145. With reference to the following sentence, see Supplement, p. 545 (Pap. V B 176:4).
146. With reference to the following three paragraphs, see Supplement, p. 546 (Pap. V B 176:3).
147. With reference to the remainder of the paragraph and the following two paragraphs, see Supplement, pp. 546-47 (Pap. V B 176:2,7, 174:4).
148. See Poetics, 1454 a; Bekker, II, p. 1454; Works, II, p. 2327: “In the characters there are four points to aim at. First and foremost, that they shall be good. There will be an element of character in the play, if (as has been observed) what a personage says or does reveals a certain choice; and a good element of character, if the purpose so revealed is good. Such goodness is possible in every type of personage, even in a woman or a slave, though the one is perhaps an inferior, and the other a wholly worthless being.”
149. Kierkegaard may have had in mind Henrik Hertz’s Svend Dyrings Hus, first presented March 15, 1837, and published the same year. In I, 2, the ghost of Fru Helvig makes an appearance and delivers a monologue.
150. The source has not been located.
151. A version of the refrain in the ballad “Manden og Konen satte dem ned, Talte i Fryd og Gammen.” See Anton Caén, Folkevisebog, I-II (Copenhagen: 1849), II, p. 18. See also Letters, Letters 49, 69, pp. 91, 140, KW XXV.
152. An application of the ironical phrase usually used by Kierkegaard in reference to those who think they have gone beyond Socrates, Hegel, and faith. See, for example, Fear and Trembling, pp. 5, 69, KW VI (SV III 57, 118); Fragments, p. 24, KW VII (SV IV 193).
153. See, for example, Plato, Timaeus, 42 a-b, 90 e, Opera, V, pp. 164-65, 274-75; Dialogues, pp. 1170-71, 1210; Aristotle, Politics, 1259 a-1260 b; Bekker, II, pp. 1259-60; Works, II, pp. 1999-2000.
154. With reference to the following six paragraphs, see Supplement, pp. 547-48 (Pap. V B 178:8).
155. See Lucius Firmianus Lactantius, Institutiones divinae, III, 19; Firmiani Lactantii opera, I-II, ed. Otto Fridolin Fritzsche (Leipzig: 1842-44; ASKB 142-43), I, p. 152; The Divine Institutes, tr. Mary Francis McDonald, The Fathers of the Church, I-LXIX, ed. Roy J. Deferrari (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1943-78), XLIX, pp. 218-19:
Cicero in his Consolation [fragment 11] says it is “best by far not to be born, and not to come up against these rocks of life, but, if you are born, it is next best to escape as it were from the fire of fortune as quickly as possible.” It is clear that he believed that very foolish saying, because he added something of his own that he might adorn it. I wonder, therefore, for whom he thinks it is best not to be born, since there is no one at all who may be sensible of it, for the senses effect that something be good or bad. Then, why did he think that all life was nothing else than rocks and burning? As if it were in our power either not to be born, or that chance bestowed life on us, not God, or that the plan of living might seem to have some similarity to a burning.
That theory of Plato’s is not dissimilar, because he said that he was thankful to nature, first, because he was born a man rather than a dumb beast; then, because he was a man rather than a woman, a Greek rather than a foreigner; and, finally, because he was an Athenian and of the time of Socrates.
See also Plutarch, “Caius Marius,” 46, Lives; Tetens, IV, pp. 338-39; Loeb, IX, p. 595; Supplement, pp. 547-49 (Pap. V B 178:8).
156. Thales (640-546 B.C.). See Diogenes Laertius, I, 33; Vitis, I, p. 15; Riisbrigh, I, p. 14; Loeb, I, p. 35: “Hermippus in his Lives refers to Thales the story which is told by some of Socrates, namely, that he used to say there were three blessings for which he was grateful to Fortune: ‘first, that I was born a human being and not one of the brutes; next, that I was born a man and not a woman; thirdly, a Greek and not a barbarian.’”
157. For continuation of the sentence, see Supplement, p. 547 (Pap. V B 179:1).
158. With reference to the remainder of the paragraph, see Supplement, p. 549 (Pap. V B 178:4).
159. See Supplement, p. 549 (Pap. VI B 8:5).
160. See Supplement, p. 549 (Pap. VI B 8:6).
161. The character as described is not found in Tieck’s writings, but there are comparable characters in reverse: the farmhand Gottlieb who appears as king and later is knighted and the tailor’s apprentice who becomes emperor. See Der gestiefelte Kater, III, 6-7, and Leben des berühmten Kaisers Abraham Tonelli, Ludwig Tieck’s sämmtliche Werke, I-II (Paris: 1837; ASKB 1848-49), I, pp. 486-88; II, pp. 133-57.
162. A bundle of sticks tied together with an ax in the middle and carried by the halberdiers of high Roman officials as a symbol of their authority.
163. With reference to the following sentence, see Supplement, p. 550 (Pap. V B 179:3).
164. With reference to the following two sentences, see Supplement, p. 550 (Pap. V B 178:7).
165. A daily Copenhagen paper founded in 1768 and specializing in obituaries, commercial news, a lost-and-found column, and announcements of ship movements, auctions, real estate and products for sale, help wanted, and jobs wanted.
166. See Holberg, Barselstuen, II, 2, Danske Skue-Plads, II, no pagination.
167. With reference to the following paragraph, see Supplement, p. 550 (Pap. V B 179:4).
168. See I Corinthians 2:9.
169. With reference to the following four sentences, see Supplement, p. 550 (Pap. V B 179:5).
170. See Genesis 39:7-20.
171. With reference to the following six paragraphs, see Supplement, pp. 550-51 (Pap. V B 179:6).
172. With reference to the following two sentences, see Supplement, p. 551 (Pap. V B 180:1).
173. For continuation of the sentence, see Supplement, p. 551 (Pap. V B 181:2).
174. An allusion to a novel by Goethe, Wahlverwandtschaften, Werke, XVII, esp. pp. 52-57; Elective Affinities, tr. Elizabeth Mayer and Louise Bogan (Chicago: Regnery, 1963), esp. pp. 36-44.
175. Oehlenschläger, Aladdin, I-II, Adam Oehlenschlägers Poetiske Skrifter, III (Copenhagen: 1805; ASKB 1597-98), II, p. 241; Aladdin or the Wonderful Lamp, tr. Henry Meyer (Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 1968), p. 143.
176. With reference to the remainder of the sentence, see Supplement, p. 551 (Pap. V B 181:3).
177. With reference to the following sentence, see Supplement, pp. 551-52 (Pap. V B 181:4).
178. See Horace, Satires, I, 4, 62; Opera, p. 401 (“disjecti membra poetae”); Horace Satires, Epistles and Ars Poetica, tr. H. Rushton Fairclough (Loeb, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1978), p. 53: “. . . even when he is dismembered, you would find the limbs of a poet.”
179. With reference to the following two paragraphs, see Supplement, pp. 552-53 (Pap. V B 178:1,5).
180. An allusion to the esthetic and the ethical qualitative stages. See Historical Introduction, pp. viii-ix. See also, for example, Postscript, KW XII (SV VII 159-60, 203-04, 287); JP III 3665-96 and pp. 910-11.
181. With reference to the remainder of the paragraph and the following paragraph, see Supplement, p. 553 (Pap. V B 179:7).
182. Victor Eremita means “Victorious Hermit.”
183. With reference to the following two paragraphs, see Supplement, p. 553 (Pap. V B 182:1).
184. With reference to the Fashion Designer’s speech, see Supplement, pp. 509-11 (Pap. IV A 135-39).
185. See Either/Or, I, p. 90, KW III (SV I 71).
186. With reference to the following two sentences, see Supplement, pp. 510, 554 (Pap. IV A 138; V B 182:5).
187. With reference to the following sentence, see Supplement, p. 510 (Pap. IV A 139).
188. See Luke 15:13.
189. See Supplement, p. 514 (Pap. V A 110).
190. With reference to the remainder of the paragraph and the following two paragraphs, see Supplement, pp. 554-55 (Pap. V B 182:7).
191. With reference to the following five sentences, see Supplement, pp. 554-55, 662-63 (Pap. V B 182:3; XI1 A 49).
192. See Diogenes Laertius, VI, 37; Vitis, I, p. 265; Riisbrigh, I, p. 245; Loeb, II, p. 39: “One day he [Diogenes of Sinope] saw a woman kneelin
g before the gods in an ungraceful attitude, and wishing to free her of superstition, according to Zoïlus of Perga, he came forward and said, ‘Are you not afraid, my good woman, that a god may be standing behind you?—for all things are full of his presence—and you may be put to shame?’ ”
193. With reference to the remainder of the paragraph, see Supplement, p. 510 (Pap. IV A 137).
194. With reference to the following paragraph, see Supplement, p. 555 (Pap. V B 182:8).
195. With reference to the following sentence, see Supplement, p. 555 (Pap. V B 182:4).
196. See Supplement, p. 556 (Pap. V B 182:2; VI B 8:7).
197. With reference to the following sentence, see Supplement, p. 556 (Pap. V B 182:9).
198. Presumably an allusion to Socrates.
199. See Supplement, p. 513 (Pap. IV A 138).
200. With reference to the following paragraph, see Supplement, pp. 556-57 (Pap. V B 183:1).
201. With reference to the speech by Johannes the Seducer, see Supplement, pp. 513, 559 (Pap. V A 87, B 183:8).
202. See Terence, Andria, I, 126; P. Terentii Afri comodeiae sex, ed. M. Benedict Friedrich Schmieder and Friedrich Schmieder (Halle: 1819; ASKB 1291), p. 16; Terentses Skuespil, I-II, tr. Frederik Høegh Guldberg (Copenhagen: 1805; ASKB 1293-94), I, p. 25; The Lady of Andros, Terence, I-II, tr. John Sargeaunt (Loeb, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1983-86), I, pp. 14-15; Horace, Epistles, I, 19, 41; Opera, p. 252; Loeb, p. 265.
203. The source has not been located.
204. Christiansfeld is a small Danish town in southern Jylland, founded by a colony of Moravian Brethren (Herrnhuter Brüdergemeinde) who had here established schools to which members sent their children. Kierkegaard’s father and the family of Emil Boesen, Kierkegaard’s closest friend, were associated with the group in Copenhagen during Kierkegaard’s early years.
205. With reference to the following seven sentences, see Supplement, p. 557 (Pap. V B 183:3-4).
206. A decorated birch branch with which Danish children, in accordance with old custom, awaken their parents on Shrove Monday.
207. The primary female character in “The Seducer’s Diary,” Either/Or, I, pp. 301-445, KW III (SV I 273-412).
208. A reference to Friedrich Ludwig Schröder, Ringen, No. 1 and No. 2 (Hamburg: 1789, 1792). Ringen No. 2 in Danish, Ringen eller Det af Delicatesse ulykkelige Ægteskab, tr. Friderich Schwartz (Copenhagen: 1792), was presented at the Royal Theater five times from 1830 to 1833.
209. With reference to the following two sentences, see Supplement, p. 557 (Pap. V B 183:2).
210. See Homer, Odyssey, XI, 582-92; Homers Odyssee, I-II, tr. Christian Wilster (Copenhagen: 1837), I, pp. 162-63; Homer The Odyssey, I-II, tr. A. T. Murray (Loeb, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1976-80), I, pp. 427-29:
“Aye, and I saw Tantalus in violent torment, standing in a pool, and the water came nigh unto his chin. He seemed as one athirst, but could not take and drink; for as often as that old man stooped down, eager to drink, so often would the water be swallowed up and vanish away, and at his feet the black earth would appear, for some god made all dry. And trees, high and leafy, let stream their fruits above his head, pears, and pomegranates, and apple trees with their bright fruit, and sweet figs, and luxuriant olives. But as often as that old man would reach out toward these, to clutch them with his hands, the wind would toss them to the shadowy clouds.”
211. See, for example, “Pandora” (the first woman), Paul Friedrich A. Nitsch, neues mythologisches Wörterbuch, I-II, rev. Friedrich Gotthilf Klopfer (Leipzig, Sorau: 1821; ASKB 1944-45), II, pp. 410-11; Hesiod, Theogony, 570-93; Hesiod The Homeric Hymns and Homerica, tr. Hugh G. Evelyn-White (Loeb, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1982), pp. 121-23:
But the noble son of Iapetus [Prometheus] outwitted him and stole the far-seen gleam of unwearying fire in a hollow fennel stalk. And Zeus who thunders on high was stung in spirit, and his dear heart was angered when he saw amongst men the far-seen ray of fire. Forthwith he made an evil thing for men as the price of fire; for the very famous Limping God formed of earth the likeness of a shy maiden [Pandora] as the son of Cronos willed. . . .
But when he had made the beautiful evil to be the price for the blessing, he brought her out, delighting in the finery which the bright-eyed daughter of a mighty father had given her, to the place where the other gods and men were. And wonder took hold of the deathless gods and mortal men when they saw that which was sheer guile, not to be withstood by men.
For from her is the race of women and female kind: of her is the deadly race and tribe of women who live amongst mortal men to their great trouble, no helpmeets in hateful poverty, but only in wealth.
212. With reference to the following three sentences, see Supplement, p. 558 (Pap. V B 183:15).
213. See Genesis 2:21-24.
214. See note 101 above.
215. With reference to the following paragraph, see Supplement, p. 558 (Pap. V B 183:12,13).
216. With reference to the following sentence, see Supplement, pp. 558-59 (Pap. V B 183:5).
217. With reference to the following paragraph, see Supplement, p. 559 (Pap. V B 183:20).
218. See Oehlenschläger, Aladdin, II; Poettske Skrifter, II, p. 192; Meyer, p. 105.
219. See Ovid, Metamorphoses, IV, 54-70; Richter, II, pp. 76-77; Ovid Metamorphoses, I-II, tr. Frank Justus Miller, rev. G. P. Goold (Loeb, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1984), I, p. 183:
“Pyramus and Thisbe—he, the most beautiful youth, and she, loveliest maid of all the East—dwelt in houses side by side, in the city which Semiramis is said to have surrounded with walls of brick. Their nearness made the first steps of their acquaintance. In time love grew, and they would have been joined in marriage, too, but their parents forbade. Still, what no parents could forbid, sore smitten in heart they burned with mutual love. They had no go-between, but communicated by nods and signs; and the more they covered up the fire, the more it burned. There was a slender chink in the party-wall of the two houses, which it had at some former time received when it was building. This chink, which no one had ever discovered through all these years—but what does love not see?—you lovers first discovered and made it the channel of speech. Safe through this your loving words used to pass in tiny whispers.”
220. An allusion to Socrates. See, for example, Plato, Apology, 23 b-c; Opera, VIII, pp. 112-13; Dialogues, p. 9 (Socrates speaking in the court): “That is why I still go about seeking and searching in obedience to the divine command, if I think that anyone is wise, whether citizen or stranger, and when I think that any person is not wise, I try to help the cause of God by proving that he is not. This occupation has kept me too busy to do much either in politics or in my own affairs. In fact, my service to God has reduced me to extreme poverty.”
221. See Supplement, p. 664 (Pap. XV A 283).
222. See Either/Or, I, p. 391, KW III (SV I 358). In Roman Catholicism the expression refers to the Eucharist.
223. See Supplement, p. 559 (Pap. V B 185).
224. With reference to the remainder of the paragraph, see Supplement, pp. 559-60 (Pap. VI B 1:1).
225. With reference to the remainder of the paragraph, see Supplement, p. 560 (Pap. VI B 1:3).
226. The pseudonymous author of Either/Or, II, KW IV (SV II).
227. With reference to the following two sentences, see Supplement, p. 560 (Pap. VI B 1:4).
228. From the ballad “Manden og Konen sætte dem ned”; Caén, p. 18.
229. With reference to the following six sentences, see Supplement, pp. 560-61 (Pap. V B 189).
230. With reference to the following five sentences, see Supplement, p. 561 (Pap. VI B 1:7).
231. Either/Or, II, KW IV (SV II).
232. See Hegel, Encyclopädie, Die Logik, para. 87, Werke, VI, p. 168; J.A. (System der Philosophie), XIX, p. 207; Hegel’s Logic (tr. of L., 3 ed., 1830; Kierkegaard’s ed., 1840, had the same text plus Zusätze), tr. William Wallace (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1975), p. 127: �
�But this mere Being, as it is mere abstraction, is therefore the absolutely negative: which, in a similarly immediate aspect, is just Nothing.”
233. The singular of “manuscript” is a token of Kierkegaard’s early intention to publish the first half of Stages as a separate work under the title “Vrangen og Retten” [“The Wrong and the Right”]. See Historical Introduction, pp. viii-ix, and Supplement, pp. 568-69 (Pap. V B 191). “ ‘Guilty?’/‘Not Guilty?’ ” was to follow as a separate volume.
SOME REFLECTIONS ON MARRIAGE
1. See Supplement, p. 561 (Pap. V B 190:1).
2. Plutarch, On the Fame of the Athenians, 5; Plutarchs moralische Abhandlungen, I-V, tr. Johann Friedrich S. Kaltwasser (Frankfurt am Main: 1873; ASKB 1192-96), III, p. 365; Plutarch’s Moralia, I-XV, tr. Frank Cole Babbitt et al. (Loeb, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1967-84), IV, p. 509:
And for the dramatic poets, the Athenians considered the writing of comedy so undignified and vulgar a business that there was a law forbidding any member of the Areopagus to write comedies. But tragedy blossomed forth and won great acclaim, becoming a wondrous entertainment for the ears and eyes of the men of that age, and, by the mythological character of its plots, and the vicissitudes which its characters undergo, it effected a deception wherein, as Gorgias remarks, “he who deceives is more honest than he who does not deceive, and he who is deceived is wiser than he who is not deceived.” For he who deceives is more honest, because he has done what he promised to do; and he who is deceived is wiser, because the mind which is not insensible to fine perceptions is easily enthralled by the delights of language.
See also JP IV 4840 (Pap. V A 80).
3. See Homer, Odyssey, II, 1-4; Homers Odyssee, I-II, tr. Christian Wilster (Copenhagen: 1837), I, p. 3; Homer The Odyssey, I-II, tr. A. T. Murray (Loeb, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1976-80), I, p. 3.
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