1799] , Mr. Goethe's Obfervations on the Laocoon, concluded. 399 
E confecrate this crown henceforth to Jove. 
Our only monarch he the king of heaven! 
He ever—ander him let the free people 
Here be the fovereign : theirsto choofe the men 
Who weigh out juitice with impartial hand : 
Theirs to beftow each office of the ftate, 
To order war, or to conclude on peace. 
My arm, my head, my heart belong to you, 
And thall—while the warm blood-drops throb 
along { thefe limbs— 
Thefe veins—-while. fee thefecyes, or ftir 
While® glows between thefe lips,the breath of 
heaven. ) eis 
Should you to me commit the general’s fword, 
Pildraw it; when and where and why you 
will 5 
And bright er bloody yield it up again, 
Soon as the will of the free people bids. 
Though you are launching onan untried water 
The fhip of freedom, fear not—fhe will right, 
And on the open fea all-glorious glide 
in fhouting pomp with {welling fails along. 
If tu the rudder me at times you call, 
With Jove’s afliftance and your love, unfearing 
Til grafp the helm ; but at your nod give place 
To any worthier pilot you may find. 
Cherus. Hail Thefeus—Thefeus, guardian 
god of Athens. 
Our only monarch be the king of heaven, 
And under him the fovereign people reign ! 
Thefeus. Compare not me with the im- 
mortal gods : 
What I have done was but the obvious duty 
Of any man fo ftation’d. ”Tis in me 
A pleafant facrifice. Fair lots and foul 
Out of the lap of fate on me have fallen; 
But none fo fair, fo welcome tomy foul, 
None I fothank the gods for, as for this, 
To be the founder of Athenian freedom. 
How bleft who dwells a freeman with the free, 
Where cach, obedient to the laws of al], 
Bends to his equals, ne’er to a fuperior. 
Who fecls this pleafure he can ne'er fuppofe 
It more than human to defcend a throne 
In order among mento bea man. 
The king on the Euphrates he would do it, 
He on the Nile too—were the veil remaovd 
With which the diadem furrounds their eyes. 
Chorus. Our only monarch be the king of 
heaven, 
And under him the fovereign people reign ! 
Hail Freedom, like the fky-afcending fun; 
The blifs of nations ripens in thy beam: 
Safety, the nurfe of life, 
There rears her branchy tree. 
Through thee alone the father-land is dear 5 
Without thee an unmeaning fenfelefs name 
A lefs than air, a dream 
Woven of the thade of fmoalk. 
© Freedom, Freedom, mufic to the ear, 
To the heart funfhine,—Courage at thy call 
Kindles, and Talent ttarts 
To chafe the forms of Beauty and of 
Truth. 
5) 

Mr. Goetue’s OgservatTions on the Laocook, concluded from page 352; 
of the prefent Number. 
oh Bi youngeft makes unavailing ef- 
fort ; he is truck with inguictude, 
but not hurt; the father makes powerful 
efforts, without however being able to 
fucceed ; his efforts even produce a quite 
oppolite effect. He irritates his adver- 
fary, and he is hurt by him. The eldeft 
fon is only fiightly inlaced; he does not 
yet feel himfelf oppreffed nor affected with 
pain; he is afraid at the wound and mo- 
mentaneous movement of his father; he 
utters acry, endeavours to extricate his 
foot from the ferpent which has inlaced 
at; he is therefore here an obferver ; a 
witnefs who takes a part in the action, 
and the work is terminated. 
What I have only hitherto touched of 
en pajant, I fhall here again notice par- 
ticularly ; and that is, that all the three 
figures bave a double aétion, fo that they 
are occupied in a very various manner. 
The youngeft of the fons would extricate 
chimfelf by raifing his right arm ; and he 
a. back the head of the ferpent with 
is left hand; he would alleviate the 
prefent evil, and prevent a greater one; 
this is the higheft degree of activity 
which he can now exert in his conftrain- 
ed ftate. The father makes efforts to 
difembarrafs himielf from the ferpents, 
and the body would, at the fame time, 
avoid the bite which it has juft received. 
The movement of the father infpires the 
eldeft fon with horror, and he endeavours 
to extricate himfelf from the ferpent, 
wiich, as yet, has only infolded- him 
flichtly. 
[ have already faid above, that one of 
the greateft merits of this monument, is 
the moment which the artift has repre- 
fented, and it is on this point that-T fhall 
now add a few words. 
We have fuppofed that natural fer- 
pents have intwined a father fleeping by 
the fide of his fons; that the different 
movements of the action might have 4 
certain gradation. The firft moments, 
during which the ferpents infold the 
body then aMleep, announce events ; but it 
would be an intignificant moment for the” 
alt. 




