I only through the world have flown: Each appetite I seized as by the hair; What not sufficed me, forth I let it fare, And what escaped me, I let go. I’ve only craved, accomplished my delight, Then wished a second time, and thus with might Stormed through my life: at first ’twas grand, completely, But now it moves most wisely and discreetly. The sphere of Earth is known enough to me; The view beyond is barred immutably: A fool, who there his blinking eyes directeth, And o’er his clouds of peers a place expecteth! Firm let him stand, and look around him well! This World means something to the Capable. Why needs he through Eternity to wend? He here acquires what he can apprehend.[222] When he had reached the maturity of his wisdom, Faust organised drainage works, the object of which was to increase the area of land that could be utilised:— To many millions let me furnish soil, Though not secure, yet free to active toil; Green, fertile fields. A land like Paradise here, round about. Yes! to this thought I hold with firm persistence; The last result of wisdom stamps it true: He only earns his freedom and existence, Who daily conquers them anew. Thus here, by dangers girt, shall glide away Of childhood, manhood, age, the vigorous day: And such a throng I fain would see, Stand on free soil among a people free! Then dared I hail the Moment fleeing: “_Ah, still delay—thou art so fair!_” The traces cannot, of mine earthly being, In æons perish,—they are there!— In proud fore-feeling of such lofty bliss, I now enjoy the highest Moment,—this![223] These were the last words of the wise centenarian. It has been said that they contain the quintessence of Goethe’s moral philosophy, and that they preach the sacrifice of the individual for the benefit of society. Lewes, for instance, takes this view, holding that Faust was the exposition of a man who had conquered the vanity of individual aspirations and joys, and had come to the knowledge of the great truth that man must live for man, and can find lasting happiness only in work for the benefit of humanity. For my own part, it seems to me that according to Goethe’s _Faust_ man must dedicate a large part of his life to the complete development of his own individuality, and that it is only in the second half of his life, when he has grown wise by experience and feels satisfied as an individual, that he should use his activity for the good of mankind. It was no part either of the ideas of Goethe or of the nature of his work to preach the sacrifice of individuality. Goethe was thus absorbed in _Faust_ by the problem of the conflict between certain actions and guiding principles. The misdeeds of the hero in the first Part of his life had to be redeemed. He said to Eckermann that “the key to the salvation of Faust was to be found in the Angels’ Chorus”:—