WEIMAR AND JENA. 169 



In the controversy between Thales and Anaxagoras in the 

 second part of ' Faust,' Goethe brings forward the old con- 

 troversy between the Neptunists and Vulcanists, symbolising 

 thereby the scientific movement of his own time, and gives un- 

 mistakable evidence, especially in the discourse between Faust 

 and Mephistopheles, in the beginning of the fourth act, of the 

 theory which the bent of his own mind was disposed to favour. 

 Thus, speaking of Nature, Thales says in the second act : 



She makes each form by rules that never fail, 

 And 'tis not Force, even on a mighty scale. 1 



And Faust continues the strain in the fourth act : 



When Nature in herself her being founded, 

 Complete and perfect then the globe she rounded, 

 Glad of the summits and the gorges deep, 

 Set rock to rock, and mountain steep to steep, 

 The hills with easy outlines downward moulded, 

 Till gently from their feet the vales unfolded ! 

 They green and grow ; with joy therein she ranges, 

 Requiring no insane, convulsive changes. 2 



Goethe was no friend of wild commotions, and even in his 

 own daily existence kept at a distance from him everything that 

 could disturb his habitual equilibrium. He shrank from the 

 idea of the mighty plutonic forces having risen from the lowest 

 depths with demoniac power, whereby the mountains seem but 

 the awful charnel-houses of former creations : 



Basalt, that ebon devil's moor, 

 Bursts forth from hell's remotest floor, 

 And earth is riven, rocks are rent, 

 Till all is topsy-turvy sent : 



Sie bildet regelnd jegliche Gestalt 



Und selbst im Grossen ist es nicht Gewalt.' 



Als die Natur sich in sich selbst gegriindet, 

 Da hat sie rein den Erdball abgeriindet, 

 Der Gipfel sich, der Schluchten sich erfreut 

 Und Fels an Fels und Berg an Berg gereiht, 

 Die Hiigel dann bequem hinabgebildet, 

 Mit sanftem Zug sie in das Thai gemildet : 

 Da grunt's und wachst's, und urn sich zu erfreuen 

 Bedarf sie nicht der tollen Strudeleien.' 



