too burning,
And all abroad looks bare,
I'll spur my good horse homeward
To the Neckar vale so fair.

"On the borders of the Neckar
I have dreamt sweet dreams of childhood,
Also have a school attended,
Greek and Latin there have studied;
And a thirsty old musician
Taught me how to blow the trumpet.
When I reached my eighteenth birthday,
Said my guardian: 'You, young Werner,
With a clever head are gifted,
And are somewhat of a genius,
And cut out of right material;
You must now become a lawyer.
That brings office and great honours,
Gathers also golden ducats.
And already I do see you
As the well-appointed bailiff
Of His Grace the Grand Elector;
And I then must pay you homage.
I will venture the prediction,
If you act quite circumspectly,
Then a seat may yet await you
In th' Imperial Court at Wetzlar.'
Thus I then became a lawyer;
Bought myself a great big inkstand,
Also bought a huge portfolio,
And a heavy Corpus Juris,
And the lecture-room frequented,
Where, with yellow mummy visage,
Samuel Brunnquell, the professor,
Roman law to us expounded.
Roman law, when I recall it,
On my heart it lies like nightmare,
Like a millstone on my stomach,
And my head feels dull and stupid.
To much nonsense did I listen,
How they in the Roman Forum
Snarling, quarrelled with each other;
How Sir Gaius stuck to his point,
And to his Sir Ulpianus;
How then later comers dabbled.
Till the Emperor Justinianus,
He of all the greatest dabbler,
Sent them home about their business.
And I often asked the question:
'Must it really be our fate then
These dry bones to gnaw forever,
Which were flung to us as remnants
From their banquets by the Romans?
Why should not, from soil Germanic,
Spring the flower of her own law,
Simple, full of forest fragrance--
No luxuriant southern climber?
Sad fate of the late-born races!
Must read till their brows are sweating,
And must try to disentangle
Knotty twisted skeins forever.
Can't we have a sword to cut them?'

"Often, nightly, by the lamp-light
I sat poring o'er the Codex,
Read the Glossary and Cujacius