Chapter 2

Goethe (S. 5, N. 2), in one of his conversations with Eckermann at Weimar, once observed: “It is very strange, and I know not whether it lies in race, in climate, in soil, or in their healthy education, but certainly Englishmen seem to have a great advantage over most other men. We see here in Weimar only a minimum of them, and those, probably, by no means the best specimens, and yet what splendid fellows they are! And although they come here as seventeen-year-old youths, yet they by no means feel strange in this strange land; on the contrary, their entrance and bearing in society is so confident and quiet, that one would think they were everywhere the masters, and the whole world belonged to them.”

“I should not like to affirm, for all that,” replied Eckermann, “that the English gentlemen in Weimar are cleverer, better educated, and better hearted than our young men.”

“That is not the point,” said Goethe; “their superiority does not lie in such things; neither does it lie in their birth and fortune; it lies precisely in their having the courage to be what nature made them. There is no halfness about them. They are complete men. Sometimes complete fools also, that I heartily admit, but even that is something, and has its weight.”

Thus (App. § 14), in Goethe’s eyes, the Englishmen fulfilled, to a great extent, the injunction given by Lessing to those who would be men:

“Think wrongly, if you please, but think for yourselves!”—S. SMILES, “SELF-HELP.”

= one day.

‘Very’ is often rendered by the superlative of the adv. +hoch+.

‘whether it lies’ may be elegantly translated by omitting the conjunction ‘whether’ and using the inversion.

+im heimatlichen Boden.+

+heilsam.+

Say ‘but it seems to be certain that Englishmen possess a great superiority over most other men’.

a minimum = very few.

= and these (+dies+) are probably by no means the best, and yet (+dennoch aber+) they are (+sind es+) splendid fellows!

a thirty-year-old man, +ein dreißigjähriger Mann+.

+Auftreten+, n.

+Benehmen+, n.

+sicher.+

Render ‘would’ by the Impf. Subj. of +mögen+, since the sentence is equivalent to ‘that one would be inclined to think’. The following verbs must be constructed according to App. §§ 29 and 30.

Supply ‘alone’ after ‘them’.

for all that, +aber doch+, to be placed before ‘not’.

+~Johann Peter Eckermann~, geboren 1792 zu Winsen in der preußischen Provinz Hannover, gestorben den 3. Dez. 1854 zu Weimar, war viele Jahre als Göthes Privatsekretär thätig und ist der Welt am bekanntesten durch die von ihm nach Göthes Tode veröffentlichten ‘Gespräche mit Göthe’. Er war auch der Herausgeber+ (editor) +von Göthes ‘Nachgelassenen Werken’.+

+Sache+, f.

+auch+ besteht sie nicht in.

= wealth; Comp. S. 10, N. 9.

= simply.

=The English Gerund preceded by a possessive adjective and a preposition, must be translated by a regular subordinate clause with a conjunction and a finite verb=; as—

His superiority lies in his having the courage to be what nature made him.

+Seine Überlegenheit besteht ~darin~+ (S. 87, N. 6), +~daß er~ den Mut ~hat~, das zu sein, was er von Natur aus ist.+

+Es.+

+an.+

= whole.

= willingly; weight = value.

= according to the judgment of Göthe.

= advice; by, +von+; to, an; those = all such; who, +die da+.

+~Gotth. Ephraim Lessing~, geboren den 22. Jan. 1729 zu Kamenz (Oberlausitz), gestorben den 15. Febr. 1781 in Braunschweig, hat sich durch seine ästhetisch-kritischen Werke, wie auch durch seine Dramen, deren Form, Sprache, Methode und Inhalt fast unerreichte Muster sind, einen unsterblichen Namen in der deutschen Litteraturgeschichte erworben. Sein Wirken als genialer Kritiker, Forscher und Dichter war von unermeßlichem Einfluß auf die nächste Entwickelung unserer Litteratur, die mit ihm und durch ihn ihrer Glanzperiode entgegenschritt.+

Section 162.

A ROYAL JUDGMENT.

A man and his wife named Lambrun had been many years in the service of the unfortunate Queen Mary Stuart, and were sincerely attached to her. The tragical death of that princess had such an effect on the husband that he did not long survive her, and the widow, Margaret Lambrun, resolved to revenge, upon Queen Elizabeth, the death of two persons so dear to her. She (S. 5, N. 2) therefore disguised herself in man’s clothes, bought (S. 58, N. 8) a brace of pistols, and went to (S. 72, N. 4) London. Soon after, when the queen appeared in public, Margaret endeavoured to make her way through the crowd in order to shoot her; but one of the pistols fell, and she was immediately apprehended.

The queen, being informed of the circumstance, ordered the man to be brought before her, and said to him: “Well, Sir, who are you? and why do you seek to kill me?”—“Madam,” replied Margaret, “I am a woman; I was a long time in the service of Queen Mary Stuart, whom you put to death unjustly; her execution caused the death of my dear husband, who was sincerely attached to her; and my affection for both of them has excited me to revenge.”—“And how do you think I ought to deal with you?” asked Elizabeth.—“Do you speak as a queen or as a judge?” returned Margaret.—“As a queen.”—“Then you ought to pardon me,” was the answer.—“And what security can you give me that you will not attempt my life again?”—“Madam, a pardon granted upon conditions ceases to be a favour.”—“Well then,” said the queen, “I pardon you, and trust to your gratitude for my safety.”—P. SADLER.

= his.

+an+, with the Dat. of the def. art. The words ‘upon — Elizabeth’ must be placed before the supine. Comp. App. § 1.

We lament the death of the two boys so dear to us, +wir beweinen den Tod der beiden uns so teuren Knaben+.

to disguise oneself in man’s clothes, +sich als Mann verkleiden+.

= a pair.

+sich begeben+, insep. comp. str. v. refl.

Here place the adverbs ‘soon after’.

+öffentlich.+

to make one’s way, +sich einen Weg bahnen+.

to shoot a person, +auf einen schießen+.

+entfiel ihr.+

Construe accord. to S. 55, N. 1, and S. 4, N. 4, (+man+).

+Vorfall+, m.

+ließ sie den Mann vor sich führen.+

Use the 2nd pers. pl. (+Ihr+) here and in the following passages, since that was the pronoun generally used in addressing persons in olden times.

to seek to kill a person (or to attempt a person’s life), +einem nach dem Leben trachten+.

to put a person to death unjustly, +einen ungerechterweise hinrichten lassen+.

This caused the death of our child, +dies kostete unserem Kinde das Leben+. The insertion of the adv. +auch+ after the verb ‘caused’ would considerably improve the German rendering.

to excite a person to revenge, +einen zur Rache antreiben+. Use the Impf.

+verfahren.+

+begnadigen+, v. tr.

+Bürgschaft+, f.

a — conditions, +eine bedingungsweise Begnadigung+.

+Gnade+, f.

+hinsichtlich+, followed by the Gen. The words ‘to (+auf+) your gratitude’ are best placed at the end.

Section 163.

TACITUS.

I am glad to find, by your (= thy) letter just received, that you are reading Tacitus with some relish. His style is rather quaint and enigmatical, which (S. 3, N. 7) makes it difficult to the student; but then his pages are filled with such admirable apothegms and maxims of political wisdom, as infer the deepest knowledge of human nature; and it is particularly necessary that any one intending to become a public speaker should be master of his works, as there is neither an ancient nor a modern author who affords such a selection of admirable quotations. You should exercise yourself frequently in trying to make translations of the passages which most strike you, trying to invest the sense of (S. 25, N. 5) Tacitus in as good English as you can. This will answer the double purpose of making yourself familiar with the Latin author, and giving you the command of your own language, which no person will ever have who does not study composition in early life.—SIR WALTER SCOTT, “LETTERS TO HIS SON.”

here +ersehen+; by, +aus+.

Use the def. art. accord. to S. 25, N. 5.

= unusual and unclear (+dunkel+).

to make difficult, +erschweren+; student = pupil.

= on the other hand, +andererseits+.

= writings, +Schriften+; filled with such, +so voll von+.

as infer = that they prove.

Say ‘should thoroughly (+gründlich+) know his works’.

Say ‘as there is (S. 82, N. 7) no classical nor (+noch+) modern author (+Schriftsteller+)’.

in trying = in the attempt, +in dem Versuche+.

= such.

This passage struck me most, +diese Stelle machte am meisten Eindruck auf mich+.

trying = and try.

+wie´dergeben+, sep. comp. str. v. tr.

This does not answer my purpose, +dies entspricht meinem Zwecke nicht+.

+über+.

= obtain.

+welcher sich nicht schon in der Jugend in schriftlichen Aufsätzen übt.+

Section 164.

HUMILITY.

I believe the first test of a truly great man is his humility. I do not mean by humility, doubt of his own power, or hesitation in speaking his opinions, but a right understanding of the relation between what he can do and say, and the rest of the world’s sayings and doings. All great men not only know their business, but usually know that they know it; they are not only right in their main opinions, but they usually know that they are right in them (S. 4, N. 5, B); only they do not think much of themselves on that account. Arnolfo knows he can build a good dome at Florence; Albert Dürer writes calmly to one who had found fault with his work: “It cannot be better done;” Sir Isaac Newton knows that he has worked out a problem or two that would have puzzled anybody else:—only they do not expect their fellow-men therefore to fall down and worship them; they have a curious under-sense of powerlessness, feeling (S. 30, N. 4) that the greatness is not in them, but through them; that they could (App. § 33) not do or be anything else than what God made them. They see something divine and God-made in every other man, and are endlessly, nay incredibly merciful.—ANONYMOUS.

= best; test, +Prüfstein+, m.

+unter+, which place at the head of the period; mean = understand.

+an+, with the Dat.

here +Unentschlossenheit+.

+aus´sprechen.+

+von.+

= and of that which the remaining world can say and do.

= understand.

+Sache+, f.

+wissen+, after which insert the adv. +auch+.

that they understand the same (to agree with +Sache+).

+Hauptansichten.+

on that account, +deswegen+, which place after the Subj.; to think much of oneself, +eine große Meinung von sich haben+.

+~Arnolfo di Cambio~, berühmter Baumeister und Bildhauer zu Florenz (1232-1300), baute den Dom+ St. Maria del fiore +zu Florenz und das Tabernakel zu St. Paolo in Rom.+

= stately.

+~Albrecht Dürer~, geboren den 20. Mai 1471 zu Nürnberg, gestorben den 6. April 1528 ebendaselbst, muß zu den hervorragendsten und vielseitigsten Künstlern gezählt werden, die je gelebt. Er war nicht allein ausgezeichneter Maler, sondern auch zugleich Kupferstecher+ (engraver on copper), +Formschneider+ (moulder), +Bildhauer+ (sculptor), +Architekt und Schriftsteller+ (author) +über die Kunst. Er war der Erfinder der Ätzkunst, erfand das Mittel, die Holzschnitte mit ~zwei~ Farben zu drucken, und vervollkommnete die Schriftgießerei+ (type-foundry), +~denn von ihm stammt die Form der deutschen Lettern~+.

+gelassen+; one, +jemand+.

to work out a problem or two, +Probleme lösen+.

anybody else, +jeder andere+, as Nom.

= that their fellow-men therefore (+deshalb+) must (+sollen+) fall down before them and worship (+an´beten+) them. The auxiliary +sollen+ must be placed last, accord. to App. § 18.

they — powerlessness. This clause cannot be rendered in a literal way, but may be expressed thus: ‘they recognise that they are, after all, only powerless’; after all, only, +doch nur+, which place after the Subj.

is not = manifests itself not (+sich offenbaren+).

+als wozu Gott sie erschaffen.+

+Gotterschaffenes.+

+ja sogar.+

= forbearing, +nachsichtig+.

Section 165.

RUSSIAN POLITICAL PRISONERS IN BANISHMENT.