Page:The Works of J. W. von Goethe, Volume 12.djvu/284

266 Now for a spectacle of a different kind. On the Feast of the Three Kings, or the Commemoration of Christ's Manifestation to the Gentiles, we paid a visit to the Propaganda. There, in the presence of three cardinals and a large audience, an essay was first of all delivered, which treated of the place in which the Virgin Mary received the three Magi,—in the stable; or, if not, where? Next, some Latin verses were read on similar subjects; and after this a series of about thirty scholars came forward, one by one, and read a little piece of poetry in their native tongues,—Malabar, Epirotic, Turkish, Moldavian, Hellenic, Persian, Colchian, Hebrew, Arabic, Syrian, Coptic, Saracenic, Armenian, Erse, Madagassic, Icelandic, Bohemian, Greek, Isaurian, Æthiopic, etc. The poems seemed for the most part to be composed in the national syllabic measure, and to be delivered with the vernacular declamation, for most barbaric rhythms and tones occurred. Among them, the Greek sounded like a star in the night. The audience laughed most unmercifully at the strange sounds; and so this representation also became a farce.

And now (before concluding) a little anecdote, to show with what levity holy things are treated in Holy Rome: The deceased cardinal, Albani, was once present at one of those festal meetings which I have just been describing. One of the scholars, with his face turned toward the cardinals, began, in a strange pronunciation, ''Gnaja! Gnaja! so that it sounded something like canaglia! canaglia!'' The cardinal turned to his brothers, with a whisper, "He knows us, at any rate."

How much has Winckelmann done! and yet how much reason has he left us to wish that he had done still more! With the materials which he had collected he built quickly, in order to reach the roof. Were he still living, he would be the first to give us a recast of