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t eT aiM'? • WS". 2#S Clarni)r0n $rm 3tm GERMA N CLA SSI CS LESSING'S NATHAN DER WEISE BUCHHEIM HENRY FROWDE, M,A.
PUBLI8RBR TO THB UNIVBRSITT OF OXFORD LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND NEW YORK Cbrenton (jpteeB ßtvitB GERMAN CLASSICS EDITED ty/TIf ENGLISH NOTES, ETC.
BY t. A. BUCH HEIM, Phil. Doc, HON. M.A. OXON, F.C.P.
Profsstor o/th* Gtrman Language aml Littratur* in King^s ColUge, London Extunintr in German to the College of Preceptors a$td the Society o/Arte Sonietime Examiner to the University t(f London, etc.
VOLUME VI Nathan der Weise, a Dramatic Poem by Lessing TffIED RBVISBD EDITION Oxford AT THE CLARENDON PRESS MDCCCC HARVARD tOLLEQE LIBRARY* FROM THE LIBRARY OF PROFESSOR HORATIO STEVENS WHITE Oxford PRINTED AT THE CLARENDON PRESS BY HORACB HART, U.A. PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY PREFACE.
Lessing's Nathan der Weise occupies in German literature such a promment rank — in fact the most prominent after Goethe*s 'Faust' — and it has been made in Germany it- self the subject of so many critical treatises and dissertations, that it seems superfiuous to dwell on the advisability» nay necessity, of providing it with a Commentary for English readers of German. Still, I cannot help pointing out, that there seems to be current an erroneous notion conceming the intelligibility of Lessing's writings. His style is so clear and lucid that people are easily led into the belief that, if they understand the externa! sense of his works, they also grasp the deeper, inner meaning. This is in particular the case with the present Drama, the stylistic perspicuity of which is so deceptive. 1 1 contains, besides, numerous passages capable of various interpretations, some of which have been mis- understood even by German critics, as will be seen from the appended Commentary.
Nathan der IVeise, although it abounds in passages füll of tendemess and feeling, is a mine of philosophical and scientific ideas, and some of them have never been properly pointed out before. To mention one instance only: I do not think that any of the commentators have called attention to the fact, that Lessing anticipated later scientific researches by his psychological explanation oi clairvoyance} There also occur in the Drama many historical allusions which I have explained — ^for the first time — ^to the best of my ability; using for this purpose, among various works on the Crusades, Marin's His- toire de SaJadin (Paris, 1758), which was Lessing's principal source as regards the historical element in his Nathan.
^ Cp. the notes to 1. 79.
vi PREFACE.
In point of language I believe I have explained all difficult and unusual expressions and phrases, more especially the idiomatic tums of speech, which are rather numerous in the present work, and some of which do not occnr even in the most comprehensi VC D ictionaries. Etymological explaaations and a great number of grammatical ruies have also been given — ^in a brief and concise form — chiefly with a view of elucidating the respective passages. All the ' Chess-terms ' occurring in Act iii. have been fully explained, and some of them, I believe, for the first time^ The Notes likewise contain a complete Commentary on the Text from a literary and critical point of view, showing the Import of all the passages which bear upon the main object of the Drama. The vast importance and wide scope of the work seemed, however, to make it desirable to give in a special Introduction a general and summary review of this great dramatic production. Besides giving first a sketch of the History ofthe Composition, I have briefly shown the Tendency of the work. It will be seen from this part of the Introduc- tion, that Lessing's object was to teach ' the gospel of uni- versal love and brotherhood'; that he was not a Freidenker but a Rechtdenker \ and that, being based on the principles of humanity, his poem actually is, to speak with Danzel, 'a glorifi- cation ofthe Christian Religion.' It may be that, moved by the great historical wrong to which the Jewish race has been sub- jected for so many centuries, he feit induced to send forth a plea for the removal ofthe national stig^a; but he certainly did not think of one race, or of one religious denomination only. He pleaded for the oppressed of the whole universe, whether they be Jews, Roman Catholics, Protestants, Unitarians, etc., vindi- cating the right of existence of all religions, and in this sense he has placed the motto Introite^ nam et heic Dii sunt / — * Enter, for here too are Gods' — at the head of his Drama.
The third Part of the Introduction gives a short account of the famous Ring-parabley and the fourth describes the Time and Place of the Action. In the fifth Part is an Anafysis of the CharacterSf and in the sixth a brief essay on the PREP ACE. VU JLangtioge of the Drama. The last Part contains a general criticism of Nathan as a DramaHc poeniy and an account of its success as a Stage-plc^^ together with the passages incer- polated by SchiUer in his theatrical adaptation. It has been remarked that people are apt to see in the present Drama nothing but a phÜosophical plea for religious tolerance, and to overlook its value as a work of art. I have, therefore, endeavoured also to show its merit from a dramatic point of view. In making my Conmientary I consulted the works which have been written on the same subject, and whenever I have adopted the opinions of other critics I have invariably quoted the respective authorities. I have also availed myself of the English translations of Nathan in my rendering^ of some passages, and in doing so I generally mentioned the name of the translator.^ At the same time I most express my heart- feit thanks to my friend, Mr. Henry Chettle, M.A., Oxon., the accomplished Head-Master of the Stationers' School, to whom I am indebted for various excellent suggestions with regard to. my Notes.
The Text has been printed with Roman type in order to facilitate the reading to those who are accustomed to peruse advanced German scientific and philosophical books in that form and are not equally familiär with the German characters.
A List of cmrent Quotations from Nathan der Weise will be found at the end of the volume.
In issuing the Second Edition of this volume, I revised both Text and Notes, and in Publishing the present, Third Edition^ I revised once more the latter and added such ^ A nnmber of English translations of Lessing's Nathan have appeared, besides those mentioned in the Bibliographical Appendix to my edition of his Minna von Bamhelm: among others by Mr. R. D. Boylan; Dr. R. Willis (1868); Miss Ellen Frothingham (1868); Dr. A. Wood (1877); and Mr. E. R. Corbett (1883). There are several French veisions of the Drama, which has also been translated into the Dutch, the Danish, the Polish, the Hongarian, and the Russian languages, and into modern Greek.
viii PREFACE.
viii PREFACE.
Information as seemed to me desirable. The principal improvement, however, in the Second Edition consisted in the explanation of the motto which Lessing, attributing it to Aulus Gellius, placed at the head of his drama (vide p. i). The circumstance that the saying IntroUcy nam et hie DU sunt, is not to be found in the latter's ^ Noctes Atticae/ proved pnzzling to many classical scholars, and brought me a number of enquiries, among the first of which was that by Prof. H. S. White of the Comell University, Ithaca. In consequence I took considerable pains about the matter, and gave an explanation which met with the approval of some of the most distinguished scholars in this country as well as in America and Germany. I consider myself there- fore fiilly justified in retaining that explanation as it Stands. In the same way I see no reason to alter the Critical Introduction, more especially as there has been nothing written of late years calciüated to throw new light on the present drama from a critical point of view. I must, how- ever, call special attention to two works which have been published several years after the first publication of my edition. The one is * Vorlesungen über Lessing's Nathan * (1892) by the late Prof. Karl Werder, and the other * Leben Lessings,' in two volumes, by Prof. Erich Schmidt', and I may add that I feit greatly grätified that their judgment coincided, in general, with my own.
It is to be hoped, therefore, that the present volume will continue to enlist the sympathies of English readers of German for Lessing's Weltdrama^ and that they will join in the fervent prayer of the poet Gleim: Gott erhalte Nathan den Weisen!
C. A. BUCHHEIM. King's College, London: January, 1900.
^ The second volume of the above work, containing a criticism of Nathan, appeared in 1892.
CONTENTS.
General Introduction:— PAGE I. HiSTORY OF THE COMPOSITION...xi IL The Tendency of the Drama.. xvii III. The Parable of the Three Rings.. xxi IV. Time and Place of the Action. xxv V. Analysis of the Characters...xxviii VI. The Langöage of the Drama...xliv VII. A Dramatic Poem and a Stage-Play. xlviii Note on the Motto Iv Nathan der Weise: — Text and Arguments Notes QUOTATIONS FROM NATHAN DER WEISE INTRODUCTION.
I.
History ofthe Compositton, The composition of Lessing's Nathan der Weise has a history of its own, the details of which have fortunately been preserved in his writings. The latter also make us acquainted with the circumstances which gave the exteraal impulse to the composition; and a knowledge of these circumstances seems almost indispensable for the due ap- preciation of the object and bearing of the great dramatic poem before us.
Besides the scanty material advantages which Lessing de- rived from his post of Librarian at Wolfenbüttel, in the Duchy of Braunschweig — a post to which he was appointed in 1770— he enjoyed the great privilege of being allowed to publish any books or manuscripts extant in the Ducal Library without first submitting them for approval to the * Press Censor.' He founded a periodical specially devoted to * finds ' in the *Treasures ofthe Library'; and after issuing several papers, he published, in 1774, an essay entitled Von der Duldung der Deisten. A 'Treasure* it may have been, but not a * find ' from the library. It was a portion of a rationalistic work confided to him, in manuscript, by his devoted friend Elise Reimarus, the daughter of the leamed Professor Rei- marus. The author left positive injunctions that this work should not be issued tmtil the public should be enlightened enough not to be either misled or startled by his advanced views; but Lessing was of opinion that the light of free Xll INTRODUCTION..
Xll INTRODUCTION..
enquiry could not be kindied too soon, and so he published the Fragment in question (for which he was unable to obtain the official Imprimatur from the ' Press Censor'), under the pretence of having found it in the library. The plea for ' the toleration of rationalists in matters of religion ' did not excite any special notice. When it was foUowed, however, in 1777, by five more fragments, and in the foUowing year by a whole voIume entitled Von dem Zwecke Jesu und seiner Jünger^ a controversy arose the like of which had not been witnessed in Germany since the time of the Reformation.
The substance of these remarkable essays was based, in general, on the conclusions arrived at in England by the Deists, from Lord Herbert of Cherbury down to Bolingbroke, — popularised in France hy Voltaire and his foUowers, in ac* cordance with the bent of the national genius of the French, and worked out in Germany by Leibnitz and Christian Wol^ with the eamestness of purpose peculiar to German philoso- phers. The commotion caused by the publication of the Wolfenbüttler Fragmente — as the productions of the anony- mous author were called — assumed public importance through the onslaught made upon them by the bigoted and captious Pastor Primarius Goeze of Hamburg, and by the overwhelm- ing success with which Lessing defended himself and repelled the attacks of his antagonist. These attacks were the more unjustifiable because, although Lessing had distinctly de- clared in his remarks appended to the Fragments that he did not agree with Reimarus — who denied the possibility of all * positive religions * — Goeze persistently confounded the editor with the author; and they were the more contemptible be- cause the militant Pastor seems to have harboured a personal rancour against the editor, and to have seized the opportunity of publicly denouncing his former friend, under the cloak of indignant piety. But although Goeze was generally success- ful in his various controversies, this time he met with more than his match in his lion-hearted antagonist.
Lessing, who had defeated his adversary by means of his superior intellectual weapons, now remained undisputed TNTRODUCTION. Xlll master of the field, and Goeze found himself in the ignominious Position of being driven to resort to brüte force. He invoked the aid of the * guardians of public morality/ and induced the Consistory of Saxony to interdict both * the sale and perusal* of Lessing's writings. The authorities of Braunschweig in ignoble emulation even surpassed the behests of the Saxon Consistory. They compelled Lessing to deliver up the ob- noxious manuscript of the anonymous author; they ordered the published Fragments to be confiscated, and he was strictly forbidden for the fiiture to publish anything on religious matters — either at home or abroad— cither with or without his name — unless with the express sanction of the govemment. The authorities were the more easily induced to have recourse to these rigorous measures because the Pastor Goeze repre- sented to them that theteachings of the Wolfenbüttler Frag- mentist and of the Librarian were subversive of public mo- rality, and consequently of the welfare of the State; and it is to this circumstance that Lessing alludes in putting into the mouth of the Patriarch (1. 2570, etc.) the words — % Ich geh? sogleich zum Sultan Auch macfC ich ihm gar leicht begreiflich^ wie Gefährlich selber für den Staat es ist^ Nichts glauben / Alle bürgerliche Bande Sind aufgelöset, sind zerrissen, wenn Der Mensch nichts glauben darf Lessing, however, did not allow himself to be gagged; and in 1778, undaunted by the prohibition of the govemment, he directed another crushing philippic against his adversary, uhder the title of NÖthige Antwort auf eine unn'öthige Frage, This was actually the last word in the great controversy. The paternal authorities of Braunschweig did not interfere, and tie Pastor Primarius of Hamburg did not reply.^ The * As it is impossible here to give even the merest outline of the celebrated Wolfenbüttler Fragmente, and of Lessing's replies to his principal antagonist, which were known under the collect! ve name of Anti-Goeze and which have perhaps never been surpaäsed and rarely equalled in controversial Üterature for incisive wit and xiv INTRODUCTION.
xiv INTRODUCTION.
author of the Anti-Goeze certainly expected a new rejoinder on the part of his antagonist; and he must have expected to be deprived, at any moment, of his post as Librarian, or to be obliged to resign it; for whilst engaged on the composition of the Nöthige Antwort^ etc., he wrote to his brother Karl Lessing under date of August ii, 1778: — * As yet I do npt know how my affair will end, but I should like to be pre- pared for any event. You know, this can best be done by our having as much money as we require, and there occurred to me last night a curious idea. Many years ago I sketched a flay^ the subject of which bears some resemblance to my present controversies, of the possible occurrence of which I did not dream at that time. If you and Moses ^ approve, I shall publish the thing by subscription, and you can have a few hundred copies of the appended " Advertisement *' printed on an octavo page as soon as possible and distribute them as widely as you think proper. I should not care to have the exact subject of the piece known too soon; but if you and Mpses wish to know it, refer to the Decamerone of Boccaccio, Giomata i, Nov. iiu Melchisedeck Giudeo, I believe I have invented for it a very interesting episode, so that the whole thing shall be very readable.'
• In the * Advertisement,' or * Announcement,' alluded to— which is dated August 9 — Lessing declares * that since people want him to give up a work (his controversies), for the suc- cessful carrying through of which he lacks the requisite shrewdness, chance more than his own choice has brought under his band a dramatic attempt which ought to have re- ceived long ago its final touch.' ' This attempt,' he adds, ' is conclnsive argnment, I must refer the reader to those productions in the original. Excellent snmmaries of the Fragmentenstrets^ as the controversy has also been called, are given by the German biographers of Lessing, Danzel-Gnhraner, Adolf Stahr, Erich Schmidt, and by Karl Werder in his Vorlesungen über Lessing^s Nathan. The English biographies of Lessing by Mr. J. Sime and Miss H. Zimmern also contain snmmaries of the great controversy. ' Mendelssohn.
INTRODUCTION. XV of a somewhat peculiar kind, and entiüed Nathan der Weise, in five acts. I cannot say anything more fully about thie sub- ject; suffice it to say, that it is highly worthy of a dramatic treatment, and that I shall do all in order to be myself satis- fied with my work/ etc. On the 6th of September Lessing sent a copy of the above ^ Advertisement ' to his friend Elise Reimarus at Hamburg, with the remark: ' I must now try whether people will at least allow me to preach imdisturbed on my own pulpit — the Theatre* The surmises regarding the tenour of the drama were various, and all erroneous; it haying been supposed — even by Lessing's brother — that he intended to ridicule his ad- versaries by means of a satirical play. Mendelssohn alone seems to have had a right notion of the character suitable to the drama in question. The author wrote, therefore, to his brother on the 2oth of October, ' People now eagerly look fbrward to my Nathan, and apprehend I know not what. £ven you, my dear brother, have formed a wrong notion of it. It is by no means a satirical piece in order to enable me to leave the arena with scoffing laughter. The play will be as pathetic as any other I have hitherto written, and Mr. Moses judged quite correctly when he said, that unless I wished to give up the whole controversy, mockery and laughter would not accord with the tone of my last paper (the Nöthige Antwort^ etc.). But at present I have no wish whatever to give up that controversy, and he will see that this dramatic digression will not in the least damage my cause.'
Lessing was evidently at pains, not only to convey to his friends beforehand a correct idea of the character of his new Drama, but also to impress upon them the fact that it was not suggested to him by his theological controversies, and that he again took up the old plan merely because it seemed to him opportune, both from a material and moral point of view. Thus he again wrote to his brother Karl, under date of November 7: — My Nathan, as Prof. Schmid and Eschen- biu:g can testify for me, is a piece to which I wanted to give the final touches before issuing it, three years ago, after my XVI INTRODUCTIOK returr^from my joumey (to Ttäly). I have now only sought it out because it occurred to me that I might attack with it the enemy in the flank, after having introduced some alterations in my plan. These alterations have now been carried out.'
The Statement that the author had 'again taken up the old plan' would point to the existence of an earlier version or Sketch of the play which must have been lost; but an interest- ing, though short and imperfect sketch of the drama, dated November 12, 1778, has fortunately been discovered.^ Be- sides this, the foUowing memorandum has been preserved: — Zu versificiren angefangen den i^en Novbr, 78. den 2ien Aufzug „ 6ten Xber, 99 91 We see by these entries that this great dramatic poem was finished in less than five months; which is the more re- markable, because the year when he began writing it was the most calamitous of his life, — being that of the death of his first-bom child and his beloved wife, — and because he was reduced to such pecuniary straits that his embarrassments would certainly have overpowered him, but for the generous help of a leamed, but by no means wealthy, Jewish mer- chant — named Moses Wessely — from Hamburg, who ad- vanced him a sum of money, merely asking as a favour an autograph letter from Lessing.
In the month of May, 1779, copies oi Nathan der Weise were delivered to the subscribers, who numbered upwards of one thousand. Originally Lessing had promised a volume of sixteen sheets, but as the drama extended to eighteen sheets, the author saw himself prevented from carrying out his intention to prefix a longer preface, chiefly containing 1 The first Entwurfs or sketch, will be fotrnd in the Standard and complete edition of Lessing's Works by Lachmann-Maltzahn; in the Biography of Lessing by Danzel-Guhraaer, and in Dr. Box- berger*s edition of Nathan der Weise^ issued by Prof. Gosche.
INTRODUCTION. XVll directions for actors regarding his new punctuadon, and a * dramatic cpilogue* (Nachspiel) entitled Der DermschyYfhic^ was to take up and complete an episode of the drama. Only two brief fragments of the projected preface have been pre- served> and the Nachspiel was never written; but the world has gained instead a classical drama in perfect complete- ness, of wbich it could iU spare even a single line.
IL The Tendency of the Drama, An accomplished German author has ingeniously pointed out some of the most striking analogies and contrasts be- tween the two greatest poetical productions of modern Ger- man literature, Faust and Nathan} One extemal similarity he has, however, omitted to mention — namely, that both poems may be considered as the *life-works' of their re- spective authors. That such was the case with Goethe's Faust is well known, and the foUowing data will show that Lessing had conceived the principal idea underlying his Nathan at an early age — that the spirit which pervades it accompanied him through life until he gave it its final shape and form towards the end of his earthly career.
In the year 1749 Lessing wrote — at the age of twenty — his comedy Die Juden^ depicting in the character of a Traveller a noble-minded and generous Jew, in order to show that charity, delicacy of feeling, and magnanimity may be found among the members of the * despised race '; and there is no doubt whatever that in that Traveller are fore- shadowed the faint outlines of the model character oi Nathan, Five years later he wrote his famous Rettung des Cardanus^ which ofTers another remarkable instance of his love of justice * Faust und Nathan, Ein Vortrag, etc. Ton Fr. Spielhagen. Berb xviil INTRODUCTION.
and fair play. Cardan was accused of heresy in consequence of a controversial discussion put into the mouths of a Hea- then, a Jew, a Christian, and a Mahommedan on the merits of their respective religions. Lessing not only proved the groundlessness of the Charge, but also that the bias of the author was in favour of Christianity; and he continues the discussion by putting into the mouth of the Jew and the Ma- hommedan some additional arguments of which they might have availed themselves in defence of their own religions. This was of course done in order to restore the just balance between the disputants, and it gives us at the same time an insight into his way of thinking regarding the contention between the various creeds. His maxim was, that all re- ligions are entitled to respect, provided they are founded on the principles of humanity, and that none of them have a right to Claim exclusive possession of truth and to stigmatise all others as absolutely false. This maxim was the leading idea of all his theological and philosophical investigations, and it forms the ethical basis of his Nathan der Weise. The dramatic form for this maxim suggested itself to the author when reading the above-mentioned story in the Decame" rone. He decfared this repeatedly, as was shown above, both before and after the completion of the drama. Thus he says in the fragmentary Preface, which he had written for the eventual second edition of the play: * It is certainly true that I found the first idea for Nathan in the Decamerone of Boccaccio. The third novel of the first Book — this abun- dant source of dramatic productions — contains the germ out of which Nathan was developed in my thoughts; and not only now, not after the controversy into which they ought not to have dragged by force a layman like myself.'
The fact is, that Lessing had a higher aim in view in the composition of his Nathan^ viz. to demonstrate the equal right of the various religions to «xist; and It is therefore absurd to assume that he aimed at reviling Christianity, or that he absolutely denied the fact of a divine Revelation. Nay, that he firmly believed in this — of course after his own INTRODUCTION. XIX fiashion — ^may be seen from bis essay, Die Erziehung des Menschengeschlechts^ which is the most thoughtful of bis writings, and wbicb may be considered, togetber witb bis Gespräche über Freimaurerei^ as tbe true exponent of bis religiousviews,and as an indirect commentaryon bis Nathan} One portion of tbe ' Education of tbe Human Race ' was issued by Lessing in 1777, in refutation of one of tbe aboye- mentioned Fragments^ wbicb was intended to prove *tbat tbe Old Testament was not written to reveal any religion '; and tbe second portion appeared after tbe publication of Nathan, From tbe wbole production, as it now lies before us, we leam tbat tbe autbor believed in an universal religion of bumanity and love, of wbicb tbe various creeds were only pbases. Tbe Revelations were, be maintained, successively adapted by a divine Providence to tbe condition of mankind, in tbe same way as an educator adapts bis teacbing to tbe stage and in- tellectual capacity of bis pupils; for *jjist as in education it is not a matter of indifference in wbat order tbe powers of man are developed, as it cannot impart to a man all at once; so was God also necessitated to maintain a certain order, and a certain measure, in His Revelation. First He selected an in- dividual people for His special education. Tbis was tbe Hebrew people. Tbe Old Testament was tbe Primer in tbe great educational work. But every Primer is only for a certain age. To delay tbe cbild tbat bas outgrown tbe Primer longer in it than it was intended for, is hurtful. A better In- structor must come and tear tbe exbausted Primer from tbe cbild's bands. Christ came! Tbe New Testament Scriptures bave afforded, and still afford, tbe second better Primer for tbe race of man.' Tbe autbor firmly believes tbat tbe time will come wben we sball be capable of loving virtue for its own sake alone; tbe time of ' a new etemal Gospel, wbicb is promised us in tbe Primer of tbe New Testament itself.'