13 June 2005 | Vol. 5, No. 2

Hermann and Dorothea: 6. Clio

by JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE

THE AGE

Now when the foreign judge had been by the minister questioned

As to his people's distress, and how long their exile had lasted,

Thus made answer the man: "Of no recent date are our sorrows;

Since of the gathering bitter of years our people have drunken,—

Bitterness all the more dreadful because such fair hope had been blighted.

Who will pretend to deny that his heart swelled high in his bosom,

And that his freer breast with purer pulses was beating;

When we beheld the new sun arise in his earliest splender,

When of the rights of men we heard, which to all should be common,

Were of a righteous equality told, and inspiriting freedom?

Every one hoped that then he should live his own life, and the fetters,

Binding the various lands, appeared their hold to be loosing,—

Fetters that had in the hand of sloth been held and self-seeking.

Looked not the eyes of all nations, throughout that calamitous season,

Towards the world's capital city, for so it had long been considered,

And of that glorious title was now, more than ever, deserving?

Were not the names of those men who first delivered the message,

Names to compare with the highest that under the heavens are spoken?

Did not, in every man, grow courage and spirit and language?

And, as neighbors, we, first of all, were zealously kindled.

Thereupon followed the war, and armed bodies of Frenchmen

Pressed to us nearer; yet nothing but friendship they seemed to be bringing;

Ay, and they brought it too; for exalted the spirit within them:

They with rejoicing the festive trees of liberty planted,

Promising every man what was his own, and to each his own ruling.

High beat the heart of the youths, and even the aged were joyful;

Gaily the dance began about the newly raised standard.

Thus had they speedily won, these overmastering Frenchmen,

First the spirits of men by the fire and dash of their bearing,

Then the hearts of the women with irresistible graces.

Even the pressure of hungry war seemed to weigh on us lightly,

So before our vision did hope hang over the future,

Luring our eyes abroad into newly opening pathways.

Oh, how joyful the time when with her belov'ed the maiden

Whirls in the dance, the longed-for day of their union awaiting!

But more glorious that day on which to our vision the highest

Heart of man can conceive seemed near and attainable to us.

Loosened was every tongue, and men—the aged, the stripling—

Spoke aloud in words that were full of high feeling and wisdom.

Soon, however, the sky was o'ercast. A corrupt generation

Fought for the right of dominion, unworthy the good to establish;

So that they slew one another, their new-made neighbors and brothers

Held in subjection, and then sent the self-seeking masses against us.

Chiefs committed excesses and wholesale plunder upon us,

While those lower plundered and rioted down to the lowest:

Every one seemed but to care that something be left for the morrow.

Great past endurance the need, and daily grew the oppression:

They were the lords of the day; there was none to hear our complaining.

Then fell trouble and rage upon even the quietest spirit.

One thought only had all, and swore for their wrongs to have vengeance,

And for the bitter loss of their hope thus doubly deluded.

Presently Fortune turned and declared on the side of the German,

And with hurried marches the French retreated before us.

Ah! then as never before did we feel the sad fortunes of warfare:

He that is victor is great and good,—or at least he appears SO,—

And he, as one of his own, will spare the man he has conquered,

Him whose service he daily needs, and whose property uses.

But no law the fugitive knows, save of self-preservation,

And, with a reckless greed, consumes all the possessions about him;

Then are his passions also inflamed: the despair that is in him

Out of his heart breaks forth, and takes shape in criminal action.

Nothing is further held sacred; but all is for plunder. His craving

Turns in fury on woman, and pleasure is changed into horror.

Death he sees everywhere round him, and madly enjoys his last moments,

Taking delight in blood, in the shrieking of anguish exulting.

Thereupon fiercely arose in our men the stern resolution

What had been lost to avenge, and defend whate'er was remaining,

Every man sprang to his arms, by the flight of the foeman encouraged,

And by his blanching cheeks, and his timorous, wavering glances.

Ceaselessly now rang out the clanging peal of the tocsin.

Thought of no danger to come restrained their furious anger.

Quick into weapons of war the husbandman's peaceful utensils

All were converted; dripped with blood the scythe and the ploughshare.

Quarter was shown to none: the enemy fell without mercy.

Fury everywhere raged and the cowardly cunning of weakness.

Ne'er may I men so carried away by injurious passion

See again! the sight of the raging wild beast would be better.

Let not man prattle of freedom, as if himself he could govern!

Soon as the barriers are torn away, then all of the evil

Seems let loose, that by law had been driven deep back into corners."

"Excellent man!" thereupon with emphasis answered the pastor:

"Though thou misjudgest mankind, yet can I not censure thee for it.

Evil enough, I confess, thou hast had to endure from man's passions,

Yet wouldst thou look behind over this calamitous season,

Thou wouldst acknowledge thyself how much good thou also hast witnessed.

How many excellent things that would in the heart have hidden,

Had not danger aroused them, and did not necessity's pressure

Bring forth the angel in man, and make him a god of deliv'rance."

Thereupon answered and said the reverend magistrate, smiling:

"There thou remindest me aptly of how we console the poor fellow,

After his house has been burned, by recounting the gold and the silver

Melted and scattered abroad in the rubbish, that still is remaining.

Little enough, it is true; but even that little is precious.

Then will the poor wretch after it dig and rejoice if he find it.

Thus I likewise with happier thoughts will gratefully turn me

Towards the few beautiful deeds of which I preserve the remembrance.

Yes, I will not deny, I have seen old quarrels forgotten,

Ill to avert from the state; I also have witnessed how friendship,

Love of parent and child, can impossibilities venture;

Seen how the stripling at once matured into man; how the aged

Grew again young; and even the child into youth was developed,

Yea, and the weaker sex too, as we are accustomed to call it,

Showed itself brave and strong and ready for every emergence.

For