Et in Arcadia Ego Part III - Faust's Arcadian Elegy

 A Goethe's hymn for Arcadia through the mouth of the hero of his magnum opus "Faust"

This land, that outshines every land,

Be blessed for every race forever, 

Delivered to my Queen’s command,

That, long ago now, wondered at her

There, by Eurotas’ whispering light,

She broke radiant from the shell,

That brightness dazzling the sight

Of siblings: Leda’s eyes, as well.

This land now turns to you alone,

Offering you its noblest flower:

Oh, though the whole world is your own,

Let your country hold you in its power!

And though you may endure the sun’s cold arrow

Up there, on the mountain’s jagged height,

See, how the rocky hillside’s green below, now,

Where the goat may crop its meagre right.

The sources leap, all streams rush down as one,

Gorge, slope, and meadow are already green.

On a hundred hills, rock-folded, steep and broken,

The scattered woolly flocks are clearly seen.

Spread all around, with cautious measured stride,

The horned cattle tread the dizzy edge:

But here there’s shelter that the caves provide,

Hundreds to hide them all, on the rocky ledge.

Pan guards them too: and lively nymphs live there,
In the damp fresh space of bushy clefts,

And, yearning upward to the higher air,

The crowded tree its slender branches lifts.

 

Primeval woods! The mighty oaks their cap:

Whose stubborn boughs stick out from them, in state:

While kindly maples, pregnant with sweet sap,

Soar cleanly upward, toying with the weight.

Pure mother’s milk, in that still realm of shadows,

Flows rich, in readiness for lamb and child:

Fruit’s not lacking, gift of fertile meadows,

And from the hollow trunk drips honey mild.

Here well-being’s granted all the race,

Cheek and lips both to joy consent,

Each one is immortal, in their place:

And all there are healthy and content.

And thus the lovely child, of purest days,

Grows, and achieves his father’s strength.

We’re amazed, the question’s still, always:

Are these gods, or are they truly men?

When Apollo took a shepherd’s form,

The fairest of them was like the sun:

Since, where pure Nature is the norm,

Then all the worlds must move as one.

So, this have you, and this have I achieved:

Let the past fade behind us: it is gone!

Oh, know yourself from highest gods conceived,
o the first world, alone then, you belong. 

No solid fortresses shall ring you round!

In eternal youth, stands as it stood –

So our stay with all delight be crowned –

Arcadia in Sparta’s neighbourhood.

Lured here to tread this blessed ground,

You fled towards a happy destiny!

Let our thrones as arbours now be found,

Our joy be Arcadian, and free!

GOETHE Faust (Part II - Act III)

PREVIOUS RELATED POSTS:

Et in Arcadia Ego Part I - The Arcadian Shepherds 

Et in Arcadia Ego Part II - Lovecraft's Tree