All unser redlichstes Bemuehn
Glueckt nur im unbewussten Momente.
Wie moechte denn die Rose bluehn,
Wenn sie der Sonne Herrlichkeit erkennte!]
CHAPTER III
AT HOME IN FRANKFORT
SEPTEMBER, 1768--APRIL, 1770
On August 28th, 1768, Goethe left Leipzig after a residence of nearly
three years. He had gone to Leipzig in the spirit of a prisoner
released from his gaol; he left it in the spirit of one returning to
durance. In his Autobiography he has described the depressing
conditions under which he re-entered his father's house. In body and
mind he had found that in "accursed Leipzig one burns out as quickly
as a bad torch." In body he was a broken man. One night in the
beginning of August he had been seized with a violent hemorrhage, and
for some weeks his life hung by a thread. In his Autobiography he
assigns various reasons for his illness. As the result of an accident
on his journey from Frankfort to Leipzig he had strained the ligaments
of his chest, and the mischief was aggravated by a subsequent fall
from his horse; he had suffered from the fumes of the acids he had
inhaled in the process of etching; he had ruined his digestion by
drinking coffee and heavy beer; and, in accordance with the precepts
of Rousseau, he had adopted a _regime_ which proved too severe for his
enfeebled constitution.
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