The tongues that prate of virtue as reward Earn fame. For virtue is fame's clever bawd. * * * * Amongst these virtuous, I prefer to be One guilty of all vile and horrid sin! And when I see fame's importunity So advertise her shameless harlotry, Ambition turns to gall. Amidst such kin One place alone, the lowest, would I win. * * * * This fame, which all the wide world loves, I touch with gloves, And scorning beat Beneath my feet. 3 Hush! I see vastness!--and of vasty things Shall man be dumb, unless he can enshrine Them with his words? Then take the might which brings The heart upon thy tongue, charmed wisdom mine! * * * * I look above, there rolls the star-strown sea. O night, mute silence, voiceless cry of stars! And lo! A sign! The heaven its verge unbars-- A shining constellation falls towards me. 4 O loftiest, star-clustered crown of Being! O carved tablets of Eternity! And dost thou truly bend thy way to me? Thy loveliness, to all--obscurity, What? Fear'st not to unveil before _my_ seeing? * * * * O shield of Destiny! O carven tablets of Eternity! Yea, verily, thou knowest--what mankind doth hate, What I alone do love: thou art inviolate To strokes of change and time, of fates the fate! 'Tis only thou, O dire Necessity, Canst kindle everlasting love in me! * * * * O loftiest crown of Life! O shield of Fate! That no desire can reach to invocate, That ne'er defiled or sullied is by Nay, Eternal Yea of life, for e'er am I thy Yea: For I love thee, Eternity! [Footnote 1: Translated by Dr. G. T. Wrench.] [Footnote 2: Translated by Dr. G. T. Wrench.] FRAGMENTS OF DIONYSUS-DITHYRAMBS (1882-88) SPEECHES, PARABLES, AND SIMILES 3 My home's in the highlands, For the highlands I yearn not, I raise not mine eyes aloft: I am one that looks downward, One that must bless,--All blessers look downward. 11 Thus I began, I unlearned all self-pity! 13 Not in shattering idols, But in shattering the idol-worshipper in thee, Consisted thy valour. 14 See, there stand Those heavy cats of granite, Those old, old Values. Woe is me! How overthrow them? * * * * Scratching cats, With paws that are fettered, There they sit And their glance is poison. 17 A lightning-flash became my wisdom: With sword of adamant it clove me every darkness! 19 A thought that still Flows hot, like lava: But all streams of lava Build a fortress around them, And every thought finally Oppresses itself with laws. 20