gotthold ephraim lessing 1729–1781 - St. Francis Xavier University

492 / FRIEDRICH vON SCHILLER
7. To the young friend of truth and beauty who would inquire of me how,
despite all the opposition of his century, he is to satisfy the noble impulses of
his heart, I would make answer: Impart to the world you would influence a
Direction towards the good, and the quiet rhythm of time will bring it to
fulfilment. You will have given it this direction if, by your teaching, you have
elevated its thoughts to the Necessary and the Eternal, if, by your actions
and your creations, you have transformed the Necessary and the Eternal
into an object of the heart’s desire. The edifice of error and caprice will
fall— it must fall, indeed it has already fallen— from the moment you are
certain that it is on the point of giving way. But it is in man’s inner being that
it must give way, not just in the externals he presents to the world. It is in the
modest sanctuary of your heart that you must rear victorious truth, and project
it out of yourself in the form of beauty, so that not only thought can pay
it homage, but sense, too, lay loving hold on its appearance. And lest you
should find yourself receiving from the world as it is the model you yourself
should be providing, do not venture into its equivocal company without first
being sure that you bear within your own heart an escort from the world of
the ideal. Live with your century; but do not be its creature. Work for your
contemporaries; but create what they need, not what they praise. Without
sharing their guilt, yet share with noble resignation in their punishment,
and bow your head freely beneath the yoke which they find as difficult to
dispense with as to bear. By the steadfast courage with which you disdain
their good fortune, you will show them that it is not through cowardice that
you consent to share their sufferings. Think of them as they ought to be,
when called upon to influence them; think of them as they are, when
tempted to act on their behalf. In seeking their approval appeal to what is
best in them, but in devising their happiness recall them as they are at their
worst; then your own nobility will awaken theirs, and their unworthiness not
defeat your purpose. The seriousness of your principles will frighten them
away, but in the play of your semblance they will be prepared to tolerate
them; for their taste is purer than their heart, and it is here that you must lay
hold of the timorous fugitive. In vain will you assail their precepts, in vain
condemn their practice; but on their leisure hours you can try your shaping
hand. Banish from their pleasures caprice, frivolity, and coarseness, and
imperceptibly you will banish these from their actions and, eventually, from
their inclinations too. Surround them, wherever you meet them, with the
great and noble forms of genius, and encompass them about with the symbols
of perfection, until Semblance conquer Reality, and Art triumph over
Nature.
1795