The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Volume Iii Part 3

But fly the boundary of the Senses--live The Ideal life free Thought can give; And, lo, the gulf shall vanish, and the chill Of the soul's impotent despair be gone!

And with divinity thou sharest the throne, Let but divinity become thy will!

Scorn not the Law--permit its iron band The sense (it cannot chain the soul) to thrall.

Let man no more the will of Jove withstand, And Jove the bolt lets fall!

XII

If, in the woes of Actual Human Life-- If thou could'st see the serpent strife Which the Greek Art has made divine in stone-- Could'st see the writhing limbs, the livid cheek, Note every pang, and hearken every shriek Of some despairing lost Laoc.o.o.n, The human nature would thyself subdue To share the human woe before thine eye-- Thy cheek would pale, and all thy soul be true To Man's great Sympathy.

XIII

But in the Ideal Realm, aloof and far, Where the calm Art's pure dwellers are, Lo, the Laoc.o.o.n writhes, but does not groan.

Here, no sharp grief the high emotion knows-- Here, suffering's self is made divine, and shows The brave resolve of the firm soul alone: Here, lovely as the rainbow on the dew Of the spent thunder-cloud, to Art is given, Gleaming through Grief's dark veil, the peaceful blue Of the sweet Moral Heaven.

XIV

So, in the glorious parable, behold How, bow'd to mortal bonds, of old Life's dreary path divine Alcides trod: The hydra and the lion were his prey, And to restore the friend he loved today, He went undaunted to the black-brow'd G.o.d; And all the torments and the labors sore Wroth Juno sent--the meek majestic One, With patient spirit and unquailing, bore, Until the course was run--

XV

Until the G.o.d cast down his garb of clay, And rent in hallowing flame away The mortal part from the divine--to soar To the empyreal air! Behold him spring Blithe in the pride of the unwonted wing, And the dull matter that confined before Sinks downward, downward, downward as a dream!

Olympian hymns receive the escaping soul, And smiling Hebe, from the ambrosial stream, Fills for a G.o.d the bowl!

GENIUS (1795)

Do I believe, thou ask'st, the Master's word, The Schoolman's shibboleth that binds the herd?

To the soul's haven is there but one chart?

Its peace a problem to be learned by art?

On system rest the happy and the good?

To base the temple must the props be wood?

Must I distrust the gentle law, imprest, To guide and warn, by Nature on the breast, Till, squared to rule the instinct of the soul,-- Till the School's signet stamp the eternal scroll, Till in one mold some dogma hath confined The ebb and flow--the light waves--of the mind?

Say thou, familiar to these depths of gloom, Thou, safe ascended from the dusty tomb, Thou, who hast trod these weird Egyptian cells-- Say--if Life's comfort with yon mummies dwells!-- Say--and I grope--with saddened steps indeed-- But on, thro' darkness, if to Truth it lead!

Nay, Friend, thou know'st the golden time--the age Whose legends live in many a poet's page?

When heavenlier shapes with Man walked side by side, And the chaste Feeling was itself a guide; Then the great law, alike divine amid Suns bright in Heaven, or germs in darkness hid-- That silent law--(call'd whether by the name Of Nature or Necessity, the same), To that deep sea, the heart, its movement gave-- Sway'd the full tide, and freshened the free wave.

Then sense unerring--because unreproved-- True as the finger on the dial moved, Half-guide, half-playmate, of Earth's age of youth, The sportive instinct of Eternal Truth.

Then, nor Initiate nor Profane were known; Where the Heart felt--there Reason found a throne: Not from the dust below, but life around Warm Genius shaped what quick Emotion found.

One rule, like light, for every bosom glowed, Yet hid from all the fountain whence it flowed.

But, gone that blessed Age!--our wilful pride Has lost, with Nature, the old peaceful Guide.

Feeling, no more to raise us and rejoice, Is heard and honored as a G.o.dhead's voice; And, disenhallowed in its eldest cell The Human Heart--lies mute the Oracle, Save where the low and mystic whispers thrill Some listening spirit more divinely still.

There, in the chambers of the inmost heart, There, must the Sage explore the Magian's art; There, seek the long-lost Nature's steps to track, Till, found once more, she gives him Wisdom back!

Hast thou--(O Blest, if so, whate'er betide!)-- Still kept the Guardian Angel by thy side?

Can thy Heart's guileless childhood yet rejoice In the sweet instinct with its warning voice?

Does Truth yet limn upon untroubled eyes, Pure and serene, her world of Iris-dies?

Rings clear the echo which her accent calls Back from the breast, on which the music falls?

In the calm mind is doubt yet hush'd--and will That doubt tomorrow, as today, be still?

Will all these fine sensations in their play, No censor need to regulate and sway?

Fear'st thou not in the insidious Heart to find The source of Trouble to the limpid mind?

No!--then thine Innocence thy Mentor be!

Science can teach thee naught--she learns from thee!

Each law that lends lame succor to the Weak-- The cripple's crutch--the vigorous need not seek!

From thine own self thy rule of action draw; That which thou dost--what charms thee--is thy Law, And founds to every race a code sublime-- What pleases Genius gives a Law to Time!

The Word--the Deed--all Ages shall command, Pure if thy lip and holy if thy hand!

Thou, thou alone mark'st not within thy heart The inspiring G.o.d whose Minister thou art, Know'st not the magic of the mighty ring Which bows the realm of Spirits to their King: But meek, nor conscious of diviner birth, Glide thy still footsteps thro' the conquered Earth!

VOTIVE TABLETS

[Under this t.i.tle Schiller arranged that more dignified and philosophical portion of the small Poems published as Epigrams in the _Musen Almanach_; which rather sought to point a general thought, than a personal satire.--Many of these, however, are either wholly without interest for the English reader, or express in almost untranslatable laconism what, in far more poetical shapes, Schiller has elsewhere repeated and developed. We, therefore, content ourselves with such a selection as appears to us best suited to convey a fair notion of the object and spirit of the cla.s.s.--Translator]

MOTTO TO THE VOTIVE TABLETS.

What the G.o.d taught--what has befriended all Life's ways, I place upon the Votive Wall.

THE GOOD AND THE BEAUTIFUL

(ZWEIERLEI WIRKUNGSARTEN)

The Good's the Flower to Earth already given-- The Beautiful, on Earth sows flowers from Heaven!

VALUE AND WORTH

If thou _hast_ something, bring thy goods--a fair return be thine; If thou _art_ something, bring thy soul and interchange with mine.

THE KEY

To know _thyself_--in others self discern; Wouldst thou know others? Read thyself--and learn!