.

Logic and language spoiled, 57.

Longfellow, 17.

Luther, 167.

Madness, Join in, 28.

Majolica pot, 86.

Martial’s _Xenia_, 7, 8.

Martyr, The last, 30.

Martyrs, 84.

Metaphysics for sale, 111.

Meter and foot, 13.

Method, Our, 26.

Modern criticism, 76.

Moment, The great, 67.

Monologues and discussion, 64.

Moral Problem, A, 122.

Moralists void of sense, 8.

Moritz, Karl Philip, 60, 167.

Motives and action, 44.

Muse, The poet and his, 53.

_Musen-Almanach_, 7, 8.

Mutual Admiration Society, 58.

Mystics, 161.

Natural law, 120, 170.

Naturalist and poet, 135.

Nature, and reason, 37;
Genius and, 136;
Law of, 41;
misrepresented, 143.

Nectar, 42.

Newton’s theory of color, 169.

Nicolai, 5f, 168;
Motto of, 80;
on the Danube, 77.

Noble and common natures, 147.

Nose for smelling, 120.

Nothing, I thought, 97.

Olympian gods, 85.

One thing needed, 150.

Oneness and changes, 162;
Difference in, 152;
Indicated, 100;
of beauty, 38.

Onion, Truth not an, 158.

Open secret, 161.

Ostrich, The, 89.

Parnassus, 85.

Part of the whole, 151.

Parties, 90.

Pentameter, Dactylic, 21-22.

Penthemimeres, 15, 21.

Perfection, 148.

Philistines, 5, 25, 142.

Philosopher and bigot, 144.

Philosophy will remain, 108.

Piety and science, 142.

Plant unconscious, 141.

Platitudes, 76.

Platner, 168.

Pleasure and virtue, 122;
in celestial repasts, 145.

Poet and his muse, The, 53;
and naturalist, 135;
is born, The, 129.

Poetical deviltry, 8.

Poetry, Purpose of, 134.

Possession and being, 36.

Practical, 106.

Press is thinking, 81.

Problem, A moral, 122.

Propagation and growth, 39.

Prophet, The, 88.

Prose, 26.

Prudence and wisdom, 138.

Publisher, A, 81.

Puffendorf, 120-121; 170.

Purpose, of poetry, 134;
Our, 25.

Pythia, 82.

Reason, and heart, 34;
and nature, 37;
and truth, 171.

Reason’s divinity, 143.

Refuge, Specialist the last, 115.

Reichardt, 168.

Reinhold, Karl Leonard, 164, 169.

Religion, 163.

Repetition, 153.

Repetitions, Vain, 160.

Reviewers, Incompetent, 54.

Ritual, 160.

Sale, Metaphysics for, 111.

Salvation, 46.

Schiller, 170;
and Goethe, 3ff, _et passim_.

Schmidt, K. Ch. F., 106.

Science, 132;
and piety, 142;
and transcendental philosophy, 116, 117.

Scoundrel, Stuff for a, 88.

Secret, open, 161; remains, 50.

Sentiment and thoughts, 33.

Sentimentalists, 5, 87.

Servant and _belles lettres_, 62.

Socrates, 82.

Soul, Thing and, 101.

Souls, Let us interchange, 36.

Specialist the last refuge, 115.

Spinoza, 98.

Spirit and letter, 73.

Star-constellations, 124.

Stilling, Heinrich, 87, 168.

Stolberg, The Brothers, 7, 85, 168.

Strength and weakness, 41.

Sublimity not in space, 133.

Sully, Your hands, 79.

Systems, Philosophical, 126.

Taste in a watering place, 75.

Teleology, 119.

Teutonic languages, 18.

Theoreticians, 114.

Thing, and soul, 101;
of all things, 98.

“Things in themselves” to be sold, 111.

Thoughts and sentiment, 33.

Three, Conception makes, 104.

Time, 40.

Transcendent and transcendental, 169.

Transcendental, idealism, 169;
philosophy, Natural science and, 116, 117.

Trochaic trimeter, 14.

True universally, 95.

Trust in scientific truth, 136.

Truth, and error, 157, 159;
and fiction, 134;
and form, 130;
and her appearance, 152;
and reason, 171;
dearer than error, 154;
My, 80;
not an onion, 158;
Trust in scientific, 136;
will punish, 156.

Universally true, 95.

Urgent, 95.

Value and worth, 36.

Vanity, 69.

Various destinies, 39.

Verse is impressive, 26;
Language shaping, 59.

Vinculum, 69.

Virtue and pleasure, 122.

Voss, Johann Heinrich, 11, 12.

Wanted, 62.

Weakness and strength, 41.

Whole, Part of the, 151,

Wisdom and prudence, 138.

Wolf, 55, 167.

Wolff, Caspar Friedrich, 3.

World, Creator and, 135.

Worth and value, 36.

Wretches, 68.

Xenions, and Xenia, 8;
History of the, 3ff.

Zeus to Heracles, 42.