As in all earlier crises, Goethe sought consolation in poetry and love. He left Marienbad in a carriage and began to set down verses astonishingly vigorous for so old a man. His Marienbad elegy is held to be one of the best of his poetical achievements. The following extracts will give an idea of his state of mind at that period. "I am lost in unconquerable desire; there is nothing left but everlasting tears. Let them flow, let them flow unceasingly. But they can never extinguish the fire that burns me. My heart rages; it is torn in pieces, this heart where life and death meet in a horrible combat." "I have lost the universe, I have lost myself, I who until now have been the favourite of the gods; they have put me to the question, they offered me Pandora, rich in treasure and still richer in perilous seductions; they made me drunken with the kisses of her mouth, which gave me its sweets; they have torn me from her arms, and have struck me with death." Goethe concealed his elegy for some time, guarding it as something sacred, but eventually handed it over to Eckermann. Poetic creation soothed his mind only for a time. His nature demanded some more efficacious consolation. A few weeks after the separation he began to complain bitterly of the absence of the Countess Julie von Egloffstein, whom he wanted very much. "She cannot know what she is keeping from me and what she makes me lose, nor can she know how I love her and how she engrosses my mind." He derived a little comfort from the visits of Madame Szymanowska, whom he admired "not only as a great artist, but as a pretty woman " (Eckermann, Nov. 3, 1823). "I am deeply grateful to this charming woman,' he said to the chancellor, " for her beauty, her sweetness, and her art have soothed my passionate heart" (Bode, p. 151). He also renewed his relations with Marianne Jung, the retired actress and dancer. "When Goethe had to turn his thoughts from Ulrique, the image of the pretty owner of Gerbermühle again occupied his mind. A visit to her, and intimate correspondence with her, restored peace to his heart so greedy of love" (Bielschowsky, vol. ii, P. 487). His devotion to Ulrique was Goethe's last acute attack of love; but until the end of his days he felt the need of being surrounded by pretty women. As director of the theatre, he came in contact with many young women who wished engagements. He confessed to Eckermann that he required much strength of mind to resist feminine charms which tempted him to be unjustly favourable to the prettiest of those who sought employment. "If I allowed myself to fall into an intrigue of gallantry, I would become like a demagnetised needle as soon as the girl found a real lover" (Eckermann, March 22, 1825). His daughter-in-law's sister has related that Goethe liked to have young girls in his study whilst he was at work. They had to sit quietly, neither working nor talking, often a difficult task for them (Bode, p. 155). Even on the last day of his life, whilst in delirium, he cried out, "What a pretty woman's head with black curls on a black ground" (Lewes, vol. ii, p. 372). After uttering several other more or less incoherent phrases, he drew his last breath. The facts which I described in the chapter of this book dealing with old age have made clear how long sexuality persists in men. As the testes resist atrophy better than other organs, and even in extreme old age still form active spermatozoa, it is natural that their condition should be reflected on the organism generally, and that feelings of love should still be excited. If by some accident Goethe had become a eunuch early in life, he would have been a different being. The moralists who have been shocked by his amorous intrigues would have been satisfied, but the world would have lost a great poet. Moreover, Goethe is no exceptional case amongst writers. The temperament of Victor Hugo and his devotion to women up to the end of his days are well known. More recently, after the death of Ibsen, a profound sensation was made by the revelation of his love for Mademoiselle Bardach, who inspired his genius during the last period of his life. Not only poetic creation but other forms of genius are intimately associated with the sexual function. The philosopher Schopenhauer, who was no ascetic, wrote as follows, at the age of twenty-five, when he was in full creative activity, "In the days and at the hours when the voluptuous instinct is strongest, when it is a burning covetousness, it is then that the greatest forces of the mind and the greatest stores of knowledge are ready for the most intense activity." "At such moments life is truly at its strongest and most active, for its two poles are then operating most actively; and this is plain in the man of the highest intelligence. In these hours one sees more than in years of passivity' (quoted in Moebius' Schopenhauer, p. 55). “This means that in Schopenhauer intellectual creation was linked with erotic excitement" (ibid., p. 57). It was facts of such a nature that led Brown-Séquard to his idea of strengthening cerebral activity by injections of the substance of testes. To obtain the same effect, he prescribed another means, the value of which was proved in the case of two individuals aged from forty-five to fifty years, the observations being continued over several years. "By my advice," he said, "when these had to perform any great physical or intellectual work, they got themselves into a condition of sexual excitement." "The testes being in this way thrown into functional activity, there was soon produced the desired increase in the power of the nerve centres." 1 Although I insist on the existence of a close relation between intellectual activity and the sexual function, I do not mean to assert that there have not existed exceptions to the rule. Now that I have described certain important factors in the genius of Goethe, I shall pass on to a study of his state of mind in the last period of his life, the splendour and harmony of which have been so often admired. 1 Comptes rendus de la Société de Biologie, 1889, p. 420. III GOETHE'S OLD AGE Old age of Goethe-Physical and intellectual vigour of the DRINKERS of wine may take the case of Goethe as an argument against temperance. Although he was not healthy in his youth, his large consumption of wine did not prevent him from enjoying an old age full of force and intellectual work. Eckermann, who was his intimate and constant companion in the last ten years of his life, was never weary of expressing his surprise and delight at the physical and moral vigour of the distinguished old man. He found Goethe on his return to Jena, at the age of seventy-four, in a condition "very pleasant to see; he was in good health and robust, so that he could walk for hours" (Sept. 15, 1823). His eyes were "brilliant and clear and his whole expression was that of joy, vigour and youth" (Oct. 29). In walks with Eckermann, Goethe forced the pace and showed strength which filled his companion with delight (March, 1824). His voice was full of character and of force (March 30, 1824), and every word showed his vitality (July 9, 1827). In a conversation that Eckermann had with Goethe when the latter was seventy-nine years old "the sound of his voice and the fire in his eyes were of such strength as would |