From
Faust part II, Translated by G. Madison Priest
Page 6
Faust.
At least confess that you have seen
The greatest men that in your time have been.
You've with the noblest vied in earnest strife
And like a demigod have lived your life.
Of all the figures of heroic mould
Whom as the ablest did you hold?
Chiron.
Among the Argonauts, superb procession!
Each one was worthy after his own fashion,
And by the special power that he possessed,
Could do what lay beyond the rest.
Castor and Pollux ever did prevail
Where youthful bloom and beauty turned the scale.
In swift resolve and act for others' good
The sons of Boreas proved their hardihood.
Reflective, strong and shrewd, in council wise,
Thus Jason ruled, a joy to women's eyes.
Then Orpheus, gentle, still, and contemplating,
But, when he smote the lyre, all subjugating;
Keen-sighted Lynceus who by day and dark
Past reef and shallow steered the sacred bark.
Danger is tested best by banded brothers:
When one achieves, then praise him all the others.
Goethe, Who yearns for the impossible I love
