that, in his later years, in the period of his reaction against the
formlessness that had invaded German literature, he, with the approval
of Schiller, translated Voltaire's _Mahomet_, and staged it in
Weimar.]

[Footnote 149: It is this conception, as he himself tells us, that
Renan applied to the life and teaching of Jesus.]

As sung by Ali and Fatima on the death of Mahomet, the ode was an
allegory of his life from its beginning to its triumphant close when
he passed from the present with the consciousness that he had won to
his faith the nation from which he had sprung. But it also undoubtedly
expressed the aspiration of the poet himself. The ambition to impress
himself on the world, and the consciousness of powers to give effect
to his ambition, were indeed the ruling impulses behind all his
distracted activities. But he was thwarted in his ambition alike by
external circumstances and by his own temperament, and there came
occasions when he was disposed to accept failure as his wisest choice.
In two poems of this period he gives expression to this mood, and the
necessity for overcoming it. In the one, _Adler und Taube_, a young
eagle is wounded by a fowler, but after three days recovers, though
with disabled wings. Two doves alight near the spot, and one of them
addresses soothing words to the crippled king of the birds. "Thou art
in sorrow," he coos; "be of good courage, friend! hast thou not here
all that peaceful bliss requires?... O friend, true happiness is
content, and everywhere content has enough." "O wise one," spoke the
eagle, and, moved to deep earnest, sinks more deeply into himself; "O
wisdom! thou speakest like a dove." In the other poem, _Kuenstlers
Erdewallen_ ("The Artist's Earthly Pilgrimage"), composed in the form
of a dialogue, we have equally a draft from Goethe's own experience.
To provide for his family needs, the artist is forced to prostitute
his genius by painting pictures for the vulgar _connoisseur_, and he
desponds at the prospect of a life spent under such conditions, but
the muse whispers consolation: "Thou hast time enough to take delight
in thyself, and in every creation which thy brush lovingly depicts."
It was a consolation which at this time and at other periods of his
life Goethe had to take home to himself.

CHAPTER X

_WERTHER_, _CLAVIGO_

1774

In his fortieth year Goethe wrote to Wieland: "Without compulsion,
there is in my case no hope."[150] So it was with