If pride within you secretly abides
That, forced by the elixir's charm, The Sooth
You needs must speak--be wholly pure in thought,
Despising not the teachings wise, of old;
When Truth with equal earnestness was sought
If speech be silver, silence then is gold!
The scales seemed to fall from my eyes, and I realised why the Ueberhells
had borne such an evil and dreaded name among their fellow-citizens.
The day after I, too, was to use the elixir and I asked my father: "What
shall I do if the power of the essence forces me to speak out everything
that is true, simply because it is true, even when it is against my wish
and will tend to my own annoyance and distress, as well as to that of
others?"
And he replied solemnly: "The truth? Has any one yet found the right
answer to the old question: 'What is Truth?' Can you be sure that the
noble and mighty Goddess corresponds to your puny and individual
conception of her?"
This very idea had disturbed me during my ride over the Alps, and I
exclaimed: "Therein lies the dangerous power of the elixir! It kindles
in our minds the confidence that we know the truth by means of a charm,
whereas we can only possess the desire to seek for it.
Pages:
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84