R. delights in the house and the children — in the morning he also recounts to me his dream, wherein his relations with Bismarck were formal yet affectionate, and Bismarck’s face, at their parting, became so transfigured that R. said to himself: “No man truly knows this face.”
Over coffee I read in the newspaper that Hans [1] has been robbed of well over 10,000 thalers through deceit, the entire earnings of two years’ labour! This news weighs upon me with such sorrow that I nearly lose my composure; if for just a moment one abandons one’s attitude of complete devotion to everything, such a blow may strike, bringing us back to a sorrowful calm… How harsh, how heavy!
In the evening, read again in “Timaeus”,[2] the first book I have had in my hands for a long time — — “Ailinos”[3], the triumph of the good, leads us to the “Oresteia”, and a glance therein startles one! … At night, Marke and Brangaene lay together in the moonlight before the door to the great hall; most beautiful!
[1] Hans von Bülow was cheated out of all the earnings from his England and Scotland tour by his agent George Dolby (see entry from April 28).
[2] A dialogue by Plato, here mistakenly referred to by Cosima as “Timeos.”
[3] Greek, a song of lamentation.
Revised English translation by Jo Cousins.