Works of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Page 248
You have lur’d with your sweet measures,
You, the Dæmons of our bay!
Sirens.
Well we know, through sea-waves gliding,
In their crystal depths abiding,
Live the fishes, sorrow-free;
Yet blithe roamers, hither thronging,
We to-day to know are longing
That ye more than fishes be.
NereidsandTritons.
Ere your song hath hither brought us,
Of this question we’ve bethought us;
Sisters, Brothers, hasten we!
Briefest journey, doubt dispelling,
Yieldeth proof sufficing, telling
That we more than fishes be!
[They retire.
Sirens.
In a twinkling, straight away,
Sped to Samothrace have they.
Vanish’d with a favoring wind!
What their purpose? what to gain,
Where the high Cabiri reign?
Gods they are, the strangest, who,
Self-evolv’d, are ever new,
Yet to their own nature blind.
Kindly linger on thy height,
Gracious Luna, that the night
Tarry may, lest daylight breaking
Drive us hence, our haunts forsaking!
Thales.
(On the shore, to Homunculus.)
Thee to old Nereus gladly would I lead;
Not distant are we from his cave indeed;
But sour he is and obstinate,
Moreover hath a stubborn pate!
The race entire of mortal kind
Is never to the grumbler’s mind.
But he the future can disclose,
Hence each to him due reverence shows,
And gives him honor at his post;
To many he hath rendered aid.
Homunculus.
Let’s knock, that trial may be made!
At once my glass and flame it will not cost.
Nereus.
Men’s voices are they, that mine ear hath heard?
With anger straight mine inmost heart is stirr’d!
Forms — striving still, who high as gods would soar,
Yet to be like themselves, doom’d evermore.
Long years could I have dwelt in godlike rest,
But ever was impell’d to aid the best;
And when at last I saw the accomplish’d deed,
It was as though they ne’er had heard my rede.
Thales.
Yet people trust in thee, thou Ocean Seer;
Wise art thou; chase us not! This flamelet here,
That man’s similitude doth wear, survey,
In everything thy counsel he’ll obey.
Nereus.
Counsel! What good to men hath counsel brought?
On stubborn ears fall prudent words in vain;
Oft as the deed dire punishment hath wrought,
Self-will’d as ever mortals aye remain.
How fatherly I Paris warn’d, or e’er
His lust another’s consort did ensnare!
On Hellas’ shore fearless he stood and bold;
What I in spirit saw, I there foretold:
The reeking winds, the upstreaming ruddy glow,
Rafters ablaze, murder and death below,
Troy’s day of doom — fast bound in deathless rhyme,
A terror and a portent for all time.
The scoffer mock’d the old man’s oracle;
He follow’d his own lust, and Ilion fell,
A giant corpse, slowly its death-pangs ceas’d, —
To Pindus’ eagles a right welcome feast.
Ulysses too — did I not oft presage
To him dark Circe’s wiles, the Cyclop’s rage,
His own delay, his comrades’ reckless vein,
And what not else? And hath it brought him gain?
Till, sorely batter’d, he full late, at last,
By favoring wave on friendly shore was cast.
Thales.
Such conduct to the sage must needs give pain;
Yet still the good man trieth once again.
A grain of thanks that richly him repays.
Tons of ingratitude still overweighs.
I and this youngster no slight boon require.
Wisely to be is now his sole desire.
Nereus.
Spoil not for me my present mood, most rare!
Far other aims to-day engross my care;
My daughters I’ve invok’d to come to me,
The Dorides, the Graces of the sea.
Neither Olympos nor your region bears
Form so replete with grace, so lithe as theirs.
From Dragons of the sea, with loveliest motion,
They cast themselves upon the steeds of Ocean,
One with the element that round them plays,
The very foam would seem their forms to raise.
‘Mid rainbow-hues of Venus’ pearly car,
Comes Galatea, beauty’s choicest star,
Who, since on us hath Cypris ceas’d to smile,
As goddess honored is on Paphos’ Isle;
And so for long the gracious one doth own,
As heiress, temple-town and chariot-throne.
Away! Harsh words, and hatred in the heart
Have in the Father’s raptur’d hour no part.
Away to Proteus! Ask that being strange
The secret of existence and of change.
[He retires towards the sea.
Thales.
We by this step, it seems, have nothing won;
For if we light on Proteus, straight he’s gone,
And if he wait, he only says at last
Things that perplex, and make one stand aghast.
Yet, once for all, such counsel thou dost need;
So then to try him, onward let us speed!
[They retire.
Sirens.
(On the rocks above.)
What are these, far off appearing,
Through the billowy realm careering?
Like to sails of snowy whiteness,
Zephyr-guided, such their brightness,
Hither borne with gentle motion,
These the lustrous nymphs of Ocean!
Downward climb we; hark! They’re singing;
Hear ye not their voices ringing!
NereidsandTritons.
Those whom thus our hand upraises
Scatter blessings; — sing their praises!
From Chelone’s giant shield,
Shines an awful form reveal’d:
Gods they are whom we rejoicing
Hither bring, glad pæans voicing.
Sirens.
Little in height,
Potent in might,
Hoar gods from the wave
The shipwreck’d who save!
NereidsandTritons.
To our peaceful revel speeding,
The Cabiri we are leading;
Where their power the hapless shieldeth,
Kindly sway there Neptune wieldeth.
Sirens.
Yield we must to you.
Ye the sinking crew,
With resistless power,
Save in shipwreck’s hour.
NereidsandTritons.
Three we bring, our triumph sharing,
But the fourth refus’d, declaring
That for all abiding yonder,
He the sole one is to ponder.
Sirens.
Thus one god doth jeer
At his fellows still.
All the good revere,
Dread ye every ill!
NereidsandTritons.
There of them should seven be.
Sirens.
Where then are the other three?
NereidsandTritons.
That we cannot answer: rather,
On Olympos question farther:
There the eighth perchance is pining,
Whom none thi
nks upon. Inclining
Graciously, they us have greeted —
But all are not yet completed.
The incomparable, these; —
Pressing onward, aye aspiring,
Full of longing, still desiring
What can ne’er be reach’d, to seize.
Sirens.
Every power enthron’d,
Sun or Moon that sways,
In our prayers is own’d;
’Tis our wont; it pays.
NereidsandTritons.
How brightly shines our fame, behold,
Leading this festivity!
Sirens.
Heroes of the ancient days
Lack henceforth their meed of praise,
How great soe’er their fame of old;
Though they have won the fleece of gold,
Ye have the Cabiri.
(Repeated in full Chorus.)
Though they have won the fleece of gold,
We! ye! have the Cabiri.
[The Nereidsand Tritonspass on.
Homunculus.
These uncouth figures, I am fain
For earthen pots to take them,
Gainst them the wise ones strike amain
Their stubborn heads, and break them!
Thales.
The very thing they most desire.
The rusty coin is valued higher.
Proteus.
(Unperceived.) This pleases me, the old in fable:
The stranger ’tis, the more respectable!
Thales.
Where art thou, Proteus?
Proteus.
(Ventriloquizing, now near, now far away.) Here! and here!
Thales.
I pardon the stale jest; appear,
And with a friend vain words forego!
From a false place dost speak, I know.
Proteus.
(As from a distance.) Farewell!
Thales.
(Softly to Homunculus.)
He’s close at hand. Now brightly flare,
He’s curious as a fish; where’er
He hide himself, that flame, be sure,
Hither forthwith will him allure.
Homunculus.
Full light I’ll pour, yet care must take
Lest with the shock the glass should break.
Proteus.
(In the form of a gigantic porpoise.) What shines with radiancy so dear?
Thales.
(Concealing Homunculus.)
Good! If thou wish it, thou canst draw more near;
Let the slight trouble vex thee not. I pray,
Thyself upon two human feet display.
’Tis solely by our leave, and courtesy,
That what we now conceal, who wills may see.
Proteus.
(In a noble form.) Thy sophist’s tricks, it seems, dost still employ.
Thales.
Thy figure to transform still gives thee joy.
[He has uncovered Homunculus.
Proteus.
(Astonished.) A glittering dwarflein! Ne’er beheld before!
Thales.
Fain to exist, he counsel doth implore.
He is, from him I heard it, come to earth
Only half-form’d, through some mysterious birth.
Fairly endow’d with qualities ideal,
The power he lacks, firmly to grasp the real,
Till now the glass alone to him gives weight;
But he at once would be incorporate.
Proteus.
A genuine virgin’s son art thou;
Born ere thou shouldest be, I trow!
Thales.
(In a whisper.) Further it seemeth critical to me;
He an hermaphrodite appears to be.
Proteus.
The sooner ‘twill succeed; where’er
He comes, he happily will fare.
With much reflection we may here dispense;
In the broad sea thy being must commence;
On a small scale one there begins,
Well pleas’d the smallest to devour;
Till, waxing step by step, one wins,
For loftier achievement, ampler power.
Homunculus.
A tender air is wafted here;
Dear is to me the breeze, the fragrance dear!
Proteus.
Right, dearest youth! Farther away
Still more delightful ‘twill be found;
Ineffable the airs that play
This narrow tongue of land around.
Thence, near enough, the train we see,
Now floating hither. Come with me!
Thales.
I too will go with thee; proceed!
Homunculus.
A threefold spirit-step, wondrous indeed!
Telchines of Rhodes.
(Upon hippocampi and sea-dragons, bearing Neptune’s trident.)
Chorus.
The trident we forg’d, wherewith Neptune assuages
Old Ocean’s wild waves, when most fiercely he rages:
His clouds when the Thunderer spreads o’er the skies,
To their rolling terrific then Neptune replies;
And when from on high the jagg’d lightning doth leap,
Then wave after wave dashes up from the deep;
And all that in anguish their joint rage o’erpower’d,
Long whirl’d to and fro, by the depth is devour’d;
To-day then the sceptre to us hath he lent. —
Now joyously float we, serene and content!
Sirens.
You, to Helios dedicated,
You, to bright day consecrated,
Hail we to this hour, whose light
Doth to Luna’s praise invite!
Telchines.
Thou loveliest Queen of yon o’ervaulting sphere,
The praise of thy brother with rapture dost hear:
To Rhodus’ blest island an ear thou dost lend,
Thence one deathless pæan to him doth ascend.
The day-course he opens and with fiery gaze,
When finish’d his journey, our troop he surveys;
The cities and hills, shore and wave, yield delight
To the glorious God, and are lovely and bright.
No mist hovers o’er us, and should one draw near,
A ray and a zephyr — the island is clear:
His form the high god beholds multiplied there,
As stripling, as giant, the Mighty, the Fair —
The power of the gods it was we who began
To portray in the form, not unworthy, of man.
Proteus.
Grudge them not their boastful singing,
To the holy sun, life-bringing,
Dead works are an idle jest.
Fusing mould they; when completed
Stands their god with rapture greeted,
Straight with triumph swells their breast!
These proud gods, so fondly cherish’d, —
What their doom, inquire ye? Prone,
By an earthquake overthrown,
Melted, they long since have perish’d.
Toil of earth, whate’er it be,
Nothing is but drudgery;
Life in ocean better fareth:
Thee to endless water beareth
Proteus-Dolphin.
[He transforms himself.
Fairly sped!
Bravely, on my back careering,
Thou shalt prosper, onward steering,
And to Ocean thee I’ll wed.
Thales.
Obey the noble inspiration,
And at its source begin creation,
Make ready for the great emprise!
By laws eternal still ascending,
Through myriad forms of being wending,
To be a man in time thou’lt rise.
[Homunculusmounts the Proteusdolphin.
Proteus.
In spirit come to boundless ocean:
Unfetter’d
there in every motion,
At thine own pleasure thou shalt wend;
But let not higher rank allure thee;
Attaining manhood, I assure thee,
Then all with thee is at an end!
Thales.
As it may happen; good it seems to me,
In one’s own day a stalwart man to be.
Proteus.
(To Thales.) One of your stamp, perchance! For they
Abide awhile, nor pass away;
Since ‘mong the troops of spirits pale,
As pass the centuries, thy form I hail.
Sirens.
(On the rocks.)
See yon cloudlets, how they mingle
Round the moon in circlet bright!
Doves they are, whom love doth kindle,
With their pinions pure as light!
Paphos hath her bird-choir sent us,
Girt with radiance they appear.
Now our fête may well content us,
Fraught with rapture full and clear!
Nereus.
(Approaching Thales.) Yonder ring, an airy vision
Nightly wanderer might maintain;
But with juster intuition,
Other views we entertain:
Doves they are, whose escort playeth
Round my daughter’s pearly car;
Wondrous art their movement swayeth,
Learn’d by them in days afar.
Thales.
That I also hold for best,
Peace that yieldeth to the good,
If in warm and silent nest
Something holy still doth brood.
PsylliandMarsi.
(On sea-bulls, sea-calves, and sea-rams.) In the rugged Cyprian caves,
Shelter’d from the shocks of Ocean,
From the earthquake’s dire commotion,
Fann’d by Zephyr’s viewless waves,
There, as in the days afar,
We, with conscious rapture, are
Guardians of Cythera’s car,
And through breathings of the night,
Through the rippling wavelets bright,
Viewless still to mortal sight,
We the loveliest daughter lead.
Us nor winged lion scares,
Nor eagle, as our task we ply,
Nor cross, nor crescent, though it flares
Aloft, emblazon’d in the sky;
To and fro, alternate swaying,
Each the other driving, slaying,
Fields and towns in ashes laying:
Thus with joyous speed,
Onward our loveliest mistress we lead.
Sirens.
Circling still, with gentle motion,
Round the chariot, line on line,
Gliding o’er the waves of ocean,
With your movements serpentine,
Come ye stalwart Nereides,
Sturdy damsels, gracious, wild;
Bring ye, tender Dorides,
Galatea, fair and mild,
Image of her mother, she
Earnest is, of god-like mien,
Worthy immortality,
Yet, like earth’s fair dames, your queen
Winsome is, with grace serene!
Dorides.