This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1899 Excerpt: ...Some of the reasons for this are obvious. Goethe saw Italy with far different eyes in 1790 than in 1786. He was now more disposed to censure than to praise, as his letters from Venice show. It became evident to him that he could not live away from his native land. Much of this aversion to Italy and affection for Germany arose from the circumstances of his domestic life. He had entered into his relations with Christiane Vulpius, for whom he had a sincere affection, and their first child, the only one to survive the period of infancy, had been born. He yearned for the home circle. And in addition to these reasons, the epigrams deal with the topics of the day in Italy, Germany, and elsewhere, and he was far from being in sympathy with many of the tendencies of the times. The motto was first inserted in the edition of 1815. 1. 1. This epigram seems to have been called forth by the general misgovernment of the Italian states. See Sel. 70, 1. 10. 1. 7. Evidently meaning Christiane. 1. 11. iUclctf hob' idj Berfurljt, the truth of this is abundantly proved by the testimony of Goethe as well as of others. 1. 16. fdjlcdjtcftCtt Stoff. What Goethe meant by (c)toff has occasioned considerable-controversy. Two of the conjectures are worthy of note: the first understanding in (c)toff the themes of the Venetian epigrams, the other the German language. The latter seems much the more reasonable. It is no new thing for a poet to complain of the difficulties caused him by his native language. Goethe was probably thinking of the musical flow of Italian when he wrote the lines. See also 1. 66. 1. 17. This hearty tribute to Karl August first appeared in 3ette (c)djriften, 1800. In 1789 Goethe apparently prepared a poem in praise of Karl August, which he intended to p