He who cannot take sides should keep silent. The critic has nothing in common with the interpreter of past cultural epochs. Criticism must talk the language of artists. For the terms of the cenacle are slogans. And only in slogans is the battle-cry heard.
Criticism is a moral question.
If Goethe misjudged Holderlin and Kleist, Beethoven and Jean Paul, his morality and not his artistic discernment was at fault. For the critic his colleagues are the higher authority. Not the public. Still less posterity. Posterity forgets or acclaims.