P. 130, 1. 2. Von dem Herrn von Kleist...einbildete. ' In regard to von Kleist I am able to State that he pridcd himsclf least of all on bis Spring.' ' Ich bilde mir ein ' ' I imagine,' ' I fancy '; ' Ich bilde mir etwas auf meine Stimme ein,' ' I pride myself on my voice.' Christian Ewald von Kleist (1715-1759), a noble and chivalrous character and an intimate friend of Lessing. He was an ofhcer in the Prussian army during the Seven Years' War, and died of wounds received in tl'.e disastrous battle of Kunnersdorf, in which Frederic the Great was defeated by the combined Russian and Austrian armios. Kleist was a lyrical poet of great talent, bat cultivated chiefly descriptive poetry. Ilis ' Frühling' appeared 1749.
1. 5. einen Plan, * a regulär plan,' ' a mcthodical design.'
1. 6. auf Mittel wie er die Menge...entstehen und...folgen lassen wolle, translate by active verbs, ' a nieans of calling up and marshalling in order the crowd,' etc. 'Wolle' coresponds to the English ' might,' lit. 'means how he might,' etc.
1. 8. auf Gerathewohl, 'at random'; 'gerathe wohl' is an imperative of ' gerathen,' to succeed; ' es gerathe wohl ' means, ' may it succeed well.'
1. II. Marmontel, Jean Frangois (1723-1799), a French poet and critic of consideral)le talent. Besides many tragedies and comedies he wrote bis ' Contes Moraux' and a ' Poctique Fraii9aise,' to which latter book Lesäing alludes.
1. 12. mit, adverbial = ' besides' other refcrences; auf Veranlassung, 'with special reference to,' or 'particularly prompted by' his 'Kleist's) eclogues. ' Eclogues ' means, literally, chosen pieces; a name given originally to small, select pocms, especially to rustic shcpherds* songs as Virgil's Bucolica; at a later time Idyllic Poetry in general was called Eclogues.
1. 13. er würde...gemacht habsn, ' he would have converted a 272 NOTES.
series of Images which is but scantily interspersed with feelings, into a succession of feelings but sparingly interwoven with Images.'
XVIII.
P. 131, 1. II. Fr. Mazzuoli; Francesco Mazzuoli, calied il Parme- gianino, bom in Parma in 1503, died 1570, a famous painter and engraver in the style of Correggio.
1. 12. derselben Aussöhnung ihrer Ehemänner mit ihren Anverwandten; a very heavy construction; * derselben,' a subjective genitive, ' ihrer Ehemänner,' an objective genitive; translate: ' and how they reconciled their husbands with their relations.'
P. 132, 1. 5. Theile is acc. after 'zuzählen,' which is the subject of ' heisst. ' ' Wollen ' in 1. 9. = ' to be able.'
1. 12. Doch, so ■wie.., Malerei und Poesie; translate: *But as two neighbours of equitable and friendly disposition do not, it is true, permit that the one should presume to take ('sich herausnehme') unbecoming liberties within the innermost parts of the other's domains, yet on their extreme frontiers allow a mutual forbearance to prevail, by which both sides make a peaceful compensation for those slight aggressions which, in haste and by the force of circumstances, the one Sees himself compelled to make on the Privileges of the other: so also painting and poetry.'
1. 29. durch die Verwendung oder Entfernung seiner Per- sonen; literally, ' by employing or removing his persons.' Translate: ' by bringing his persons forward or by placing them at a distance.'
1. 30. die...erlaubet. The relative ' die ' refers to ' Verwendung ' and ' Entfernung.' Translate: ' an arrangement which permits them to take a more or less momcntirj' pari in what is going on.'
1. 33. Herr Mengs; Raphacl Mengs, a famous painter and writer on art, was bom in Pohemia in 172S, died at Rome 1779. He was extravagantly admired at his time; most of his paintings appear to us cold allegories.
P. 133, 1. 4. Raphael...gesucht; ' Raphael endeavoured to give significance even to this (treatment of the folds).'
1. 6. ob das Glied...krümmet; ' whether the limb had moved or is moving from contraction to extension, or whether it had beenextended and is now contracting.' ' Krümme,' a rare word for ' Krümmung.'
1. 13. das Gewand wäre denn von sehr steifem Zeuge, paren- thetical conccssive sentcnce, ' unless the drapen»- be made of ver\- stiff material.' It is an elliptical use for ' es sei denn, dass...' Thus ' Der Mann wird nicht ruhen, erbringe es denn heute zu Ende.' Eve, § 579.
1. 19. wer wird es mit dem Artisten so genau nehmen, 'who will be so particular with the artist? ' Cp. ' Er nimmt es nicht sehr genau mit der Wahrheit,' he is not very particular about speaking the truth.
LAOKOON. xvirr. 273 P. 134, 1. 6. Zu verstehen von seiner Manier überhaupt, ' this is to be understood of his style in general.'
1. II. getriebenes, 'hammcred.'
1. 12. Wer wird ihm...wissen, 'who will not rather thank him for,' etc. 'Dank wissen,' 'to be grateful,' is now generally uscd vvith ' für.' ' Dafür werde ich Ihnen keinen Dank wissen,' ' I shall not thank you for that.'
1. 16. Des Dichters...hergeleitet wissen; ' I will not allovv the proper justification of the poet as wtll as the painter to be based upon the comparison drawn above of two friendly neighbours.'
1. 19. wissen, with a participlc, in the sense of to ' see,' 'have,' 1. 20. dieses, the following consideration.
P. 135, 1. I. dass der nachtheiligen Suspension ihrer Beziehung dadurch abgeholfen wird; ' thnt ihe piejudicial uncertainty of their refeience is done away with.' 'Ihrer' refers to the preceding 'Bei- wörter.' ' Abhelfen ' used impersonally in the passive, with a dative, as it takes a dative in the active; ' dem ist nicht abzuhelfen.'
1. II. Frau Dacier, vide chap. i.
1. 27. ohne Zweideutigkeit, 'without being equivocal.'
1. 29. im 'statu absoluto,' without connection with the noun, and without showing gender and number.
1. 31. kommen...überein, 'agree' or ' are identical with.'
P. 136, 1. I. einen sehr schielenden Sinn; 'schielen' is 'to squint,' to look askance; thcrefore ' schielend,' the contrary of straight, ' slanting,' 'uncertain.'
1. 3. ich halte mich bei Kleinigkeiten auf, ' I waste my time with trifles.'
1. 5. in dessen Kücksicht; 'in respect of which'; more usually ' in Rücksicht worauf.'
1. 14. dass neuern Künstlern nicht schwer gefallen (ist), 'that it was not difficult for modern artists.' ' Das fällt mir schwer,' ' this falls heavy on me,' ' it is difficult for me.' The most celebrated repro- duction of Achilles' shield is that of the English sculptor Flaxman. In Murray's ' Greek Sculpture,' vol. i, may be seen an attempt to recon- struct the shield from ancient Cyprian and Phoenician designs, such as Homer niay have known.
1. 19. als ein werdendes Schild, ' as a shield in the making.'
1. 27. nachdem...geschmiedet, ' after he has forged the plates in the roughest manner,' ' quitc roughly; ' so ' aus dem gruben arbeiten,' ' to rough-hew; ' so we say ' to work in the rough,' ' from the rough.'
1. 30. Eher...Gesichte; ' we do not again lose sight of the shield.'
P. 137, 1. 12. Prophezeiungen, prophecies referring to the destinies of the gens Julia, the house of Augustus.
T 1. 14. die sie betreffen, 'to which (persons) they (the prophecies) refer,' ' whom they concern.' ' Aus der Zukunft,' adjectival phrase with ' Personen.* 1. 15. lag an diesen...das meiste; 'in these two (historical) names lay, to all appearance, the chief interest for the poet-courtier.' Dichter and Hofmann are the same person; for ' das Meiste ' see p. 4, 1. 1 7. so hebt es...auf, ' it does not on that account take away the evil effect.'
P. 138, 1. 8. lässt Virgil: the infinitive dependent upon 'lässt' foUows after the quotation from Virgil, ' den Vorhang auf einmal niederfallen.'
' A mighty shield they set on foot to match all weapons held By Latin men, and sevenfold ring on ring about it weld.
Mcanwhile, in windy bellows' womb some in the breezes take And give them forth, some dip the brass all hissing in the lake, And all the cavern is agroan with the strokes on anvil laid.
These tum and tum about betwixt, with plenteous might to aid, They rear their arms; with grip of tongs they tum the iron o'er.'
W. Morris.
1. 18. von da; 'da' nsed relatively for 'wo.' So 'dadurch,' p. 181, P. 139, 1. 7. ' ignorant of the deeds to come, he delights in the picture.'
1. IG. der gutwillige Ehemann, * the good-natured husband,' Vulcan.
1. 24. ist Zuwachs...Bodens, ' is natural growth of its own fertile soil.'
1. 30. nur bei Gelegenheit des Stoffes, ' only when the subject itself offered the occasion to do so.'
1. 32. Zierraten künsteln, ' produce skilful omaments.'
XIX.
P. 140, 1. 6. der ältere Skaliger; Julius Caesar Scaliger, bora at Padua in 1484, lived in Italy and France, died at Agen in 1558. He is one of the greatest scholars of the sixteenth Century. He is called the Eider, to distinguish him from his equally illustrious son Justus Josephus, 1 540-1609. Charles Perrault, born at Paris 1628, died 1703, was chosen member of the Frcnch Academy in 1671; he was a poet and a critic, pleading the cause of modern poetry against the ancients. Jean Terrasson, bom at Lyons in 1670, died in 1750 at Paris, a distinguished scholar, professor at the College de France and member of the Academy. He published in 17 15 bis Dissertations critiques sur l'Iliade d'Homere.
1. 8. Jean Boivin de Villenenve (1663-1726), a French scholar and member of the Academy. He was an enthusiastic admiier of Homer, whom he endeavoured to defend against every attack. He published in 171 5 his Apologie d'Homere et du bouclier d'Achille.
1. 10. sich manchmal zu weit einlassen, ' go sometimes too far.' P. 141, 1. 6. mit Bemerkung der erforderlichen Masse, ' obser- ving the required measurements.'
1. 7. Sein Einfall...Zirkeln, ' his idea of dividing the Space into various concentric circles; * an elliptical construction, ' his idea (of work- ing) with,' etc.
1. 16. das Schild der Minerva vom Phidias; according to Pliny, Phidias represented the battle of the Amazons on the convex side, and the war between the Gods and the Giants on the concave side of the shield of Minerva.
1. 19. sonach, * consequently,' i. e. in consequence of his not utilizing the inside. ' Um die Hälfte, Eve, § 40S (4) = ' by half.'
1. 24. den Forderungen...leisten, ' to satisfy the demands of his opponents.'
1. 28. fasslicher, ' in a more comprehensible manner,' more clearly.
' Meanwhile a busy throng the forum filled; There between two a fierce contention rose, About a death-fine; to the public one Appealed, asserting to have paid the whole; While one denied that he had aught received. Both were desirous that before the Judge The issue should be tried; with noisy shouts Their several partisans encouraged each. The heralds stilled the tumult of the crowd; On polished chairs, in solemn circle, sat The reverend Eiders; in their hands they held The loud-voiced heralds' sceptres; waving these, They heard the allemate pleadings; in the midst Two talents lay of gold, which he should take W'ho should before them prove his righteous cause.'
LoKD Derby. 1.15. die streitige Erlegung, 'the contested payment;' 'eine Geldbusse erlegen,' to pay a fine.
1. 16. für einen verübten Todtschlag, 'for a murder that had been committed.' ' Todtschlag ' is generally uscd in the sense of mau- slaughter, unprcmeditated murder.
I. 19. oder der Abhörung der Zeugen, ' or of the examination of 275 NOTES.
witnes-^es;' 'verhören' is the technical term, from which verb 'das Verhör.'
1. 24. Täuschungen here = ' means of illusion.'
1. 25. Vor der Poesie voraus hat, see note on p. 112, 1. 5.
1. 30. sowohl über das Vergangene als über das Folgende des einzigen Augenblickes in dem Kunstwerke; this use of the genitive is unusual; we should expect a dative in dependence on the participle, e. g. ' sowohl über das dem einzigen in dem Kunstwerke behandelten Augenblicke Vorhergehende als über das demselben Nachfolgende,' over that which preceded and that which followed the single moment represented in the work of art. Sich ausbreiten = to enter into details, to extend his description.
P. 143, 1. 2. kömmt der Dichter dem Künstler wieder bei, * the poet again comes np to the anist.' ' Beikommen,' c. dat., is generally used in the meaning of to get at' a person in a hostile sense; e. g. 'ich kann ihm nicht beikommen,' ' I cannot get at him.' It is used here in the sense of ' gleichkommen,' or ' nahekommen,' or ' einholen.'
1. 14. der Zuruf des getheilten Volkes, ' the acclamations of the people siding with the one or the other.'
1. 15. die Aeusserungen der Schiedsrichter, ' the decisions of the judges.' ' Schiedsrichter ' is generally used in the sense of nmpire or arbitrator.
1. 18. um mich mit der Schule auszudrücken, ' to use the lan- guage of scholastic philoiophy.' actu, virtute, ' actually,' ' virtually.' \\ hat was not actually and visibly contained in the picture, but lay in it according to its spirit and essence.
1. 21. das Letztere refers to the word ' virtute,' as dem Wirklich Sichtbaren lepresents ' actu.'
1. 28. da.. einmal = qiioniam, since.
P. 144, 1. 2. Meines Erachtens,— adverbial genitive, — * in my opinion,' so tlie adverbial e.xpressions of Time ' heutiges Tages,' 1. 23, 1. 4. mit einem...anfängt, begins with a ' there he wTought, or there he made, or there he put. or there the limping God repre- sented.'
1. 10. als welche...gehalten war, "which indeed the poet was by no means bound to indicate;' 'als' before the relative pronoun in the sense of ' quippe ' is now obsolete.
1. 12. The protosis is four-fold; hätte er angegeben.. gehalten .. lassen.. verfahren; the apodosis begins at ' es ist wahr, so würden,' etc. ' Hätte er nicht...lassen,' ' had he avoided introducing the smallest stroke,' ' slightest touch.'
1. 1 7. an einem etwas aussetzen = ' to blame a person for soniething.'
LAOKOOX. XIX. i277 l. 24. die drei Einheiten, the three unities — of time, of place, of action.
I. 26. Note zu Folge ('according to') with genitive, but dem zu Folge, or diesem zu Folge, p. 147, 1. 4.
P. 145,1. I. so musste...verdiene; translate: * either Homer, hy virtne of his godlike genius, must liave, I will not say gone by what painting could then or at his time achieve, but divined what it was able to perform absolutely; or. on the other hand, that evidence itself cannot be so reliable as to outweigh the palpable testimony of the skilfully contrived shield.' Note Zeugnisse in plnral, ' pieces of evi- dence,' where we commonly use ' evidence ' in coUective sense. ' Sich nn etwas halten ' = ' to keep to, stand to a thing.'
I. 8. Jenes...lassen, 'he who likes may choose the former hypo- thesis;that Homer had a prescntiment of the perfection painting would attain to), of the latter hypolhesis (that the testimony in regard to the condition of painting was untrustworthy), no one will be persuaded who,' etc.
1. 16. "Weiter kommen, ' to improve,' corresponds with the active idiom 'es weit bringen,' ' to siicceed.'
1. 17. eines Polygnotus, a famous Greek painter, about 450 B.c. His most celebrated works were some pictures in the Stoa Poikile (au open portico in Athens adorncd with wall paintings), and two great pictures in the Lesche, a peristyle surrounded with colonnades at Delphi, one of which represented the taking of Troy and the departure of the Greek army, the other the descent of Odysseus into the Lower World, noch lange die Probe nicht aushalten, ' are far from standing the test.'
1. 18. welche Pope...glaubt; note the construction ofacc. and inf. with zu, unusual in German, but used by Lessing aftcr ' glauben,' ' urtheilen ' and similar verbs. See note on p. S, 1. 29. The sentence mightrun: ' welche nach Pope's Meinung die Gemälde des Homerischen Schildes bestehen können.'
1. 25. als dass...beigewohnt (hat), ' that he had only an incom- plete idea of it himself.' ' Ein Begriff wohnt mir bei,* ' an idea is present with me.'
P. 146, 1. 12. woraus es denn gewissennassen unstreitig (ist), literally, ' from which circumstance then it is in a certain measure in- disputable '; or, more freely, ' and this is already a sort of evidence.'
l. 14. bekannt gewesen. Vide Observations on the shield of Achilles, Pope's Iliad, B. xviii. vol. v. p, 169, edit. by Gilbert Wake- ficld, B.A. London, 1796.
1. 16. noch lange nicht, is ' still very far from ' (making\ ' by no means ' (constitutes). So p. 145, 1. 17.
278 NOTES.
1. i8. Augenpunkt, 'point of sight.'
1. 21. nach hinten zu, 'towards the background.' In die Höhe is simply 'upwards.'
1. 28. dass man sie auch.., annimmt; ' sie ' refers to ' Stellung,' — to that peculiar arrangement of the figures which causes the persons Standing in the background to appear to be raised above those in front. The device is familiär enough on Egyptian wall-paintings.
1. 29. nach selbiger =' nach derselben,' refers to ' Beschreibung.'
P. 147, 1. 4. diesem zu Folge, — ' diesem ' isneuter, — 'accordingto this reasoning,' or simply, ' accordingly.'
1. 6. aus einem so hohen Augenpunkte. Lessing thinks that Homer might have chosen a bird's-eye view of the town, which would allow him to see the market-place and the street at the same time.
1. 21. This was written in 1763, a year before the appearance of Winckelmann's great work on the history of the fine arts.
XX.
P. 148, 1. I. Vielmehr, 'rather' (than digress further). 'Wenn.. anders,' ' if indeed.'
P. 149, 1. I. Nireus, the most beautiful among the Greeks before 1. 6. luxurirt; a word of Lessing's coinage for the German ' aus- schweifen; ' ' how a modern poet would have revelled in the description of it.'
1. 7. Constantinus Manasses, a Greek scholar and chronicler of the twelfth Century. He wrote the annals of the world in verse down to the year a.D. 108 I — SiJi'oi/'is iaropiicq.
1. 10. ein Exempel auftreiben: an e.xpression taken from the chase; 'ein Wild auftreiben,' ' to put up game.' ' Die Treibjagd,' 'the battue.' Here, ' to find,' 'hunt up ' an e.xample. 1. II. erhelle, the subj. implies purpose. ' She was a very beautiful woman, with lovely eyebrows and complexion, With beautiful cheeks and face, ox-eyes, snow-white skin; Dark-eyed ', tender, a grove füll of charms, White armed, delicate, breathing beauty undisguised; The complexion fair, the cheek rosy, The countenance pleasing, the eye beautiful. Inartificial loveliness, undyed, natural; * Properly ' with eyes quick glancing.'
LAOKOON. XX. 279 A rose-coloured fruit * tinged her whiteness, As if one should dye ivory with splendid purple.
Long necked, dazzling white, whence she was often called Swan-bom lovely Helen.'
Translated by SiR Robert Phillimore. 1. 19. eine eigene Vorstellung, as though 'jeder' preceded, 'every one his own idea.'
P. 151, 1. I. politische Verse; * versus politici ' or * populäres ' denoted in the Middle Ages verses measured according to accent and not according to quantity.
* Her shape is of such perfect symmetry, As best to feign the industrious painter knows, With long and knotted tresses; to the eye Not yellow gold with brighter lustre glows. lipon her tender cheek the mingled dye Is scattered, of the lily and the rose. Like ivory smooth, the forehead gay and round Fills up the space, and forms a fitting bound.
Two black and slender arches rise above, Two clear black eyes, say suns of radiant light; Which ever softly beam and slowly move; Round these appears to sport in frolic flight, Hence scattering all his shafts, the little Love, And seems to plunder hearts in open sight. Thence, through mid visage, does the nose descend, Where Envy finds no blemish to amend.
As if between two vales, which softly curl, The mouth with vermeil tint is seen to glow: Within are strung two rows of Orient pearl, Which her delicious lips shut up or show. Of force to melt the heart of any churl, However rüde; hence courteous accents flow; And here that gentle smile receives its birth, Which opes at will a paradise on earth.
Like milk the bosom and the neck like snow; Round is the neck, and füll and large the breast; Where, fresh and firm, two ivory apples grow, Which rise and fall, as, to the margin pressed By pleasant breeze, the billows come and go.
28o NOTES.
Not prying Argus could discern the rest; Yet might the observing eye of things concealed Conjecture safely, from the charms revealed.
To all her arms a just proportion bear, And a white band is oftentimes descried Which narrow is, and somedeal long; and where No knot appears, nor vein is signified.
For finish o£ that stafely sbape and rare, A foot, neat, short, and round, beneath is spied.
Angelic visions, creatures of the sky, Concealed beneath no covering veil can lie.'
W. Stewart Rose's Translation of the Orlando Furioso. P. 153, 1. I. des Pandaemoniums; this word means the seat of all evil spiritb; this place is representcd in Milton's Paradise Lost, i. 748, as the palace of Satan, where he summons bis peers to a solemn Council. 'The hasty multitude Admiring, entered; and the work some praise, And some the architect.' 1. 7. die völlige Genüge thun, cp. 'eine Genüge leisten,' p. 141,!. 25, 1.9. vergleichen; bere used in the sense of 'ausgleichen,' 'ver- söhnen,'— ' to reconcile.' So we say: ' Die Gegner haben sich verglichen," 'theadversarieshave come to terms.' ' Der Vergleich,' 'the compromise." 1. 10. Dolce, Ludovico (1508-1566), a learned Italian publisher and author. In 1557 he publisbed at Venice, where he lived, a Dialogue on Painting, which he called l'Aretino, after Pietro Aretino (,born in Arezzo 1492, died in Venice 1566:, who wrote dramas, satires, and dialogues. The passage of Dolce 's dialogue bere alluded to by I.essing runs thus: ' If a paintcr wishes to find the ideal of a beautiful woman, let bim read those stanzas of Ariosto, in which he draws a wonderful picture of the enchantress Alcina. He will recognise at the same time to what extent good poets are also good painters.'
1. II. ein ausserordentliches Aufheben machen, — ' make so much ado about,' etc. ' Machen Sie nicht ein solches Aufheben von dieser Kleinigkeit,' ' don't make so much ado about this small matter.' 1. 25. als die lehrreichste "Warnung...versuchen, ' as the most instructive waming, not to attempt with still less success that in which an Ariosto necessarily failed.'
P. 154, 1. 3. The sentence would be clearer, if Lessing had placed tbe last words ' dadurch beweist ' after ' er.'
1. 4. Er mag sich immerhin, ' Granted that he,' etc. ' Immerhin,' a concessive adverb.
LAOKOON. XX. 281 1. 8. Man mag daraus...schliessen, — another concessive sen- tence; — ' We may very plainly infer from the fact,' etc.
1. 16. die wir...wollen; 'whose only desire is to believe that we See a beautiful woman.' Lessing might easily have avoided heaping so many verbs at the end of the sentence by saying: ' die wir glauben wollen, eine schöne Frau zu sehen.'
P. 155, 1. 4. ihrer refers to ' Verhältnisse,' proportions. auf eine lebhafte anschauende Art, ' in a lively and intuitive fashion.* 1. 24. Nichtsthun, properly 'inaction,' here 'reticence.'
' At last she cometh forth to them with many a man beside: A cloak of Sidon wrapped her round with pictured border wrought, Her quiver was of fashioned gold, and gold her tresses caught; The gathering of her purple gown a golden buckle had.'
W. Morris.
P. 156, 1. I. jener alte Künstler; Zeuxis said these words to one of bis pupils who had painted a Helena covered with Ornaments of gold.
1. 9. Anacreon, born at Teos, died at Abdera, 85 years old; a lyric poet, who fiourished about 530 B.c. Bathyllus is the name of a beau- tiful boy, a favourite of the poet. Modern critics have clearly shown that the poems current under Anacreon's name (Anacreontica) are not the work of the genuine Anacreon, but were composed at a later time, certainly not before the Alexandrian age. Some German poets of Lessing's time took the supposed Anacreon for their model in the love and wine songs they composed. The two poems alluded to are Ödes xxviii and xxix. The poems have been frequently translated into English and imitated, e. g. by Cowley and Moore.
1. 1 1. macht alles gut, ' sets all right.' "Wendung, we use ' turn,' in the same sense.
1. 27. * But enough! herseif I look on!
Sure the wax will soon find language.'
1. 29. in der Angabe des Bathylls, ' in ihe sketch of Bathyllus.'
JP. 157, 1. I. wem zu Ehren, 'in whose honour.' Some feminine nouns retain the ancient weak form in the singular in poetry.and in a few proverbial expressions. Cp. ' Fest gemauert in der Erden' (Schil- ler's Lied von der Glocke). ' Zu Gunsten,' ' zu Ehren.' ' Zu Schanden machen.' ' Es ist nichts so fein gesponnen, es kommt endlich an die Sonnen.' So zu Statten, p. 134, 1, 29.
1. 9. ' And beneath this lovely visage The iv'ry neck and Shoulders 282 NOTES.
Of Adonis must be added.
And the ehest thou then must give him And the twain soft hands of Hermes; Here! take thou this Apollo, And finish thy Bathyllus.'
Translation by Th. J. Arnold. 1. 18. Lucian, a witty and voluminous Greek writer, born about the year 125 A.D. He is the author of rhetorical, critical, biographical works of romances, poems, and dialogues. Among the latter the Dia- logues of the Gods and those of the Dead are best known. The dia- logue referred to by Lessing is that called Ai Eiküi'«?, the pictures. Lucian was greatly admired in the eighteenth Century for his satire and the fertility of invention he displayed. He was frequently imitated by Voltaire and by Wieland, who translated his works. Panthea, a beau- tiful woman born at Smyma, was the mistress of the Emperor Lucius Verus.
1. 21. vor sich selbst, instead of ' für sich selbst,' * by itself.* 1. 24. Dolmetacherin ' der Dolmetsch ' or ' Dolmetscher,' ' the interpieter; ' derived from the Polish 'tlumacz;' 'dolmetschen,' verb neuter, ' to play the Interpreter '; ' verdolmetschen,' verb active, ' to interpret.'
XXL XXL P. 158, 1. 3. verleiden, literaliy, to tum something into sorrow or displeasure for any one; e. g. ' Du hast mir meine Freude verleidet.' Lessing personifies Poetry in this passage. ' If we inspire her (Poelry) with a dislike of one particular way,' etc.
1. 7. verschliesst...muss? ' do we thereby exclude her from every other path where art in her tum can only gaze after her • ' i. e. where art must see poetry take the lead.
\. 20. " And 'tis no marvel," one to other said, " The valiant Trojans and the ■well-greaved Greeks "For beauty such as this should long endure "The toils of war; for goddess-like she seems."
Lord Derby.
\. 23. als das...lassen. ' Lassen ' is co-ordinate with ' gewähren,' and ' das Alter ' subject, ' sie ' (' Schönheit ') object, of ' erkennen,' ' than to ma'Ke frosty age acknowledge that she is indeed woith the war,' etc.
P. 159, 1. 7. den geliebten Gegenstand der Sappho; the Greek poetess describes her feelings thus, ' My tongue falters, a penetrating fire runs beneath my skin, I see nothing with my eyes, thcre is ringing in my ears, sweat pours adown me, trembling seizes me utterly, I am paler than grass and seem to lack little to die.'
1. 13. Lesbia; Lessing confounds two names. Lesbia was the LAOKOON. XXII. 283 mistress of Catullus. Corinna was the lovely wonian Ovid describes in the passage referred to.
1. 22. Thus Milton gives the most powerfnl impression of the bcauty of Eve not by an enumeration of her charms, but by showing how even Satan was affected when he saw her. Paradise Lost, ix. 455.
P. 160. 1 9. mit Holdseligkeit, ' with gracious glance.'
1. n. abachiesst, shoots away his entire quiver, i.e. the arrows from it.
1. 17. Helfenbein, ivory; we say now 'Elfenbein.' It is derived from the O. H. G. 'helfentbein,' the bone of the elephant (O. H. G.
'helfant').
1. 21. die See bestreitet; — the litcral translation of the Italian, 'il mar combatte,' — ' contends with the sea.'
1. 37. als die...durchflochten hat, ' than all the five stanzas, over which Ariosto has scattered them (viz. those traits that produce charm), and in which he has interwoven them with cold traits of beauti- ful form, far too learned to affect our feelings.'
P. 161, 1. I. ' Within lier dainty chin, about her marble-white neck, let all the graces flutter.'
1. 5. Nach, dem genauesten "Wortverstande, ' according to the exact meaning of the words.' Der in the next sentence is der Wort- verstand.
1. 13. der eigentliche Reiz, 'charm in its proper sense.'
1. 17. zu der obigen Anmerkung; Lessing refers to the Observation he made when spealiing of Homer's description of the shield of Achilles.
XXIL P. 162, L I. Herz, in this phrase = ' courage,' ' confidence,' as in our phrase ' to take heart.'
1. 1 5. die zu Crotona; — we should now say ' die Crotonienser; ' — the people of Croton, a famous town in Magna Graecia.
1. 18. vorzeichnet, * sketches as a model.'
1. 21. Der Artist...lassen, ' the artist must take special pains;' ' sich ' is dative and ' angelegen ' an adj. =' of interest,' ' of importance.'
P. 163, 1. 3, Die Vertiefung; more commonly ' der Hintergrund,' ' the background.'