both the pieces just cited
have such additions. In "Verschiedener Umgang" (_Ged._ 3 = Bhart.
_Nitis._ 67; Boehtl. 6781) the first three lines are evidently
inspired by the last line of the Sanskrit proverb: _prayena
'dhamamadhyamottamagunah samsargato jayate_ "in general the lowest, the
middle and the highest quality arise from association," but they are in
no sense a translation.

What we have given suffices to characterize Herder as a translator or
adapter of Oriental poetry. His Eastern studies have scarcely exerted
any influence on his original poems beyond inspiring some fervid lines
in praise of India and its dramatic art as exhibited in _Sakuntala_,[84]
which had just then (1791) been translated by Forster into German from
the English version of Sir William Jones. Unlike his illustrious
contemporary Goethe he received from the East no impulse that stimulated
him to production. His one-sided preference for the purely didactic
element rendered him indifferent to the lyric beauty of Hafid and
caused him to proclaim Sa'di as the model most worthy of imitation.[85]
Yet it was Hafid, the prince of Persian lyric poets, the singer of wine
and roses, who fired the soul of Germany's greatest poet and inspired
him to write the _Divan_, and thus Hafid became the dominating
influence and the guiding star of the _west-oestliche Richtung_ in German
poetry.

FOOTNOTES:

[79] See the edition by Meyer (KDNL. vol. 74) i. 1. pp. 164, 165.

[80] Given by Redlich in the edition by Suphan, vol. 26, p. 435 seq.

[81] We may state here that the work in question has been thoroughly
commented on by such scholars as Duentzer and Redlich, and their comments
may be found in the editions of Suphan and Meyer. The same has been done
for Goethe's Divan by Duentzer and Loeper. The former's notes are in his
Goethe-edition in the Kuerschner-series, the latter's in the edition of
Hempel. In this investigation, therefore, the chapters on Herder and
Goethe are somewhat briefer than they otherwise would be, as further
details as to sources, etc., are easily accessible in the editions just
mentioned. In all cases, however, the Sanskrit or Persian originals of
the passages cited have been examined.

[82] Poeseos Asiaticae commentariorum libri vi, publ. at London, 1774.
Reprinted by Eichborn at Leipzig, 1777.

[83] Compare, for instance. Hit. couplet 43 = Boehtl. 3121 with the
rendering of Wilkins in Fables and Proverbs from the Sanskrit, London