At the age of 15, he was fluent in several languages: German, his native language, Latin and Greek, English, Italian and French.
At the age of 17, she published her first drama, with amazing depth and grace.
He came to write 150 books, although until he was 40 years old he was fundamentally an excellent painter.
Goethe was also a brilliant scientist who wrote the “Theory of Color”, where he questioned Newton no less.
He also became a top-level botanist, who wrote a book: “Metamorphosis of Plants”. He was 40 years old.
Still at 70 he wrote “Metamorphosis of Animals”.
He was also Minister of Mining, for his knowledge of geology.
And as if this were not enough, he was received as a lawyer.
In addition, he played the cello acceptably and was a skilled fencer.
In short, I do not want to add more aptitudes -which he had- so as not to be boring.
I prefer to allude to a purely human facet.
Goethe was an inveterate womanizer. But the weaknesses of the greats do not dwarf them. He just humanizes them.
He was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, on August 28, 1749.
His father was an imperial adviser and therefore enjoyed a comfortable economic position.
He was 26 years old when the Prince of Weimar called him as adviser. There he remained all his life.
Weimar was a small Province with its own army, as was the custom at the time.
Being the Prince of Weimar, at war with the French, he asked Goethe for patriotic songs for the soldiers. He apologized saying:
– “I have composed love songs, because I have loved. How could I write songs of hate if I don’t know how to hate? Excuse me.
He was a friend of Behetoven, who put music to a historical drama written by Goethe: “Egmont”.
But Goethe’s pinnacle book was “Faust”, a masterpiece of world literature.
It has two parts. He took 30 years to write the first and 25 years in the second. He ended up being 80 years old.
He would die 2 years later, in March 1832.
The plot of “Faust” is well known.
Tired of the life he was leading, the old doctor Fausto invokes Mephistopheles -the devil- to provide him with a new and pleasant youth, selling him his own soul in exchange.
The demon accepts and then the old man -rejuvenated- can seduce the young and innocent Margarita and then abandon her.
He still has all the earthly pleasures, but not happiness.
Transformed into a robust and attractive young man, he seduces women, obtains positions and honors.
But he feels sad. Tiredness overwhelms him.
At that moment, the devil arrives to claim what was established in the contract: he must give him his soul. Now it’s his turn to die. Already in heaven he finds Margarita, the seduced young woman and only then does he feel happy.
Then understand that total happiness is a horizon and that true happiness is only in the moment that we feel happy.
A true hymn to the spiritual!
And a simple final anecdote that humanizes it.
As I expressed before, he felt an irresistible attraction to women, who, if they were beautiful or attractive, prevented him from resisting temptation.
On one occasion walking through the main square of Frankfurt, a very exuberant lady upset him. He approached her and in an irrepressible impulse he groped her body. Screams from the lady and a faint.
Several knights surrounded Goethe and led him to the prince. He was, I repeat, he was an adviser to Carlos Augusto, the aforementioned prince.
This, reprimanding him severely told him.
I have to punish you. You have disrespected a lady. Do you have something to say?
-Dear prince. I just want to tell you that I am sorry. Give me whatever punishment you think is right.
I wanted to end this note with a simple anecdote, but one that gives his dimension as a normal man.
But he was a chosen one. Because he not only demonstrated reality, but also helped to modify it.
Because although it had common defects, it had different virtues.
And this is the aphorism with which I close this note. Dedicated to Goethe.
“There are goals that seem unattainable. But there are men born to reach them”
Source: Ambito
