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Table of contents
EDITORIAL NOTE
PREFACE.
BOOK FIRST
BOOK SECOND
BOOK THIRD
BOOK FOURTH SANCTUS JANUARIUS
BOOK FIFTH WE FEARLESS ONES
APPENDIX SONGS OF PRINCE FREE-AS-A-BIRD
EDITORIAL NOTE
"The
Joyful Wisdom," written in 1882, just before "Zarathustra,"
is rightly judged to be one of Nietzsche's best books. Here the
essentially grave and masculine face of the poet-philosopher is seen
to light up and suddenly break into a delightful smile. The warmth
and kindness that beam from his features will astonish those hasty
psychologists who have never divined that behind the destroyer is the
creator, and behind the blasphemer the lover of life. In the
retrospective valuation of his work which appears in "Ecce Homo"
the author himself observes with truth that the fourth book, "Sanctus
Januarius," deserves especial attention: "The whole book is
a gift from the Saint, and the introductory verses express my
gratitude for the most wonderful month of January that I have ever
spent." Book fifth "We Fearless Ones," the Appendix
"Songs of Prince Free-as-a-Bird," and the Preface, were
added to the second edition in 1887.The
translation of Nietzsche's poetry has proved to be a more
embarrassing problem than that of his prose. Not only has there been
a difficulty in finding adequate translators—a difficulty overcome,
it is hoped, by the choice of Miss Petre and Mr Cohn,—but it cannot
be denied that even in the original the poems are of unequal merit.
By the side of such masterpieces as "To the Mistral" are
several verses of comparatively little value. The Editor, however,
did not feel justified in making a selection, as it was intended that
the edition should be complete. The heading, "Jest, Ruse and
Revenge," of the "Prelude in Rhyme" is borrowed from
Goethe.
PREFACE.
1.Perhaps
more than one preface would be necessary for this book; and after all
it might still be doubtful whether any one could be brought nearer to
the experiences
in it by means of prefaces, without having himself experienced
something similar. It seems to be written in the language of the
thawing-wind: there is wantonness, restlessness, contradiction and
April-weather in it; so that one is as constantly reminded of the
proximity of winter as of the
victory over it:
the victory which is coming, which must come, which has perhaps
already come.... Gratitude continually flows forth, as if the most
unexpected thing had happened, the gratitude of a convalescent—for
convalescence was
this most unexpected thing. "Joyful Wisdom": that implies
the Saturnalia of a spirit which has patiently withstood a long,
frightful pressure—patiently, strenuously, impassionately, without
submitting, but without hope—and which is now suddenly o'erpowered
with hope, the hope of health, the
intoxication of
convalescence. What wonder that much that is unreasonable and foolish
thereby comes to light: much wanton tenderness expended even on
problems which have a prickly hide, and are not therefore fit to be
fondled and allured. The whole book is really nothing but a revel
after long privation and impotence: the frolicking of returning
energy, of newly awakened belief in a to-morrow and after-to-morrow;
of sudden sentience and prescience of a future, of near adventures,
of seas open once more, and aims once more permitted and believed in.
And what was now all behind me! This track of desert, exhaustion,
unbelief, and frigidity in the midst of youth, this advent of grey
hairs at the wrong time, this tyranny of pain, surpassed, however, by
the tyranny of pride which repudiated the
consequences of
pain—and consequences are comforts,—this radical isolation, as
defence against the contempt of mankind become morbidly clairvoyant,
this restriction upon principle to all that is bitter, sharp, and
painful in knowledge, as prescribed by the
disgust which had
gradually resulted from imprudent spiritual diet and pampering—it
is called Romanticism,—oh, who could realise all those feelings of
mine! He, however, who could do so would certainly forgive me
everything, and more than a little folly, boisterousness and "Joyful
Wisdom"—for example, the handful of songs which are given
along with the book on this occasion,—songs in which a poet makes
merry over all poets in a way not easily pardoned.—Alas, it is not
only on the poets and their fine "lyrical sentiments" that
this reconvalescent must vent his malignity: who knows what kind of
victim he seeks, what kind of monster of material for parody will
allure him ere long?
Incipit tragœdia,
it is said at the conclusion of this seriously frivolous book; let
people be on their guard! Something or other extraordinarily bad and
wicked announces itself:
incipit parodia,
there is no doubt...2.
——But
let us leave Herr Nietzsche; what does it matter to people that Herr
Nietzsche has got well again?... A psychologist knows few questions
so attractive as those concerning the relations of health to
philosophy, and in the case when he himself falls sick, he carries
with him all his scientific curiosity into his sickness. For,
granting that one is a person, one has necessarily also the
philosophy of one's personality, there is, however, an important
distinction here. With the one it is his defects which philosophise,
with the other it is his riches and powers. The former
requires his
philosophy, whether it be as support, sedative, or medicine, as
salvation, elevation, or self-alienation; with the latter it is
merely a fine luxury, at best the voluptuousness of a triumphant
gratitude, which must inscribe itself ultimately in cosmic capitals
on the heaven of ideas. In the other more usual case, however, when
states of distress occupy themselves with philosophy (as is the case
with all sickly thinkers—and perhaps the sickly thinkers
preponderate in the history of philosophy), what will happen to the
thought itself which is brought under the
pressure of
sickness? This is the important question for psychologists: and here
experiment is possible. We philosophers do just like a traveller who
resolves to awake at a given hour, and then quietly yields himself to
sleep: we surrender ourselves temporarily, body and soul, to the
sickness, supposing we become ill—we shut, as it were, our eyes on
ourselves. And as the traveller knows that something
does not sleep,
that something counts the hours and will awake him, we also know that
the critical moment will find us awake—that then something will
spring forward and surprise the spirit
in the very act, I
mean in weakness, or reversion, or submission, or obduracy, or
obscurity, or whatever the morbid conditions are called, which in
times of good health have the
pride of the spirit
opposed to them (for it is as in the old rhyme: "The spirit
proud, peacock and horse are the three proudest things of earthly
source"). After such self-questioning and self-testing, one
learns to look with a sharper eye at all that has hitherto been
philosophised; one divines better than before the arbitrary by-ways,
side-streets, resting-places, and
sunny places of
thought, to which suffering thinkers, precisely as sufferers, are led
and misled: one knows now in what direction the sickly
body and its
requirements unconsciously press, push, and allure the spirit—towards
the sun, stillness, gentleness, patience, medicine, refreshment in
any sense whatever. Every philosophy which puts peace higher than
war, every ethic with a negative grasp of the idea of happiness,
every metaphysic and physic that knows a
finale, an ultimate
condition of any kind whatever, every predominating, æsthetic or
religious longing for an aside, a beyond, an outside, an above—all
these permit one to ask whether sickness has not been the motive
which inspired the philosopher. The unconscious disguising of
physiological requirements under the cloak of the objective, the
ideal, the purely spiritual, is carried on to an alarming extent,—and
I have often enough asked myself, whether, on the whole, philosophy
hitherto has not generally been merely an interpretation of the body,
and a
misunderstanding of the body.
Behind the loftiest estimates of value by which the history of
thought has hitherto been governed, misunderstandings of the bodily
constitution, either of individuals, classes, or entire races are
concealed. One may always primarily consider these audacious freaks
of metaphysic, and especially its answers to the question of the
worth of existence,
as symptoms of certain bodily constitutions; and if, on the whole,
when scientifically determined, not a particle of significance
attaches to such affirmations and denials of the world, they
nevertheless furnish the historian and psychologist with hints so
much the more valuable (as we have said) as symptoms of the bodily
constitution, its good or bad condition, its fullness, powerfulness,
and sovereignty in history; or else of its obstructions, exhaustions,
and impoverishments, its premonition of the end, its will to the end.
I still expect that a philosophical
physician, in the
exceptional sense of the word—one who applies himself to the
problem of the collective health of peoples, periods, races, and
mankind generally—will some day have the courage to follow out my
suspicion to its ultimate conclusions, and to venture on the judgment
that in all philosophising it has not hitherto been a question of
"truth" at all, but of something else,—namely, of health,
futurity, growth, power, life....3.It
will be surmised that I should not like to take leave ungratefully of
that period of severe sickness, the advantage of which is not even
yet exhausted in me: for I am sufficiently conscious of what I have
in advance of the spiritually robust generally, in my changeful state
of health. A philosopher who has made the tour of many states of
health, and always makes it anew, has also gone through just as many
philosophies: he really
cannot do otherwise
than transform his condition on every occasion into the most
ingenious posture and position,—this art of transfiguration
is just philosophy.
We philosophers are not at liberty to separate soul and body, as the
people separate them; and we are still less at liberty to separate
soul and spirit. We are not thinking frogs, we are not objectifying
and registering apparatuses with cold entrails,—our thoughts must
be continually born to us out of our pain, and we must, motherlike,
share with them all that we have in us of blood, heart, ardour, joy,
passion, pang, conscience, fate and fatality. Life—that means for
us to transform constantly into light and flame all that we are, and
also all that we meet with; we
cannot possibly do
otherwise. And as regards sickness, should we not be almost tempted
to ask whether we could in general dispense with it? It is great pain
only which is the ultimate emancipator of the spirit; for it is the
teacher of the
strong suspicion
which makes an X out of every U[1],
a true, correct X,
i.e., the
ante-penultimate letter.... It is great pain only, the long slow pain
which takes time, by which we are burned as it were with green wood,
that compels us philosophers to descend into our ultimate depths, and
divest ourselves of all trust, all good-nature, veiling, gentleness,
and averageness, wherein we have perhaps formerly installed our
humanity. I doubt whether such pain "improves" us; but I
know that it deepens
us. Be it that we learn to confront it with our pride, our scorn, our
strength of will, doing like the Indian who, however sorely tortured,
revenges himself on his tormentor with his bitter tongue; be it that
we withdraw from the pain into the oriental nothingness—it is
called Nirvana,—into mute, benumbed, deaf self-surrender,
self-forgetfulness, and self-effacement: one emerges from such long,
dangerous exercises in self-mastery as another being, with several
additional notes of interrogation, and above all, with the
will to question
more than ever, more profoundly, more strictly, more sternly, more
wickedly, more quietly than has ever been questioned hitherto.
Confidence in life is gone: life itself has become a
problem.—Let it
not be imagined that one has necessarily become a hypochondriac
thereby! Even love of life is still possible—only one loves
differently. It is the love of a woman of whom one is doubtful....
The charm, however, of all that is problematic, the delight in the X,
is too great in those more spiritual and more spiritualised men, not
to spread itself again and again like a clear glow over all the
trouble of the problematic, over all the danger of uncertainty, and
even over the jealousy of the lover. We know a new happiness....4.Finally,
(that the most essential may not remain unsaid), one comes back out
of such abysses, out of such severe sickness, and out of the sickness
of strong suspicion—new-born,
with the skin cast; more sensitive, more wicked, with a finer taste
for joy, with a more delicate tongue for all good things, with a
merrier disposition, with a second and more dangerous innocence in
joy; more childish at the same time, and a hundred times more refined
than ever before. Oh, how repugnant to us now is pleasure, coarse,
dull, drab pleasure, as the pleasure-seekers, our "cultured"
classes, our rich and ruling classes, usually understand it! How
malignantly we now listen to the great holiday-hubbub with which
"cultured people" and city-men at present allow themselves
to be forced to "spiritual enjoyment" by art, books, and
music, with the help of spirituous liquors! How the theatrical cry of
passion now pains our ear, how strange to our taste has all the
romantic riot and sensuous bustle which the cultured populace love
become (together with their aspirations after the exalted, the
elevated, and the intricate)! No, if we convalescents need an art at
all, it is another
art—a mocking, light, volatile, divinely serene, divinely ingenious
art, which blazes up like a clear flame, into a cloudless heaven!
Above all, an art for artists, only for artists! We at last know
better what is first of all necessary
for it—namely,
cheerfulness, every
kind of cheerfulness, my friends! also as artists:—I should like to
prove it. We now know something too well, we men of knowledge: oh,
how well we are now learning to forget and
not know, as
artists! And as to our future, we are not likely to be found again in
the tracks of those Egyptian youths who at night make the temples
unsafe, embrace statues, and would fain unveil, uncover, and put in
clear light, everything which for good reasons is kept concealed.[2]
No, we have got disgusted with this bad taste, this will to truth, to
"truth at all costs," this youthful madness in the love of
truth: we are now too experienced, too serious, too joyful, too
singed, too profound for that.... We no longer believe that truth
remains truth when the veil is withdrawn from it: we have lived long
enough to believe this. At present we regard it as a matter of
propriety not to be anxious either to see everything naked, or to be
present at everything, or to understand and "know"
everything. "Is it true that the good God is everywhere
present?" asked a little girl of her mother: "I think that
is indecent":—a hint to philosophers! One should have more
reverence for the
shamefacedness with
which nature has concealed herself behind enigmas and motley
uncertainties. Perhaps truth is a woman who has reasons for not
showing her reasons? Perhaps her name is Baubo, to speak in Greek?...
Oh, those Greeks! They knew how
to live: for that
purpose it is necessary to keep bravely to the surface, the fold and
the skin; to worship appearance, to believe in forms, tones, and
words, in the whole Olympus of appearance! Those Greeks were
superficial—from
profundity! And are
we not coming back precisely to this point, we dare-devils of the
spirit, who have scaled the highest and most dangerous peak of
contemporary thought, and have looked around us from it, have
looked down from
it? Are we not precisely in this respect—Greeks? Worshippers of
forms, of tones, and of words? And precisely on that account—artists?Ruta,
near GenoaAutumn,
1886.JEST,
RUSE AND REVENGE.A
PRELUDE IN RHYME.1.Invitation.Venture,
comrades, I implore you,On
the fare I set before you,You
will like it more to-morrow,Better
still the following day:If
yet more you're then requiring,Old
success I'll find inspiring,And
fresh courage thence will borrowNovel
dainties to display.2.My
Good Luck.Weary
of Seeking had I grown,So
taught myself the way to Find:Back
by the storm I once was blown,But
follow now, where drives the wind.3.Undismayed.Where
you're standing, dig, dig out:Down
below's the Well:Let
them that walk in darkness shout:"Down
below—there's Hell!"4.Dialogue.A.
Was I ill? and is it ended?Pray,
by what physician tended?I
recall no pain endured!B.
Now I know your trouble's ended:He
that can forget, is cured.5.To
the Virtuous.Let
our virtues be easy and nimble-footed in motion,Like
unto Homer's verse ought they to come
and to go.6.Worldly
Wisdom.Stay
not on level plain,Climb
not the mount too high,But
half-way up remain—The
world you'll best descry!7.Vademecum—Vadetecum.Attracted
by my style and talkYou'd
follow, in my footsteps walk?Follow
yourself unswervingly,So—careful!—shall
you follow me.8.The
Third Sloughing.My
skin bursts, breaks for fresh rebirth,And
new desires come thronging:Much
I've devoured, yet for more earthThe
serpent in me's longing.'Twixt
stone and grass I crawl once more,Hungry,
by crooked ways,To
eat the food I ate before,Earth-fare
all serpents praise!9.My
Roses.My
luck's good—I'd make yours fairer,(Good
luck ever needs a sharer),Will
you stop and pluck my roses?Oft
mid rocks and thorns you'll linger,Hide
and stoop, suck bleeding finger—Will
you stop and pluck my roses?For
my good luck's a trifle vicious,Fond
of teasing, tricks malicious—Will
you stop and pluck my roses?10.The
Scorner.Many
drops I waste and spill,So
my scornful mood you curse:Who
to brim his cup doth fill,Many
drops must
waste and spill—Yet
he thinks the wine no worse.11.The
Proverb Speaks.Harsh
and gentle, fine and mean,Quite
rare and common, dirty and clean,The
fools' and the sages' go-between:All
this I will be, this have been,Dove
and serpent and swine, I ween!12.To
a Lover of Light.That
eye and sense be not fordoneE'en
in the shade pursue the sun!13.For
Dancers.Smoothest
ice,A
paradiseTo
him who is a dancer nice.14.The
Brave Man.A
feud that knows not flaw nor break,Rather
then patched-up friendship, take.15.Rust.Rust's
needed: keenness will not satisfy!"He
is too young!" the rabble loves to cry.16.Excelsior."How
shall I reach the top?" No timeFor
thus reflecting! Start to climb!17.The
Man of Power Speaks.Ask
never! Cease that whining, pray!Take
without asking, take alway!18.Narrow
Souls.Narrow
souls hate I like the devil,Souls
wherein grows nor good nor evil.19.Accidentally
a Seducer.[3]He
shot an empty wordInto
the empty blue;But
on the way it metA
woman whom it slew.20.For
Consideration.A
twofold pain is easier far to bearThan
one: so now to suffer wilt thou dare?21.Against
Pride.Brother,
to puff thyself up ne'er be quick:For
burst thou shalt be by a tiny prick!22.Man
and Woman."The
woman seize, who to thy heart appeals!"Man's
motto: woman seizes not, but steals.23.Interpretation.If
I explain my wisdom, surely'Tis
but entangled more securely,I
can't expound myself aright:But
he that's boldly up and doing,His
own unaided course pursuing,Upon
my image casts more light!24.A
Cure for Pessimism.Those
old capricious fancies, friend!You
say your palate naught can please,I
hear you bluster, spit and wheeze,My
love, my patience soon will end!Pluck
up your courage, follow me—Here's
a fat toad! Now then, don't blink,Swallow
it whole, nor pause to think!From
your dyspepsia you'll be free!25.A
Request.Many
men's minds I know full well,Yet
what mine own is, cannot tell.I
cannot see—my eye's too near—And
falsely to myself appear.'Twould
be to me a benefitFar
from myself if I could sit,Less
distant than my enemy,And
yet my nearest friend's too nigh—'Twixt
him and me, just in the middle!What
do I ask for? Guess my riddle!26.My
Cruelty.I
must ascend an hundred stairs,I
must ascend: the herd declaresI'm
cruel: "Are we made of stone?"I
must ascend an hundred stairs:All
men the part of stair disown.27.The
Wanderer."No
longer path! Abyss and silence chilling!"Thy
fault! To leave the path thou wast too willing!Now
comes the test! Keep cool—eyes bright and clear!Thou'rt
lost for sure, if thou permittest—fear.28.Encouragement
for Beginners.See
the infant, helpless creeping—Swine
around it grunt swine-talk—Weeping
always, naught but weeping,Will
it ever learn to walk?Never
fear! Just wait, I swear itSoon
to dance will be inclined,And
this babe, when two legs bear it,Standing
on its head you'll find.
29.Planet
Egoism.Did
I not turn, a rolling cask,Ever
about myself, I ask,How
could I without burning runClose
on the track of the hot sun?30.The
Neighbour.Too
nigh, my friend my joy doth mar,I'd
have him high above and far,Or
how can he become my star?31.The
Disguised Saint.Lest
we for thy bliss should slay thee,In
devil's wiles thou dost array thee,Devil's
wit and devil's dress.But
in vain! Thy looks betray theeAnd
proclaim thy holiness.32.The
Slave.A.
He stands and listens: whence his pain?What
smote his ears? Some far refrain?Why
is his heart with anguish torn?B.
Like all that fetters once have worn,He
always hears the clinking—chain!33.The
Lone One.I
hate to follow and I hate to lead.Obedience?
no! and ruling? no, indeed!Wouldst
fearful be in others' sight?Then
e'en thyself
thou must affright:The
people but the Terror's guidance heed.I
hate to guide myself, I hate the fray.Like
the wild beasts I'll wander far afield.In
Error's pleasing toils I'll roamAwhile,
then lure myself back home,Back
home, and—to my self-seduction yield.34.Seneca
et hoc Genus omne.They
write and write (quite maddening me)Their
"sapient" twaddle airy,As
if 'twere primum
scribere,Deinde
philosophari.35.Ice.Yes!
I manufacture ice:Ice
may help you to digest:If
you had
much to digest,How
you would enjoy my ice!36.Youthful
Writings.My
wisdom's A and final OWas
then the sound that smote mine ear.Yet
now it rings no longer so,My
youth's eternal Ah! and Oh!Is
now the only sound I hear.[4]37.Foresight.In
yonder region travelling, take good care!An
hast thou wit, then be thou doubly ware!They'll
smile and lure thee; then thy limbs they'll tear:Fanatics'
country this where wits are rare!38.The
Pious One Speaks.God
loves us, for
he made us, sent us here!—"Man
hath made God!" ye subtle ones reply.His
handiwork he must hold dear,And
what he made shall
he deny?There
sounds the devil's halting hoof, I fear.39.In
Summer.In
sweat of face, so runs the screed,We
e'er must eat our bread,Yet
wise physicians if we heed"Eat
naught in sweat," 'tis said.The
dog-star's blinking: what's his need?What
tells his blazing sign?In
sweat of face (so runs
his screed)We're
meant to drink our wine!40.Without
Envy.His
look bewrays no envy: and ye laud him?He
cares not, asks not if your throng applaud him!He
has the eagle's eye for distance far,He
sees you not, he sees but star on star!41.Heraclitism.Brethren,
war's the originOf
happiness on earth:Powder-smoke
and battle-dinWitness
friendship's birth!Friendship
means three things, you know,—Kinship
in luckless plight,Equality
before the foeFreedom—in
death's sight!42.Maxim
of the Over-refined."Rather
on your toes stand highThan
crawl upon all fours,Rather
through the keyhole spyThan
through open doors!"43.Exhortation.Renown
you're quite resolved to earn?My
thought about itIs
this: you need not fame, must learnTo
do without it!44.Thorough.I
an Inquirer? No, that's not my callingOnly
I weigh a lot—I'm
such a lump!—And
through the waters I keep falling, falling,Till
on the ocean's deepest bed I bump.45.The
Immortals."To-day
is meet for me, I come to-day,"Such
is the speech of men foredoomed to stay."Thou
art too soon," they cry, "thou art too late,"What
care the Immortals what the rabble say?46.Verdicts
of the Weary.The
weary shun the glaring sun, afraid,And
only care for trees to gain the shade.47.Descent."He
sinks, he falls," your scornful looks portend:The
truth is, to your level he'll descend.His
Too Much Joy is turned to weariness,His
Too Much Light will in your darkness end.48.Nature
Silenced.[5]Around
my neck, on chain of hair,The
timepiece hangs—a sign of care.For
me the starry course is o'er,No
sun and shadow as before,No
cockcrow summons at the door,For
nature tells the time no more!Too
many clocks her voice have drowned,And
droning law has dulled her sound.49.The
Sage Speaks.Strange
to the crowd, yet useful to the crowd,I
still pursue my path, now sun, now cloud,But
always pass above the crowd!50.He
lost his Head....She
now has wit—how did it come her way?A
man through her his reason lost, they say.His
head, though wise ere to this pastime lent,Straight
to the devil—no, to woman went!51.A
Pious Wish."Oh,
might all keys be lost! 'Twere better soAnd
in all keyholes might the pick-lock go!"Who
thus reflects ye may as—picklock know.52.Foot
Writing.I
write not with the hand alone,My
foot would write, my foot that capers,Firm,
free and bold, it's marching onNow
through the fields, now through the papers.53."Human,
All-too-Human."...Shy,
gloomy, when your looks are backward thrust,Trusting
the future where yourself you trust,Are
you an eagle, mid the nobler fowl,Or
are you like Minerva's darling owl?54.To
my Reader.Good
teeth and a digestion goodI
wish you—these you need, be sure!And,
certes, if my book you've stood,Me
with good humour you'll endure.55.The
Realistic Painter."To
nature true, complete!" so he begins.Who
complete Nature to his canvas
wins?Her
tiniest fragment's endless, no constraintCan
know: he paints just what his
fancy pins:What
does his fancy pin? What he
can paint!56.Poets'
Vanity.Glue,
only glue to me dispense,The
wood I'll find myself, don't fear!To
give four senseless verses sense—That's
an achievement I revere!57.Taste
in Choosing.If
to choose my niche preciseFreedom
I could win from fate,I'd
be in midst of Paradise—Or,
sooner still—before the gate!58.The
Crooked Nose.Wide
blow your nostrils, and acrossThe
land your nose holds haughty sway:So
you, unhorned rhinoceros,Proud
mannikin, fall forward aye!The
one trait with the other goes:A
straight pride and a crooked nose.59.The
Pen is Scratching....The
pen is scratching: hang the pen!To
scratching I'm condemned to sink!I
grasp the inkstand fiercely thenAnd
write in floods of flowing ink.How
broad, how full the stream's career!What
luck my labours doth requite!'Tis
true, the writing's none too clear—What
then? Who reads the stuff I write?60.Loftier
Spirits.This
man's climbing up—let us praise him—But
that other we loveFrom
aloft doth eternally move,So
above even praise let us raise him,He
comes from above!61.The
Sceptic Speaks.Your
life is half-way o'er;The
clock-hand moves; your soul is thrilled with fear,It
roamed to distant shoreAnd
sought and found not, yet you—linger here!Your
life is half-way o'er;That
hour by hour was pain and error sheer:Why
stay? What seek you
more?"That's
what I'm seeking—reasons why I'm here!"62.Ecce
Homo.Yes,
I know where I'm related,Like
the flame, unquenched, unsated,I
consume myself and glow:All's
turned to light I lay my hand on,All
to coal that I abandon,Yes,
I am a flame, I know!63.Star
Morality.[6]Foredoomed
to spaces vast and far,What
matters darkness to the star?Roll
calmly on, let time go by,Let
sorrows pass thee—nations die!Compassion
would but dim the lightThat
distant worlds will gladly sight.To
thee one law—be pure and bright!
BOOK FIRST
1.The Teachers of the Object of Existence.—Whether I look with a good or an evil eye upon men, I find
them always at one problem, each and all of them: to do that which
conduces to the conservation of the human species. And certainly
not out of any sentiment of love for this species, but simply
because nothing in them is older, stronger, more inexorable, and
more unconquerable than that instinct,—because it is
preciselythe essenceof our
race and herd. Although we are accustomed readily enough, with our
usual short-sightedness, to separate our neighbours precisely into
useful and hurtful, into good and evil men, yet when we make a
general calculation, and on longer reflection on the whole
question, we become distrustful of this defining and separating,
and finally leave it alone. Even the most hurtful man is still
perhaps, in respect to the conservation of the race, the most
useful of all; for he conserves in himself or by his effect on
others, impulses without which mankind might long ago have
languished or decayed. Hatred, delight in mischief, rapacity and
ambition, and whatever else is called evil—belong to the marvellous
economy of the conservation of the race; to be sure a costly,
lavish, and on the whole very foolish economy:—which has, however,
hitherto preserved our race,as is demonstrated to
us. I no longer know, my dear fellow-man and
neighbour, if thoucanstat all
live to the disadvantage of the race, and therefore, "unreasonably"
and "badly"; that which could have injured the race has perhaps
died out many millenniums ago, and now belongs to the things which
are no longer possible even to God. Indulge thy best or thy worst
desires, and above all, go to wreck!—in either case thou art still
probably the furtherer and benefactor of mankind in some way or
other, and in that respect thou mayest have thy panegyrists—and
similarly thy mockers! But thou wilt never find him who would be
quite qualified to mock at thee, the individual, at thy best, who
could bring home to thy conscience its limitless, buzzing and
croaking wretchedness so as to be in accord with truth! To laugh at
oneself as one would have to laugh in order to laughout of the veriest truth,—to do this
the best have not hitherto had enough of the sense of truth, and
the most endowed have had far too little genius! There is perhaps
still a future even for laughter! When the maxim, "The race is all,
the individual is nothing,"—has incorporated itself in humanity,
and when access stands open to every one at all times to this
ultimate emancipation and irresponsibility.—Perhaps then laughter
will have united with wisdom, perhaps then there will be only
"joyful wisdom." Meanwhile, however, it is quite otherwise,
meanwhile the comedy of existence has not yet "become conscious" of
itself, meanwhile it is still the period of tragedy, the period of
morals and religions. What does the ever new appearing of founders
of morals and religions, of instigators of struggles for moral
valuations, of teachers of remorse of conscience and religious war,
imply? What do these heroes on this stage imply? For they have
hitherto been the heroes of it, and all else, though solely visible
for the time being, and too close to one, has served only as
preparation for these heroes, whether as machinery and coulisse, or
in the rôle of confidants and valets. (The poets, for example, have
always been the valets of some morality or other.)—It is obvious of
itself that these tragedians also work in the interest of
therace, though they may
believe that they work in the interest of God, and as emissaries of
God. They also further the life of the species,in
that they further the belief in life. "It is
worth while to live"—each of them calls out,—"there is something of
importance in this life; life has something behind it and under it;
take care!" That impulse, which rules equally in the noblest and
the ignoblest, the impulse towards the conservation of the species,
breaks forth from time to time as reason and passion of spirit; it
has then a brilliant train of motives about it, and tries with all
its power to make us forget that fundamentally it is just impulse,
instinct, folly and baselessness. Lifeshouldbe loved,for...! Manshouldbenefit himself and his
neighbour,for...! And whatever
all theseshouldsandforsimply, and may imply in future! In
order that that which necessarily and always happens of itself and
without design, may henceforth appear to be done by design, and may
appeal to men as reason and ultimate command,—for that purpose the
ethiculturist comes forward as the teacher of design in existence;
for that purpose he devises a second and different existence, and
by means of this new mechanism he lifts the old common existence
off its old common hinges. No! he does not at all want us tolaughat existence, nor even at
ourselves—nor at himself; to him an individual is always an
individual, something first and last and immense, to him there are
no species, no sums, no noughts. However foolish and fanatical his
inventions and valuations may be, however much he may misunderstand
the course of nature and deny its conditions—and all systems of
ethics hitherto have been foolish and anti-natural to such a degree
that mankind would have been ruined by any one of them had it got
the upper hand,—at any rate, every time that "the hero" came upon
the stage something new was attained: the frightful counterpart of
laughter, the profound convulsion of many individuals at the
thought, "Yes, it is worth while to live! yes, I am worthy to
live!"—life, and thou, and I, and all of us together became for a
whileinterestingto ourselves
once more.—It is not to be denied that hitherto laughter and reason
and nature havein the long rungot the upper hand of all the great teachers of design: in
the end the short tragedy always passed over once more into the
eternal comedy of existence; and the "waves of innumerable
laughters"—to use the expression of Æschylus—must also in the end
beat over the greatest of these tragedies. But with all this
corrective laughter, human nature has on the whole been changed by
the ever new appearance of those teachers of the design of
existence,—human nature has now an additional requirement, the very
requirement of the ever new appearance of such teachers and
doctrines of "design." Man has gradually become a visionary animal,
who has to fulfil one more condition of existence than the other
animals: manmustfrom time to
time believe that he knowswhyhe exists; his species cannot flourish without periodically
confiding in life! Without the belief inreason in
life! And always from time to time will the
human race decree anew that "there is something which really may
not be laughed at." And the most clairvoyant philanthropist will
add that "not only laughing and joyful wisdom, but also the tragic,
with all its sublime irrationality, counts among the means and
necessities for the conservation of the race!"—And consequently!
Consequently! Consequently! Do you understand me, oh my brothers?
Do you understand this new law of ebb and flow? We also shall have
our time!2.The Intellectual Conscience.—I have
always the same experience over again, and always make a new effort
against it; for although it is evident to me I do not want to
believe it:in the greater number of men the
intellectual conscience is lacking; indeed, it
would often seem to me that in demanding such a thing, one is as
solitary in the largest cities as in the desert. Everyone looks at
you with strange eyes, and continues to make use of his scales,
calling this good and that bad; and no one blushes for shame when
you remark that these weights are not the full amount,—there is
also no indignation against you; perhaps they laugh at your doubt.
I mean to say thatthe greater number of
peopledo not find it contemptible to believe
this or that, and live according to it,withouthaving been previously aware of
the ultimate and surest reasons for and against it, and without
even giving themselves any trouble about such reasons
afterwards,—the most gifted men and the noblest women still belong
to this "greater number." But what is kind-heartedness, refinement
and genius to me, if the man with these virtues harbours indolent
sentiments in belief and judgment, ifthe longing
for certaintydoes not rule in him, as his
innermost desire and profoundest need—as that which separates
higher from lower men! In certain pious people I have found a
hatred of reason, and have been favourably disposed to them for it:
their bad, intellectual conscience still betrayed itself, at least
in this manner! But to stand in the midst of thisrerum concordia discorsand all the
marvellous uncertainty and ambiguity of existence,and not to question, not to tremble
with desire and delight in questioning, not even to hate the
questioner—perhaps even to make merry over him to the extent of
weariness—that is what I regard ascontemptible, and it is this sentiment
which I first of all search for in every one:—some folly or other
always persuades me anew that every man has this sentiment, as man.
This is my special kind of unrighteousness.3.Noble and Ignoble.—To ignoble natures
all noble, magnanimous sentiments appear inexpedient, and on that
account first and foremost, as incredible: they blink with their
eyes when they hear of such matters, and seem inclined to say,
"there will, no doubt, be some advantage therefrom, one cannot see
through all walls;"—they are jealous of the noble person, as if he
sought advantage by back-stair methods. When they are all too
plainly convinced of the absence of selfish intentions and
emoluments, the noble person is regarded by them as a kind of fool:
they despise him in his gladness, and laugh at the lustre of his
eye. "How can a person rejoice at being at a disadvantage, how can
a person with open eyes want to meet with disadvantage! It must be
a disease of the reason with which the noble affection is
associated,"—so they think, and they look depreciatingly thereon;
just as they depreciate the joy which the lunatic derives from his
fixed idea. The ignoble nature is distinguished by the fact that it
keeps its advantage steadily in view, and that this thought of the
end and advantage is even stronger than its strongest impulse: not
to be tempted to inexpedient activities by its impulses—that is its
wisdom and inspiration. In comparison with the ignoble nature the
higher nature ismore irrational:—for the noble, magnanimous, and self-sacrificing person
succumbs in fact to his impulses, and in his best moments his
reasonlapsesaltogether. An
animal, which at the risk of life protects its young, or in the
pairing season follows the female where it meets with death, does
not think of the risk and the death; its reason pauses likewise,
because its delight in its young, or in the female, and the fear of
being deprived of this delight, dominate it exclusively; it becomes
stupider than at other times, like the noble and magnanimous
person. He possesses feelings of pleasure and pain of such
intensity that the intellect must either be silent before them, or
yield itself to their service: his heart then goes into his head,
and one henceforth speaks of "passions." (Here and there to be
sure, the antithesis to this, and as it were the "reverse of
passion," presents itself; for example in Fontenelle, to whom some
one once laid the hand on the heart with the words, "What you have
there, my dearest friend, is brain also.") It is the unreason, or
perverse reason of passion, which the ignoble man despises in the
noble individual, especially when it concentrates upon objects
whose value appears to him to be altogether fantastic and
arbitrary. He is offended at him who succumbs to the passion of the
belly, but he understands the allurement which here plays the
tyrant; but he does not understand, for example, how a person out
of love of knowledge can stake his health and honour on the game.
The taste of the higher nature devotes itself to exceptional
matters, to things which usually do not affect people, and seem to
have no sweetness; the higher nature has a singular standard of
value. Besides, it is mostly of the belief that it hasnota singular standard of value in its
idiosyncrasies of taste; it rather sets up its values and
non-values as the generally valid values and non-values, and thus
becomes incomprehensible and impracticable. It is very rarely that
a higher nature has so much reason over and above as to understand
and deal with everyday men as such; for the most part it believes
in its passion as if it were the concealed passion of every one,
and precisely in this belief it is full of ardour and eloquence. If
then such exceptional men do not perceive themselves as exceptions,
how can they ever understand the ignoble natures and estimate
average men fairly! Thus it is that they also speak of the folly,
inexpediency and fantasy of mankind, full of astonishment at the
madness of the world, and that it will not recognise the "one thing
needful for it."—This is the eternal unrighteousness of noble
natures.4.That which Preserves the Species.—The
strongest and most evil spirits have hitherto advanced mankind the
most: they always rekindled the sleeping passions—all orderly
arranged society lulls the passions to sleep; they always
reawakened the sense of comparison, of contradiction, of delight in
the new, the adventurous, the untried; they compelled men to set
opinion against opinion, ideal plan against ideal plan. By means of
arms, by upsetting boundary-stones, by violations of piety most of
all: but also by new religions and morals! The same kind of
"wickedness" is in every teacher and preacher of thenew—which makes a conqueror infamous,
although it expresses itself more refinedly, and does not
immediately set the muscles in motion (and just on that account
does not make so infamous!). The new, however, is under all
circumstances theevil, as that
which wants to conquer, which tries to upset the old
boundary-stones and the old piety; only the old is the good! The
good men of every age are those who go to the roots of the old
thoughts and bear fruit with them, the agriculturists of the
spirit. But every soil becomes finally exhausted, and the
ploughshare of evil must always come once more.—There is at present
a fundamentally erroneous theory of morals which is much
celebrated, especially in England: according to it the judgments
"good" and "evil" are the accumulation of the experiences of that
which is "expedient" and "inexpedient"; according to this theory,
that which is called good is conservative of the species, what is
called evil, however, is detrimental to it. But in reality the evil
impulses are just in as high a degree expedient, indispensable, and
conservative of the species as the good:—only, their function is
different.5.Unconditional Duties.—All men who feel
that they need the strongest words and intonations, the most
eloquent gestures and attitudes, in order to operateat all—revolutionary politicians,
socialists, preachers of repentance with or without Christianity,
with all of whom there must be no mere half-success,—all these
speak of "duties," and indeed, always of duties, which have the
character of being unconditional—without such they would have no
right to their excessive pathos: they know that right well! They
grasp, therefore, at philosophies of morality which preach some
kind of categorical imperative, or they assimilate a good lump of
religion, as, for example, Mazzini did. Because they want to be
trusted unconditionally, it is first of all necessary for them to
trust themselves unconditionally, on the basis of some ultimate,
undebatable command, sublime in itself, as the ministers and
instruments of which, they would fain feel and announce themselves.
Here we have the most natural, and for the most part, very
influential opponents of moral enlightenment and scepticism: but
they are rare. On the other hand, there is always a very numerous
class of those opponents wherever interest teaches subjection,
while repute and honour seem to forbid it. He who feels himself
dishonoured at the thought of being theinstrumentof a prince, or of a party
and sect, or even of wealthy power (for example, as the descendant
of a proud, ancient family), but wishes just to be this instrument,
or must be so before himself and before the public—such a person
has need of pathetic principles which can at all times be appealed
to:—principles of an unconditionalought, to which a person can subject
himself without shame, and can show himself subjected. All more
refined servility holds fast to the categorical imperative, and is
the mortal enemy of those who want to take away the unconditional
character of duty: propriety demands this from them, and not only
propriety.6.Loss of Dignity.—Meditation has lost
all its dignity of form; the ceremonial and solemn bearing of the
meditative person have been made a mockery, and one would no longer
endure a wise man of the old style. We think too hastily and on the
way and while walking and in the midst of business of all kinds,
even when we think on the most serious matters; we require little
preparation, even little quiet:—it is as if each of us carried
about an unceasingly revolving machine in his head, which still
works, even under the most unfavourable circumstances. Formerly it
was perceived in a person that on some occasion he wanted to
think—it was perhaps the exception!—that he now wanted to become
wiser and collected his mind on a thought: he put on a long face
for it, as for a prayer, and arrested his step—nay, stood still for
hours on the street when the thought "came"—on one or on two legs.
It was thus "worthy of the affair"!7.Something for the Laborious.—He who at
present wants to make moral questions a subject of study has an
immense field of labour before him. All kinds of passions must be
thought about singly, and followed singly throughout periods,
peoples, great and insignificant individuals; all their
rationality, all their valuations and elucidations of things, ought
to come to light! Hitherto all that has given colour to existence
has lacked a history: where would one find a history of love, of
avarice, of envy, of conscience, of piety, of cruelty? Even a
comparative history of law, as also of punishment, has hitherto
been completely lacking. Have the different divisions of the day,
the consequences of a regular appointment of the times for labour,
feast, and repose, ever been made the object of investigation? Do
we know the moral effects of the alimentary substances? Is there a
philosophy of nutrition? (The ever-recurring outcry for and against
vegetarianism proves that as yet there is no such philosophy!) Have
the experiences [...]