LAOKOON. VIT. 247 vestal virgin Rhea Silvia, the mother of Romulus and Remus. Thi? was, according to these two critics, the origin of the cpithet penJens. Lessing objects to this explanation in his note. He maintains that there is in ancient art no single instance of the representation of bodies hovcring or suspended in the air. According to his opinion, either ' pendens ' must be taken in the figurative meaning of incerins, nndecided, or the whole passage is corrupt. Probably ' pendens' mean-; that the god is beuding over the twins; see Mayor's note, and reff, there, especially Müller's Denkmäler, xxiii, n. 252-254.
P. 67, 1. I. des Ovids. See Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. vii. Procris, moved by jealousy, hides in a thicket to watch her husband Cephalus, who used to call on ' Aura ';breeze) to cool hira when heated with hunting. Hearing. a rustle, Cephalus throws his unerring dart and unwittingly slays his wifc. In modern times Claude (Liber Veritatis' and Turner Liber Studiorum) have utilized the myth as the theme of beantifnl landscape compositions.
P. 69, 1. 2. einen vornehmen Taugenichts, 'a good-for-nothing of high family.' In the satire alluded to Juvenal shows the hollowness of family pride. The Hermai, or Hermes-pillars, were square pillars set up at the corners of streets to the honour of Hermes Agyieus, the god of streets; the top was carved in the likeness of the god.
1. 6. schlechter means ' quite piain.'
P. 71, 1. 3. als ein für sich bestehendes Ding, as a thing inde- pendently cxisting.
1. 5. einerlei angenommene Begriffe, had similar accepted notions.
1. 7. aus welcher sich...zurückschliessen lässt, impersonal construction, 'from this (agreement between artist and poet) conclu- sions may be drawn touching the universal acceptance of those notions.'
1. 9. Tibull; Lessing refers to a passage in the Elegiacs of TibnUus of which Spence treats in his Polymetis. He calls it a reminiscence of a famous picture by the Greek painter Ecliion called ' The Bride ' {iiova. iiiiptd), a picture much admired on account of its expression of chaste modesty. According to Blümner, the real name of this painter was Aetion.
1. 22. ein anderer Dichter; the Roman poet Statins in his Silvae is alluded to. He occupies a prominent position among the heroic poets of the Silver age of Roman poetry. Spence (Pol. viii. p. 81) also con- nects this description with an ancient painting.
1. 26. Titus Lucretius Carus, bom B.c. 95, died 51 B.C., a follower of Epicurus, wrote De Rcrum Natura.
P. 72, 1. 2. ein Ephemeren, a person or a thing that lives only one day; the German for it is ' Eintagsmensch.'
1. 8. pontem indignatus Araxes, ' der Brückenverächter Araxes,' 248 XOTES.
as Voss calls the river in his translation of the ^^neid (' Araxes chafing at bis bridge'), was represented in the shield of Aeneas.
P. 73, 1. 6. Was sollen wir mit dergleichen Erläuterungen: 'machen' or 'anfangen' must be supplied; the meaning of the passage is: * What profit can we derive from such explanations? ' 1. 7. die aus der...zu lassen, ' which banish the poet from (i.e. refuse the poet his share in) the clearest passage in order to let the fancy of an artist shine through it.'
1. II. geschmacklose Grille, 'tasteless crotchet.'
1. 1 3. mit fremder, understand ' Phantasie ' = ' the fancy of other men.' unterzuschieben, ' falsely to attribute.' so ekel; used here in the sense of ' ekelhaft,' repulsive, ' Ekel ' as an adjective is now used only of persons, in the sense of ' fastidious.'
1. 14. die wässrigen Auslegungen der schalsten "Wortforscher, ' the watery commentaries of the most insipid word-hunters (et\molo- gists).' Notice ' nimmermehr,' where in English we say ' ever could have been,' the normal construction in French after a comparative; Eve, G. G.
1. 16. Spencen; dative dependent on 'vorgegangen'; ' that even Addison precedcd Spence in this respect.' In the sense of ' to precede ' we use now 'vorangehen.'
1. 19. Auslegvingsmittel, means of Interpretation or exposition, ' commentary.'
VIII P. 74, 1. 2. macht sich; ' sich einen Begriff machen ' is to rame to oneself, to form, an idea.
1. 7. dass ihr Schönheiten zu Gebote stehen, 'that beauties wait on its bidding.' Cp. ' Ich stehe Ihnen zu Gebote,' I am at your Service.
1. 13. die ihn...bringt, 'which forces him to have reconrse to the most curious subtcrfuges in the world.'
1. 17. Er fällt auf diese, er fällt auf eine andere Ursache, 'he stumbles first on this and then on another cause.' ' Auf etwas fallen,' or ' verfallen,' is synonymous with ' auf etwas gerathen,' ' accidentally to come across, ' to chance upon.'
1. 21. die sich...möchten verkrochen haben, ' might have crept away under' = 'have been hidden '; the subjunctive is used, as it is quoted as a supposition of Spence. Er windet sich um die wahre Ursache herum, ' he goes round and round 'he real reason.'
P. 75, 1. 3. Faunen und Satyren, forest deities, represented with the feet of goats, the playful companions of Bacchus. Their attributes wcre cymbals and wine-skins, garlands of vine, and homs.
LAOKOON. VIII. 249 1. 12. Zusätza von übler "Wirkung, ' accessories that would have produced an unpleasing effect.'
1. 15. in dem königl. Kabinet zu Berlin; now part of the ' Old Museum,' at Berlin.
1. 21. feine Anspielungen auf, "' subtle allusions to,' etc.; 'auf etwas anspielen,' to allude to.
1. 22. dem Künstler...zu zeigen, ' to the artist on the other hand they became impediments, preventing him frora displajnng greater beauties.'
1. 25. Biformis, Ainop<|)os, 'double shaped.'
P. 76, 1. 3. den Samothracischen Geheimnissen. Samothrace, an island in the Aegean Sea. owed its celebrity to the secret worship devoted to the Cabiri. Our information in regard to these mysteries is scanty and contradictory.
1. 9. für ihren Kopf = on their own account.
1. 10. Stunden, old form for ' standen.'
1. 17. sich nach etwas umsehen = to look about for a thing.
1. 2. Ich ■wäll mich...annehmen, ' I will not take up the defence of;' 'Ich nehme mich dieses Kindes an,' I take care of this child. Cp. 'Ich bitt' Euch, nehmt Euch meiner an' (Faust, i.), Pray, take an interest in me.
1. 7. personifirte; we say now ' personificirte.' die ähnliche Cha- rakterisirung, ' the same characteristics.'
1. 10. über ihren allgemeinen Charakter, ' in addition to their general character.'
1. II. Aflfecten, 'passions'or ' emotions,' almost sjTionymous wiih 'Leidenschaft;' the plural is now used without the final ' n.' welche nach Gelegenheit der Umstände vor jenen vorstechen können. ' which, as circumstances afford the opportiuiity, may stand out in greater prominence than it ' ('jenen ' refers to ' Charakter ').
1. 15. und die wir daher mit in den abgesonderten Begriff der Liebe bringen, ' which we therefore include in our abstract idea of love.' ' Der Begriff,' the conception or idea, is called ' abgesondert ' ^from ' ab-sondem,' to separate, Latin seceniere), from being separated or se- creted by the mind from the objects to which it is inherent as a quality; in modern philosophical language we speak of the ' abgezogene Begriffe.'
1. 21. Vollends introduces the most important argument, Latin deniqiie, ' finally.'
1. 30. die sie darein versetzet, ' which puts her (Venns) in those passions.'
1. 32. in zusammengesetzten "Werken = in works representing more than onc figure.
250 NOTES.
P. 78, 1. I. ausser ihrem Charakter = independent ofhercharacter. 1. 5. die göttlichen Waffen. Venus gave to Aeneas the arms which Vulcan himsclf had prepared for him; Aeneid, viii, 608-731.
1. II. den Männern von Lemnos; cp. ApoUodonis, i. 9. 17. The women of Lemnos did not honour Venus, and she sent a plague on them which caused thcir husbands to marry Thracian captives. The women in revenge killed their husbands.
1. 21. Flaccus, Argonautica: ' No more as her passion swells does she seem kindly, or bind her hair with polished gold, as her glittering locks flow loose. But she is wild and monstrous, her cheeks discoloured with patches, and with roaring pine-torch and black-flowing robe like the maidens of Styx.'
' From Paphos, where a hundred altars smoke, And love-strick votaries her aid invoke, Careless of dress and omaments she moves, And leaves behind her castus and her doves. The moon had measured half the starry frame; Far other flames than those of love she bears, And high in air the torch of discord rears, Soon as the fiend-engendered serpents roam, Diffusing terror o'er each wrangling dorne.' — LEWIS.
P. 79, 1. 10. nicht mehr das Haar mit goldenen Spangen ge- heftet, ' no longer with her hair fastened with golden clasps.' Lessing Iranslates the Latin idiom (' fastened as to her hair') literally.
1. 14. seiner (for more usual 'desselben') refers to 'Kunststück'; ' shall the poet thercfore abstain from it? ' 1. 1 7. und die jüngere...kleidet, ' and let not the younger sister deny the eider all those Ornaments which do not become herseh.' For ' alle den ' see Eve, G. G. § 313.
P. 80, 1. 4. auf die höchste "Wirkung ihrer Kunst haben arbei- ten können. 'Auf with the accusative exprcsses the aira towards which the action is directed. Translate: ' have been able to work with the aira of producing the highest effect attainable in their respec- tive arts.'
1. 9. dabei refers to sein "Werk, ' in producing it.'
1. IG. überladete; the strong form 'überlud' is now used. mi^ Sinnbildern, 'with symbolical signs.'
l. 14. Hypsipyle was the daugliter ofThoas.kingof Lemnos. Whcn. at the instigation of Venus, the women of the Island had resolved to nnirder the men, she saved her father by leading him out from the town LAOKOON. IX. 251 in the disguise of Bacchus. Valerius Flaccns narrates the tale in bis Argonautica, ii. 265, and states expressly that Hypsipyle, having adorncd her father with the wreath and the dress of the god and all the other necessary attributes, was especially anxious that tlie horns should pro- trude from underneath the snow-white chaplet.
1. 17. mit ='also,' i.e. besides other attributes. Der freie Künst- ler = the artist untrammelled by religion er any other externa! motive.
P. 81, 1. 9. sowohl von der einen als von der andern Art; i.e. of those works of art where the artist was free, and of those where he was fettered by religious symbols.
1. 14- zu merkliche Spuren gottesdienstlicher Verabredungen, 'too manifest traces of ritualistic Intention.' 'Verabredung' = propcrly the 'agrecment' or 'conceited design ' between artist and priest.
1. 17. die bei den sinnlichen...sähe, 'which in the material representations (literally, representations for the senses) that it allottcd ,to art for execution (' aufgeben ' exprcsses the ' commission ' of a task) had in view significance rather than beauty.' das Bedeutende must here be taken in its original sense — that which signifies something. ' Bedeutend' is now more commonly used in the sense of important, considerable; the former meaning is now expressed by ' bezeichnend.' The meaning of the passage is that the artist, who executed the image of the god for the temple devoted to hini, had above all to represent his characteristic mark; the production of beauty was of secondary im- portance. Sähe, for ' sah.'
1. 20. dass sie nicht auch öfters...gesetzt (supply 'habe'), 'that it has not frequently translated into the beautiful all that was significant'; that is, produced beauty without sacrifice of signifi- cance.
1. 21. oder aus Nachsicht...können; translate: ' or out of con- sideration for the art and the more refined taste of the period has abatcd so much of the former (the significant), that this alone (beauty) might appear to have the upper band.' Notice ' etwas an (or von) etwas nachlassen,' as * es ist nichts an ihrer Strafe nachgelassen.'
P. 82, 1. 4. der Kenner und der Antiquar = the art critic wlio judges- by the Standard of beauty alone, and the classical scholar who sees in Greek and Roman works of art only an expression of the thoughts and feelings of the ancients. im Streite liegen, ' to be at variance.'
1. 8. nämlich, 'to wit,' qualifies and limits the preceding assertion. so wird dieser es dahin ausdehnen, ' the latter (the antiquarian) will extend this into an assertion (i.e. will understand him to mean) that indeed neither religion nor any other cause, that lies outside the domain 252 NOTES.
of art, caused the artist to execute it.' (For construction, compare 1. 12. mit der ersten mit der besten Figur; 'der erste der beste,' or, ' der erste beste,' is, the first that comes to band; le premier vcnn; accepting the first that appears as the best, without taking the trouble to wait for a second and a third. It means, therefore, without selection.
P. 83, I. I. Gegentheils; we now say either 'im Gegentheil,' or ' andererseits,' on the contrary.
1. 9. Folge, in the sense of 'Folgerung,' 'conclusion.' Verlor der Künstler darum sein Recht. This is afterwards taken up again in the words 'verlor der Künstler, sage ich, sein Recht;' and upon 'sein Recht ' depends the Infinitive ' dieses Wesen nach seiner (its) Art zu personifiren.'
1. II. das, the antecedent is 'ein Wesen.' des Sat\irnus und der Ops; Ops was a sumame of Rhea, or Cybele, who, as the wife of 'K.pövos, or Saturnus, is callcd the mother of the gods.
P. 84, 1. I. das sie in Gefahr...zu fallen, ' a being whom they represent as in danger of falling under the ill-treatment of Priapus.' Vesta, the goddess of virgin chastit}', fonned naturally the most striking contrast to Priapus, whose character was lust and sensuality.
1. 12. Numa wollte...vorgestellt wissen; ' Numa did not wish to have any deity represented in the human or in the brutish form.' The Infinitive ' wissen ' with ' wollen ' and foUowed by a par- ticiple frequently used in tlie sense of ' to wish to see a thing done,' ' to wish to have a thing so.' — See p. 15, note i, line 5 ('will...gelesen wissen'), p. 134, 1. 19 ('hergeleitet wissen'), p. 193,1. 9 ^'gerechnet wissen ').
1. 19. Sylvia, Rhea Sylvia, a Vestal virgin, mother of Romulus and Remus.
P. 85, 1. 4. gedacht wird, ' mention is made;* from 'gedenken,' cp. 1. II. below.
1. 5. ohne alle Bildsäule, ' without any statue.'
1. 8. im Prytaneo; it is now considered pedantic to decline nonns of Greek and Latin origin after German prepositions. The Pr^'taneum was the to^vn-hall of Athens, the meeting-place of the magistrates, and at the same time a place where men of merit were entertained at the public cost.
1. 9. Die Jasseer, the inhabitants of the town of lasos, situated on a small Island on the coast of Caria in Asia Minor; it was a colony of the Argives, and flourished through its fisherics.
1. 12. Scopas, a Greek sculptor from the Island of Paros, who flourished about 350 B. c, and was considered one of the greatest artists of his time.
1. 13. in den Servilianischen Gärten zu Rom. These gnrdens are often mentioned by ancicnt writers, and especially as a favourite resort of Nero, but we do not know where they were situated, or which Servilius planted them.
P. 86, 1. I. das Palladium, an imnge of Pallas Athene, and a Symbol of the public welfare; it is said to have been preserved in the temple of Vesta in Rome.
1. 2. Codinus. Georgius Codinus, sumamed Curopalates, a Greek Scholar of the fiftcenth Century, who wrote on the history, buildings, and antiquities of Constantinople. He says that the earth was also called Vesta, and was represented as a woman carrj'ing a tympanum (a drum or cymbal) in her band, because slie holds the winds inclosed within herseif. Lessing calls this argument absurd, and notes that tympanum may also mean a wheel, and that it might represent the shape of the earth as it was conceived by the ancients.
X.
P. 87, 1. I. eine Befremdung, 'an expression of surprise.'
1. 6. bei Göttinnen, denen sie so grosse Verbindlichkeit haben, ' in regard to goddesses to whom they are so greatly indebted.' ' Verbindlichkeit ' = ' liability ' or ' Obligation.'
1. 25. im Serraglio; the Italian form of the word (French serail), derived from the Persian ser&i, a large house, a palace. It is commonly used of the apartments of women in the palace of the sultan, in which jealousy employed dumb servants.
1. 27. bei den moralischen Wesen, 'when speaking of the moral Beings.' welche die Alten...vorsetzten, ' whom the ancients niade to preside over the virtues and the conduct of human life.'
1. 6. was jedes derselben für einen Aufzug gemacht, ' what appearance each of them made.'
1. 16. Abstractis, Lat. dative oi Abstracta.
P. 89, 1. 2. um der Poesie nachzukommen, ' to keep up with poetry.'
L 7. dieser malerischen Ausstaffirungen, * these picturesque decorations.'
1. 12. die geflissentliche Uebertretung derselben, 'the intentional neglect of it.'
P. 90, 1. 2. welche die alten Dichter in ihre Beschreibungen etwa noch einflechten, ' which the ancients occasionally iatroduce in their descriptions.'
254 AOTES.
XI.
P. 92, 1. I. der Graf Caylus; bom 1692, at Paris, died 1765, an art critic of coDsiderable merit. He published in 1757 a work entitled: Tableaux tires de l'Iliade, de TOdyssee d'Homere et de l'Eneide de Virgile, avec des observations jjenerales sur le Costume.
Note. Lessing's note to this passage was the origin of bis literary feud with Professor Klotz of Halle. Lessing, quoting a passage from Homer where Sleep and Death are called twin-brothers, maintained that the ancient artists too represented Death as the twin-brother of Sleep, and that the hideous skeleton which has been chosen for the same purpose by modern artists is of medieval origin. Klotz violently attacked this Observation. Lessing had spoken of Death in general; Klotz understood, or prctcnded to understand, that Lessing denied that dead men had ever been represented by ancient artists, and displayed his leaniing by adducing many instances where corpses appeared in works of ancient art. In answer to this vehement attack Lessing pub- lished his splendid treatise: Wie die Alten den Tod dargestellt (1769% a masterjjiece of argument and style, which caused a Sensation among the rising generation. The idea of representiiig Death as the brother of Sleep, a beautiful, sad-looking youth holding his torch do\vnward, was hailed with rapture, as it broke the hideous spell excrcised by the medieval skeleton — death. Compare Goethe's Wahrheit und Dich- tung, viii.: ' What delightcd ns most was the beauty of the idea that the Ancicnts acknowlcdged Death as the brother of Sleep, and formed both as like one another, as twins are accustomed to be. This idea was hailed as the triumph of Beauty,' etc. Compare also Schiller, Götter Griechenlands: 'Damals trat kein grässliches Gerippe Vor das Bett des Sterbenden; ein Kuss Nahm das leichte Leben von der Lippe; Seine Fackel senkt der Genius.'
Lessing's explanation of the passage in Pausanias — ifoporipovs SifaTpanfj.ifovs Toi/s iroSay, which he translates ' had their feet crossed ' — is not approved of by the best scholars. It can only be translated ' with distorted feet,' though a satisfactory explanation of the Strange passage has not yet been found.
P. 93, 1. 13. die oben getrennte doppelte Nachahmung, ' the two kinds of Imitation distinguished above; ' see VH.
1. 17. als Erzähler, ' as narrator,' i.e. in so faf as he adopts the subject of the poet in its historical outline, in a general way. als Dichter, in so far as he is to appropriate also the artistic form of the subject in its poetical details.
LAOKOON. XI. 255 1. 22. aus ihm angiebt, 'adduces from him.'
P. 94, 1. 3. wenn er schon -weiter nichts thut, ' even though lie does nothing more than,' etc.
1. S. gegen die Erfindung, ' in comparison with the invention.'
1. 17. ob ihm schon das Verdienst der Erfindung abgeht, ' although he loses the mcrit of invention.' 'Abgehen ' = ' to be deducted,' is used for ' to lack,' as, ' diese Eigenschaft geht ihm ab,' ' es gehen mir drei Thaler ab.'
1. 20. und wenn wir...meinen; translate this passage: ' and when we weigh invention and representation against one anotlier, we are always inclined to make allowance to the arlist for the one (viz. for what he is wanting in invention) exactly in proportion as we believe that we have received too much of the other (viz. that he has exceeded in representation).' The idea of Lessing is that, in the case of the artist, we willingly make allowance for the want of invention, if he has exceeded our expectation in his execution.
1. 27. eines Thomsons; the genitive of a proper name preceded by an article is now like the nominative; we should say, ' eines Thomson.' Thomson's Scasons exercised a wonderful influence on German poetry, the work being regarded as a model of descriptive poetry, so much in vogue in Lessing's time.
1. 32. aus schwanken und schwachen Vorstellungen willkür- licher Zeichen, ' out of indefinite and weak Images of arbitrary Symbols,' i. e. the words of the poet.
P. 95, 1. I. So natürlich...müssen, 'however naturally we ave inclined,' etc.; the sense is, as we are naturally inclined to dispense with the merit of invention in the case of the artist ('einem etwas erlassen ' = to remit something in someone's favour), so there naturally arises in his mind ('bei ihm') a fecling of indifterence (lukewarmness) towards this merit (of invention).
1. 8. Er blieb...Vorwürfe, 'he remained in the narrow circle of a few subjects which had become familiär to himself and to the ])ublic.'
1. 10. und liess...gehen, 'and concentrated his whole inventive faculty on the mere Variation of subjects already known; ' viz. upon new combinations of old subjects.
1. 19. und ihrer Lage unter einander, 'and of their relative Position.'
Shonldst rather write in acts the tale of Troy, Than be the first to sing of things unknown. And all as yet unsung.'
1. 28. hat der Dichter einen grossen Schritt voraus,, lit. has a 256 A'OTES.
long Step in advance, = ' Starts with a great advantage over ' him, who does not treat of a well-known subject. Cp. ' Du hast viel vor mir voraus,' you have a great advantage over me.
1. 30. frostige Kleinigkeiten, ' cold (pedantic) details.'
P. 96, 1. 8. und wenn uns dieser...nöthiget, ' and if this first glance forces us to have recourse to laborious reflection and guesses.' Note the double meaning of 'rathen': (i) 'Ich rathe dir dies,' I give you this advice. (2) ' Ich kann das nicht rathen,' I cannot guess this.
1. 10. gerühret zu werden goes with Begierde, ' our desire to be touched.'
1. II. verhärten wir uns...aufgeopfert hat! ' we harden our- selves against the expression (i.e. we do not take the trouble to study and to understand the expression of the figures), and woe to him, if he has saciificed beauty to expression;' i.e. not caring to find out for ourselves the meaning of the expression in the figures of the work of art, we look out for beauty, and are angry and disappointed if we see it sacrificed.
1. 15. was wir dabei denken sollen, what the artist wants us to think whilst we look at it.
1. 17. nehme man beides, 'consider the two points': this is the protasis (= if we consider) to 'und ich meine' (= then my contention 1. 21. und ich meine...geneigt sein; the skeleton of this sen- tence is, * man wird die Ursache...nicht in seiner Bequemlichkeit...suchen dürfen; sondern man wird sie...finden, und (das) was, etc...als, etc...zu loben geneigt sein.' Translate: ' and I believe we must not with Count Caylus look for the reason why the artist so seldom determines upon new subjects in his indolence, in his ignorance, in the difliculty of the mechanical part of his art, which (as Count Caylus says) demands all his industry, all his time; but we shall find it (the reason) more dceply founded, and shall perhaps be inclincd to praise in the artist as wise self-restraint useful to ourselves what in the beginning appears to be a limitation of art, a spoiling of our plea- sure.'
P. 97, 1. I. Geschähe es jedoch, ' suppose, however, such were the case,' i. e. that artists made use of this book. ' lieber,' of time denotes 'at the end of,' thus 'über's Jahr,' ' a year hence,' ' in a year.'
1. 3. der...brachte, final relative sentence with subjunctive.
1. 6. als der Kenner aus seinen Büchern ist, ' as the connoisseur is from his books' = with his book-learning.
1. 13. in seinem Gleise, lit. in its groove, ' in its old track.' und mache ihm sein Vergnügen nicht saurer, als ein "Vergnügen zu stehen kommen muss, ' and let us not force this public to pay more dearly for its pleasure, than a pleasure must cost in order to be what it LAOKOON. XII. 257 LAOKOON. XII. 257 is meant for.' The word ' sauer ' (sonr) is frequently used in the sense of toilsome, burdensome; e.g. ' Es wird jenem alten Manne sauer diesen Berg zu ersteigen,' ' the old man yonder has much difficulty in ascending this hill.' ' Er macht mir mein Leben sauer,' ' he makes my life a bürden to me.' * Zu stehen kommen ' is used in the sense of the Latin stare, English 'stand' in the phrases ' what does it stand you in?' etc.; ' magno stat ' = ' es kommt theuer zu steilen.' Fig. ' Das wird Ihnen theuer zu stehen kommen,' that will cost you dear. Lessing in this passage mixes up two phrases: 'jemandem etwas sauer machen,' and ' theuer zu stehen kommen.'
1. 16. Protogenes, a famous Greek painter, a contemporary of Apelles. He established his reputation by the picture of lalysus, the founder of Rhodos.
1. 22, er das Bedürfniss der Kunst erwog, 'he weighed (con- sidered) the need of art to be'...= he clearly recognised that art needed to be intelligible to all.
1. 27. war nicht gesetzt genug, 'had not steadiness enough.'
1. 28. ein gewisser TJebermuth der Kunst, eine gewisse Lüsternheit nach dem Sonderbaren und Unbekannten, ' a certain exuberance of spirits in art, a certain craving after the cuiious and unknown.' The example of Protogenes is not well chosen to illustrate Lessing's idea. Plinius is far from throwing blame on Proto- genes in the passage quoted by Lessing. Impetus animi we ought to translate by ' a strong Impulse of his soul,' and quaedam artis libido, ' a certain enthusiasm for artistic finish.' The subjects chosen by Protogenes, representing the heroes of Rhodes, do not betray a craving after the curious and unknown, as they were quite familiär to the people of Rhodes for whom they were intended.
xn.
P. 99, 1. I. bearbeitet, literally, works upon; translate, ' represents.'
1. 6. in unzertrennter Folge mit den sichtbaren fortlaufen lässt, ' makes them continue side by side with the visible in an unbroken series.'
1. 12. wenigstens...können, 'at least may appear not to be obliged to see them of necessity.' This accumulation of verbs at the end of the sentence is a striking instance to show how heavy German style may be, unless the writer is on his guard. Lessing might have easily avoided it by saying, ' oder wenigstens so, dass es scheinen könnte, als ob sie (viz, die Personen des Gemäldes) dieselben (viz. die unsicht- baren Wesen) nicht nothwendig sehen müssten.'
\. 17. Doch diesem...abzuhelfen; 'still this fault might be remedicd after all, book in hand.' The book is of course that from which the artist chose his subject.
S NOTES.
1, 19. durch die malerisclie Aufhebung des Unterschiedes; ' malerisch ' is here used in the sense of ' des Malers ' or ' der Malerei.' Translate: 'when painting abolishes, or removes the distinction.'
I. 25. handgemein werden {manus conserere), ' come to blows/ • fight band to band.'
P. 100, 1. i.über das gemeine Menschliche so weit erhaben, •so far exalted above the ordinary human measure.' 'Erhaben,' sublime; ' erhaben über/ superior to.
II. 14-16. 'The Goddess stooped, and in her ample band Took up a stone, that lay upon the piain, Dark, rugged, vast, which racn of eider days Had set to mark the limits of their land.'
Transl. by LoRD DerbY.
1. 17. gehörig zu schätzen, 'to form an adequate estimate of.'
1. 19. jene aber...übertreffen lässt, ' but teils us that these again were surpassed in strength by the men whom Nestor knew in his youth.'
1. 22. den nicht Ein Mann, den Männer, ' which not one man, but several men,' etc.
1. 31. eine anschauliche TJnwahrscheinlichkeit, 'an improbability for the eye' = a palpable improbability.
P. 101, 1. II. Longin; Dionysius Cassius Longinns, a Piatonic philosopher and rhetor, died 273 A.D. He is the supposed anthor of the famous treatise ' On the Sublime.' es komme ihm öfters vor; indirect narration; 'that it appcared to him now and then, as though,' etc.
P. 103, 1. I. weiter an nichts als; we should expect ' an weiter nichts als,' ' by nothing further than.'
1. 2. an äusserlichen verabredeten Merkmalen, ' by oulward conventional symbols.'
1. 7. von der Seite der mithandelnden Personen, ' on the side that is turned to the other persons in the picture ' = actors in the scene.
1. 14. als den Paris von der Venus, when Paris was fighting with Menclaus, who had already caught hold of his hclmet. den Idaeus vom Neptune; tliis is a mistake; it was Vulcan who carried Idaeus away from the batlle, hiding him in a cloud. Idaeus, a Trojan, was the son of Darcs, a priest of Vulcan. He fought with Diomede tog(. ther with his brother; the latter feil, Idaeus himself was saved by the god.
1. 15. den Hektor vom Apollo, in the fight with Achilles.
1. 23. wie hinter einer spanischen "Wand, ' as bchind a scrcen.'
LAOKOON. XIII. 359 A thin partition consisting of a woof^en frame covered witli paper or with tapestry, and which can be removed at pleasure, is called in (iermany ' eine spanische Wand.'
P. 104, 1. i6. kehrt er es auch bisweilen vun, ' he inverts the case.'
I. 2o. mit einem Kucke, literally, with one pull. Translate: ' in a moment.'