422 Kant: A Biographyperiods during which he was coherent, they were rare. At one occasion, he
surprised his doctor by waking up from his half-conscious state, assuring
him: "the feeling of humanity has not yet left me."^168 On February 11, he
uttered his last words. Thanking Wasianski for giving him a mixture of wine
and water, he said: "Es ist gut," or "it is good."^169 Much has been made of
these words - but uEs ist gut" need not have been the affirmation that this
is the best of all possible worlds, it can also mean "it's enough," and it
probably meant just that in the context. He had drunk enough - but he had
also had enough of life.
Kant finally died on February 12, 1804, at 11:00 A.M., less than two
months before his eightieth birthday. Jachmann wrote that he died toward
noon, "as calmly as is possible, without any distortions and without any
sign of a violent separation, but seemingly gladly.. ,"^170 Wasianski said:
"the mechanism halted and the machine stopped moving. His death was the
cessation of life, not a violent act of nature."^171
At his funeral, he was honored with a poem - a weak performance, by
all accounts. A poem by his favorite author might have been more appro¬
priate; for Kant, who only wanted to be human, was a most remarkable
example of this species celebrated by Pope in An Essay on Man with these
words:
Plac'd on this isthmus of a middle state,
A being darkly wise and rudely great:
With too much knowledge for the sceptic side,
With too much weakness for the Stoic's pride,
He hangs between; in doubt to act, or rest;
In doubt to deem himself a God or beast;
In doubt, his mind or body to prefer;
Born but to die, and reas'ning but to err;
Alike in ignorance, his reason such
Whether he thinks too little, or too much:
Chaos of thought and passion, all confus'd,
Still by himself abus'd, or disabus'd;
Created half to rise, and half to fall;
Great lord of things, yet prey to all;
Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurl'd:
The glory, jest, and riddle of the world.