,,friedrich ,,nietzsche    ,,the        
,,birth ,,of ,,tragedy    ,,or          
,,hellenism ,,and ,,pessimism           
,,translated ,,by    ,,wm4 ,a4          
,,haussmann1 ,,ph4,d4      ,the         
,complete ,works of ,friedrich          
,nietzsche    ,the ,first ,complete and 
,authorised ,english ,translation       
,edited by ,dr ,oscar ,levy    ,volume  
,one      ,t4,n4 ,,foulis    #ac  #ae   
,,frederick ,,street    ,,edinburgh3    
,,and ,,london    #aiaj                 
,,contents4        ,,biographical       
,,introduction      ,,an ,,attempt ,,at 
,,self-,,criticism      ,,foreword ,,to 
,,richard ,,wagner      ,,the ,,birth   
,,of ,,tragedy                          
,,introduction4#a      ,frederick       
,nietzsche was born at ,rcken near      
,ltzen1 in the ,prussian  province of   
,saxony1 on the #aeth of ,october #ahdd1
 at #aj a4m4 ,the day  happened to be   
the anniversary of the birth of         
,frederick-,william ,,iv41  then ,king  
of ,prussia1 and the peal of the local  

church-bells which was  intended to     
celebrate this event1 was1 by a happy   
coincidence1 just  timed to greet my    
brother on his entrance into the world4 
,in #ahda1  at the time when our father 
was tutor to the ,altenburg ,princesses1
  ,theresa of ,saxe-,altenburg1         
,elizabeth1 ,grand ,duchess of          
,olden-burg1 and  ,alexandra1 ,grand    
,duchess ,constantine of ,russia1 he had
 had the honour  of being presented to  
his witty and pious sovereign4 ,the     
meeting seems  to have impressed both   
parties very favourably2 for1 very      
shortly  after it had taken place1 our  
father received his living at ,rcken by 
supreme command4 ,his joy may well be   
imagined1 therefore1 when a first  son  
was born to him on his beloved and      
august patron's birthday1 and  at the   
christening ceremony he spoke as        
follows3--,thou blessed month  of       
,october6--for many years the most      
decisive events in my life have         
occurred within thy thirty-one days1 and

 now ,i celebrate the greatest  and most
 glorious of them all by baptising my   
little boy6 ,o blissful  moment6 ,o     
exquisite festival6 ,o unspeakably holy 
duty6 ,in the ,lord's  name ,i bless    
thee6--,with all my heart ,i utter these
 words3 ,bring me  this1 my beloved     
child1 that ,i may consecrate it unto   
the ,lord4 ,my son1  ,frederick         
,william1 thus shalt thou be named on   
earth1 as a memento of  my royal        
benefactor on whose birthday thou wast  
born6    ,our father was thirty-one     
years of age1 and our mother not quite  
nineteen1 when my brother was born4 ,our
 mother1 who was the daughter  of a     
clergyman1 was good-looking and healthy1
 and was one of a very  large family of 
sons and daughters4 ,our paternal       
grandparents1 the  ,rev4 ,oehler and his
 wife1 in ,pobles1 were typically       
healthy people4  ,strength1 robustness1 
lively dispositions1 and a cheerful     
outlook on  life1 were among the        
qualities which every one was pleased to

 observe  in them4 ,our grandfather     
,oehler was a bright1 clever man1 and   
quite  the old style of comfortable     
country parson1 who thought it no sin to
  go hunting4 ,he scarcely had a day's  
illness in his life1 and would          
certainly not have met with his end as  
early as he did--that is to say1  before
 his seventieth year--if his careless   
disregard of all caution1  where his    
health was concerned1 had not led to his
 catching a severe  and fatal cold4 ,in 
regard to our grand-mother ,oehler1 who 
died in her  eighty-second year1 all    
that can be said is1 that if all ,german
 women  were possessed of the health she
 enjoyed1 the ,german nation would excel
  all others from the standpoint of     
vitality4 ,she bore our grandfather     
eleven children2 gave each of them the  
breast for nearly the whole of  its     
first year1 and reared them all ,it is  
said that the sight of these  eleven    
children1 at ages varying from nineteen 
years to one month1 with  their powerful

 build1 rosy cheeks1 beaming eyes1 and  
wealth of curly  locks1 provoked the    
admiration of all visitors4 ,of course1 
despite  their extraordinarily good     
health1 the life of this family was not 
by any means all sunshine4 ,each of the 
children was very spirited1  wilful1 and
 obstinate1 and it was therefore no     
simple matter to keep  them in order4   
,moreover1 though they always showed the
 utmost respect  and most implicit      
obedience to their parents--even as     
middle-aged  men and                    
women--misunderstandings between        
themselves were of constant  occurrence4
 ,our ,oehler grandparents were fairly  
well-to-do2 for our  grandmother hailed 
from a very old family1 who had been    
extensive  land-owners in the           
neighbourhood of ,zeitz for centuries1  
and her father  owned the baronial      
estate of ,wehlitz and a magnificent    
seat near ,zeitz  in ,pacht4 ,when she  
married1 her father gave her carriages  
and horses1  a coachman1 a cook1 and a  

kitchenmaid1 which for the wife of a    
,german  minister was then1 and is      
still1 something quite exceptional4 ,as 
a  result of the wars in the beginning  
of the nineteenth century1 however1  our
 great-grandfather lost the greater part
 of his property4    ,our father's      
family was also in fairly comfortable   
circumstances1  and likewise very large4
 ,our grandfather ,dr4 ,nietzsche       
7,d4,d4 and  ,superintendent7 married   
twice1 and had in all twelve children1  
of whom  three died young4 ,our         
grandfather on this side1 whom ,i never 
knew1  must certainly have been a       
distinguished1 dignified1 very learned  
and reserved man2 his second wife--our  
beloved grandmother--was an             
active-minded1 intelligent1 and         
exceptionally good-natured woman4  ,the 
whole of our father's family1 which ,i  
only got to know when they  were very   
advanced in years1 were remarkable for  
their great power of  self-control1     
their lively interest in intellectual   

matters1 and a  strong sense of family  
unity1 which manifested itself both in  
their  splendid readiness to help one   
another and in their very excellent     
relations with each other4 ,our father  
was the youngest son1 and1 thanks  to   
his uncommonly lovable disposition1     
together with other gifts1 which  only  
tended to become more marked as he grew 
older1 he was quite the  favourite of   
the family4 ,blessed with a thoroughly  
sound constitution1  as all averred who 
knew him at the convent-school in       
,rossleben1 at  the ,university1 or     
later at the ducal court of ,altenburg1 
he was tall  and slender1 possessed an  
undoubted gift for poetry and real      
musical  talent1 and was moreover a man 
of delicate sensibilities1 full of      
consideration for his whole family1 and 
distinguished in his manners4    ,my    
brother often refers to his ,polish     
descent1 and in later years  he even    
instituted research-work with the view  
of establishing it1  which met with     

partial success4 ,i know nothing        
definite concerning  these              
investigations1 because a large number  
of valuable documents  were             
unfortunately destroyed after his       
breakdown in ,turin4 ,the family        
tradition was that a certain ,polish    
nobleman ,nicki 7pronounced ,nietzky7   
had obtained the special favour of      
,augustus the ,strong1 ,king of         
,poland1 and had received the rank of   
,earl from him4 ,when1 however1         
,stanislas ,leszcysski the ,pole became 
king1 our supposed ancestor became      
involved in a conspiracy in favour of   
the ,saxons and ,protestants4 ,he  was  
sentenced to death2 but1 taking flight1 
according to the evidence  of the       
documents1 he was ultimately befriended 
by a certain ,earl of  ,brhl1 who gave  
him a small post in an obscure little   
provincial town4  ,occasionally our aged
 aunts would speak of our               
great-grandfather  ,nietzsche1 who was  
said to have died in his ninety-first   

year1 and  words always seemed to fail  
them when they attempted to describe his
  handsome appearance1 good breeding1   
and vigour4 ,our ancestors1 both on  the
 ,nietzsche and the ,oehler side1 were  
very long-lived4 ,of the four  pairs of 
great-grandparents1 one                 
great-grandfather reached the age of    
ninety1 five great-grandmothers         
and-fathers died between eighty-two and 
eighty-six years of age1 and two only   
failed to reach their seventieth  year4 
,the sorrow which hung as a cloud over  
our branch of the family  was our       
father's death1 as the result of a heavy
 fall1 at the age  of thirty-eight4 ,one
 night1 upon leaving some friends whom  
he had  accompanied home1 he was met at 
the door of the vicarage by our little  
dog4 ,the little animal must have got   
between his feet1 for he stumbled  and  
fell backwards down seven stone steps on
 to the paving-stones  of the vicarage  
courtyard4 ,as a result of this fall1 he
 was laid up  with concussion of the    

brain1 and1 after a lingering illness1  
which  lasted eleven months1 he died on 
the #cjth of ,july #ahdi4 ,the early    
death of our beloved and highly-gifted  
father spread gloom over  the whole of  
our childhood4 ,in #ahej our mother     
withdrew with us to  ,naumburg on the   
,saale1 where she took up her abode with
 our widowed  grandmother ,nietzsche2   
and there she brought us up with        
,spartan  severity and simplicity1      
which1 besides being typical of the     
period1  was quite de rigeur in her     
family4 ,of course1 ,grand-mamma        
,nietzsche  helped somewhat to temper   
her daughter-in-law's severity1 and in  
this  respect our ,oehler grandparents1 
who were less rigorous with us1  their  
eldest grandchildren1 than with their   
own children1 were also  very           
influential4 ,grandfather ,oehler was   
the first who seems to have  recognised 
the extraordinary talents of his eldest 
grandchild4    ,from his earliest       
childhood upwards1 my brother was always

 strong  and healthy2 he often declared 
that he must have been taken for a      
peasant-boy throughout his childhood and
 youth1 as he was so plump1  brown1 and 
rosy4 ,the thick fair hair which fell   
picturesquely over his  shoulders tended
 somewhat to modify his robust          
appearance4 ,had he not  possessed those
 wonderfully beautiful1 large1 and      
expressive eyes1  however1 and had he   
not been so very ceremonious in his     
manner1 neither  his teachers nor his   
relatives would ever have noticed       
anything at all  remarkable about the   
boy2 for he was both modest and         
reserved4    ,he received his early     
schooling at a preparatory school1 and  
later  at a grammar school in ,naumburg4
 ,in the autumn of #aheh1 when he was   
fourteen years of age1 he entered the   
,pforta school1 so famous for the       
scholars it has produced4 ,there1 too1  
very severe discipline prevailed1  and  
much was exacted from the pupils1 with  
the view of inuring them  to great      

mental and physical exertions4 ,thus1 if
 my brother seems  to lay particular    
stress upon the value of rigorous       
training1 free  from all sentimentality1
 it should be remembered that he speaks 
from  experience in this respect4 ,at   
,pforta he followed the regular school  
course1 and he did not enter a          
university until the comparatively late 
age of twenty4 ,his extraordinary gifts 
manifested themselves chiefly  in his   
independent and private studies and     
artistic efforts4 ,as a boy  his musical
 talent had already been so noticeable1 
that he himself  and other competent    
judges were doubtful as to whether he   
ought not  perhaps to devote himself    
altogether to music4 ,it is1 however1   
worth  noting that everything he did in 
his later years1 whether in ,latin1     
,greek1 or ,german work1 bore the stamp 
of perfection--subject of course  to the
 limitation imposed upon him by his     
years4 ,his talents came very  suddenly 
to the fore1 because he had allowed them

 to grow for such a  long time in       
concealment4 ,his very first performance
 in philology1  executed while he was a 
student under ,ritschl1 the famous      
philologist1  was also typical of him in
 this respect1 seeing that it was       
ordered  to be printed for the          
,rheinische ,museum4 ,of course this was
 done  amid general and grave           
expressions of doubt2 for1 as ,dr4      
,ritschl often  declared1 it was an     
unheard-of occurrence for a student in  
his third  term to prepare such an      
excellent treatise4    ,being a great   
lover of out-door exercise1 such as     
swimming1 skating1  and walking1 he     
developed into a very sturdy lad4 ,rohde
 gives the  following description of him
 as a student3 with his healthy         
complexion1  his outward and inner      
cleanliness1 his austere chastity and   
his solemn  aspect1 he was the image of 
that delightful youth described by      
,adalbert  ,stifter4    ,though as a    
child he was always rather serious1 as a

 lad and a man he  was ever inclined to 
see the humorous side of things1 while  
his whole  being1 and everything he said
 or did1 was permeated by an            
extraordinary  harmony4 ,he belonged to 
the very few who could control even a   
bad mood  and conceal it from others4   
,all his friends are unanimous in their 
praise of his exceptional evenness of   
temper and behaviour1 and his  warm1    
hearty1 and pleasant laugh that seemed  
to come from the very  depths of his    
benevolent and affectionate nature4 ,in 
him it might  therefore be said1 nature 
had produced a being who in body and    
spirit  was a harmonious whole3 his     
unusual intellect was fully in keeping  
with  his uncommon bodily strength4     
,the only abnormal thing about him1 and 
something which we both  inherited from 
our father1 was short-sightedness1 and  
this was  very much aggravated in my    
brother's case1 even in his earliest    
schooldays1 owing to that indescribable 
anxiety to learn which always           

characterised him4 ,when one listens to 
accounts given by his friends  and      
schoolfellows1 one is startled by the   
multiplicity of his studies  even in his
 schooldays4    ,in the autumn of #ahfd1
 he began his university life in ,bonn1 
and  studied philology and theology2 at 
the end of six months he gave up        
theology1 and in the autumn of #ahfe    
followed his famous teacher ,ritschl  to
 the ,university of ,leipzig4 ,there he 
became an ardent philologist1  and      
diligently sought to acquire a masterly 
grasp of this branch of  knowledge4 ,but
 in this respect it would be unfair to  
forget that the  school of ,pforta1 with
 its staff of excellent                 
teachers--scholars  that would have     
adorned the chairs of any               
,university--had already  afforded the  
best of preparatory trainings to any one
 intending to  take up philology as a   
study1 more particularly as it gave all 
pupils  ample scope to indulge any      
individual tastes they might have for   

any  particular branch of ancient       
history4 ,the last important ,latin     
thesis  which my brother wrote for the  
,landes-,schule1 ,pforta1 dealt with    
the ,megarian poet ,theognis1 and it was
 in the rle of a lecturer on  this very 
subject that1 on the #ahth ,january     
#ahff1 he made his first  appearance in 
public before the philological society  
he had helped to  found in ,leipzig4    
,the paper he read disclosed his        
investigations on  the subject of       
,theognis the moralist and aristocrat1  
who1 as is well  known1 described and   
dismissed the plebeians of his time in  
terms of  the heartiest contempt ,the   
aristocratic ideal1 which was always so 
dear to my brother1 thus revealed itself
 for the first time4 ,moreover1         
curiously enough1 it was precisely this 
scientific thesis which was  the cause  
of ,ritschl's recognition of my brother 
and fondness for him4    ,the whole of  
his ,leipzig days proved of the utmost  
importance to my  brother's career4     

,there he was plunged into the very     
midst of a torrent  of intellectual     
influences which found an impressionable
 medium in  the fiery youth1 and to     
which he eagerly made himself           
accessible4  ,he did not1 however1      
forget to discriminate among them1 but  
tested  and criticised the currents of  
thought he encountered1 and selected    
accordingly4 ,it is certainly of great  
importance to ascertain what  those     
influences precisely were to which he   
yielded1 and how long  they maintained  
their sway over him1 and it is likewise 
necessary to  discover exactly when the 
matured mind threw off these fetters in 
order  to work out its own salvation4   
,the influences that exercised power    
over him in those days may be  described
 in the three following terms3          
,hellenism1 ,schopenhauer1  ,wagner4    
,his love of ,hellenism certainly led   
him to philology2 but1 as  a matter of  
fact1 what concerned him most was to    
obtain a wide view  of things in        

general1 and this he hoped to derive    
from that science2  philology in itself1
 with his splendid method and thorough  
way of going  to work1 served him only  
as a means to an end4    ,if ,hellenism 
was the first strong influence which    
already in ,pforta  obtained a sway over
 my brother1 in the winter of #ahfe-ff1 
a completely  new1 and therefore        
somewhat subversive1 influence was      
introduced into  his life with          
,schopenhauer's philosophy4 ,when he    
reached ,leipzig in  the autumn of      
#ahfe1 he was very downcast2 for the    
experiences that  had befallen him      
during his one year of student life in  
,bonn had  deeply depressed him4 ,he had
 sought at first to adapt himself to his
  surroundings there1 with the hope of  
ultimately elevating them to his  lofty 
views on things2 but both these efforts 
proved vain1 and now he  had come to    
,leipzig with the purpose of framing his
 own manner of life4  ,it can easily be 
imagined how the first reading of       

,schopenhauer's ,the  ,world as ,will   
and ,idea worked upon this man1 still   
stinging from the  bitterest experiences
 and disappointments4 ,he writes3 ,here 
,i saw a  mirror in which ,i espied the 
world1 life1 and my own nature depicted 
with frightful grandeur4 ,as my brother1
 from his very earliest  childhood1 had 
always missed both the parent and the   
educator through  our father's untimely 
death1 he began to regard ,schopenhauer 
with  almost filial love and respect4   
,he did not venerate him quite as other 
men did2 ,schopenhauer's personality was
 what attracted and enchanted  him4     
,from the first he was never blind to   
the faults in his master's  system1 and 
in proof of this we have only to refer  
to an essay he  wrote in the autumn of  
#ahfg1 which actually contains a        
criticism of  ,schopenhauer's           
philosophy4    ,now1 in the autumn of   
#ahfe1 to these two influences1         
,hellenism and  ,schopenhauer1 a third  
influence was added--one which was to   

prove  the strongest ever exercised over
 my brother--and it began with his      
personal introduction to ,richard       
,wagner4 ,he was introduced to ,wagner  
by  the latter's sister1 ,frau          
,professor ,brockhaus1 and his          
description of  their first meeting1    
contained in a letter to ,erwin ,rohde1 
is really  most affecting4 ,for years1  
that is to say1 from the time ,billow's 
arrangement of ,tristan and ,isolde for 
the pianoforte1 had appeared1  he had   
already been a passionate admirer of    
,wagner's music2 but now  that the      
artist himself entered upon the scene of
 his life1 with the  whole fascinating  
strength of his strong will1 my brother 
felt that he  was in the presence of a  
being whom he1 of all modern men1       
resembled  most in regard to force of   
character4    ,again1 in the case of    
,richard ,wagner1 my brother1 from the  
first1 laid  the utmost stress upon the 
man's personality1 and could only regard
  his works and views as an expression  

of the artist's whole being1  despite   
the fact that he by no means understood 
every one of those  works at that time4 
,my brother was the first who ever      
manifested such  enthusiastic affection 
for ,schopenhauer and ,wagner1 and he   
was also the  first of that numerous    
band of young followers who ultimately  
inscribed  the two great names upon     
their banner4 ,whether ,schopenhauer and
 ,wagner  ever really corresponded to   
the glorified pictures my brother       
painted  of them1 both in his letters   
and other writings1 is a question which 
we  can no longer answer in the         
affirmative4 ,perhaps what he saw in    
them  was only what he himself wished to
 be some day4    ,the amount of work my 
brother succeeded in accomplishing1     
during his  student days1 really seems  
almost incredible4 ,when we examine his 
record for the years #ahfe-fg1 we can   
scarcely believe it refers to only  two 
years' industry1 for at a guess no one  
would hesitate to suggest  four years at

 least4 ,but in those days1 as he       
himself declares1 he  still possessed   
the constitution of a bear4 ,he knew    
neither what  headaches nor indigestion 
meant1 and1 despite his short sight1 his
 eyes  were able to endure the greatest 
strain without giving him the smallest  
trouble4 ,that is why1 regardless of    
seriously interrupting his studies1  he 
was so glad at the thought of becoming a
 soldier in the forthcoming  autumn of  
#ahfg2 for he was particularly anxious  
to discover some means  of employing his
 bodily strength4    ,he discharged his 
duties as a soldier with the utmost     
mental and  physical freshness1 was the 
crack rider among the recruits of his   
year1  and was sincerely sorry when1    
owing to an accident1 he was compelled  
to  leave the colours before the        
completion of his service4 ,as a result 
of  this accident he had his first      
dangerous illness4    ,while mounting   
his horse one day1 the beast1 which was 
an uncommonly  restive one1 suddenly    

reared1 and1 causing him to strike his  
chest  sharply against the pommel of the
 saddle1 threw him to the ground4 ,my   
brother then made a second attempt to   
mount1 and succeeded this time1         
notwithstanding the fact that he had    
severely sprained and torn two  muscles 
in his chest1 and had seriously bruised 
the adjacent ribs4 ,for  a whole day he 
did his utmost to pay no heed to the    
injury1 and to  overcome the pain it    
caused him2 but in the end he only      
swooned1 and a  dangerously acute       
inflammation of the injured tissues was 
the result4  ,ultimately he was obliged 
to consult the famous specialist1       
,professor  ,volkmann1 in ,halle1 who   
quickly put him right4    ,in ,october  
#ahfh1 my brother returned to his       
studies in ,leipzig with  double joy4   
,these were his plans3 to get his       
doctor's degree as soon as  possible2 to
 proceed to ,paris1 ,italy1 and ,greece1
 make a lengthy stay  in each place1 and
 then to return to ,leipzig in order to 

settle there  as a privat docent4 ,all  
these plans were1 however1 suddenly     
frustrated  owing to his premature call 
to the ,university of ,bale1 where he   
was  invited to assume the duties of    
professor4 ,some of the philological    
essays he had written in his student    
days1 and which were published  by the  
,rheinische ,museum1 had attracted the  
attention of the  ,educational ,board at
 ,bale4 ,ratsherr ,wilhelm ,vischer1 as 
representing  this body1 appealed to    
,ritschl for fuller information4 ,now   
,ritschl1  who had early recognised my  
brother's extraordinary talents1 must   
have  written a letter of such          
enthusiastic praise 7,nietzsche is a    
genius3  he can do whatever he chooses  
to put his mind to71 that one of the    
more cautious members of the council is 
said to have observed3 ,if  the proposed
 candidate be really such a genius1 then
 it were better  did we not appoint him2
 for1 in any case1 he would only stay a 
short  time at the little ,university of

 ,bale4 ,my brother ultimately accepted 
the appointment1 and1 in view of his    
published philological works1  he was   
immediately granted the doctor's degree 
by the ,university of  ,leipzig4 ,he was
 twenty-four years and six months old   
when he took up  his position as        
professor in ,bale1--and it was with a  
heavy heart that  he proceeded there1   
for he knew the golden period of        
untrammelled  activity must cease4 ,he  
was1 however1 inspired by the deep wish 
of  being able to transfer to his pupils
 some of that ,schopenhauerian          
earnestness which is stamped on the brow
 of the sublime man4 ,i  should like to 
be something more than a mere trainer of
 capable  philologists3 the present     
generation of teachers1 the care of the 
growing broods1--all this is in my mind4
 ,if we must live1 let us at  least do  
so in such wise that others may bless   
our life once we have  been peacefully  
delivered from its toils4    ,when ,i   
look back upon that month of ,may #ahfi1

 and ask both of friends  and of myself1
 what the figure of this youthful       
,university professor  of               
four-and-twenty meant to the world at   
that time1 the reply is  naturally1 in  
the first place3 that he was one of     
,ritschl's best  pupils2 secondly1 that 
he was an exceptionally capable exponent
 of  classical antiquity with a         
brilliant career before him2 and        
thirdly1  that he was a passionate      
adorer of ,wagner and ,schopenhauer4    
,but no one  has any idea of my         
brother's independent attitude to the   
science he  had selected1 to his        
teachers and to his ideals1 and he      
deceived both  himself and us when he   
passed as a disciple who really shared  
all the  views of his respected master4 
,on the #bhth ,may #ahfi1 my brother    
delivered his inaugural address  at     
,bale ,university1 and it is said to    
have deeply impressed the  authorities4 
,the subject of the address was ,homer  
and ,classical  ,philology4    ,musing  

deeply1 the worthy councillors and      
professors walked homeward4  ,what had  
they just heard8 ,a young scholar       
discussing the very  justification of   
his own science in a cool and           
philosophically critical  spirit6 ,a man
 able to impart so much artistic glamour
 to his subject1  that the once stale   
and arid study of philology suddenly    
struck  them--and they were certainly   
not impressionable men--as the messenger
  of the gods3 and just as the ,muses   
descended upon the dull and  tormented  
,boeotian peasants1 so philology comes  
into a world full of  gloomy colours and
 pictures1 full of the deepest1 most    
incurable woes1  and speaks to men      
comfortingly of the beautiful and       
brilliant godlike  figure of a distant1 
blue1 and happy fairyland4    ,we have  
indeed got hold of a rare bird1 ,herr   
,ratsherr1 said one of  these gentlemen 
to his companion1 and the latter        
heartily agreed1 for  my brother's      
appointment had been chiefly his doing4 

,even in ,leipzig1 it was reported that 
,jacob ,burckhardt had said3  ,nietzsche
 is as much an artist as a scholar4     
,privy-,councillor  ,ritschl told me of 
this himself1 and then he added1 with a 
smile3 ,i  always said so2 he can make  
his scientific discourses as            
palpitatingly  interesting as a ,french 
novelist his novels4    ,homer and      
,classical ,philology--my brother's     
inaugural address at  the               
,university--was by no means the first  
literary attempt he had  made2 for we   
have already seen that he had had papers
 published by the  ,rheinische ,museum2 
still1 this particular discourse is     
important1  seeing that it practically  
contains the programme of many other    
subsequent essays4 ,i must1 however1    
emphasise this fact here1 that  neither 
,homer and ,classical ,philology1 nor   
,the ,birth of ,tragedy1  represents a  
beginning in my brother's career4 ,it is
 really surprising  to see how very soon
 he actually began grappling with the   

questions  which were to prove the      
problems of his life4 ,if a beginning to
 his  intellectual development be sought
 at all1 then it must be traced  to the 
years #ahfe-fg in ,leipzig4 ,the ,birth 
of ,tragedy1 his maiden  attempt at     
book-writing1 with which he began his   
twenty-eighth year1  is the last link of
 a long chain of developments1 and the  
first fruit  that was a long time coming
 to maturity4 ,nietzsche's was a        
polyphonic  nature1 in which the most   
different and apparently most           
antagonistic  talents had come together4
 ,philosophy1 art1 and science--in the  
form  of philology1 then--each certainly
 possessed a part of him4 ,the  most    
wonderful feature--perhaps it might even
 be called the real  ,nietzschean       
feature--of this versatile creature1 was
 the fact that  no eternal strife       
resulted from the juxtaposition of these
 inimical  traits1 that not one of them 
strove to dislodge1 or to get the upper 
hand of1 the others4 ,when ,nietzsche   

renounced the musical career1 in  order 
to devote himself to philology1 and gave
 himself up to the most  strenuous      
study1 he did not find it essential     
completely to suppress  his other       
tendencies3 as before1 he continued both
 to compose and  derive pleasure from   
music1 and even studied counterpoint    
somewhat  seriously4 ,moreover1 during  
his years at ,leipzig1 when he          
consciously  gave himself up to         
philological research1 he began to      
engross himself  in ,schopenhauer1 and  
was thereby won by philosophy for ever4 
,everything  that could find room took  
up its abode in him1 and these          
juxtaposed  factors1 far from           
interfering with one another's          
existence1 were rather  mutually        
fertilising and stimulating4 ,all those 
who have read the first  volume of the  
biography with attention must have been 
struck with the  perfect way in which   
the various impulses in his nature      
combined in  the end to form one general

 torrent1 and how this flowed with ever 
greater force in the direction of a     
single goal4 ,thus science1 art1  and   
philosophy developed and became ever    
more closely related in him1  until1 in 
,the ,birth of ,tragedy1 they brought   
forth a centaur1 that  is to say1 a work
 which would have been an impossible    
achievement to  a man with only a       
single1 special talent4 ,this polyphony 
of different  talents1 all coming to    
utterance together and producing the    
richest  and boldest of harmonies1 is   
the fundamental feature not only of     
,nietzsche's early days1 but of his     
whole development4 ,it is once again    
the artist1 philosopher1 and man of     
science1 who as one man in later  years1
 after many wanderings1 recantations1   
and revulsions of feeling1  produces    
that other and rarer ,centaur of highest
 rank--,zarathustra4    ,the ,birth of  
,tragedy requires perhaps a little      
explaining--more  particularly as we    
have now ceased to use either           

,schopenhauerian or  ,wagnerian terms of
 expression4 ,and it was for this reason
 that five  years after its appearance1 
my brother wrote an introduction to it1 
in which he very plainly expresses his  
doubts concerning the views it          
contains1 and the manner in which they  
are presented4 ,the kernel of its       
thought he always recognised as         
perfectly correct2 and all he deplored  
in later days was that he had spoiled   
the grand problem of ,hellenism1  as he 
understood it1 by adulterating it with  
ingredients taken from the  world of    
most modern ideas4 ,as time went on1 he 
grew ever more and more  anxious to     
define the deep meaning of this book    
with greater precision  and clearness4  
,a very good elucidation of its aims1   
which unfortunately  was never          
published1 appears among his notes of   
the year #ahhf1 and is  as follows3--   
,concerning ,the ,birth of ,tragedy4--,a
 book consisting of mere  experiences   
relating to pleasurable and             

unpleasurable sthetic states1  with a   
metaphysico-artistic background4 ,at the
 same time the confession  of a         
romanticist the sufferer feels the      
deepest longing for beauty--he  begets  
it2 finally1 a product of youth1 full of
 youthful courage and  melancholy4      
,fundamental psychological experiences3 
the word ',apollonian' stands  for that 
state of rapt repose in the presence of 
a visionary world1  in the presence of  
the world of beautiful appearance       
designed as a  deliverance from         
becoming2 the word ,dionysos1 on the    
other hand1  stands for strenuous       
becoming1 grown self-conscious1 in the  
form  of the rampant voluptuousness of  
the creator1 who is also perfectly      
conscious of the violent anger of the   
destroyer4    ,the antagonism of these  
two attitudes and the desires that      
underlie  them4 ,the first-named would  
have the vision it conjures up eternal3 
in its light man must be quiescent1     
apathetic1 peaceful1 healed1 and  on    

friendly terms with himself and all     
existence2 the second strives  after    
creation1 after the voluptuousness of   
wilful creation1 i4e4  constructing and 
destroying4 ,creation felt and explained
 as an instinct  would be merely the    
unremitting inventive action of a       
dissatisfied  being1 overflowing with   
wealth and living at high tension and   
high  pressure1--of a ,god who would    
overcome the sorrows of existence by    
means only of continual changes and     
transformations1--appearance as a       
transient and momentary deliverance2 the
 world as an apparent sequence  of      
godlike visions and deliverances4       
,this metaphysico-artistic attitude is  
opposed to ,schopenhauer's  one-sided   
view which values art1 not from the     
artist's standpoint but  from the       
spectator's1 because it brings salvation
 and deliverance  by means of the joy   
produced by unreal as opposed to the    
existing  or the real 7the experience   
only of him who is suffering and is in  

despair owing to himself and everything 
existing74--,deliverance in  the form   
and its eternity 7just as ,plato may    
have pictured it1 save  that he rejoiced
 in a complete subordination of all too 
excitable  sensibilities1 even in the   
idea itself74 ,to this is opposed the   
second  point of view--art regarded as a
 phenomenon of the artist1 above all  of
 the musician2 the torture of being     
obliged to create1 as a ,dionysian      
instinct4    ,tragic art1 rich in both  
attitudes1 represents the reconciliation
 of  ,apollo and ,dionysos4 ,appearance 
is given the greatest importance by     
,dionysos2 and yet it will be denied and
 cheerfully denied4 ,this is  directed  
against ,schopenhauer's teaching of     
,resignation as the tragic  attitude    
towards the world4    ,against ,wagner's
 theory that music is a means and drama 
an end4    ,a desire for tragic myth    
7for religion and even pessimistic      
religion7  as for a forcing frame in    
which certain plants flourish4          

,mistrust of science1 although its      
ephemerally soothing optimism be        
strongly felt2 the 'serenity' of the    
theoretical man4    ,deep antagonism to 
,christianity4 ,why8 ,the degeneration  
of the ,germanic  spirit is ascribed to 
its influence4    ,any justification of 
the world can only be an sthetic one4   
,profound  suspicions about morality    
7--it is part and parcel of the world of
  appearance74    ,the happiness of     
existence is only possible as the       
happiness derived  from appearance4     
7',being' is a fiction invented by those
 who suffer  from becoming47            
,happiness in becoming is possible only 
in the annihilation of  the real1 of the
 'existing1' of the beautifully         
visionary1--in the  pessimistic         
dissipation of illusions3--with the     
annihilation of  the most beautiful     
phenomena in the world of appearance1   
,dionysian  happiness reaches its       
zenith4    ,the ,birth of ,tragedy is   
really only a portion of a much greater 

work  on ,hellenism1 which my brother   
had always had in view from the time of 
his student days4 ,but even the portion 
it represents was originally  designed  
upon a much larger scale than the       
present one2 the reason  probably being1
 that ,nietzsche desired only to be of  
service to ,wagner4  ,when a certain    
portion of the projected work on        
,hellenism was ready  and had received  
the title ,greek ,cheerfulness1 my      
brother happened  to call upon ,wagner  
at ,tribschen in ,april #ahga1 and found
 him very  low-spirited in regard to the
 mission of his life4 ,my brother was   
very  anxious to take some decisive step
 to help him1 and1 laying the plans  of 
his great work on ,greece aside1 he     
selected a small portion from  the      
already completed manuscript--a portion 
dealing with one distinct  side of      
,hellenism1--to wit1 its tragic art4 ,he
 then associated ,wagner's  music with  
it and the name ,dionysos1 and thus took
 the first step  towards that           

world-historical view through which we  
have since grown  accustomed to regard  
,wagner4    ,from the dates of the      
various notes relating to it1 ,the      
,birth of  ,tragedy must have been      
written between the autumn of #ahfi and 
,november  #ahga--;a period during which
 a mass of sthetic questions and answers
  was fermenting in ,nietzsche's mind4  
,it was first published in ,january     
#ahgb by ,e4 ,w4 ,fritsch1 in ,leipzig1 
under the title ,the ,birth of  ,tragedy
 out of the ,spirit of ,music4 ,later on
 the title was changed to  ,the ,birth  
of ,tragedy1 or ,hellenism and          
,pessimism4                             
,,elizabeth ,,forster-,,nietzsche4      
,,weimar1 ,september #aije4      #a     
,this ,introduction by ,e4              
,frster-,nietzsche1 which appears  in   
the front of the first volume of        
,naumann's ,pocket ,edition of          
,nietzsche1 has been translated and     
arranged by ,mr4 ,a4 ,m4 ,ludovici4     
,,an ,,attempt ,,at ,,self-,,criticism4 

,i4      ,whatever may lie at the bottom
 of this doubtful book must be a        
question of the first rank and          
attractiveness1 moreover a deeply       
personal question1--in proof thereof    
observe the time in which it            
originated1 in spite of which it        
originated1 the exciting period  of the 
,franco-,german war of #ahgj-ga4 ,while 
the thunder of the battle  of ,wrth     
rolled over ,europe1 the ruminator and  
riddle-lover1 who had  to be the parent 
of this book1 sat somewhere in a nook of
 the ,alps1  lost in riddles and        
ruminations1 consequently very much     
concerned and  unconcerned at the same  
time1 and wrote down his meditations on 
the  ,greeks1--the kernel of the curious
 and almost inaccessible book1 to  which
 this belated prologue 7or epilogue7 is 
to be devoted4 ,a few weeks  later3 and 
he found himself under the walls of     
,metz1 still wrestling  with the notes  
of interrogation he had set down        
concerning the alleged  cheerfulness of 

the ,greeks and of ,greek art2 till at  
last1 in that  month of deep suspense1  
when peace was debated at ,versailles1  
he too  attained to peace with himself1 
and1 slowly recovering from a disease   
brought home from the field1 made up his
 mind definitely regarding the  ,birth  
of ,tragedy from the ,spirit of         
,music4--,from music8 ,music and        
,tragedy8 ,greeks and tragic music8     
,greeks and the ,art-work of pessimism8 
,a race of men1 well-fashioned1         
beautiful1 envied1 life-inspiring1 like 
no other race hitherto1 the             
,greeks--indeed8 ,the ,greeks were in   
need  of tragedy8 ,yea--of art8         
,wherefore--,greek art8444    ,we can   
thus guess where the great note of      
interrogation concerning the  value of  
existence had been set4 ,is pessimism   
necessarily the sign of  decline1 of    
decay1 of failure1 of exhausted and     
weakened instincts8--as  was the case   
with the ,indians1 as is1 to all        
appearance1 the case with  us modern men

 and ,europeans8 ,is there a pessimism  
of strength8 ,an  intellectual          
predilection for what is hard1 awful1   
evil1 problematical  in existence1 owing
 to well-being1 to exuberant health1 to 
fullness  of existence8 ,is there       
perhaps suffering in overfullness       
itself8 ,a  seductive fortitude with the
 keenest of glances1 which yearns for   
the terrible1 as for the enemy1 the     
worthy enemy1 with whom it may try  its 
strength8 from whom it is willing to    
learn what fear is8 ,what  means tragic 
myth to the ,greeks of the best1        
strongest1 bravest era8  ,and the       
prodigious phenomenon of the ,dionysian8
 ,and that which was  born thereof1     
tragedy8--,and again3 that of which     
tragedy died1 the  ,socratism of        
morality1 the dialectics1 contentedness 
and cheerfulness  of the theoretical    
man--indeed8 might not this very        
,socratism  be a sign of decline1 of    
weariness1 of disease1 of anarchically  
disintegrating instincts8 ,and the      

,hellenic cheerfulness of the later     
,hellenism merely a glowing sunset8 ,the
 ,epicurean will counter to  pessimism  
merely a precaution of the sufferer8    
,and science itself1  our science--ay1  
viewed as a symptom of life1 what really
 signifies  all science8 ,whither1 worse
 still1 whence--all science8 ,well8 ,is 
scientism perhaps only fear and evasion 
of pessimism8 ,a subtle defence         
against--truth6 ,morally speaking1      
something like falsehood and  cowardice8
 ,and1 unmorally speaking1 an artifice8 
,o ,socrates1 ,socrates1  was this      
perhaps thy secret8 ,oh mysterious      
ironist1 was this perhaps               
thine--irony8444        #b4      ,what  
,i then laid hands on1 something        
terrible and dangerous1 a  problem with 
horns1 not necessarily a bull itself1   
but at all events  a new problem3 ,i    
should say to-day it was the problem of 
science  itself--science conceived for  
the first time as problematic1 as       
questionable4 ,but the book1 in which my

 youthful ardour and suspicion  then    
discharged themselves--what an          
impossible book must needs  grow out of 
a task so disagreeable to youth4        
,constructed of nought  but precocious1 
unripened self-experiences1 all of which
 lay close  to the threshold of the     
communicable1 based on the groundwork of
  art--for the problem of science cannot
 be discerned on the groundwork  of     
science1--a book perhaps for artists1   
with collateral analytical  and         
retrospective aptitudes 7that is1 an    
exceptional kind of artists1  for whom  
one must seek and does not even care to 
seek 44471 full of  psychological       
innovations and artists' secrets1 with  
an artists'  metaphysics in the         
background1 a work of youth1 full of    
youth's mettle  and youth's melancholy1 
independent1 defiantly self-sufficient  
even  when it seems to bow to some      
authority and self-veneration2 in short1
  a firstling-work1 even in every bad   
sense of the term2 in spite of its      

senile problem1 affected with every     
fault of youth1 above all with  youth's 
prolixity and youth's storm and stress3 
on the other hand1  in view of the      
success it had 7especially with the     
great artist to  whom it addressed      
itself1 as it were1 in a duologue1      
,richard ,wagner7 a  demonstrated book1 
,i mean a book which1 at any rate1      
sufficed for  the best of its time4 ,on 
this account1 if for no other reason1 it
  should be treated with some           
consideration and reserve2 yet ,i shall 
not  altogether conceal how disagreeable
 it now appears to me1 how after        
sixteen years it stands a total stranger
 before me1--before an eye  which is    
more mature1 and a hundred times more   
fastidious1 but which  has by no means  
grown colder nor lost any of its        
interest in that  self-same task essayed
 for the first time by this daring      
book1--to  view science through the     
optics of the artist1 and art moreover  
through  the optics of life4444         

#c4      ,i say again1 to-day it is an  
impossible book to me1--,i call it badly
  written1 heavy1 painful1 image-angling
 and image-entangling1 maudlin1  sugared
 at times even to femininism1 uneven in 
tempo1 void of the will  to logical     
cleanliness1 very convinced and         
therefore rising above the  necessity of
 demonstration1 distrustful even of the 
propriety of  demonstration1 as being a 
book for initiates1 as music for those  
who  are baptised with the name of      
,music1 who are united from the         
beginning  of things by common ties of  
rare experiences in art1 as a           
countersign  for blood-relations in     
artibus4--a haughty and fantastic book1 
which from the very first withdraws even
 more from the profanum  vulgus of the  
cultured than from the people1 but which
 also1 as  its effect has shown and     
still shows1 knows very well how to seek
  fellow-enthusiasts and lure them to   
new by-ways and dancing-grounds4  ,here1
 at any rate--thus much was acknowledged

 with curiosity as well  as with        
aversion--a strange voice spoke1 the    
disciple of a still  unknown ,god1 who  
for the time being had hidden himself   
under the  hood of the scholar1 under   
the ,german's gravity and disinclination
 for  dialectics1 even under the bad    
manners of the ,wagnerian2 here was a   
spirit with strange and still nameless  
needs1 a memory bristling with          
questions1 experiences and obscurities1 
beside which stood the name  ,dionysos  
like one more note of interrogation2    
here spoke--people said  to themselves  
with misgivings--something like a mystic
 and almost  mnadic soul1 which1        
undecided whether it should disclose or 
conceal  itself1 stammers with an effort
 and capriciously as in a strange       
tongue4 ,it should have sung1 this new  
soul--and not spoken6 ,what  a pity1    
that ,i did not dare to say what ,i then
 had to say1 as a poet3  ,i could have  
done so perhaps6 ,or at least as a      
philologist3--for even  at the present  

day well-nigh everything in this domain 
remains to be  discovered and           
disinterred by the philologist6 ,above  
all the problem1  that here there is a  
problem before us1--and that1 so long as
 we  have no answer to the question what
 is ,dionysian8 the ,greeks are now  as 
ever wholly unknown and                 
inconceivable4444        #d4      ,ay1  
what is ,dionysian8--,in this book may  
be found an answer1--a  knowing one     
speaks here1 the votary and disciple of 
his god4  ,perhaps ,i should now speak  
more guardedly and less eloquently of a 
psychological question so difficult as  
the origin of tragedy among the         
,greeks4 ,a fundamental question is the 
relation of the ,greek to pain1  his    
degree of sensibility1--did this        
relation remain constant8 or did  it    
veer about8--the question1 whether his  
ever-increasing longing  for beauty1 for
 festivals1 gaieties1 new cults1 did    
really grow out  of want1 privation1    
melancholy1 pain8 ,for suppose even this

 to be  true--and ,pericles 7or         
,thucydides7 intimates as much in the   
great  ,funeral ,speech3--whence then   
the opposite longing1 which appeared    
first in the order of time1 the longing 
for the ugly1 the good1  resolute desire
 of the ,old ,hellene for pessimism1 for
 tragic myth1 for  the picture of all   
that is terrible1 evil1 enigmatical1    
destructive1  fatal at the basis of     
existence1--whence then must tragedy    
have  sprung8 ,perhaps from joy1 from   
strength1 from exuberant health1 from   
over-fullness4 ,and what then1          
physiologically speaking1 is the meaning
  of that madness1 out of which comic as
 well as tragic art has grown1  the     
,dionysian madness8 ,what8 perhaps      
madness is not necessarily the  symptom 
of degeneration1 of decline1 of belated 
culture8 ,perhaps there  are--a question
 for alienists--neuroses of health8 of  
folk-youth  and youthfulness8 ,what does
 that synthesis of god and goat in the  
,satyr point to8 ,what self-experience  

what stress1 made the ,greek  think of  
the ,dionysian reveller and primitive   
man as a satyr8 ,and as  regards the    
origin of the tragic chorus3 perhaps    
there were endemic  ecstasies in the    
eras when the ,greek body bloomed and   
the ,greek soul  brimmed over with life8
 ,visions and hallucinations1 which took
 hold  of entire communities1 entire    
cult-assemblies8 ,what if the ,greeks   
in the very wealth of their youth had   
the will to be tragic and  were         
pessimists8 ,what if it was madness     
itself1 to use a word of  ,plato's1     
which brought the greatest blessings    
upon ,hellas8 ,and  what if1 on the     
other hand and conversely1 at the very  
time of their  dissolution and weakness1
 the ,greeks became always more         
optimistic1  more superficial1 more     
histrionic1 also more ardent for logic  
and  the logicising of the              
world1--consequently at the same time   
more  cheerful and more scientific8 ,ay1
 despite all modern ideas and           

prejudices of the democratic taste1 may 
not the triumph of optimism1  the common
 sense that has gained the upper hand1  
the practical and  theoretical          
utilitarianism1 like democracy itself1  
with which it is  synchronous--be       
symptomatic of declining vigour1 of     
approaching age1  of physiological      
weariness8 ,and not at all--pessimism8  
,was ,epicurus  an optimist--because a  
sufferer8444 ,we see it is a whole      
bundle of  weighty questions which this 
book has taken upon itself1--let us not 
fail to add its weightiest question6    
,viewed through the optics of  life1    
what is the meaning of--morality8444    
#e4      ,already in the foreword to    
,richard ,wagner1 art---and not         
morality--is  set down as the properly  
metaphysical activity of man2 in the    
book itself the piquant proposition     
recurs time and again1 that the         
existence of the world is justified only
 as an sthetic phenomenon4  ,indeed1 the
 entire book recognises only an         

artist-thought and  artist-after-thought
 behind all occurrences1--a ,god1 if you
 will1  but certainly only an altogether
 thoughtless and unmoral artist-,god1   
who1 in construction as in destruction1 
in good as in evil1 desires  to become  
conscious of his own equable joy and    
sovereign glory2 who1  in creating      
worlds1 frees himself from the anguish  
of fullness  and overfullness1 from the 
suffering of the contradictions         
concentrated within him4 ,the world1    
that is1 the redemption of ,god         
attained at every moment1 as the        
perpetually changing1 perpetually  new  
vision of the most suffering1 most      
antithetical1 most contradictory  being1
 who contrives to redeem himself only in
 appearance3 this  entire               
artist-metaphysics1 call it arbitrary1  
idle1 fantastic1 if  you will1--the     
point is1 that it already betrays a     
spirit1 which is  determined some day1  
at all hazards1 to make a stand against 
the  moral interpretation and           

significance of life4 ,here1 perhaps for
 the  first time1 a pessimism ,beyond   
,good and ,evil announces itself1 here  
that perverseness of disposition obtains
 expression and formulation1  against   
which ,schopenhauer never grew tired of 
hurling beforehand his  angriest        
imprecations and thunderbolts1--a       
philosophy which dares to  put1         
derogatorily put1 morality itself in the
 world of phenomena1 and  not only among
 phenomena 7in the sense of the         
idealistic terminus  technicus71 but    
among the illusions1 as appearance1     
semblance1  error1 interpretation1      
accommodation1 art4 ,perhaps the depth  
of this  antimoral tendency may be best 
estimated from the guarded and  hostile 
silence with which ,christianity is     
treated throughout this                 
book1--,christianity1 as being the most 
extravagant burlesque of the  moral     
theme to which mankind has hitherto been
 obliged to listen4 ,in  fact1 to the   
purely sthetic world-interpretation and 

justification  taught in this book1     
there is no greater antithesis than the 
,christian  dogma1 which is only and    
will be only moral1 and which1 with  its
 absolute standards1 for instance1 its  
truthfulness of ,god1  relegates--that  
is1 disowns1 convicts1 condemns--art1   
all art1 to  the realm of falsehood4    
,behind such a mode of thought and      
valuation1  which1 if at all genuine1   
must be hostile to art1 ,i always       
experienced  what was hostile to life1  
the wrathful1 vindictive counterwill to 
life itself3 for all life rests on      
appearance1 art1 illusion1 optics1      
necessity of perspective and error4     
,from the very first ,christianity  was1
 essentially and thoroughly1 the nausea 
and surfeit of ,life for  ,life1 which  
only disguised1 concealed and decked    
itself out under the  belief in another 
or better life4 ,the hatred of the      
world1 the  curse on the affections1 the
 fear of beauty and sensuality1 another 
world1 invented for the purpose of      

slandering this world the more1  at     
bottom a longing for4 ,nothingness1 for 
the end1 for rest1 for the  ,sabbath of 
,sabbaths--all this1 as also the        
unconditional will of  ,christianity to 
recognise only moral values1 has always 
appeared to  me as the most dangerous   
and ominous of all possible forms of a  
will  to perish2 at the least1 as the   
symptom of a most fatal disease1 of     
profoundest weariness1 despondency1     
exhaustion1 impoverishment of           
life1--for before the tribunal of       
morality 7especially ,christian1 that   
is1 unconditional morality7 life must   
constantly and inevitably be  the loser1
 because life is something essentially  
unmoral1--indeed1  oppressed with the   
weight of contempt and the everlasting  
,no1 life  must finally be regarded as  
unworthy of desire1 as in itself        
unworthy4 ,morality itself what8--may   
not morality be a will to  disown life1 
a secret instinct for annihilation1 a   
principle of  decay1 of depreciation1 of

 slander1 a beginning of the end8 ,and1 
consequently1 the danger of dangers8444 
,it was against morality1  therefore1   
that my instinct1 as an                 
intercessory-instinct for life1  turned 
in this questionable book1 inventing for
 itself a fundamental  counter--dogma   
and counter-valuation of life1 purely   
artistic1 purely  anti-,christian4 ,what
 should ,i call it8 ,as a philologist   
and man of  words ,i baptised it1 not   
without some liberty--for who could be  
sure  of the proper name of the         
,antichrist8--with the name of a ,greek 
god3 ,i  called it ,dionysian4          
#f4      ,you see which problem ,i      
ventured to touch upon in this early    
work8444  ,how ,i now regret1 that ,i   
had not then the courage 7or immodesty87
 to  allow myself1 in all respects1 the 
use of an individual language  for such 
individual contemplations and ventures  
in the field of  thought--that ,i       
laboured to express1 in ,kantian and    
,schopenhauerian  formul1 strange and   

new valuations1 which ran fundamentally 
counter  to the spirit of ,kant and     
,schopenhauer1 as well as to their      
taste6  ,what1 forsooth1 were           
,schopenhauer's views on tragedy8 ,what 
gives--he  says in ,welt als ,wille und 
,vorstellung1 ,,ii4 #die--to all tragedy
  that singular swing towards elevation1
 is the awakening of the  knowledge that
 the world1 that life1 cannot satisfy us
 thoroughly1  and consequently is not   
worthy of our attachment ,in this       
consists  the tragic spirit3 it         
therefore leads to resignation4 ,oh1 how
  differently ,dionysos spoke to me6 ,oh
 how far from me then was just  this    
entire resignationism6--,but there is   
something far worse in this  book1 which
 ,i now regret even more than having    
obscured and spoiled  ,dionysian        
anticipations with ,schopenhauerian     
formul3 to wit1 that1 in  general1 ,i   
spoiled the grand ,hellenic problem1 as 
it had opened  up before me1 by the     
admixture of the most modern things6    

,that ,i  entertained hopes1 where      
nothing was to be hoped for1 where      
everything  pointed all-too-clearly to  
an approaching end6 ,that1 on the basis 
of  our latter-day ,german music1 ,i    
began to fable about the spirit of      
,teutonism1 as if it were on the point  
of discovering and returning  to        
itself1--ay1 at the very time that the  
,german spirit which not so  very long  
before had had the will to the lordship 
over ,europe1 the  strength to lead and 
govern ,europe1 testamentarily and      
conclusively  resigned and1 under the   
pompous pretence of empire-founding1    
effected its transition to              
mediocritisation1 democracy1 and modern 
ideas4 ,in very fact1 ,i have since     
learned to regard this spirit of        
,teutonism as something to be despaired 
of and unsparingly treated1  as also our
 present ,german music1 which is        
,romanticism through and  through and   
the most un-,grecian of all possible    
forms of art3 and  moreover a first-rate

 nerve-destroyer1 doubly dangerous for a
 people  given to drinking and revering 
the unclear as a virtue1 namely1 in  its
 twofold capacity of an intoxicating and
 stupefying narcotic4 ,of  course1 apart
 from all precipitate hopes and faulty  
applications to  matters specially      
modern1 with which ,i then spoiled my   
first book1 the  great ,dionysian note  
of interrogation1 as set down therein1  
continues  standing on and on1 even with
 reference to music3 how must we        
conceive  of a music1 which is no longer
 of ,romantic origin1 like the ,german2 
but  of ,dionysian8444        #g4       
--,but1 my dear ,sir1 if your book is   
not ,romanticism1 what in  the world is8
 ,can the deep hatred of the present1 of
 reality  and modern ideas be pushed    
farther than has been done in your      
artist-metaphysics8--which would rather 
believe in ,nothing1 or in  the devil1  
than in the ,now8 ,does not a radical   
bass of wrath and  annihilative pleasure
 growl on beneath all your contrapuntal 

vocal  art and aural seduction1 a mad   
determination to oppose all that now    
is1 a will which is not so very far     
removed from practical nihilism  and    
which seems to say3 rather let nothing  
be true1 than that you  should be in the
 right1 than that your truth should     
prevail6  ,hear1 yourself1 my dear ,sir 
,pessimist and art-deifier1 with ever   
so unlocked ears1 a single select       
passage of your own book1 that  not     
ineloquent dragon-slayer passage1 which 
may sound insidiously  rat-charming to  
young ears and hearts4 ,what8 is not    
that the true  blue                     
romanticist-confession of #ahcj under   
the mask of the pessimism  of #ahej8    
,after which1 of course1 the usual      
romanticist finale at once  strikes     
up1--rupture1 collapse1 return and      
prostration before an old  belief1      
before the old ,god4444 ,what8 is not   
your pessimist book  itself a piece of  
anti-,hellenism and ,romanticism1       
something equally  intoxicating and     

befogging1 a narcotic at all events1 ay1
 a piece of  music1 of ,german music8   
,but listen3        ,let us imagine a   
rising generation with this             
undauntedness      of vision1 with this 
heroic impulse towards the prodigious1  
let us imagine the bold step of these   
dragon-slayers1      the proud daring   
with which they turn their backs on all 
the effeminate doctrines of optimism1 in
 order to live      resolutely in the   
,whole and in the ,full3 would it not be
      necessary for the tragic man of   
this culture1 with his                  
self-discipline to earnestness and      
terror1 to desire a new      art1 the   
art of metaphysical comfort1 tragedy as 
the      ,helena belonging to him1 and  
that he should exclaim with      ,faust3
            ,und sollt ich nicht1       
sehnschtigster ,gewalt1          ,in's  
,leben ziehn die einzigste ,gestalt8#a  
,would it not be necessary8 444 ,no1    
thrice no6 ye young  romanticists3 it   
would not be necessary6 ,but it is very 

probable1  that things may end thus1    
that ye may end thus1 namely comforted1 
as it is written1 in spite of all       
self-discipline to earnestness and      
terror2 metaphysically comforted1 in    
short1 as ,romanticists are wont to     
end1 as ,christians4444 ,no6 ye should  
first of all learn the art of  earthly  
comfort1 ye should learn to laugh1 my   
young friends1 if ye  are at all        
determined to remain pessimists3 if so1 
you will perhaps1  as laughing ones1    
eventually send all metaphysical        
comfortism to the  devil--and           
metaphysics first of all6 ,or1 to say it
 in the language of  that ,dionysian    
ogre1 called ,zarathustra3        ,lift 
up your hearts1 my brethren1 high1      
higher6 ,and do      not forget your    
legs6 ,lift up also your legs1 ye good  
dancers--and better still if ye stand   
also on your heads6        ,this crown  
of the laughter1 this rose-garland      
crown--,i      myself have put on this  
crown2 ,i myself have consecrated my    

laughter4 ,no one else have ,i found    
to-day strong enough for      this4     
,zarathustra the dancer1 ,zarathustra   
the light one1      who beckoneth with  
his pinions1 one ready for flight1      
beckoning unto all birds1 ready and     
prepared1 a blissfully                  
light-spirited one3--                   
,zarathustra the soothsayer1            
,zarathustra the sooth-laugher1      no 
impatient one1 no absolute one1 one who 
loveth leaps and      side-leaps3 ,i    
myself have put on this crown6          
,this crown of the laughter1 this       
rose-garland crown--to      you my      
brethren do ,i cast this crown6         
,laughing have ,i      consecrated3 ye  
higher men1 learn1 ,i pray you--to      
laugh6        ,thus spake ,zarathustra1 
lxxiii4 #ag1 #ah1 and #bj4              
,,sils-,,maria1 ,,oberengadin1 ,august  
#ahhf4      #a        ,and shall not ,i1
 by mightiest desire1      ,in living   
shape that sole fair form acquire8      
,,swanwick1 trans4 of ,faust4           

,,the ,,birth ,,of ,,tragedy    ,,from  
,,the ,,spirit ,,of ,,music             
,,foreword ,,to ,,richard ,,wagner4     
,in order to keep at a distance all the 
possible scruples1 excitements1  and    
misunderstandings to which the thoughts 
gathered in this essay  will give       
occasion1 considering the peculiar      
character of our sthetic  publicity1 and
 to be able also to write the           
introductory remarks  with the same     
contemplative delight1 the impress of   
which1 as the  petrifaction of good and 
elevating hours1 it bears on every page1
 ,i  form a conception of the moment    
when you1 my highly honoured friend1    
will receive this essay2 how you1 say   
after an evening walk in the  winter    
snow1 will behold the unbound           
,prometheus on the title-page1  read my 
name1 and be forthwith convinced that1  
whatever this essay may  contain1 the   
author has something earnest and        
impressive to say1 and1  moreover1 that 
in all his meditations he communed with 

you as with one  present and could thus 
write only what befitted your presence4 
,you  will thus remember that it was at 
the same time as your magnificent       
dissertation on ,beethoven originated1  
viz41 amidst the horrors and            
sublimities of the war which had just   
then broken out1 that ,i collected      
myself for these thoughts4 ,but those   
persons would err1 to whom this         
collection suggests no more perhaps than
 the antithesis of patriotic  excitement
 and sthetic revelry1 of gallant        
earnestness and sportive  delight4 ,upon
 a real perusal of this essay1 such     
readers will1 rather  to their surprise1
 discover how earnest is the ,german    
problem we have  to deal with1 which we 
properly place1 as a vortex and         
turning-point1  in the very midst of    
,german hopes4 ,perhaps1 however1 this  
same class  of readers will be shocked  
at seeing an sthetic problem taken so   
seriously1 especially if they can       
recognise in art no more than a merry   

diversion1 a readily dispensable        
court-jester to the earnestness  of     
existence3 as if no one were aware of   
the real meaning of this  confrontation 
with the earnestness of existence4      
,these earnest ones  may be informed    
that ,i am convinced that art is the    
highest task and  the properly          
metaphysical activity of this life1 as  
it is understood by  the man1 to whom1  
as my sublime protagonist on this path1 
,i would now  dedicate this essay4      
,,basel1 end of the year #ahga4         
,,the ,,birth ,,of ,,tragedy4        #a4
      ,we shall have gained much for the
 science of sthetics1 when once we  have
 perceived not only by logical          
inference1 but by the immediate         
certainty of intuition1 that the        
continuous development of art is bound  
up with the duplexity of the ,apollonian
 and the ,dionysian3 in  like manner as 
procreation is dependent on the duality 
of the sexes1  involving perpetual      
conflicts with only periodically        

intervening  reconciliations4 ,these    
names we borrow from the ,greeks1 who   
disclose  to the intelligent observer   
the profound mysteries of their view of 
art1 not indeed in concepts1 but in the 
impressively clear figures of  their    
world of deities4 ,it is in connection  
with ,apollo and ,dionysus1  the two    
art-deities of the ,greeks1 that we     
learn that there existed in  the        
,grecian world a wide antithesis1 in    
origin and aims1 between the  art of the
 shaper1 the ,apollonian1 and the       
non-plastic art of music1  that of      
,dionysus3 both these so heterogeneous  
tendencies run parallel  to each other1 
for the most part openly at variance1   
and continually  inciting each other to 
new and more powerful births1 to        
perpetuate in  them the strife of this  
antithesis1 which is but seemingly      
bridged over  by their mutual term ,art2
 till at last1 by a metaphysical miracle
  of the ,hellenic will1 they appear    
paired with each other1 and through     

this pairing eventually generate the    
equally ,dionysian and ,apollonian      
art-work of ,attic tragedy4    ,in order
 to bring these two tendencies within   
closer range1 let us  conceive them     
first of all as the separate art-worlds 
of dreamland  and drunkenness2 between  
which physiological phenomena a contrast
  may be observed analogous to that     
existing between the ,apollonian and    
the ,dionysian4 ,in dreams1 according to
 the conception of ,lucretius1  the     
glorious divine figures first appeared  
to the souls of men1 in  dreams the     
great shaper beheld the charming        
corporeal structure of  superhuman      
beings1 and the ,hellenic poet1 if      
consulted on the mysteries  of poetic   
inspiration1 would likewise have        
suggested dreams and would  have offered
 an explanation resembling that of ,hans
 ,sachs in the  ,meistersingers3--      
,mein ,freund1 das grad' ist ,dichters  
,werk1      dass er sein ,trumen deut'  
und merk'4      ,glaubt mir1 des        

,menschen wahrster ,wahn      wird ihm  
im ,traume aufgethan3      all'         
,dichtkunst und ,poeterei      ist      
nichts als ,wahrtraum-,deuterei4#a      
,the beauteous appearance of the        
dream-worlds1 in the production of      
which every man is a perfect artist1 is 
the presupposition of all  plastic art1 
and in fact1 as we shall see1 of an     
important half of  poetry also4 ,we take
 delight in the immediate apprehension  
of form2 all  forms speak to us2 there  
is nothing indifferent1 nothing         
superfluous4  ,but1 together with the   
highest life of this dream-reality we   
also have1  glimmering through it1 the  
sensation of its appearance3 such at    
least  is my experience1 as to the      
frequency1 ay1 normality of which ,i    
could  adduce many proofs1 as also the  
sayings of the poets4 ,indeed1 the man  
of philosophic turn has a foreboding    
that underneath this reality in  which  
we live and have our being1 another and 
altogether different  reality lies      

concealed1 and that therefore it is also
 an appearance2  and ,schopenhauer      
actually designates the gift of         
occasionally regarding  men and things  
as mere phantoms and dream-pictures as  
the criterion of  philosophical ability4
 ,accordingly1 the man susceptible to   
art stands  in the same relation to the 
reality of dreams as the philosopher to 
the reality of existence2 he is a close 
and willing observer1 for from  these   
pictures he reads the meaning of life1  
and by these processes  he trains       
himself for life4 ,and it is perhaps not
 only the agreeable  and friendly       
pictures that he realises in himself    
with such perfect  understanding3 the   
earnest1 the troubled1 the dreary1 the  
gloomy1 the  sudden checks1 the tricks  
of fortune1 the uneasy presentiments1 in
  short1 the whole ,divine ,comedy of   
life1 and the ,inferno1 also pass       
before him1 not merely like pictures on 
the wall--for he too lives and  suffers 
in these scenes1--and yet not without   

that fleeting sensation  of appearance4 
,and perhaps many a one will1 like      
myself1 recollect  having sometimes     
called out cheeringly and not without   
success amid the  dangers and terrors of
 dream-life3 ,it is a dream6 ,i will    
dream on6 ,i  have likewise been told of
 persons capable of continuing the      
causality  of one and the same dream for
 three and even more successive nights3 
all of which facts clearly testify that 
our innermost being1 the common         
substratum of all of us1 experiences our
 dreams with deep joy and  cheerful     
acquiescence4    ,this cheerful         
acquiescence in the dream-experience has
 likewise been  embodied by the ,greeks 
in their ,apollo3 for ,apollo1 as the   
god of  all shaping energies1 is also   
the soothsaying god4 ,he1 who 7as the   
etymology of the name indicates7 is the 
shining one1 the deity of  light1 also  
rules over the fair appearance of the   
inner world of  fantasies4 ,the higher  
truth1 the perfection of these states in

 contrast  to the only partially        
intelligible everyday world1 ay1 the    
deep  consciousness of nature1 healing  
and helping in sleep and dream1 is at   
the same time the symbolical analogue of
 the faculty of soothsaying  and1 in    
general1 of the arts1 through which life
 is made possible and  worth living4    
,but also that delicate line1 which the 
dream-picture must  not overstep--lest  
it act pathologically 7in which case    
appearance1  being reality pure and     
simple1 would impose upon us7--must not 
be  wanting in the picture of ,apollo3  
that measured limitation1 that  freedom 
from the wilder emotions1 that          
philosophical calmness of the           
sculptor-god4 ,his eye must be sunlike1 
according to his origin2 even  when it  
is angry and looks displeased1 the      
sacredness of his beauteous  appearance 
is still there4 ,and so we might apply  
to ,apollo1 in an  eccentric sense1 what
 ,schopenhauer says of the man wrapt in 
the veil  of ,my#b3 ,welt als ,wille und

 ,vorstellung1 ,i4 p4 #daf3 ,just as in 
a stormy sea1 unbounded in every        
direction1 rising and falling with      
howling mountainous waves1 a sailor sits
 in a boat and trusts in his  frail     
barque3 so in the midst of a world of   
sorrows the individual sits  quietly    
supported by and trusting in his        
principium individuationis4  ,indeed1 we
 might say of ,apollo1 that in him the  
unshaken faith in  this principium and  
the quiet sitting of the man wrapt      
therein have  received their sublimest  
expression2 and we might even designate 
,apollo  as the glorious divine image of
 the principium individuationis1  from  
out of the gestures and looks of which  
all the joy and wisdom of  appearance1  
together with its beauty1 speak to us4  
,in the same work ,schopenhauer has     
described to us the stupendous awe      
which seizes upon man1 when of a sudden 
he is at a loss to account for  the     
cognitive forms of a phenomenon1 in that
 the principle of reason1  in some one  

of its manifestations1 seems to admit of
 an exception4  ,add to this awe the    
blissful ecstasy which rises from the   
innermost  depths of man1 ay1 of nature1
 at this same collapse of the principium
  individuationis1 and we shall gain an 
insight into the being of  the          
,dionysian1 which is brought within     
closest ken perhaps by the  analogy of  
drunkenness4 ,it is either under the    
influence of the  narcotic draught1 of  
which the hymns of all primitive men and
 peoples  tell us1 or by the powerful   
approach of spring penetrating all      
nature  with joy1 that those ,dionysian 
emotions awake1 in the augmentation of  
which the subjective vanishes to        
complete self-forgetfulness4 ,so also   
in the ,german ,middle ,ages singing and
 dancing crowds1 ever increasing  in    
number1 were borne from place to place  
under this same ,dionysian  power4 ,in  
these ,st4 ,john's and ,st4 ,vitus's    
dancers we again perceive  the ,bacchic 
choruses of the ,greeks1 with their     

previous history in ,asia  ,minor1 as   
far back as ,babylon and the orgiastic  
,saca4 ,there are some1  who1 from lack 
of experience or obtuseness1 will turn  
away from such  phenomena as            
folk-diseases with a smile of contempt  
or pity prompted  by the consciousness  
of their own health3 of course1 the poor
 wretches  do not divine what a         
cadaverous-looking and ghastly aspect   
this very  health of theirs presents    
when the glowing life of the ,dionysian 
revellers rushes past them4    ,under   
the charm of the ,dionysian not only is 
the covenant between man  and man again 
established1 but also estranged1 hostile
 or subjugated  nature again celebrates 
her reconciliation with her lost son1   
man4 ,of  her own accord earth proffers 
her gifts1 and peacefully the beasts of 
prey approach from the desert and the   
rocks4 ,the chariot of ,dionysus is     
bedecked with flowers and garlands3     
panthers and tigers pass beneath  his   
yoke4 ,change ,beethoven's jubilee-song 

into a painting1 and1 if  your          
imagination be equal to the occasion    
when the awestruck millions  sink into  
the dust1 you will then be able to      
approach the ,dionysian4  ,now is the   
slave a free man1 now all the stubborn1 
hostile barriers1  which necessity1     
caprice1 or shameless fashion has set up
 between  man and man1 are broken down4 
,now1 at the evangel of cosmic harmony1 
each one feels himself not only united1 
reconciled1 blended with  his neighbour1
 but as one with him1 as if the veil of 
,my has been  torn and were now merely  
fluttering in tatters before the        
mysterious  ,primordial ,unity4 ,in song
 and in dance man exhibits himself as a 
member  of a higher community1 has      
forgotten how to walk and speak1 and is 
on  the point of taking a dancing flight
 into the air4 ,his gestures bespeak    
enchantment4 ,even as the animals now   
talk1 and as the earth yields milk  and 
honey1 so also something super-natural  
sounds forth from him3 he  feels himself

 a god1 he himself now walks about      
enchanted and elated  even as the gods  
whom he saw walking about in his dreams4
 ,man is no  longer an artist1 he has   
become a work of art3 the artistic power
 of  all nature here reveals itself in  
the tremors of drunkenness to the       
highest gratification of the ,primordial
 ,unity4 ,the noblest clay1 the         
costliest marble1 namely man1 is here   
kneaded and cut1 and the chisel  strokes
 of the ,dionysian world-artist are     
accompanied with the cry of  the        
,eleusinian mysteries3 ,ihr strzt       
nieder1 ,millionen8 ,ahnest du den      
,schpfer1 ,welt8#c      #a        ,my   
friend1 just this is poet's task3       
,his dreams to read and to unmask4      
,trust me1 illusion's truths thrice     
sealed      ,in dream to man will be    
revealed4      ,all verse-craft and     
poetisation      ,is but soothdream     
interpretation4    #b ,cf4 ,world and   
,will as ,idea1 #a4 #dee ff41 trans1 by 
,haldane and ,kemp4    #c        ,ye bow

 in the dust1 oh millions8      ,thy    
maker1 mortal1 dost divine8  ,cf4       
,schiller's ,hymn to ,joy2 and          
,beethoven1 ,ninth ,symphony4--,,tr4    
#b4      ,thus far we have considered   
the ,apollonian and his antithesis1  the
 ,dionysian1 as artistic powers1 which  
burst forth from nature  herself1       
without the mediation of the human      
artist1 and in which  her art-impulses  
are satisfied in the most immediate and 
direct way3  first1 as the pictorial    
world of dreams1 the perfection of which
  has no connection whatever with the   
intellectual height or artistic  culture
 of the unit man1 and again1 as drunken 
reality1 which likewise  does not heed  
the unit man1 but even seeks to destroy 
the individual  and redeem him by a     
mystic feeling of ,oneness4 ,anent these
 immediate  art-states of nature every  
artist is either an imitator1 to wit1   
either an ,apollonian1 an artist in     
dreams1 or a ,dionysian1 an artist  in  
ecstasies1 or finally--as for instance  

in ,greek tragedy--an artist  in both   
dreams and ecstasies3 so we may perhaps 
picture him1 as in  his ,dionysian      
drunkenness and mystical                
self-abnegation1 lonesome and  apart    
from the revelling choruses1 he sinks   
down1 and how now1 through  ,apollonian 
dream-inspiration1 his own state1 i4e41 
his oneness  with the primal source of  
the universe1 reveals itself to him in a
  symbolical dream-picture4    ,after   
these general premisings and            
contrastings1 let us now approach  the  
,greeks in order to learn in what degree
 and to what height  these art-impulses 
of nature were developed in them3       
whereby  we shall be enabled to         
understand and appreciate more deeply   
the  relation of the ,greek artist to   
his archetypes1 or1 according to the    
,aristotelian expression1 the imitation 
of nature4 ,in spite of all the         
dream-literature and the numerous       
dream-anecdotes of the ,greeks1 we can  
speak only conjecturally1 though with a 

fair degree of certainty1 of  their     
dreams4 ,considering the incredibly     
precise and unerring plastic  power of  
their eyes1 as also their manifest and  
sincere delight in  colours1 we can     
hardly refrain 7to the shame of every   
one born later7  from assuming for their
 very dreams a logical causality of     
lines and  contours1 colours and groups1
 a sequence of scenes resembling their  
best reliefs1 the perfection of which   
would certainly justify us1 if a        
comparison were possible1 in designating
 the dreaming ,greeks as ,homers  and   
,homer as a dreaming ,greek3 in a deeper
 sense than when modern man1  in respect
 to his dreams1 ventures to compare     
himself with ,shakespeare4    ,on the   
other hand1 we should not have to speak 
conjecturally1 if asked  to disclose the
 immense gap which separated the        
,dionysian ,greek from  the ,dionysian  
barbarian4 ,from all quarters of the    
,ancient ,world--to  say nothing of the 
modern--from ,rome as far as ,babylon1  

we can prove  the existence of          
,dionysian festivals1 the type of which 
bears1 at  best1 the same relation to   
the ,greek festivals as the bearded     
satyr1  who borrowed his name and       
attributes from the goat1 does to       
,dionysus  himself4 ,in nearly every    
instance the centre of these festivals  
lay  in extravagant sexual              
licentiousness1 the waves of which      
overwhelmed  all family life and its    
venerable traditions2 the very wildest  
beasts  of nature were let loose here1  
including that detestable mixture of    
lust and cruelty which has always seemed
 to me the genuine witches'  draught4   
,for some time1 however1 it would seem  
that the ,greeks  were perfectly secure 
and guarded against the feverish        
agitations  of these festivals 7--the   
knowledge of which entered ,greece by   
all  the channels of land and sea7 by   
the figure of ,apollo himself rising    
here in full pride1 who could not have  
held out the ,gorgon's head to  a more  

dangerous power than this grotesquely   
uncouth ,dionysian4 ,it  is in ,doric   
art that this majestically-rejecting    
attitude of ,apollo  perpetuated itself4
 ,this opposition became more precarious
 and even  impossible1 when1 from out of
 the deepest root of the ,hellenic      
nature1  similar impulses finally broke 
forth and made way for themselves3  the 
,delphic god1 by a seasonably effected  
reconciliation1 was now  contented with 
taking the destructive arms from the    
hands of his  powerful antagonist4 ,this
 reconciliation marks the most important
  moment in the history of the ,greek   
cult3 wherever we turn our eyes  we may 
observe the revolutions resulting from  
this event4 ,it was  the reconciliation 
of two antagonists1 with the sharp      
demarcation  of the boundary-lines to be
 thenceforth observed by each1 and with 
periodical transmission of              
testimonials2--in reality1 the chasm was
  not bridged over4 ,but if we observe  
how1 under the pressure of this         

conclusion of peace1 the ,dionysian     
power manifested itself1 we shall  now  
recognise in the ,dionysian orgies of   
the ,greeks1 as compared with  the      
,babylonian ,saca and their             
retrogression of man to the tiger and   
the ape1 the significance of festivals  
of world-redemption and days of         
transfiguration4 ,not till then does    
nature attain her artistic jubilee2  not
 till then does the rupture of the      
principium individuationis  become an   
artistic phenomenon4 ,that horrible     
witches' draught of  sensuality and     
cruelty was here powerless3 only the    
curious blending  and duality in the    
emotions of the ,dionysian revellers    
reminds one of  it--just as medicines   
remind one of deadly poisons1--that     
phenomenon1  to wit1 that pains beget   
joy1 that jubilation wrings painful     
sounds out  of the breast4 ,from the    
highest joy sounds the cry of horror or 
the  yearning wail over an irretrievable
 loss4 ,in these ,greek festivals a     

sentimental trait1 as it were1 breaks   
forth from nature1 as if she must  sigh 
over her dismemberment into individuals4
 ,the song and pantomime  of such       
dually-minded revellers was something   
new and unheard-of in  the              
,homeric-,grecian world2 and the        
,dionysian music in particular  excited 
awe and horror4 ,if music1 as it would  
seem1 was previously  known as an       
,apollonian art1 it was1 strictly       
speaking1 only as the  wave-beat of     
rhythm1 the formative power of which was
 developed to  the representation of    
,apollonian conditions4 ,the music of   
,apollo was  ,doric architectonics in   
tones1 but in merely suggested tones1   
such  as those of the cithara4 ,the very
 element which forms the essence of     
,dionysian music 7and hence of music in 
general7 is carefully excluded  as      
un-,apollonian2 namely1 the thrilling   
power of the tone1 the uniform  stream  
of the melos1 and the thoroughly        
incomparable world of harmony4  ,in the 

,dionysian dithyramb man is incited to  
the highest exaltation  of all his      
symbolic faculties2 something never     
before experienced  struggles for       
utterance--the annihilation of the veil 
of ,my1 ,oneness  as genius of the race1
 ay1 of nature4 ,the essence of nature  
is now  to be expressed symbolically2 a 
new world of symbols is required2  for  
once the entire symbolism of the body1  
not only the symbolism of  the lips1    
face1 and speech1 but the whole         
pantomime of dancing which  sets all the
 members into rhythmical motion4        
,thereupon the other  symbolic powers1  
those of music1 in rhythmics1 dynamics1 
and harmony1  suddenly become impetuous4
 ,to comprehend this collective         
discharge  of all the symbolic powers1 a
 man must have already attained that    
height of self-abnegation1 which wills  
to express itself symbolically  through 
these powers3 the ,dithyrambic votary of
 ,dionysus is therefore  understood only
 by those like himself6 ,with what      

astonishment must the  ,apollonian      
,greek have beheld him6 ,with an        
astonishment1 which was all  the greater
 the more it was mingled with the       
shuddering suspicion that  all this was 
in reality not so very foreign to him1  
yea1 that1 like  unto a veil1 his       
,apollonian consciousness only hid this 
,dionysian world  from his view4        
#c4      ,in order to comprehend this1  
we must take down the artistic          
structure1  of the ,apollonian culture1 
as it were1 stone by stone1 till we     
behold  the foundations on which it     
rests4 ,here we observe first of all the
  glorious ,olympian figures of the     
gods1 standing on the gables of this    
structure1 whose deeds1 represented in  
far-shining reliefs1 adorn its  friezes4
 ,though ,apollo stands among them as an
 individual deity1 side  by side with   
others1 and without claim to priority of
 rank1 we must not  suffer this fact to 
mislead us4 ,the same impulse which     
embodied itself  in ,apollo has1 in     

general1 given birth to this whole      
,olympian world1  and in this sense we  
may regard ,apollo as the father        
thereof4 ,what was  the enormous need   
from which proceeded such an illustrious
 group of  ,olympian beings8            
,whosoever1 with another religion in his
 heart1 approaches these  ,olympians and
 seeks among them for moral elevation1  
even for sanctity1  for incorporeal     
spiritualisation1 for sympathetic looks 
of love1 will  soon be obliged to turn  
his back on them1 discouraged and       
disappointed4  ,here nothing suggests   
asceticism1 spirituality1 or duty3 here 
only  an exuberant1 even triumphant life
 speaks to us1 in which everything      
existing is deified1 whether good or    
bad4 ,and so the spectator will  perhaps
 stand quite bewildered before this     
fantastic exuberance of  life1 and ask  
himself what magic potion these madly   
merry men could  have used for enjoying 
life1 so that1 wherever they turned     
their eyes1  ,helena1 the ideal image of

 their own existence floating in sweet  
sensuality1 smiled upon them4 ,but to   
this spectator1 already turning         
backwards1 we must call out3 depart not 
hence1 but hear rather what  ,greek     
folk-wisdom says of this same life1     
which with such inexplicable            
cheerfulness spreads out before thee4   
,there is an ancient story that  king   
,midas hunted in the forest a long time 
for the wise ,silenus1  the companion of
 ,dionysus1 without capturing him4 ,when
 at last he fell  into his hands1 the   
king asked what was best of all and most
 desirable  for man4 ,fixed and         
immovable1 the demon remained silent2   
till at last1  forced by the king1 he   
broke out with shrill laughter into     
these words3  ,oh1 wretched race of a   
day1 children of chance and misery1 why 
do ye  compel me to say to you what it  
were most expedient for you not to      
hear8 ,what is best of all is for ever  
beyond your reach3 not to be  born1 not 
to be1 to be nothing4 ,the second best  

for you1 however1  is soon to die4      
,how is the ,olympian world of deities  
related to this folk-wisdom8 ,even  as  
the rapturous vision of the tortured    
martyr to his sufferings4    ,now the   
,olympian magic mountain opens1 as it   
were1 to our view and  shows to us its  
roots4 ,the ,greek knew and felt the    
terrors and horrors  of existence3 to be
 able to live at all1 he had to         
interpose the  shining dream-birth of   
the ,olympian world between himself and 
them4  ,the excessive distrust of the   
titanic powers of nature1 the ,moira    
throning inexorably over all knowledge1 
the vulture of the great  philanthropist
 ,prometheus1 the terrible fate of the  
wise dipus1 the  family curse of the    
,atrid which drove ,orestes to          
matricide2 in short1  that entire       
philosophy of the sylvan god1 with its  
mythical exemplars1  which wrought the  
ruin of the melancholy ,etruscans--was  
again and again  surmounted anew by the 
,greeks through the artistic middle     

world of  the ,olympians1 or at least   
veiled and withdrawn from sight4 ,to be 
able  to live1 the ,greeks had1 from    
direst necessity1 to create these gods3 
which process we may perhaps picture to 
ourselves in this manner3 that  out of  
the original ,titan thearchy of terror  
the ,olympian thearchy of  joy was      
evolved1 by slow transitions1 through   
the ,apollonian impulse to  beauty1 even
 as roses break forth from thorny       
bushes4 ,how else could  this so        
sensitive people1 so vehement in its    
desires1 so singularly  qualified for   
sufferings have endured existence1 if it
 had not been  exhibited to them in     
their gods1 surrounded with a higher    
glory8  ,the same impulse which calls   
art into being1 as the complement and   
consummation of existence1 seducing to a
 continuation of life1 caused  also the 
,olympian world to arise1 in which the  
,hellenic will held  up before itself a 
transfiguring mirror4 ,thus do the gods 
justify the  life of man1 in that they  

themselves live it--the only            
satisfactory  ,theodicy6 ,existence     
under the bright sunshine of such gods  
is regarded  as that which is desirable 
in itself1 and the real grief of the    
,homeric men has reference to parting   
from it1 especially to early  parting3  
so that we might now say of them1 with a
 reversion of the  ,silenian wisdom1    
that to die early is worst of all for   
them1 the  second worst is--some day to 
die at all4 ,if once the lamentation is 
heard1 it will ring out again1 of the   
short-lived ,achilles1 of the  leaf-like
 change and vicissitude of the human    
race1 of the decay of  the heroic age4  
,it is not unworthy of the greatest hero
 to long for a  continuation of life1   
ay1 even as a day-labourer4 ,so         
vehemently does  the will1 at the       
,apollonian stage of development1 long  
for this  existence1 so completely at   
one does the ,homeric man feel himself  
with  it1 that the very lamentation     
becomes its song of praise4    ,here we 

must observe that this harmony which is 
so eagerly contemplated  by modern man1 
in fact1 this oneness of man with       
nature1 to express  which ,schiller     
introduced the technical term nave1 is  
by no means  such a simple1 naturally   
resulting and1 as it were1 inevitable   
condition1 which must be found at the   
gate of every culture leading  to a     
paradise of man3 this could be believed 
only by an age which  sought to picture 
to itself ,rousseau's mile also as an   
artist1  and imagined it had found in   
,homer such an artist mile1 reared at   
,nature's bosom4 ,wherever we meet with 
the nave in art1 it behoves  us to      
recognise the highest effect of the     
,apollonian culture1 which  in the first
 place has always to overthrow some     
,titanic empire and  slay monsters1 and 
which1 through powerful dazzling        
representations  and pleasurable        
illusions1 must have triumphed over a   
terrible depth  of world-contemplation  
and a most keen susceptibility to       

suffering4  ,but how seldom is the      
nave--that complete absorption1 in the  
beauty  of appearance--attained6 ,and   
hence how inexpressibly sublime is      
,homer1 who1 as unit being1 bears the   
same relation to this ,apollonian       
folk-culture as the unit dream-artist   
does to the dream-faculty of  the people
 and of ,nature in general4 ,the        
,homeric navet can be  comprehended only
 as the complete triumph of the         
,apollonian illusion3  it is the same   
kind of illusion as ,nature so          
frequently employs to  compass her ends4
 ,the true goal is veiled by a phantasm3
 we stretch out  our hands for the      
latter1 while ,nature attains the former
 through our  illusion4 ,in the ,greeks 
the will desired to contemplate itself  
in the  transfiguration of the genius   
and the world of art2 in order to       
glorify  themselves1 its creatures had  
to feel themselves worthy of glory2     
they had to behold themselves again in a
 higher sphere1 without this  consummate

 world of contemplation acting as an    
imperative or reproach4  ,such is the   
sphere of beauty1 in which1 as in a     
mirror1 they saw their  images1 the     
,olympians4 ,with this mirroring of     
beauty the ,hellenic will  combated its 
talent--correlative to the artistic--for
 suffering and for  the wisdom of       
suffering3 and1 as a monument of its    
victory1 ,homer1 the  nave artist1      
stands before us4        #d4            
,concerning this nave artist the analogy
 of dreams will enlighten us to  some   
extent4 ,when we realise to ourselves   
the dreamer1 as1 in the midst  of the   
illusion of the dream-world and without 
disturbing it1 he calls  out to himself3
 it is a dream1 ,i will dream on2 when  
we must thence  infer a deep inner joy  
in dream-contemplation2 when1 on the    
other hand1  to be at all able to dream 
with this inner joy in contemplation1 we
  must have completely forgotten the day
 and its terrible obtrusiveness1  we    
may1 under the direction of the         

dream-reading ,apollo1 interpret  all   
these phenomena to ourselves somewhat as
 follows4 ,though it is  certain that of
 the two halves of life1 the waking and 
the dreaming1  the former appeals to us 
as by far the more preferred1 important1
  excellent and worthy of being lived1  
indeed1 as that which alone is  lived3  
yet1 with reference to that mysterious  
ground of our being of  which we are the
 phenomenon1 ,i should1 paradoxical as  
it may seem1 be  inclined to maintain   
the very opposite estimate of the value 
of dream  life4 ,for the more clearly ,i
 perceive in nature those all-powerful  
art  impulses1 and in them a fervent    
longing for appearance1 for redemption  
through appearance1 the more ,i feel    
myself driven to the metaphysical       
assumption that the ,verily-,existent   
and ,primordial ,unity1 as the          
,eternally ,suffering and               
,self-,contradictory1 requires the      
rapturous  vision1 the joyful           
appearance1 for its continuous          

salvation3 which  appearance we1 who are
 completely wrapt in it and composed of 
it1 must  regard as the ,verily         
,non-existent1--i4e41 as a perpetual    
unfolding  in time1 space and           
causality1--in other words1 as empiric  
reality4  ,if we therefore waive the    
consideration of our own reality for the
  present1 if we conceive our empiric   
existence1 and that of the world        
generally1 as a representation of the   
,primordial ,unity generated every      
moment1 we shall then have to regard the
 dream as an appearance of  appearance1 
hence as a still higher gratification of
 the primordial  desire for appearance4 
,it is for this same reason that the    
innermost  heart of ,nature experiences 
that indescribable joy in the nave      
artist  and in the nave work of art1    
which is likewise only an appearance of 
appearance4 ,in a symbolic painting1    
,raphael1 himself one of these  immortal
 nave ones1 has represented to us this  
depotentiating of  appearance to        

appearance1 the primordial process of   
the nave artist  and at the same time of
 ,apollonian culture4 ,in his           
,transfiguration1  the lower half1 with 
the possessed boy1 the despairing       
bearers1 the  helpless1 terrified       
disciples1 shows to us the reflection of
 eternal  primordial pain1 the sole     
basis of the world3 the appearance here 
is the counter-appearance of eternal    
,contradiction1 the father of  things4  
,out of this appearance then arises1    
like an ambrosial vapour1 a  visionlike 
new world of appearances1 of which those
 wrapt in the first  appearance see     
nothing--a radiant floating in purest   
bliss and painless  ,contemplation      
beaming from wide-open eyes4 ,here there
 is presented to  our view1 in the      
highest symbolism of art1 that          
,apollonian world of  beauty and its    
substratum1 the terrible wisdom of      
,silenus1 and we  comprehend1 by        
intuition1 their necessary              
interdependence4 ,apollo1  however1     

again appears to us as the apotheosis of
 the principium  individuationis1 in    
which alone the perpetually attained end
 of the  ,primordial ,unity1 its        
redemption through appearance1 is       
consummated3 he  shows us1 with sublime 
attitudes1 how the entire world of      
torment is  necessary1 that thereby the 
individual may be impelled to realise   
the  redeeming vision1 and then1 sunk in
 contemplation thereof1 quietly sit  in 
his fluctuating barque1 in the midst of 
the sea4    ,this apotheosis of         
individuation1 if it be at all conceived
 as  imperative and laying down         
precepts1 knows but one law--the        
individual1  i4e41 the observance of the
 boundaries of the individual1  measure 
in the ,hellenic sense4 ,apollo1 as     
ethical deity1 demands  due proportion  
of his disciples1 and1 that this may be 
observed1 he  demands self-knowledge4   
,and thus1 parallel to the sthetic      
necessity  for beauty1 there run the    
demands know thyself and not too much1  

while presumption and undueness are     
regarded as the truly hostile  demons of
 the non-,apollonian sphere1 hence as   
characteristics of the  pre-,apollonian 
age1 that of the ,titans1 and of the    
extra-,apollonian  world1 that of the   
barbarians4 ,because of his ,titan-like 
love for  man1 ,prometheus had to be    
torn to pieces by vultures2 because of  
his  excessive wisdom1 which solved the 
riddle of the ,sphinx1 dipus had  to    
plunge into a bewildering vortex of     
monstrous crimes3 thus did the  ,delphic
 god interpret the ,grecian past4    ,so
 also the effects wrought by the        
,dionysian appeared titanic and         
barbaric to the ,apollonian ,greek3     
while at the same time he could  not    
conceal from himself that he too was    
inwardly related to these  overthrown   
,titans and heroes4 ,indeed1 he had to  
recognise still more  than this3 his    
entire existence1 with all its beauty   
and moderation1  rested on a hidden     
substratum of suffering and of          

knowledge1 which  was again disclosed to
 him by the ,dionysian4 ,and lo6 ,apollo
 could not  live without ,dionysus6 ,the
 titanic and the barbaric were in the   
end not less necessary than the         
,apollonian4 ,and now let us imagine to 
ourselves how the ecstatic tone of the  
,dionysian festival sounded in  ever    
more luring and bewitching strains into 
this artificially confined  world built 
on appearance and moderation1 how in    
these strains all  the undueness of     
nature1 in joy1 sorrow1 and knowledge1  
even to  the transpiercing shriek1      
became audible3 let us ask ourselves    
what  meaning could be attached to the  
psalmodising artist of ,apollo1 with    
the phantom harp-sound1 as compared with
 this demonic folk-song6 ,the  muses of 
the arts of appearance paled before an  
art which1 in its  intoxication1 spoke  
the truth1 the wisdom of ,silenus cried 
woe6 woe6  against the cheerful         
,olympians4 ,the individual1 with all   
his boundaries  and due proportions1    

went under in the self-oblivion of the  
,dionysian  states and forgot the       
,apollonian precepts4 ,the ,undueness   
revealed  itself as truth1              
contradiction1 the bliss born of pain1  
declared itself  but of the heart of    
nature4 ,and thus1 wherever the         
,dionysian prevailed1  the ,apollonian  
was routed and annihilated4 ,but it is  
quite as certain  that1 where the first 
assault was successfully withstood1 the 
authority  and majesty of the ,delphic  
god exhibited itself as more rigid and  
menacing than ever4 ,for ,i can only    
explain to myself the ,doric state  and 
,doric art as a permanent war-camp of   
the ,apollonian3 only by  incessant     
opposition to the titanic-barbaric      
nature of the ,dionysian  was it        
possible for an art so defiantly-prim1  
so encompassed with  bulwarks1 a        
training so warlike and rigorous1 a     
constitution so cruel  and relentless1  
to last for any length of time4    ,up  
to this point we have enlarged upon the 

observation made at the  beginning of   
this essay3 how the ,dionysian and the  
,apollonian1 in ever  new births        
succeeding and mutually augmenting one  
another1 controlled  the ,hellenic      
genius3 how from out the age of bronze1 
with its ,titan  struggles and rigorous 
folk-philosophy1 the ,homeric world     
develops  under the fostering sway of   
the ,apollonian impulse to beauty1 how  
this  nave splendour is again           
overwhelmed by the inbursting flood of  
the  ,dionysian1 and how against this   
new power the ,apollonian rises to the  
austere majesty of ,doric art and the   
,doric view of things4 ,if1 then1  in   
this way1 in the strife of these two    
hostile principles1 the older  ,hellenic
 history falls into four great periods  
of art1 we are now  driven to inquire   
after the ulterior purpose of these     
unfoldings and  processes1 unless       
perchance we should regard the          
last-attained period1  the period of    
,doric art1 as the end and aim of these 

artistic impulses3  and here the sublime
 and highly celebrated art-work of      
,attic tragedy  and dramatic dithyramb  
presents itself to our view as the      
common  goal of both these impulses1    
whose mysterious union1 after many and  
long precursory struggles1 found its    
glorious consummation in such a         
child1--which is at once ,antigone and  
,cassandra4        #e4      ,we now     
approach the real purpose of our        
investigation1 which aims  at acquiring 
a knowledge of the ,dionyso-,apollonian 
genius and his  art-work1 or at least an
 anticipatory understanding of the      
mystery of  the aforesaid union4 ,here  
we shall ask first of all where that new
  germ which subsequently developed into
 tragedy and dramatic dithyramb  first  
makes itself perceptible in the         
,hellenic world4 ,the ancients          
themselves supply the answer in symbolic
 form1 when they place ,homer  and      
,archilochus as the forefathers and     
torch-bearers of ,greek poetry  side by 

side on gems1 sculptures1 etc41 in the  
sure conviction that  only these two    
thoroughly original compeers1 from whom 
a stream of  fire flows over the whole  
of ,greek posterity1 should be taken    
into  consideration4 ,homer1 the aged   
dreamer sunk in himself1 the type  of   
the ,apollonian nave artist1 beholds now
 with astonishment the  impassioned     
genius of the warlike votary of the     
muses1 ,archilochus1  violently tossed  
to and fro on the billows of existence3 
and modern  sthetics could only add by  
way of interpretation1 that here the    
objective artist is confronted by the   
first subjective artist4  ,but this     
interpretation is of little service to  
us1 because we know  the subjective     
artist only as the poor artist1 and in  
every type and  elevation of art we     
demand specially and first of all the   
conquest  of the ,subjective1 the       
redemption from the ego and the         
cessation  of every individual will and 
desire2 indeed1 we find it impossible   

to believe in any truly artistic        
production1 however insignificant1      
without objectivity1 without pure1      
interestless contemplation4 ,hence  our 
sthetics must first solve the problem as
 to how the lyrist is  possible as an   
artist3 he who according to the         
experience of all ages  continually says
 ,i and sings off to us the entire      
chromatic scale of  his passions and    
desires4 ,this very ,archilochus appals 
us1 alongside  of ,homer1 by his cries  
of hatred and scorn1 by the drunken     
outbursts  of his desire4 ,is not just  
he then1 who has been called the first  
subjective artist1 the non-artist       
proper8 ,but whence then the reverence  
which was shown to him--the poet--in    
very remarkable utterances by the       
,delphic oracle itself1 the focus of    
objective art8    ,schiller has         
enlightened us concerning his poetic    
procedure by a  psychological           
observation1 inexplicable to himself1   
yet not apparently  open to any         

objection4 ,he acknowledges that as the 
preparatory state  to the act of        
poetising he had not perhaps before him 
or within him a  series of pictures with
 co-ordinate causality of thoughts1 but 
rather  a musical mood 7,the perception 
with me is at first without a clear  and
 definite object2 this forms itself     
later4 ,a certain musical mood  of mind 
precedes1 and only after this does the  
poetical idea follow  with me47 ,add to 
this the most important phenomenon of   
all ancient  lyric poetry1 the union1   
regarded everywhere as natural1 of the  
lyrist with the musician1 their very    
identity1 indeed1--compared  with which 
our modern lyric poetry is like the     
statue of a god without  a head1--and we
 may now1 on the basis of our           
metaphysics of sthetics  set forth      
above1 interpret the lyrist to ourselves
 as follows4 ,as  ,dionysian artist he  
is in the first place become altogether 
one with  the ,primordial ,unity1 its   
pain and contradiction1 and he produces 

the  copy of this ,primordial ,unity as 
music1 granting that music has been     
correctly termed a repetition and a     
recast of the world2 but now1 under  the
 ,apollonian dream-inspiration1 this    
music again becomes visible  to him as  
in a symbolic dream-picture4 ,the       
formless and intangible  reflection of  
the primordial pain in music1 with its  
redemption in  appearance1 then         
generates a second mirroring as a       
concrete symbol or  example4 ,the artist
 has already surrendered his            
subjectivity in the  ,dionysian process3
 the picture which now shows to him his 
oneness with  the heart of the world1 is
 a dream-scene1 which embodies the      
primordial  contradiction and primordial
 pain1 together with the primordial joy1
 of  appearance4 ,the ,i of the lyrist  
sounds therefore from the abyss of      
being3 its subjectivity1 in the sense of
 the modern sthetes1 is a  fiction4     
,when ,archilochus1 the first lyrist of 
the ,greeks1 makes known  both his mad  

love and his contempt to the daughters  
of ,lycambes1 it is  not his passion    
which dances before us in orgiastic     
frenzy3 we see  ,dionysus and the       
,mnads1 we see the drunken reveller     
,archilochus sunk  down to sleep--as    
,euripides depicts it in the ,bacch1 the
 sleep on the  high ,alpine pasture1 in 
the noonday sun3--and now ,apollo       
approaches and  touches him with the    
laurel4 ,the ,dionyso-musical           
enchantment of the  sleeper now emits1  
as it were1 picture sparks1 lyrical     
poems1 which in  their highest          
development are called tragedies and    
dramatic dithyrambs4    ,the plastic    
artist1 as also the epic poet1 who is   
related to him1 is  sunk in the pure    
contemplation of pictures4 ,the         
,dionysian musician  is1 without any    
picture1 himself just primordial pain   
and the  primordial re-echoing thereof4 
,the lyric genius is conscious of a     
world of pictures and symbols--growing  
out of the state of mystical            

self-abnegation and oneness1--which has 
a colouring causality and  velocity     
quite different from that of the world  
of the plastic artist  and epic poet4   
,while the latter lives in these        
pictures1 and only in  them1 with joyful
 satisfaction1 and never grows tired of 
contemplating  them with love1 even in  
their minutest characters1 while even   
the  picture of the angry ,achilles is  
to him but a picture1 the angry         
expression of which he enjoys with the  
dream-joy in appearance--so  that1 by   
this mirror of appearance1 he is guarded
 against being unified  and blending    
with his figures2--the pictures of the  
lyrist on the other  hand are nothing   
but his very self and1 as it were1 only 
different  projections of himself1 on   
account of which he as the moving centre
  of this world is entitled to say ,i3  
only of course this self is  not the    
same as that of the waking1 empirically 
real man1 but the  only verily existent 
and eternal self resting at the basis of

 things1  by means of the images whereof
 the lyric genius sees through even to  
this basis of things4 ,now let us       
suppose that he beholds himself  also   
among these images as non-genius1 i4e41 
his subject1 the whole  throng of       
subjective passions and impulses of the 
will directed to a  definite object     
which appears real to him2 if now it    
seems as if the  lyric genius and the   
allied non-genius were one1 and as if   
the former  spoke that little word ,i of
 his own accord1 this appearance will no
  longer be able to lead us astray1 as  
it certainly led those astray who       
designated the lyrist as the subjective 
poet4 ,in truth1 ,archilochus1  the     
passionately inflamed1 loving and hating
 man1 is but a vision of  the genius1   
who by this time is no longer           
,archilochus1 but a genius  of the      
world1 who expresses his primordial pain
 symbolically in the  figure of the man 
,archilochus3 while the subjectively    
willing and  desiring man1 ,archilochus1

 can never at any time be a poet4 ,it is
 by no  means necessary1 however1 that  
the lyrist should see nothing but the   
phenomenon of the man ,archilochus      
before him as a reflection of eternal   
being2 and tragedy shows how far the    
visionary world of the lyrist may       
depart from this phenomenon1 to which1  
of course1 it is most intimately        
related4    ,schopenhauer1 who did not  
shut his eyes to the difficulty         
presented  by the lyrist in the         
philosophical contemplation of art1     
thought he  had found a way out of it1  
on which1 however1 ,i cannot accompany  
him2  while he alone1 in his profound   
metaphysics of music1 held in his  hands
 the means whereby this difficulty could
 be definitely removed3  as ,i believe  
,i have removed it here in his spirit   
and to his honour4  ,in contrast to our 
view1 he describes the peculiar nature  
of song  as follows#d 7,welt als ,wille 
und ,vorstellung1 ,i4 #bie73--;,it is   
the subject of the will1 i4e41 his own  

volition1 which fills the  consciousness
 of the singer2 often as an unbound and 
satisfied desire  7joy71 but still more 
often as a restricted desire 7grief71   
always as  an emotion1 a passion1 or an 
agitated frame of mind4 ,besides this1  
however1 and along with it1 by the sight
 of surrounding nature1 the  singer     
becomes conscious of himself as the     
subject of pure will-less  knowing1 the 
unbroken1 blissful peace of which now   
appears1 in contrast  to the stress of  
desire1 which is always restricted and  
always needy4  ,the feeling of this     
contrast1 this alternation1 is really   
what the  song as a whole expresses and 
what principally constitutes the lyrical
  state of mind4 ,in it pure knowing    
comes to us as it were to deliver us    
from desire and the stress thereof3 we  
follow1 but only for an instant2  for   
desire1 the remembrance of our personal 
ends1 tears us anew from  peaceful      
contemplation2 yet ever again the next  
beautiful surrounding  in which the pure

 will-less knowledge presents itself to 
us1 allures  us away from desire4       
,therefore1 in song and in the lyrical  
mood1  desire 7the personal interest of 
the ends7 and the pure perception of    
the surrounding which presents itself1  
are wonderfully mingled with  each      
other2 connections between them are     
sought for and imagined2 the  subjective
 disposition1 the affection of the will1
 imparts its own  hue to the            
contemplated surrounding1 and           
conversely1 the surroundings            
communicate the reflex of their colour  
to the will4 ,the true song is  the     
expression of the whole of this mingled 
and divided state of mind4    ,who could
 fail to see in this description that   
lyric poetry is here  characterised as  
an imperfectly attained art1 which      
seldom and only  as it were in leaps    
arrives at its goal1 indeed1 as a       
semi-art1 the  essence of which is said 
to consist in this1 that desire and pure
  contemplation1 i4e41 the unsthetic and

 the sthetic condition1 are  wonderfully
 mingled with each other8 ,we maintain  
rather1 that this  entire antithesis1   
according to which1 as according to some
 standard  of value1 ,schopenhauer1 too1
 still classifies the arts1 the         
antithesis  between the subjective and  
the objective1 is quite out of place in 
sthetics1 inasmuch as the subject i4e41 
the desiring individual who  furthers   
his own egoistic ends1 can be conceived 
only as the adversary1  not as the      
origin of art4 ,in so far as the subject
 is the artist1  however1 he has already
 been released from his individual will1
 and has  become as it were the medium1 
through which the one verily existent   
,subject celebrates his redemption in   
appearance4 ,for this one thing  must   
above all be clear to us1 to our        
humiliation and exaltation1  that the   
entire comedy of art is not at all      
performed1 say1 for our  betterment and 
culture1 and that we are just as little 
the true authors  of this art-world3    

rather we may assume with regard to     
ourselves1 that  its true author uses us
 as pictures and artistic projections1  
and that  we have our highest dignity in
 our significance as works of art--for  
only as an sthetic phenomenon is        
existence and the world eternally       
justified3--while of course our         
consciousness of this our specific      
significance hardly differs from the    
kind of consciousness which the         
soldiers painted on canvas have of the  
battle represented thereon4  ,hence all 
our knowledge of art is at bottom quite 
illusory1 because1 as  knowing persons  
we are not one and identical with the   
,being who1 as the  sole author and     
spectator of this comedy of art1        
prepares a perpetual  entertainment for 
himself4 ,only in so far as the genius  
in the act of  artistic production      
coalesces with this primordial artist of
 the world1  does he get a glimpse of   
the eternal essence of art1 for in this 
state  he is1 in a marvellous manner1   

like the weird picture of the fairy-tale
  which can at will turn its eyes and   
behold itself2 he is now at once        
subject and object1 at once poet1 actor1
 and spectator4      #d ,world as ,will 
and ,idea1 ,i4 #cbc1 #dth ed4 of        
,haldane and  ,kemp's translation4      
,quoted with a few changes4        #f4  
,with reference to ,archilochus1 it has 
been established by critical  research  
that he introduced the folk-song into   
literature1 and1  on account thereof1   
deserved1 according to the general      
estimate of  the ,greeks1 his unique    
position alongside of ,homer4 ,but what 
is this  popular folk-song in contrast  
to the wholly ,apollonian epos8 ,what   
else but the perpetuum vestigium of a   
union of the ,apollonian and  the       
,dionysian8 ,its enormous diffusion     
among all peoples1 still further        
enhanced by ever new births1 testifies  
to the power of this artistic  double   
impulse of nature3 which leaves its     
vestiges in the popular  song in like   

manner as the orgiastic movements of a  
people perpetuate  themselves in its    
music4 ,indeed1 one might also furnish  
historical  proofs1 that every period   
which is highly productive in popular   
songs  has been most violently stirred  
by ,dionysian currents1 which we must   
always regard as the substratum and     
prerequisite of the popular song4       
,first of all1 however1 we regard the   
popular song as the musical mirror  of  
the world1 as the ,original melody1     
which now seeks for itself a  parallel  
dream-phenomenon and expresses it in    
poetry4 ,melody is  therefore primary   
and universal1 and as such may admit of 
several  objectivations1 in several     
texts4 ,likewise1 in the nave estimation
 of  the people1 it is regarded as by   
far the more important and necessary4   
,melody generates the poem out of itself
 by an ever-recurring process4  ,the    
strophic form of the popular song points
 to the same phenomenon1  which ,i      
always beheld with astonishment1 till at

 last ,i found this  explanation4 ,any  
one who in accordance with this theory  
examines a  collection of popular songs1
 such as ,des ,knaben ,wunderhorn1 will 
find  innumerable instances of the      
perpetually productive melody scattering
  picture sparks all around3 which in   
their variegation1 their abrupt  change1
 their mad precipitance1 manifest a     
power quite unknown to the  epic        
appearance and its steady flow4 ,from   
the point of view of the  epos1 this    
unequal and irregular pictorial world of
 lyric poetry must  be simply condemned3
 and the solemn epic rhapsodists of the 
,apollonian  festivals in the age of    
,terpander have certainly done so4      
,accordingly1 we observe that in the    
poetising of the popular song1  language
 is strained to its utmost to imitate   
music2 and hence a  new world of poetry 
begins with ,archilochus1 which is      
fundamentally  opposed to the ,homeric4 
,and in saying this we have pointed out 
the  only possible relation between     

poetry and music1 between word and      
tone3 the word1 the picture1 the concept
 here seeks an expression  analogous to 
music and now experiences in itself the 
power of music4  ,in this sense we may  
discriminate between two main currents  
in the  history of the language of the  
,greek people1 according as their       
language imitated either the world of   
phenomena and of pictures1 or the  world
 of music4 ,one has only to reflect     
seriously on the linguistic  difference 
with regard to colour1 syntactical      
structure1 and vocabulary  in ,homer and
 ,pindar1 in order to comprehend the    
significance of this  contrast2 indeed1 
it becomes palpably clear to us that in 
the period  between ,homer and ,pindar  
the orgiastic flute tones of ,olympus   
must  have sounded forth1 which1 in an  
age as late as ,aristotle's1 when  music
 was infinitely more developed1         
transported people to drunken           
enthusiasm1 and which1 when their       
influence was first felt1 undoubtedly   

incited all the poetic means of         
expression of contemporaneous man  to   
imitation4 ,i here call attention to a  
familiar phenomenon of our  own times1  
against which our sthetics raises many  
objections4 ,we  again and again have   
occasion to observe how a symphony of   
,beethoven  compels the individual      
hearers to use figurative speech1 though
 the  appearance presented by a         
collocation of the different pictorial  
world generated by a piece of music may 
be never so fantastically  diversified  
and even contradictory4 ,to practise its
 small wit on such  compositions1 and to
 overlook a phenomenon which is         
certainly worth  explaining1 is quite in
 keeping with this sthetics4 ,indeed1   
even if  the tone-poet has spoken in    
pictures concerning a composition1 when 
for  instance he designates a certain   
symphony as the pastoral symphony1  or a
 passage therein as the scene by the    
brook1 or another as the  merry         
gathering of rustics1 these are likewise

 only symbolical  representations born  
out of music--and not perhaps the       
imitated objects  of                    
music--representations which can give us
 no information whatever  concerning the
 ,dionysian content of music1 and which 
in fact have  no distinctive value of   
their own alongside of other pictorical 
expressions4 ,this process of a         
discharge of music in pictures we have  
now to transfer to some youthful1       
linguistically productive people1 to    
get a notion as to how the strophic     
popular song originates1 and how  the   
entire faculty of speech is stimulated  
by this new principle of  imitation of  
music4    ,if1 therefore1 we may regard 
lyric poetry as the effulguration of    
music in pictures and concepts1 we can  
now ask3 how does music  appear in the  
mirror of symbolism and conception8 ,it 
appears as  will1 taking the word in the
 ,schopenhauerian sense1 i4e41 as the   
antithesis of the sthetic1 purely       
contemplative1 and passive frame  of    

mind4 ,here1 however1 we must           
discriminate as sharply as possible     
between the concept of essentiality and 
the concept of phenominality2  for      
music1 according to its essence1 cannot 
be will1 because as such it  would have 
to be wholly banished from the domain of
 art--for the will  is the              
unsthetic-in-itself2--yet it appears as 
will4 ,for in order to  express the     
phenomenon of music in pictures1 the    
lyrist requires all  the stirrings of   
passion1 from the whispering of infant  
desire to the  roaring of madness4      
,under the impulse to speak of music in 
,apollonian  symbols1 he conceives of   
all nature1 and himself therein1 only as
 the  eternally willing1 desiring1      
longing existence4 ,but in so far as he 
interprets music by means of pictures1  
he himself rests in the quiet  calm of  
,apollonian contemplation1 however much 
all around him which  he beholds through
 the medium of music is in a state of   
confused and  violent motion4 ,indeed1  

when he beholds himself through this    
same  medium1 his own image appears to  
him in a state of unsatisfied feeling3  
his own willing1 longing1 moaning and   
rejoicing are to him symbols by  which  
he interprets music4 ,such is the       
phenomenon of the lyrist3 as            
,apollonian genius he interprets music  
through the image of the will1  while he
 himself1 completely released from the  
avidity of the will1 is  the pure1      
undimmed eye of day4    ,our whole      
disquisition insists on this1 that lyric
 poetry is dependent  on the spirit of  
music just as music itself in its       
absolute sovereignty  does not require  
the picture and the concept1 but only   
endures  them as accompaniments4 ,the   
poems of the lyrist can express nothing 
which has not already been contained in 
the vast universality and  absoluteness 
of the music which compelled him to use 
figurative  speech4 ,by no means is it  
possible for language adequately to     
render  the cosmic symbolism of music1  

for the very reason that music stands   
in symbolic relation to the primordial  
contradiction and primordial  pain in   
the heart of the ,primordial ,unity1 and
 therefore symbolises a  sphere which is
 above all appearance and before all    
phenomena4 ,rather  should we say that  
all phenomena1 compared with it1 are but
 symbols3  hence language1 as the organ 
and symbol of phenomena1 cannot at all  
disclose the innermost essence1 of      
music2 language can only be in          
superficial contact with music when it  
attempts to imitate music2 while  the   
profoundest significance of the latter  
cannot be brought one step  nearer to us
 by all the eloquence of lyric poetry4  
#g4      ,we shall now have to avail    
ourselves of all the principles of art  
hitherto considered1 in order to find   
our way through the labyrinth1  as we   
must designate the origin of ,greek     
tragedy4 ,i shall not be  charged with  
absurdity in saying that the problem of 
this origin has  as yet not even been   

seriously stated1 not to say solved1    
however  often the fluttering tatters of
 ancient tradition have been sewed      
together in sundry combinations and torn
 asunder again4 ,this tradition  tells  
us in the most unequivocal terms1 that  
tragedy sprang from the  tragic chorus1 
and was originally only chorus and      
nothing but chorus3  and hence we feel  
it our duty to look into the heart of   
this tragic  chorus as being the real   
proto-drama1 without in the least       
contenting  ourselves with current      
art-phraseology--according to which the 
chorus  is the ideal spectator1 or      
represents the people in contrast to the
  regal side of the scene4 ,the latter  
explanatory notion1 which sounds        
sublime to many a politician--that the  
immutable moral law was embodied  by the
 democratic ,athenians in the popular   
chorus1 which always carries  its point 
over the passionate excesses and        
extravagances of kings--may  be ever so 
forcibly suggested by an observation of 

,aristotle3 still  it has no bearing on 
the original formation of tragedy1      
inasmuch  as the entire antithesis of   
king and people1 and1 in general1 the   
whole politico-social sphere1 is        
excluded from the purely religious      
beginnings of tragedy2 but1 considering 
the well-known classical  form of the   
chorus in schylus and ,sophocles1 we    
should even deem  it blasphemy to speak 
here of the anticipation of a           
constitutional  representation of the   
people1 from which blasphemy others have
 not  shrunk1 however4 ,the ancient     
governments knew of no constitutional   
representation of the people in praxi1  
and it is to be hoped that  they did not
 even so much as anticipate it in       
tragedy4    ,much more celebrated than  
this political explanation of the chorus
 is  the notion of ,a4 ,w4 ,schlegel1   
who advises us to regard the chorus1 in 
a manner1 as the essence and extract of 
the crowd of spectators1--as  the ideal 
spectator4 ,this view when compared with

 the historical  tradition that tragedy 
was originally only chorus1 reveals     
itself  in its true character1 as a     
crude1 unscientific1 yet brilliant      
assertion1 which1 however1 has acquired 
its brilliancy only through  its        
concentrated form of expression1 through
 the truly ,germanic bias  in favour of 
whatever is called ideal1 and through   
our momentary  astonishment4 ,for we are
 indeed astonished the moment we compare
 our  well-known theatrical public with 
this chorus1 and ask ourselves if it    
could ever be possible to idealise      
something analogous to the ,greek       
chorus out of such a public4 ,we tacitly
 deny this1 and now wonder  as much at  
the boldness of ,schlegel's assertion as
 at the totally  different nature of the
 ,greek public4 ,for hitherto we always 
believed  that the true spectator1 be he
 who he may1 had always to remain       
conscious of having before him a work of
 art1 and not an empiric  reality3      
whereas the tragic chorus of the ,greeks

 is compelled to  recognise real beings 
in the figures of the stage4 ,the chorus
 of the  ,oceanides really believes that
 it sees before it the ,titan           
,prometheus1  and considers itself as   
real as the god of the scene4 ,and are  
we to  own that he is the highest and   
purest type of spectator1 who1 like the 
,oceanides1 regards ,prometheus as real 
and present in body8 ,and is it         
characteristic of the ideal spectator   
that he should run on the stage  and    
free the god from his torments8 ,we had 
believed in an sthetic  public1 and     
considered the individual spectator the 
better qualified  the more he was       
capable of viewing a work of art as art1
 that is1  sthetically2 but now the     
,schlegelian expression has intimated to
 us1  that the perfect ideal spectator  
does not at all suffer the world of  the
 scenes to act sthetically on him1 but  
corporeo-empirically4 ,oh1  these       
,greeks6 we have sighed2 they will upset
 our sthetics6 ,but once  accustomed to 

it1 we have reiterated the saying of    
,schlegel1 as often  as the subject of  
the chorus has been broached4    ,but   
the tradition which is so explicit here 
speaks against ,schlegel3  the chorus as
 such1 without the stage1--the primitive
 form of  tragedy1--and the chorus of   
ideal spectators do not harmonise4 ,what
  kind of art would that be which was   
extracted from the concept of the       
spectator1 and whereof we are to regard 
the spectator as such as the  true form8
 ,the spectator without the play is     
something absurd4 ,we fear  that the    
birth of tragedy can be explained       
neither by the high esteem  for the     
moral intelligence of the multitude nor 
by the concept of the  spectator without
 the play2 and we regard the problem as 
too deep to be  even so much as touched 
by such superficial modes of            
contemplation4    ,an infinitely more   
valuable insight into the signification 
of the  chorus had already been         
displayed by ,schiller in the celebrated

 ,preface  to his ,bride of ,messina1   
where he regarded the chorus as a living
 wall  which tragedy draws round herself
 to guard her from contact with the     
world of reality1 and to preserve her   
ideal domain and poetical freedom4      
,it is with this1 his chief weapon1 that
 ,schiller combats the ordinary         
conception of the natural1 the illusion 
ordinarily required in  dramatic poetry4
 ,he contends that while indeed the day 
on the stage is  merely artificial1 the 
architecture only symbolical1 and the   
metrical  dialogue purely ideal in      
character1 nevertheless an erroneous    
view  still prevails in the main3 that  
it is not enough to tolerate merely  as 
a poetical license that which is in     
reality the essence of all  poetry4 ,the
 introduction of the chorus is1 he says1
 the decisive step  by which war is     
declared openly and honestly against all
 naturalism  in art4--,it is1 methinks1 
for disparaging this mode of            
contemplation  that our would-be        

superior age has coined the disdainful  
catchword  pseudo-idealism4 ,i fear1    
however1 that we on the other hand with 
our  present worship of the natural and 
the real have landed at the nadir  of   
all idealism1 namely in the region of   
cabinets of wax-figures4 ,an  art indeed
 exists also here1 as in certain novels 
much in vogue at  present3 but let no   
one pester us with the claim that by    
this art the  ,schiller-,goethian       
,pseudo-idealism has been vanquished4   
,it is indeed an ideal domain1 as       
,schiller rightly perceived1            
upon--which the ,greek satyric chorus1  
the chorus of primitive tragedy1  was   
wont to walk1 a domain raised far above 
the actual path of  mortals4 ,the ,greek
 framed for this chorus the suspended   
scaffolding of  a fictitious natural    
state and placed thereon fictitious     
natural  beings4 ,it is on this         
foundation that tragedy grew up1 and so 
it  could of course dispense from the   
very first with a painful portrayal  of 

reality4 ,yet it is1 not an arbitrary   
world placed by fancy betwixt  heaven   
and earth2 rather is it a world         
possessing the same reality  and        
trustworthiness that ,olympus with its  
dwellers possessed for the  believing   
,hellene4 ,the satyr1 as being the      
,dionysian chorist1 lives  in a         
religiously acknowledged reality under  
the sanction of the myth  and cult4     
,that tragedy begins with him1 that the 
,dionysian wisdom of  tragedy speaks    
through him1 is just as surprising a    
phenomenon to us  as1 in general1 the   
derivation of tragedy from the chorus4  
,perhaps  we shall get a starting-point 
for our inquiry1 if ,i put forward the  
proposition that the satyr1 the         
fictitious natural being1 is to the  man
 of culture what ,dionysian music is to 
civilisation4 ,concerning  this latter1 
,richard ,wagner says that it is        
neutralised by music even  as lamplight 
by daylight4 ,in like manner1 ,i        
believe1 the ,greek man of  culture felt

 himself neutralised in the presence of 
the satyric chorus3  and this is the    
most immediate effect of the ,dionysian 
tragedy1 that  the state and society1   
and1 in general1 the gaps between man   
and man  give way to an overwhelming    
feeling of oneness1 which leads back to 
the heart of nature4 ,the metaphysical  
comfort1--with which1 as ,i have  here  
intimated1 every true tragedy dismisses 
us--that1 in spite of  the perpetual    
change of phenomena1 life at bottom is  
indestructibly  powerful and            
pleasurable1 this comfort appears with  
corporeal lucidity  as the satyric      
chorus1 as the chorus of natural beings1
 who live  ineradicable as it were      
behind all civilisation1 and who1 in    
spite of  the ceaseless change of       
generations and the history of nations1 
remain  for ever the same4    ,with this
 chorus the deep-minded ,hellene1 who is
 so singularly  qualified for the most  
delicate and severe suffering1 consoles 
himself3--he who has glanced with       

piercing eye into the very heart of  the
 terrible destructive processes of      
so-called universal history1 as  also   
into the cruelty of nature1 and is in   
danger of longing for a  ,buddhistic    
negation of the will4 ,art saves him1   
and through art life  saves him--for    
herself4    ,for we must know that in   
the rapture of the ,dionysian state1    
with its  annihilation of the ordinary  
bounds and limits of existence1 there is
  a lethargic element1 wherein all      
personal experiences of the past  are   
submerged4 ,it is by this gulf of       
oblivion that the everyday world  and   
the world of ,dionysian reality are     
separated from each other4 ,but  as soon
 as this everyday reality rises again in
 consciousness1 it is  felt as such1 and
 nauseates us2 an ascetic               
will-paralysing mood is  the fruit of   
these states4 ,in this sense the        
,dionysian man may be  said to resemble 
,hamlet3 both have for once seen into   
the true nature  of things1--they have  

perceived1 but they are loath to act2   
for  their action cannot change the     
eternal nature of things2 they regard   
it as shameful or ridiculous that one   
should require of them to set  aright   
the time which is out of joint4         
,knowledge kills action1 action         
requires the veil of illusion--it is    
this lesson which ,hamlet teaches1  and 
not the cheap wisdom of ,john-a-,dreams 
who from too much reflection1  as it    
were from a surplus of possibilities1   
does not arrive at action  at all4 ,not 
reflection1 no6--true knowledge1 insight
 into appalling  truth1 preponderates   
over all motives inciting to action1 in 
,hamlet as  well as in the ,dionysian   
man4 ,no comfort avails any longer2 his 
longing  goes beyond a world after      
death1 beyond the gods themselves2      
existence  with its glittering          
reflection in the gods1 or in an        
immortal other  world is abjured4 ,in   
the consciousness of the truth he has   
perceived1  man now sees everywhere only

 the awfulness or the absurdity of      
existence1 he now understands the       
symbolism in the fate of ,ophelia1 he   
now discerns the wisdom of the sylvan   
god ,silenus3 and loathing seizes  him4 
,here1 in this extremest danger of the  
will1 art approaches1 as a  saving and  
healing enchantress2 she alone is able  
to transform these  nauseating          
reflections on the awfulness or         
absurdity of existence  into            
representations wherewith it is possible
 to live3 these are the  representations
 of the sublime as the artistic         
subjugation of the  awful1 and the comic
 as the artistic delivery from the      
nausea of  the absurd4 ,the satyric     
chorus of dithyramb is the saving deed  
of  ,greek art2 the paroxysms described 
above spent their force in the          
intermediary world of these ,dionysian  
followers4        #h4      ,the satyr1  
like the idyllic shepherd of our more   
recent time1 is the  offspring of a     
longing after the ,primitive and the    

,natural2 but mark  with what firmness  
and fearlessness the ,greek embraced the
 man of  the woods1 and again1 how coyly
 and mawkishly the modern man dallied   
with the flattering picture of a tender1
 flute-playing1 soft-natured  shepherd6 
,nature1 on which as yet no knowledge   
has been at work1  which maintains      
unbroken barriers to culture--this is   
what the ,greek  saw in his satyr1 which
 still was not on this account supposed 
to  coincide with the ape4 ,on the      
contrary3 it was the archetype of  man1 
the embodiment of his highest and       
strongest emotions1 as the  enthusiastic
 reveller enraptured ,by the proximity  
of his god1 as the  fellow-suffering    
companion in whom the suffering of the  
god repeats  itself1 as the herald of   
wisdom speaking from the very depths of 
nature1 as the emblem of the sexual     
omnipotence of nature1 which the  ,greek
 was wont to contemplate with           
reverential awe4 ,the satyr was         
something sublime and godlike3 he could 

not but appear so1 especially  to the   
sad and wearied eye of the ,dionysian   
man4 ,he would have been  offended by   
our spurious tricked-up shepherd1 while 
his eye dwelt  with sublime satisfaction
 on the naked and unstuntedly           
magnificent  characters of nature3 here 
the illusion of culture was brushed away
  from the archetype of man2 here the   
true man1 the bearded satyr1  revealed  
himself1 who shouts joyfully to his god4
 ,before him the  cultured man shrank to
 a lying caricature4 ,schiller is right 
also  with reference to these beginnings
 of tragic art3 the chorus is a  living 
bulwark against the onsets of reality1  
because it--the satyric                 
chorus--portrays existence more         
truthfully1 more realistically1 more    
perfectly than the cultured man who     
ordinarily considers himself as the     
only reality4 ,the sphere of poetry does
 not lie outside the world1 like  some  
fantastic impossibility of a poet's     
imagination3 it seeks to be  the very   

opposite1 the unvarnished expression of 
truth1 and must for  this very reason   
cast aside the false finery of that     
supposed reality  of the cultured man4  
,the contrast between this intrinsic    
truth of  nature and the falsehood of   
culture1 which poses as the only        
reality1  is similar to that existing   
between the eternal kernel of things1   
the  thing in itself1 and the collective
 world of phenomena4 ,and even as       
tragedy1 with its metaphysical comfort1 
points to the eternal life of  this     
kernel of existence1 notwithstanding the
 perpetual dissolution of  phenomena1 so
 the symbolism of the satyric chorus    
already expresses  figuratively this    
primordial relation between the thing in
 itself and  phenomenon4 ,the idyllic   
shepherd of the modern man is but a copy
 of the  sum of the illusions of culture
 which he calls nature2 the ,dionysian  
,greek desires truth and nature in their
 most potent form2--he sees  himself    
metamorphosed into the satyr4    ,the   

revelling crowd of the votaries of      
,dionysus rejoices1 swayed by  such     
moods and perceptions1 the power of     
which transforms them before  their own 
eyes1 so that they imagine they behold  
themselves as  reconstituted genii of   
nature1 as satyrs4 ,the later           
constitution of the  tragic chorus is   
the artistic imitation of this natural  
phenomenon1  which of course required a 
separation of the ,dionysian spectators 
from  the enchanted ,dionysians4        
,however1 we must never lose sight of   
the fact  that the public of the ,attic 
tragedy rediscovered itself in the      
chorus  of the orchestra1 that there was
 in reality no antithesis of public  and
 chorus3 for all was but one great      
sublime chorus of dancing and  singing  
satyrs1 or of such as allowed themselves
 to be represented by  the satyrs4 ,the 
,schlegelian observation must here      
reveal itself to us  in a deeper sense4 
,the chorus is the ideal spectator#e in 
so far as  it is the only beholder1#f   

the beholder of the visionary world of  
the scene4 ,a public of spectators1 as  
known to us1 was unknown to the         
,greeks4 ,in their theatres the terraced
 structure of the spectators'  space    
rising in concentric arcs enabled every 
one1 in the strictest  sense1 to        
overlook the entire world of culture    
around him1 and in  surfeited           
contemplation to imagine himself a      
chorist4 ,according to  this view1 then1
 we may call the chorus in its primitive
 stage in  proto-tragedy1 a             
self-mirroring of the ,dionysian man3 a 
phenomenon  which may be best           
exemplified by the process of the actor1
 who1 if he  be truly gifted1 sees      
hovering before his eyes with almost    
tangible  perceptibility the character  
he is to represent4 ,the satyric chorus 
is first of all a vision of the         
,dionysian throng1 just as the world  of
 the stage is1 in turn1 a vision of the 
satyric chorus3 the power  of this      
vision is great enough to render the eye

 dull and insensible  to the impression 
of reality1 to the presence of the      
cultured men  occupying the tiers of    
seats on every side4 ,the form of the   
,greek  theatre reminds one of a        
lonesome mountain-valley3 the           
architecture of  the scene appears like 
a luminous cloud-picture which the      
,bacchants  swarming on the mountains   
behold from the heights1 as the splendid
  encirclement in the midst of which the
 image of ,dionysus is revealed to      
them4    ,owing to our learned          
conception of the elementary artistic   
processes1  this artistic               
proto-phenomenon1 which is here         
introduced to explain  the tragic       
chorus1 is almost shocking3 while       
nothing can be more  certain than that  
the poet is a poet only in that he      
beholds himself  surrounded by forms    
which live and act before him1 into the 
innermost  being of which his glance    
penetrates4 ,by reason of a strange     
defeat in  our capacities1 we modern men

 are apt to represent to ourselves the  
sthetic proto-phenomenon as too complex 
and abstract4 ,for the true  poet the   
metaphor is not a rhetorical figure1 but
 a vicarious image  which actually      
hovers before him in place of a concept4
 ,the character  is not for him an      
aggregate composed of a studied         
collection of  particular traits1 but an
 irrepressibly live person appearing    
before  his eyes1 and differing only    
from the corresponding vision of the    
painter by its ever continued life and  
action4 ,why is it that ,homer  sketches
 much more vividly#g than all the other 
poets8 ,because he  contemplates#h much 
more4 ,we talk so abstractly about      
poetry1 because  we are all wont to be  
bad poets4 ,at bottom the sthetic       
phenomenon is  simple3 let a man but    
have the faculty of perpetually seeing a
 lively  play and of constantly living  
surrounded by hosts of spirits1 then he 
is a poet3 let him but feel the impulse 
to transform himself and to  talk from  

out the bodies and souls of others1 then
 he is a dramatist4    ,the ,dionysian  
excitement is able to impart to a whole 
mass of men  this artistic faculty of   
seeing themselves surrounded by such a  
host  of spirits1 with whom they know   
themselves to be inwardly one4 ,this    
function of the tragic chorus is the    
dramatic proto-phenomenon3 to  see one's
 self transformed before one's self1 and
 then to act as if  one had really      
entered into another body1 into another 
character4 ,this  function stands at the
 beginning of the development of the    
drama4  ,here we have something         
different from the rhapsodist1 who does 
not  blend with his pictures1 but only  
sees them1 like the painter1 with       
contemplative eye outside of him2 here  
we actually have a surrender  of the    
individual by his entering into another 
nature4 ,moreover this  phenomenon      
appears in the form of an epidemic3 a   
whole throng feels  itself metamorphosed
 in this wise4 ,hence it is that the    

dithyramb is  essentially different from
 every other variety of the choric song4
 ,the  virgins1 who with laurel twigs in
 their hands solemnly proceed to  the   
temple of ,apollo and sing a            
processional hymn1 remain what they  are
 and retain their civic names3 the      
dithyrambic chorus is a chorus  of      
transformed beings1 whose civic past and
 social rank are totally  forgotten3    
they have become the timeless servants  
of their god that  live aloof from all  
the spheres of society4 ,every other    
variety of  the choric lyric of the     
,hellenes is but an enormous enhancement
 of  the ,apollonian unit-singer3 while 
in the dithyramb we have before us  a   
community of unconscious actors1 who    
mutually regard themselves as           
transformed among one another4    ,this 
enchantment is the prerequisite of all  
dramatic art4 ,in this  enchantment the 
,dionysian reveller sees himself as a   
satyr1 and as  satyr he in turn beholds 
the god1 that is1 in his transformation 

he  sees a new vision outside him as the
 ,apollonian consummation of his  state4
 ,with this new vision the drama is     
complete4    ,according to this view1 we
 must understand ,greek tragedy as the  
,dionysian chorus1 which always         
disburdens itself anew in an ,apollonian
  world of pictures4 ,the choric parts1 
therefore1 with which tragedy is        
interlaced1 are in a manner the         
mother-womb of the entire so-called     
dialogue1 that is1 of the whole         
stage-world1 of the drama proper4 ,in   
several successive outbursts does this  
primordial basis of tragedy beam  forth 
the vision of the drama1 which is a     
dream-phenomenon throughout1  and1 as   
such1 epic in character3 on the other   
hand1 however1 as  objectivation of a   
,dionysian state1 it does not represent 
the  ,apollonian redemption in          
appearance1 but1 conversely1 the        
dissolution  of the individual and his  
unification with primordial existence4  
,accordingly1 the drama is the          

,apollonian embodiment of ,dionysian    
perceptions and influences1 and is      
thereby separated from the epic as  by  
an immense gap4    ,the chorus of ,greek
 tragedy1 the symbol of the mass of the 
people  moved by ,dionysian excitement1 
is thus fully explained by our          
conception of it as here set forth4     
,whereas1 being accustomed to the       
position of a chorus on the modern      
stage1 especially an operatic  chorus1  
we could never comprehend why the tragic
 chorus of the ,greeks  should be older1
 more primitive1 indeed1 more important 
than the  action proper1--as has been so
 plainly declared by the voice of       
tradition2 whereas1 furthermore1 we     
could not reconcile with this           
traditional paramount importance and    
primitiveness the fact of the  chorus'  
being composed only of humble1          
ministering beings2 indeed1 at  first   
only of goatlike satyrs2 whereas1       
finally1 the orchestra before  the scene
 was always a riddle to us2 we have     

learned to comprehend at  length that   
the scene1 together with the action1 was
 fundamentally  and originally conceived
 only as a vision1 that the only reality
  is just the chorus1 which of itself   
generates the vision and speaks  thereof
 with the entire symbolism of dancing1  
tone1 and word4 ,this  chorus beholds in
 the vision its lord and master         
,dionysus1 and is thus  for ever the    
serving chorus3 it sees how he1 the god1
 suffers and  glorifies himself1 and    
therefore does not itself act4 ,but     
though its  attitude towards the god is 
throughout the attitude of ministration1
  this is nevertheless the highest      
expression1 the ,dionysian expression   
of ,nature1 and therefore1 like ,nature 
herself1 the chorus utters  oracles and 
wise sayings when transported with      
enthusiasm3 as  fellow-sufferer it is   
also the sage proclaiming truth from out
 the  heart of ,nature4 ,thus1 then1    
originates the fantastic figure1 which  
seems so shocking1 of the wise and      

enthusiastic satyr1 who is at the  same 
time the dumb man in contrast to the    
god3 the image of ,nature  and her      
strongest impulses1 yea1 the symbol of  
,nature1 and at the same  time the      
herald of her art and wisdom3 musician1 
poet1 dancer1 and  visionary in one     
person4    ,agreeably to this view1 and 
agreeably to tradition1 ,dionysus1 the  
proper stage-hero and focus of vision1  
is not at first actually present  in the
 oldest period of tragedy1 but is only  
imagined as present3  i4e41 tragedy is  
originally only chorus and not drama4   
,later  on the attempt is made to       
exhibit the god as real and to display  
the  visionary figure together with its 
glorifying encirclement before the  eyes
 of all2 it is here that the drama in   
the narrow sense of the  term begins4   
,to the dithyrambic chorus is now       
assigned the task of  exciting the minds
 of the hearers to such a pitch of      
,dionysian frenzy1  that1 when the      
tragic hero appears on the stage1 they  

do not behold  in him1 say1 the         
unshapely masked man1 but a visionary   
figure1 born  as it were of their own   
ecstasy4 ,let us picture ,admetes       
thinking in  profound meditation of his 
lately departed wife ,alcestis1 and     
quite  consuming himself in spiritual   
contemplation thereof--when suddenly    
the veiled figure of a woman resembling 
her in form and gait is led  towards    
him3 let us picture his sudden trembling
 anxiety1 his agitated  comparisons1 his
 instinctive conviction--and we shall   
have an analogon  to the sensation with 
which the spectator1 excited to         
,dionysian frenzy1  saw the god         
approaching on the stage1 a god with    
whose sufferings he  had already become 
identified4 ,he involuntarily           
transferred the entire  picture of the  
god1 fluttering magically before his    
soul1 to this  masked figure and        
resolved its reality as it were into a  
phantasmal  unreality4 ,this is the     
,apollonian dream-state1 in which the   

world  of day is veiled1 and a new      
world1 clearer1 more intelligible1 more 
striking than the former1 and           
nevertheless more shadowy1 is ever born 
anew in perpetual change before our     
eyes4 ,we accordingly recognise in      
tragedy a thorough-going stylistic      
contrast3 the language1 colour1         
flexibility and dynamics of the dialogue
 fall apart in the ,dionysian  lyrics of
 the chorus on the one hand1 and in the 
,apollonian dream-world  of the scene on
 the other1 into entirely separate      
spheres of  expression4 ,the ,apollonian
 appearances1 in which ,dionysus        
objectifies  himself1 are no longer ein 
ewiges ,meer1 ein wechselnd ,weben1 ein 
glhend ,leben1#i as is the music of the 
chorus1 they are no longer  the forces  
merely felt1 but not condensed into a   
picture1 by which  the inspired votary  
of ,dionysus divines the proximity of   
his god3 the  clearness and firmness of 
epic form now speak to him from the     
scene1  ,dionysus now no longer speaks  

through forces1 but as an epic hero1    
almost in the language of ,homer4       
#e ,zuschauer4    #f ,schauer4    #g    
,anschaulicher4    #h ,anschaut4    #i  
,an eternal sea1 ,a weaving1 flowing1   
,life1 all glowing4  ,faust1 trans4 of  
,bayard ,taylor4--,,tr4        #i4      
,whatever rises to the surface in the   
dialogue of the ,apollonian part  of    
,greek tragedy1 appears simple1         
transparent1 beautiful4 ,in this  sense 
the dialogue is a copy of the ,hellene1 
whose nature reveals  itself in the     
dance1 because in the dance the greatest
 energy is merely  potential1 but       
betrays itself nevertheless in flexible 
and vivacious  movements4 ,the language 
of the ,sophoclean heroes1 for instance1
  surprises us by its ,apollonian       
precision and clearness1 so that we at  
once imagine we see into the innermost  
recesses of their being1 and  marvel not
 a little that the way to these recesses
 is so short4 ,but  if for the moment we
 disregard the character of the hero    

which rises  to the surface and grows   
visible--and which at bottom is nothing 
but  the light-picture cast on a dark   
wall1 that is1 appearance through and   
through1--if rather we enter into the   
myth which projects itself in  these    
bright mirrorings1 we shall of a sudden 
experience a phenomenon  which bears a  
reverse relation to one familiar in     
optics4 ,when1 after  a vigorous effort 
to gaze into the sun1 we turn away      
blinded1 we have  dark-coloured spots   
before our eyes as restoratives1 so to  
speak2  while1 on the contrary1 those   
light-picture phenomena of the          
,sophoclean  hero1--in short1 the       
,apollonian of the mask1--are the       
necessary  productions of a glance into 
the secret and terrible things of       
nature1  as it were shining spots to    
heal the eye which dire night has       
seared4  ,only in this sense can we hope
 to be able to grasp the true meaning of
  the serious and significant notion of 
,greek cheerfulness2 while of  course we

 encounter the misunderstood notion of  
this cheerfulness1 as  resulting from a 
state of unendangered comfort1 on all   
the ways and  paths of the present time4
    ,the most sorrowful figure of the   
,greek stage1 the hapless dipus1  was   
understood by ,sophocles as the noble   
man1 who in spite of his  wisdom was    
destined to error and misery1 but       
nevertheless through  his extraordinary 
sufferings ultimately exerted a magical1
 wholesome  influence on all around him1
 which continues effective even after   
his death4 ,the noble man does not sin2 
this is what the thoughtful  poet wishes
 to tell us3 all laws1 all natural      
order1 yea1 the moral  world itself1 may
 be destroyed through his action1 but   
through this  very action a higher magic
 circle of influences is brought into   
play1  which establish a new world on   
the ruins of the old that has been      
overthrown4 ,this is what the poet1 in  
so far as he is at the same time  a     
religious thinker1 wishes to tell us3 as

 poet1 he shows us first of  all a      
wonderfully complicated legal mystery1  
which the judge slowly  unravels1 link  
by link1 to his own destruction4 ,the   
truly ,hellenic  delight at this        
dialectical loosening is so great1 that 
a touch of  surpassing cheerfulness is  
thereby communicated to the entire play1
  which everywhere blunts the edge of   
the horrible presuppositions of the     
procedure4 ,in the dipus at ,colonus we 
find the same cheerfulness1  elevated1  
however1 to an infinite transfiguration3
 in contrast to  the aged king1         
subjected to an excess of misery1 and   
exposed solely  as a sufferer to all    
that befalls him1 we have here a        
supermundane  cheerfulness1 which       
descends from a divine sphere and       
intimates to  us that in his purely     
passive attitude the hero attains his   
highest  activity1 the influence of     
which extends far beyond his life1 while
  his earlier conscious musing and      
striving led him only to passivity4     

,thus1 then1 the legal knot of the fable
 of dipus1 which to mortal  eyes appears
 indissolubly entangled1 is slowly      
unravelled--and the  profoundest human  
joy comes upon us in the presence of    
this divine  counterpart of dialectics4 
,if this explanation does justice to the
  poet1 it may still be asked whether   
the substance of the myth is  thereby   
exhausted2 and here it turns out that   
the entire conception  of the poet is   
nothing but the light-picture which     
healing nature  holds up to us after a  
glance into the abyss4 dipus1 the       
murderer of  his father1 the husband of 
his mother1 dipus1 the interpreter of   
the  riddle of the ,sphinx6 ,what does  
the mysterious triad of these deeds  of 
destiny tell us8 ,there is a primitive  
popular belief1 especially  in ,persia1 
that a wise ,magian can be born only of 
incest3 which  we have forthwith to     
interpret to ourselves with reference to
 the  riddle-solving and mother-marrying
 dipus1 to the effect that when  the    

boundary of the present and future1 the 
rigid law of individuation  and1 in     
general1 the intrinsic spell of nature1 
are broken by prophetic  and magical    
powers1 an extraordinary                
counter-naturalness--as1 in this  case1 
incest--must have preceded as a cause2  
for how else could one  force nature to 
surrender her secrets but by            
victoriously opposing her1  i4e41 by    
means of the ,unnatural8 ,it is this    
intuition which ,i see  imprinted in the
 awful triad of the destiny of dipus3   
the very man  who solves the riddle of  
nature--that double-constituted         
,sphinx--must  also1 as the murderer of 
his father and husband of his mother1   
break  the holiest laws of nature4      
,indeed1 it seems as if the myth sought 
to  whisper into our ears that wisdom1  
especially ,dionysian wisdom1 is  an    
unnatural abomination1 and that whoever1
 through his knowledge1  plunges nature 
into an abyss of annihilation1 must also
 experience  the dissolution of nature  

in himself4 ,the sharpness of wisdom    
turns  round upon the sage3 wisdom is a 
crime against nature3 such terrible     
expressions does the myth call out to   
us3 but the ,hellenic poet touches  like
 a sunbeam the sublime and formidable   
,memnonian statue of the myth1  so that 
it suddenly begins to sound--in         
,sophoclean melodies4    ,with the glory
 of passivity ,i now contrast the glory 
of activity which  illuminates the      
,prometheus of schylus4 ,that which     
schylus the  thinker had to tell us     
here1 but which as a poet he only allows
 us to  surmise by his symbolic picture1
 the youthful ,goethe succeeded in      
disclosing to us in the daring words of 
his ,prometheus3--        ,hier sitz'   
ich1 forme ,menschen      ,nach meinem  
,bilde1      ,ein ,geschlecht1 das mir  
gleich sei1      ,zu leiden1 zu weinen1 
,zu geniessen und zu freuen sich1       
,und dein nicht zu achten1      ,wie    
ich6#aj    ,man1 elevating himself to   
the rank of the ,titans1 acquires his   

culture  by his own efforts1 and compels
 the gods to unite with him1 because  in
 his self-sufficient wisdom he has their
 existence and their limits  in his     
hand4 ,what is most wonderful1 however1 
in this ,promethean  form1 which        
according to its fundamental conception 
is the specific  hymn of impiety1 is the
 profound schylean yearning for justice3
  the untold sorrow of the bold         
single-handed being on the one hand1    
and the divine need1 ay1 the foreboding 
of a twilight of the gods1 on  the      
other1 the power of these two worlds of 
suffering constraining  to              
reconciliation1 to metaphysical         
oneness--all this suggests most         
forcibly the central and main position  
of the schylean view of  things1 which  
sees ,moira as eternal justice enthroned
 above gods and  men4 ,in view of the   
astonishing boldness with which schylus 
places the  ,olympian world on his      
scales of justice1 it must be remembered
 that  the deep-minded ,greek had an    

immovably firm substratum of            
metaphysical  thought in his mysteries1 
and that all his sceptical paroxysms    
could  be discharged upon the           
,olympians4 ,with reference to these    
deities1  the ,greek artist1 in         
particular1 had an obscure feeling as to
 mutual  dependency3 and it is just in  
the ,prometheus of schylus that this    
feeling is symbolised4 ,the ,titanic    
artist found in himself the  daring     
belief that he could create men and at  
least destroy ,olympian  deities3       
namely1 by his superior wisdom1 for     
which1 to be sure1 he had  to atone by  
eternal suffering4 ,the splendid can-ing
 of the great  genius1 bought too       
cheaply even at the price of eternal    
suffering1  the stern pride of the      
artist3 this is the essence and soul of 
schylean poetry1 while ,sophocles in his
 dipus preludingly strikes up  the      
victory-song of the saint4 ,but even    
this interpretation which  schylus has  
given to the myth does not fathom its   

astounding depth of  terror2 the fact is
 rather that the artist's delight in    
unfolding1 the  cheerfulness of artistic
 creating bidding defiance to all       
calamity1  is but a shining stellar and 
nebular image reflected in a black sea  
of sadness4 ,the tale of ,prometheus is 
an original possession of the  entire   
,aryan family of races1 and documentary 
evidence of their  capacity for the     
profoundly tragic2 indeed1 it is not    
improbable that  this myth has the same 
characteristic significance for the     
,aryan  race that the myth of the fall  
of man has for the ,semitic1 and that   
there is a relationship between the two 
myths like that of brother and  sister4 
,the presupposition of the ,promethean  
myth is the transcendent  value which a 
nave humanity attach to fire as the true
 palladium  of every ascending culture3 
that man1 however1 should dispose at    
will  of this fire1 and should not      
receive it only as a gift from heaven1  
as the igniting lightning or the warming

 solar flame1 appeared to the           
contemplative primordial men as crime   
and robbery of the divine nature4  ,and 
thus the first philosophical problem at 
once causes a painful1  irreconcilable  
antagonism between man and ,god1 and    
puts as it were  a mass of rock at the  
gate of every culture4 ,the best and    
highest  that men can acquire they      
obtain by a crime1 and must now in their
  turn take upon themselves its         
consequences1 namely the whole flood of 
sufferings and sorrows with which the   
offended celestials must visit  the     
nobly aspiring race of man3 a bitter    
reflection1 which1 by the  dignity it   
confers on crime1 contrasts strangely   
with the ,semitic  myth of the fall of  
man1 in which curiosity1 beguilement1   
seducibility1  wantonness1--in short1 a 
whole series of pre-eminently feminine  
passions1--were regarded as the origin  
of evil4 ,what distinguishes  the ,aryan
 representation is the sublime view of  
active sin as the  properly ,promethean 

virtue1 which suggests at the same time 
the ethical  basis of pessimistic       
tragedy as the justification of human   
evil--of  human guilt as well as of the 
suffering incurred thereby4 ,the misery 
in  the essence of things--which the    
contemplative ,aryan is not disposed  to
 explain away--the antagonism in the    
heart of the world1 manifests  itself to
 him as a medley of different worlds1   
for instance1 a ,divine  and a human    
world1 each of which is in the right    
individually1 but  as a separate        
existence alongside of another has to   
suffer for its  individuation4 ,with the
 heroic effort made by the individual   
for  universality1 in his attempt to    
pass beyond the bounds of individuation 
and become the one universal being1 he  
experiences in himself the  primordial  
contradiction concealed in the essence  
of things1 i4e41  he trespasses and     
suffers4 ,accordingly crime#aa is       
understood by  the ,aryans to be a man1 
sin#ab by the ,semites a woman2 as also1

 the  original crime is committed by    
man1 the original sin by woman4         
,besides1  the witches' chorus says3    
,wir nehmen das nicht so genau3         
,mit tausend ,schritten macht's die     
,frau2      ,doch wie sie auch sich     
eilen kann      ,mit einem ,sprunge     
macht's der ,mann4#ac    ,he who        
understands this innermost core of the  
tale of  ,prometheus--namely the        
necessity of crime imposed on the       
titanically  striving individual--will  
at once be conscious of the             
un-,apollonian  nature of this          
pessimistic representation3 for ,apollo 
seeks to pacify  individual beings      
precisely by drawing boundary lines     
between them1  and by again and again   
calling attention thereto1 with his     
requirements  of self-knowledge and due 
proportion1 as the holiest laws of the  
universe4 ,in order1 however1 to prevent
 the form from congealing to  ,egyptian 
rigidity and coldness in consequence of 
this ,apollonian  tendency1 in order to 

prevent the extinction of the motion of 
the  entire lake in the effort to       
prescribe to the individual wave its    
path  and compass1 the high tide of the 
,dionysian tendency destroyed from  time
 to time all the little circles in which
 the one-sided ,apollonian  will sought 
to confine the ,hellenic world4 ,the    
suddenly swelling  tide of the          
,dionysian then takes the separate      
little wave-mountains of  individuals on
 its back1 just as the brother of       
,prometheus1 the ,titan  ,atlas1 does   
with the earth4 ,this ,titanic impulse1 
to become as it were  the ,atlas of all 
individuals1 and to carry them on broad 
shoulders  higher and higher1 farther   
and farther1 is what the ,promethean and
 the  ,dionysian have in common4 ,in    
this respect the schylean ,prometheus is
  a ,dionysian mask1 while1 in the      
afore-mentioned profound yearning for   
justice1 schylus betrays to the         
intelligent observer his paternal       
descent from ,apollo1 the god of        

individuation and of the boundaries  of 
justice4 ,and so the double-being of the
 schylean ,prometheus1 his  conjoint    
,dionysian and ,apollonian nature1 might
 be thus expressed in  an abstract      
formula3 ,whatever exists is alike just 
and unjust1 and  equally justified in   
both4        ,das ist deine ,welt6 ,das 
heisst eine ,welt6#ad      #aj          
,here sit ,i1 forming mankind      ,in  
my image1      ,a race resembling me1-- 
,to sorrow and to weep1      ,to taste1 
to hold1 to enjoy1      ,and not have   
need of thee1      ,as ,i6              
7,translation in ,hckel's ,history of   
the ,evolution of ,man47    #aa ,der    
,frevel4    #ab ,die ,snde4    #ac      
,we do not measure with such care3      
,woman in thousand steps is there1      
,but howsoe'er she hasten may4      ,man
 in one leap has cleared the way4       
,faust1 trans4 of ,bayard               
,taylor4--,,tr4      #ad ,this is thy   
world1 and what a world6--,faust4       
#aj4      ,it is an indisputable        

tradition that ,greek tragedy in its    
earliest  form had for its theme only   
the sufferings of ,dionysus1 and that   
for  some time the only stage-hero      
therein was simply ,dionysus himself4   
,with the same confidence1 however1 we  
can maintain that not until  ,euripides 
did ,dionysus cease to be the tragic    
hero1 and that in fact  all the         
celebrated figures of the ,greek        
stage--,prometheus1 dipus1  etc4--are   
but masks of this original hero1        
,dionysus4 ,the presence of a  god      
behind all these masks is the one       
essential cause of the typical          
ideality1 so oft exciting wonder1 of    
these celebrated figures4 ,some  one1 ,i
 know not whom1 has maintained that all 
individuals are comic as  individuals   
and are consequently un-tragic3 from    
whence it might be  inferred that the   
,greeks in general could not endure     
individuals on  the tragic stage4 ,and  
they really seem to have had these      
sentiments3  as1 in general1 it is to be

 observed that the ,platonic            
discrimination  and valuation of the    
idea in contrast to the eidolon1 the    
image1  is deeply rooted in the         
,hellenic being4 ,availing ourselves of 
,plato's  terminology1 however1 we      
should have to speak of the tragic      
figures of  the ,hellenic stage somewhat
 as follows4 ,the one truly real        
,dionysus  appears in a multiplicity of 
forms1 in the mask of a fighting hero   
and entangled1 as it were1 in the net of
 an individual will4 ,as the  visibly   
appearing god now talks and acts1 he    
resembles an erring1  striving1         
suffering individual3 and that1 in      
general1 he appears  with such epic     
precision and clearness1 is due to the  
dream-reading  ,apollo1 who reads to the
 chorus its ,dionysian state through    
this  symbolic appearance4 ,in reality1 
however1 this hero is the suffering     
,dionysus of the mysteries1 a god       
experiencing in himself the sufferings  
of individuation1 of whom wonderful     

myths tell that as a boy he was         
dismembered by the ,titans and has been 
worshipped in this state  as            
,zagreus3#ae whereby is intimated that  
this dismemberment1 the  properly       
,dionysian suffering1 is like a         
transformation into air1  water1 earth1 
and fire1 that we must therefore regard 
the state of  individuation as the      
source and primal cause of all          
suffering1 as  something objectionable  
in itself4 ,from the smile of this      
,dionysus  sprang the ,olympian gods1   
from his tears sprang man4 ,in his      
existence  as a dismembered god1        
,dionysus has the dual nature of a cruel
  barbarised demon1 and a mild pacific  
ruler4 ,but the hope of the epopts      
looked for a new birth of ,dionysus1    
which we have now to conceive of in     
anticipation as the end of              
individuation3 it was for this coming   
third  ,dionysus that the stormy        
jubilation-hymns of the epopts          
resounded4 ,and  it is only this hope   

that sheds a ray of joy upon the        
features of a  world torn asunder and   
shattered into individuals3 as is       
symbolised in  the myth by ,demeter sunk
 in eternal sadness1 who rejoices again 
only  when told that she may once more  
give birth to ,dionysus ,in the views   
of things here given we already have all
 the elements of a profound and         
pessimistic contemplation of the world1 
and along with these we have  the       
mystery doctrine of tragedy3 the        
fundamental knowledge of the  oneness of
 all existing things1 the consideration 
of individuation as  the primal cause of
 evil1 and art as the joyous hope that  
the spell of  individuation may be      
broken1 as the augury of a restored     
oneness4    ,it has already been        
intimated that the ,homeric epos is the 
poem  of ,olympian culture1 wherewith   
this culture has sung its own song  of  
triumph over the terrors of the war of  
the ,titans4 ,under the  predominating  
influence of tragic poetry1 these       

,homeric myths are now  reproduced anew1
 and show by this metempsychosis that   
meantime the  ,olympian culture also has
 been vanquished by a still deeper view 
of  things4 ,the haughty ,titan         
,prometheus has announced to his        
,olympian  tormentor that the extremest 
danger will one day menace his rule1    
unless he ally with him betimes4 ,in    
schylus we perceive the terrified       
,zeus1 apprehensive of his end1 in      
alliance with the ,titan4 ,thus1 the    
former age of the ,titans is            
subsequently brought from ,tartarus once
  more to the light of day4 ,the        
philosophy of wild and naked nature     
beholds with the undissembled mien of   
truth the myths of the ,homeric  world  
as they dance past3 they turn pale1 they
 tremble before the  lightning glance of
 this goddess--till the powerful fist#af
 of  the ,dionysian artist forces them  
into the service of the new deity4      
,dionysian truth takes over the entire  
domain of myth as symbolism of  its     

knowledge1 which it makes known partly  
in the public cult of  tragedy and      
partly in the secret celebration of the 
dramatic mysteries1  always1 however1 in
 the old mythical garb4 ,what was the   
power1 which  freed ,prometheus from his
 vultures and transformed the myth into 
a  vehicle of ,dionysian wisdom8 ,it is 
the ,heracleian power of music3  which1 
having reached its highest manifestness 
in tragedy1 can invest  myths with a new
 and most profound significance1 which  
we have already  had occasion to        
characterise as the most powerful       
faculty of music4 ,for  it is the fate  
of every myth to insinuate itself into  
the narrow limits  of some alleged      
historical reality1 and to be treated by
 some later  generation as a solitary   
fact with historical claims3 and the    
,greeks  were already fairly on the way 
to restamp the whole of their mythical  
juvenile dream sagaciously and          
arbitrarily into a historico-pragmatical
  juvenile history4 ,for this is the    

manner in which religions are  wont to  
die out3 when of course under the stern1
 intelligent eyes of  an orthodox       
dogmatism1 the mythical presuppositions 
of a religion are  systematised as a    
completed sum of historical events1 and 
when one  begins apprehensively to      
defend the credibility of the myth1     
while at  the same time opposing all    
continuation of their natural vitality  
and  luxuriance2 when1 accordingly1 the 
feeling for myth dies out1 and its      
place is taken by the claim of religion 
to historical foundations4  ,this dying 
myth was now seized by the new-born     
genius of ,dionysian  music1 in whose   
hands it bloomed once more1 with such   
colours as it  had never yet displayed1 
with a fragrance that awakened a longing
  anticipation of a metaphysical world4 
,after this final effulgence  it        
collapses1 its leaves wither1 and soon  
the scoffing ,lucians of  antiquity     
catch at the discoloured and faded      
flowers which the winds  carry off in   

every direction4 ,through tragedy the   
myth attains its  profoundest           
significance1 its most expressive form2 
it rises once more  like a wounded hero1
 and the whole surplus of vitality1     
together with  the philosophical        
calmness of the ,dying1 burns in its    
eyes with a last  powerful gleam4       
,what meantest thou1 oh impious         
,euripides1 in seeking once more to     
enthral this dying one8 ,it died under  
thy ruthless hands3 and then  thou      
madest use of counterfeit1 masked myth1 
which like the ape of  ,heracles could  
only trick itself out in the old finery4
 ,and as myth  died in thy hands1 so    
also died the genius of music2 though   
thou  couldst covetously plunder all the
 gardens of music--thou didst only      
realise a counterfeit1 masked music4    
,and because thou hast forsaken         
,dionysus4 ,apollo hath also forsaken   
thee2 rout up all the passions from     
their haunts and conjure them into thy  
sphere1 sharpen and polish a            

sophistical dialectics for the speeches 
of thy heroes--thy very heroes  have    
only counterfeit1 masked passions1 and  
speak only counterfeit1  masked music4  
#ae ,see article by ,mr4 ,arthur ,symons
 in ,the ,academy1 #cjth  ,august #aijb4
    #af ,die mchtige ,faust4--,cf4      
,faust1 ,chorus of  ,spirits4--,,tr4    
#aa4      ,greek tragedy had a fate     
different from that of all her older    
sister  arts3 she died by suicide1 in   
consequence of an irreconcilable        
conflict2 accordingly she died          
tragically1 while they all passed away  
very calmly and beautifully in ripe old 
age4 ,for if it be in accordance  with a
 happy state of things to depart this   
life without a struggle1  leaving behind
 a fair posterity1 the closing period of
 these older  arts exhibits such a happy
 state of things3 slowly they sink out  
of  sight1 and before their dying eyes  
already stand their fairer progeny1  who
 impatiently lift up their heads with   
courageous mien4 ,the death of  ,greek  

tragedy1 on the other hand1 left an     
immense void1 deeply felt  everywhere4  
,even as certain ,greek sailors in the  
time of ,tiberius once  heard upon a    
lonesome island the thrilling cry1 great
 ,pan is dead3 so  now as it were       
sorrowful wailing sounded through the   
,hellenic world3  ,tragedy is dead6     
,poetry itself has perished with her6   
,begone1 begone1  ye stunted1 emaciated 
epigones6 ,begone to ,hades1 that ye may
 for once  eat your fill of the crumbs  
of your former masters6    ,but when    
after all a new ,art blossomed forth    
which revered tragedy as  her ancestress
 and mistress1 it was observed with     
horror that she did  indeed bear the    
features of her mother1 but those very  
features the  latter had exhibited in   
her long death-struggle4 ,it was        
,euripides who  fought this             
death-struggle of tragedy2 the later art
 is known as the  ,new ,attic ,comedy4  
,in it the degenerate form of tragedy   
lived on as a  monument of the most     

painful and violent death of tragedy    
proper4    ,this connection between the 
two serves to explain the passionate    
attachment to ,euripides evinced by the 
poets of the ,new ,comedy1 and  hence we
 are no longer surprised at the wish of 
,philemon1 who would  have got himself  
hanged at once1 with the sole design of 
being able  to visit ,euripides in the  
lower regions3 if only he could be      
assured  generally that the deceased    
still had his wits4 ,but if we desire1  
as  briefly as possible1 and without    
professing to say aught exhaustive on   
the subject1 to characterise what       
,euripides has in common with ,menander 
and ,philemon1 and what appealed to them
 so strongly as worthy of  imitation3 it
 will suffice to say that the spectator 
was brought upon  the stage by          
,euripides4 ,he who has perceived the   
material of which the  ,promethean      
tragic writers prior to ,euripides      
formed their heroes1 and  how remote    
from their purpose it was to bring the  

true mask of reality  on the stage1 will
 also know what to make of the wholly   
divergent  tendency of ,euripides4      
,through him the commonplace individual 
forced  his way from the spectators'    
benches to the stage itself2 the mirror 
in  which formerly only great and bold  
traits found expression now showed  the 
painful exactness that conscientiously  
reproduces even the abortive  lines of  
nature4 ,odysseus1 the typical ,hellene 
of the ,old ,art1 sank1  in the hands of
 the new poets1 to the figure of the    
,grculus1 who1 as  the good-naturedly   
cunning domestic slave1 stands          
henceforth in the  centre of dramatic   
interest4 ,what ,euripides takes credit 
for in the  ,aristophanean ,frogs1      
namely1 that by his household remedies  
he freed  tragic art from its pompous   
corpulency1 is apparent above all in his
  tragic heroes4 ,the spectator now     
virtually saw and heard his double on   
the ,euripidean stage1 and rejoiced that
 he could talk so well4 ,but this  joy  

was not all3 one even learned of        
,euripides how to speak3 he prides      
himself upon this in his contest with   
schylus3 how the people have  learned   
from him how to observe1 debate1 and    
draw conclusions according  to the rules
 of art and with the cleverest          
sophistications4 ,in general  it may be 
said that through this revolution of the
 popular language he  made the ,new     
,comedy possible4 ,for it was henceforth
 no longer a secret1  how--and with what
 saws--the commonplace could represent  
and express  itself on the stage4 ,civic
 mediocrity1 on which ,euripides built  
all  his political hopes1 was now       
suffered to speak1 while heretofore the 
demigod in tragedy and the drunken      
satyr1 or demiman1 in comedy1 had       
determined the character of the         
language4 ,and so the ,aristophanean    
,euripides prides himself on having     
portrayed the common1 familiar1         
everyday life and dealings of the       
people1 concerning which all are        

qualified to pass judgment4 ,if now the 
entire populace philosophises1  manages 
land and goods with unheard-of          
circumspection1 and conducts  law-suits1
 he takes all the credit to himself1 and
 glories in the  splendid results of the
 wisdom with which he inoculated the    
rabble4    ,it was to a populace        
prepared and enlightened in this manner 
that the  ,new ,comedy could now address
 itself1 of which ,euripides had become 
as it were the chorus-master2 only that 
in this case the chorus of  spectators  
had to be trained4 ,as soon as this     
chorus was trained to  sing in the      
,euripidean key1 there arose that       
chesslike variety of the  drama1 the    
,new ,comedy1 with its perpetual        
triumphs of cunning and  artfulness4    
,but ,euripides--the chorus-master--was 
praised incessantly3  indeed1 people    
would have killed themselves in order to
 learn yet more  from him1 had they not 
known that tragic poets were quite as   
dead as  tragedy4 ,but with it the      

,hellene had surrendered the belief in  
his  immortality2 not only the belief in
 an ideal past1 but also the belief  in 
an ideal future4 ,the saying taken from 
the well-known epitaph1 as  an old man1 
frivolous and capricious1 applies also  
to aged ,hellenism4  ,the passing       
moment1 wit1 levity1 and caprice1 are   
its highest deities2  the fifth class1  
that of the slaves1 now attains to      
power1 at least in  sentiment3 and if we
 can still speak at all of ,greek       
cheerfulness1  it is the cheerfulness of
 the slave who has nothing of           
consequence to  answer for1 nothing     
great to strive for1 and cannot value   
anything of  the past or future higher  
than the present4 ,it was this semblance
 of  ,greek cheerfulness which so       
revolted the deep-minded and formidable 
natures of the first four centuries of  
,christianity3 this womanish  flight    
from earnestness and terror1 this       
cowardly contentedness with  easy       
pleasure1 was not only contemptible to  

them1 but seemed to be a  specifically  
anti-,christian sentiment4 ,and we must 
ascribe it to its  influence that the   
conception of ,greek antiquity1 which   
lived on for  centuries1 preserved with 
almost enduring persistency that        
peculiar  hectic colour of              
cheerfulness--as if there had never been
 a ,sixth  ,century with its birth of   
tragedy1 its ,mysteries1 its ,pythagoras
 and  ,heraclitus1 indeed as if the     
art-works of that great period did not  
at  all exist1 which in fact--each by   
itself--can in no wise be explained  as 
having sprung from the soil of such a   
decrepit and slavish love  of existence 
and cheerfulness1 and point to an       
altogether different  conception of     
things as their source4    ,the         
assertion made a moment ago1 that       
,euripides introduced the  spectator on 
the stage to qualify him the better to  
pass judgment on  the drama1 will make  
it appear as if the old tragic art was  
always  in a false relation to the      

spectator3 and one would be tempted to  
extol the radical tendency of ,euripides
 to bring about an adequate  relation   
between art-work and public as an       
advance on ,sophocles4 ,but1  as things 
are1 public is merely a word1 and not at
 all a homogeneous  and constant        
quantity4 ,why should the artist be     
under obligations to  accommodate       
himself to a power whose strength is    
merely in numbers8  ,and if by virtue of
 his endowments and aspirations he feels
 himself  superior to every one of these
 spectators1 how could he feel greater  
respect for the collective expression of
 all these subordinate  capacities than 
for the relatively highest-endowed      
individual  spectator8 ,in truth1 if    
ever a ,greek artist treated his public 
throughout a long life with             
presumptuousness and self-sufficiency1  
it was ,euripides1 who1 even when the   
masses threw themselves at his  feet1   
with sublime defiance made an open      
assault on his own tendency1  the very  

tendency with which he had triumphed    
over the masses4 ,if this  genius had   
had the slightest reverence for the     
pandemonium of the  public1 he would    
have broken down long before the middle 
of his career  beneath the weighty blows
 of his own failures4 ,these            
considerations  here make it obvious    
that our formula--namely1 that          
,euripides brought  the spectator upon  
the stage1 in order to make him truly   
competent to  pass judgment--was but a  
provisional one1 and that we must seek  
for a  deeper understanding of his      
tendency4 ,conversely1 it is undoubtedly
  well known that schylus and           
,sophocles1 during all their lives1     
indeed1  far beyond their lives1 enjoyed
 the full favour of the people1 and that
  therefore in the case of these        
predecessors of ,euripides the idea of  
a false relation between art-work and   
public was altogether excluded4  ,what  
was it that thus forcibly diverted this 
highly gifted artist1 so  incessantly   

impelled to production1 from the path   
over which shone the  sun of the        
greatest names in poetry and the        
cloudless heaven of popular  favour8    
,what strange consideration for the     
spectator led him to defy1  the         
spectator8 ,how could he1 owing to too  
much respect for the public             
--dis-respect the public8               
,euripides--and this is the solution of 
the riddle just propounded--felt        
himself1 as a poet1 undoubtedly superior
 to the masses1 but not to  two of his  
spectators3 he brought the masses upon  
the stage2 these  two spectators he     
revered as the only competent judges and
 masters  of his art3 in compliance with
 their directions and admonitions1 he   
transferred the entire world of         
sentiments1 passions1 and experiences1  
hitherto present at every festival      
representation as the invisible  chorus 
on the spectators' benches1 into the    
souls of his stage-heroes2  he yielded  
to their demands when he also sought for

 these new  characters the new word and 
the new tone2 in their voices alone he  
heard the conclusive verdict on his     
work1 as also the cheering promise  of  
triumph when he found himself condemned 
as usual by the justice of  the public4 
,of these two1 spectators the one       
is--,euripides himself1 ,euripides as   
thinker1 not as poet4 ,it might be said 
of him1 that his unusually  large fund  
of critical ability1 as in the case of  
,lessing1 if it did  not create1 at     
least constantly fructified a           
productively artistic  collateral       
impulse4 ,with this faculty1 with all   
the clearness and  dexterity of his     
critical thought1 ,euripides had sat in 
the theatre and  striven to recognise in
 the masterpieces of his great          
predecessors1 as  in faded paintings1   
feature and feature1 line and line4 ,and
 here had  happened to him what one     
initiated in the deeper arcana of       
schylean  tragedy must needs have       
expected3 he observed something         

incommensurable  in every feature and in
 every line1 a certain deceptive        
distinctness  and at the same time an   
enigmatic profundity1 yea an infinitude1
 of  background4 ,even the clearest     
figure had always a comet's tail        
attached  to it1 which seemed to suggest
 the uncertain and the inexplicable4    
,the same twilight shrouded the         
structure of the drama1 especially the  
significance of the chorus4 ,and how    
doubtful seemed the solution of  the    
ethical problems to his mind6 ,how      
questionable the treatment of  the      
myths6 ,how unequal the distribution of 
happiness and misfortune6  ,even in the 
language of the ,old ,tragedy there was 
much that was  objectionable to him1 or 
at least enigmatical2 he found          
especially  too much pomp for simple    
affairs1 too many tropes and immense    
things  for the plainness of the        
characters4 ,thus he sat restlessly     
pondering  in the theatre1 and as a     
spectator he acknowledged to himself    

that he  did not understand his great   
predecessors4 ,if1 however1 he thought  
the  understanding the root proper of   
all enjoyment and productivity1 he had  
to inquire and look about to see whether
 any one else thought as he  did1 and   
also acknowledged this                  
incommensurability4 ,but most people1   
and among them the best individuals1 had
 only a distrustful smile for  him1     
while none could explain why the great  
masters were still in the  right in face
 of his scruples and objections4 ,and in
 this painful  condition he found that  
other spectator1 who did not comprehend1
  and therefore did not esteem1 tragedy4
 ,in alliance with him he could         
venture1 from amid his lonesomeness1 to 
begin the prodigious struggle  against  
the art of schylus and ,sophocles--not  
with polemic writings1  but as a        
dramatic poet1 who opposed his own      
conception of tragedy to  the           
traditional one4        #ab4            
,before we name this other spectator1   

let us pause here a moment in  order to 
recall our own impression1 as previously
 described1 of the  discordant and      
incommensurable elements in the nature  
of schylean  tragedy4 ,let us think of  
our own astonishment at the chorus and  
the tragic hero of that type of tragedy1
 neither of which we could  reconcile   
with our practices any more than with   
tradition--till we  rediscovered this   
duplexity itself as the origin and      
essence of ,greek  tragedy1 as the      
expression of two interwoven artistic   
impulses1 the  ,apollonian and the      
,dionysian4    ,to separate this        
primitive and all-powerful ,dionysian   
element from  tragedy1 and to build up a
 new and purified form of tragedy on the
  basis of a non-,dionysian art1        
morality1 and conception of things--such
  is the tendency of ,euripides which   
now reveals itself to us in a clear     
light4    ,in a myth composed in the eve
 of his life1 ,euripides himself most   
urgently propounded to his              

contemporaries the question as to the   
value and signification of this         
tendency4 ,is the ,dionysian entitled   
to exist at all8 ,should it not be      
forcibly rooted out of the ,hellenic    
soil8 ,certainly1 the poet tells us1 if 
only it were possible3 but the  god     
,dionysus is too powerful2 his most     
intelligent adversary--like  ,pentheus  
in the ,bacch--is unwittingly enchanted 
by him1 and  in this enchantment meets  
his fate4 ,the judgment of the two old  
sages1 ,cadmus and ,tiresias1 seems to  
be also the judgment of the  aged poet3 
that the reflection of the wisest       
individuals does not  overthrow old     
popular traditions1 nor the perpetually 
propagating  worship of ,dionysus1 that 
in fact it behoves us to display at     
least a  diplomatically cautious concern
 in the presence of such strange forces3
  where however it is always possible   
that the god may take offence  at such  
lukewarm participation1 and finally     
change the diplomat--in  this case      

,cadmus--into a dragon4 ,this is what a 
poet tells us1 who  opposed ,dionysus   
with heroic valour throughout a long    
life--in order  finally to wind up his  
career with a glorification of his      
adversary1  and with suicide1 like one  
staggering from giddiness1 who1 in order
  to escape the horrible vertigo he can 
no longer endure1 casts himself  from a 
tower4 ,this tragedy--the ,bacch--is a  
protest against the  practicability of  
his own tendency2 alas1 and it has      
already been  put into practice6 ,the   
surprising thing had happened3 when the 
poet  recanted1 his tendency had already
 conquered4 ,dionysus had already  been 
scared from the tragic stage1 and in    
fact by a demonic power  which spoke    
through ,euripides4 ,even ,euripides    
was1 in a certain sense1  only a mask3  
the deity that spoke through him was    
neither ,dionysus nor  ,apollo1 but an  
altogether new-born demon1 called       
,socrates4 ,this is  the new antithesis3
 the ,dionysian and the ,socratic1 and  

the art-work of  ,greek tragedy was     
wrecked on it4 ,what if even ,euripides 
now seeks to  comfort us by his         
recantation8 ,it is of no avail3 the    
most magnificent  temple lies in ruins4 
,what avails the lamentation of the     
destroyer1  and his confession that it  
was the most beautiful of all temples8  
,and  even that ,euripides has been     
changed into a dragon as a punishment by
  the art-critics of all ages--who could
 be content with this wretched          
compensation8    ,let us now approach   
this ,socratic tendency with which      
,euripides  combated and vanquished     
schylean tragedy4    ,we must now ask   
ourselves1 what could be the ulterior   
aim of the  ,euripidean design1 which1  
in the highest ideality of its          
execution1  would found drama           
exclusively on the non-,dionysian8 ,what
 other form of  drama could there be1 if
 it was not to be born of the womb of   
music1 in  the mysterious twilight of   
the ,dionysian8 ,only the dramatised    

epos3  in which ,apollonian domain of   
art the tragic effect is of course      
unattainable4 ,it does not depend on the
 subject-matter of the events  here     
represented2 indeed1 ,i venture to      
assert that it would have been          
impossible for ,goethe in his projected 
,nausikaa to have rendered  tragically  
effective the suicide of the idyllic    
being with which he  intended to        
complete the fifth act2 so extraordinary
 is the power of  the epic-,apollonian  
representation1 that it charms1 before  
our eyes1  the most terrible things by  
the joy in appearance and in redemption 
through appearance4 ,the poet of the    
dramatised epos cannot completely  blend
 with his pictures any more than the    
epic rhapsodist4 ,he is still  just the 
calm1 unmoved embodiment of             
,contemplation whose wide eyes see  the 
picture before them4 ,the actor in this 
dramatised epos still  remains          
intrinsically rhapsodist3 the           
consecration of inner dreaming  is on   

all his actions1 so that he is never    
wholly an actor4    ,how1 then1 is the  
,euripidean play related to this ideal  
of the  ,apollonian drama8 ,just as the 
younger rhapsodist is related to the    
solemn rhapsodist of the old time4 ,the 
former describes his own  character in  
the ,platonic ,ion as follows3 ,when ,i 
am saying anything  sad1 my eyes fill   
with tears2 when1 however1 what ,i am   
saying is awful  and terrible1 then my  
hair stands on end through fear1 and my 
heart  leaps4 ,here we no longer observe
 anything of the epic absorption  in    
appearance1 or of the unemotional       
coolness of the true actor1  who        
precisely in his highest activity is    
wholly appearance and joy  in           
appearance4 ,euripides is the actor with
 leaping heart1 with hair  standing on  
end2 as ,socratic thinker he designs the
 plan1 as passionate  actor he executes 
it4 ,neither in the designing nor in the
 execution is  he an artist pure and    
simple4 ,and so the ,euripidean drama is

 a thing  both cool and fiery1 equally  
capable of freezing and burning2 it is  
impossible for it to attain the         
,apollonian1 effect of the epos1 while1 
on the other hand1 it has severed itself
 as much as possible from  ,dionysian   
elements1 and now1 in order to act at   
all1 it requires new  stimulants1 which 
can no longer lie within the sphere of  
the two unique  art-impulses1 the       
,apollonian and the ,dionysian4 ,the    
stimulants are  cool1 paradoxical       
thoughts1 in place of ,apollonian       
intuitions--and  fiery passions--in     
place ,dionysean ecstasies2 and in fact1
 thoughts  and passions very            
realistically copied1 and not at all    
steeped in the  ether of art4           
,accordingly1 if we have perceived this 
much1 that ,euripides did not  succeed  
in establishing the drama exclusively on
 the ,apollonian1 but  that rather his  
non-,dionysian inclinations deviated    
into a naturalistic  and inartistic     
tendency1 we shall now be able to       

approach nearer to  the character       
sthetic ,socratism4 supreme law of which
 reads about  as follows3 to be         
beautiful everything must be            
intelligible1 as  the parallel to the   
,socratic proposition1 only the knowing 
is one  virtuous4 ,with this canon in   
his hands ,euripides measured all the   
separate elements of the drama1 and     
rectified them according to his         
principle3 the language1 the characters1
 the dramaturgic structure1 and  the    
choric music4 ,the poetic deficiency and
 retrogression1 which we  are so often  
wont to impute to ,euripides in         
comparison with ,sophoclean  tragedy1 is
 for the most part the product of this  
penetrating critical  process1 this     
daring intelligibility4 ,the ,euripidian
 prologue may  serve us as an example of
 the productivity of this1 rationalistic
  method4 ,nothing could be more opposed
 to the technique of our stage  than the
 prologue in the drama of ,euripides4   
,for a single person to  appear at the  

outset of the play telling us who he is1
 what precedes  the action1 what has    
happened thus far1 yea1 what will happen
 in  the course of the play1 would be   
designated by a modern playwright  as a 
wanton and unpardonable abandonment of  
the effect of suspense4  ,everything    
that is about to happen is known        
beforehand2 who then  cares to wait for 
it actually to happen8--considering1    
moreover1 that  here there is not by any
 means the exciting relation of a       
predicting  dream to a reality taking   
place later on4 ,euripides speculated   
quite  differently4 ,the effect of      
tragedy never depended on epic suspense1
 on  the fascinating uncertainty as to  
what is to happen now and afterwards3   
but rather on the great rhetoro-lyric   
scenes in which the passion and         
dialectics of the chief hero swelled to 
a broad and mighty stream4  ,everything 
was arranged for pathos1 not for action3
 and whatever  was not arranged for     
pathos was regarded as objectionable4   

,but what  interferes most with the     
hearer's pleasurable satisfaction in    
such  scenes is a missing link1 a gap in
 the texture of the previous history4   
,so long as the spectator has to divine 
the meaning of this or that  person1 or 
the presuppositions of this or that     
conflict of inclinations  and           
intentions1 his complete absorption in  
the doings and sufferings  of the chief 
persons is impossible1 as is likewise   
breathless  fellow-feeling and          
fellow-fearing4 ,the schyleo-,sophoclean
 tragedy  employed the most ingenious   
devices in the first scenes to place in 
the hands of the spectator as if by     
chance all the threads requisite  for   
understanding the whole3 a trait in     
which that noble artistry is  approved1 
which as it were masks the inevitably   
formal1 and causes  it to appear as     
something accidental4 ,but nevertheless 
,euripides  thought he observed that    
during these first scenes the spectator 
was  in a strange state of anxiety to   

make out the problem of the previous    
history1 so that the poetic beauties and
 pathos of the exposition  were lost to 
him4 ,accordingly he placed the prologue
 even before the  exposition1 and put it
 in the mouth of a person who could be  
trusted3  some deity had often as it    
were to guarantee the particulars of the
  tragedy to the public and remove every
 doubt as to the reality of the  myth3  
as in the case of ,descartes1 who could 
only prove the reality  of the empiric  
world by an appeal to the truthfulness  
of ,god and ,his  inability to utter    
falsehood4 ,euripides makes use of the  
same divine  truthfulness once more at  
the close of his drama1 in order to     
ensure to  the public the future of his 
heroes2 this is the task of the         
notorious  deus ex machina4 ,between the
 preliminary and the additional epic    
spectacle there is the dramatico-lyric  
present1 the drama proper4    ,thus     
,euripides as a poet echoes above all   
his own conscious  knowledge2 and it is 

precisely on this account that he       
occupies such  a notable position in the
 history of ,greek art4 ,with reference 
to his  critico-productive activity1 he 
must often have felt that he ought  to  
actualise in the drama the words at the 
beginning of the essay of  ,anaxagoras3 
,in the beginning all things were mixed 
together2 then  came the understanding  
and created order4 ,and if ,anaxagoras  
with his   seemed like the first sober  
person among nothing but drunken        
philosophers1 ,euripides may also have  
conceived his relation to  the other    
tragic poets under a similar figure4 ,as
 long as the sole  ruler and disposer of
 the universe1 the 1 was still excluded 
from artistic activity1 things were all 
mixed together in a chaotic1  primitive 
mess2--it is thus ,euripides was obliged
 to think1 it is thus  he was obliged to
 condemn the drunken poets as the first 
sober one  among them4 ,what ,sophocles 
said of schylus1 that he did what was   
right1 though unconsciously1 was surely 

not in the mind of ,euripides3  who     
would have admitted only thus much1 that
 schylus1 because he  wrought           
unconsciously1 did what was wrong4 ,so  
also the divine ,plato  speaks for the  
most part only ironically of the        
creative faculty of the  poet1 in so far
 as it is not conscious insight1 and    
places it on a par  with the gift of the
 soothsayer and dream-interpreter2      
insinuating that  the poet is incapable 
of composing until he has become        
unconscious and  reason has deserted    
him4 ,like ,plato1 ,euripides undertook 
to show to the  world the reverse of the
 unintelligent poet2 his sthetic        
principle  that to be beautiful         
everything must be known is1 as ,i have 
said1  the parallel to the ,socratic to 
be good everything must be known4       
,accordingly we may regard ,euripides as
 the poet of sthetic ,socratism4        
,socrates1 however1 was that second     
spectator who did not comprehend  and   
therefore did not esteem the ,old       

,tragedy2 in alliance with him          
,euripides ventured to be the herald of 
a new artistic activity4 ,if1  then1 the
 ,old ,tragedy was here destroyed1 it   
follows that sthetic  ,socratism was the
 murderous principle2 but in so far as  
the struggle is  directed against the   
,dionysian element in the old art1 we   
recognise in  ,socrates the opponent of 
,dionysus1 the new ,orpheus who rebels  
against  ,dionysus2 and although        
destined to be torn to pieces by the    
,mnads of  the ,athenian court1 yet puts
 to flight the overpowerful god himself1
  who1 when he fled from ,lycurgus1 the 
king of ,edoni1 sought refuge in  the   
depths of the ocean--namely1 in the     
mystical flood of a secret  cult which  
gradually overspread the earth4         
#ac4      ,that ,socrates stood in close
 relationship to ,euripides in the      
tendency  of his teaching1 did not      
escape the notice of contemporaneous    
antiquity2 the most eloquent expression 
of this felicitous insight  being the   

tale current in ,athens1 that ,socrates 
was accustomed to help  ,euripides in   
poetising4 ,both names were mentioned in
 one breath by the  adherents of the    
good old time1 whenever they came to    
enumerating the  popular agitators of   
the day3 to whose influence they        
attributed the  fact that the old       
,marathonian stalwart capacity of body  
and soul was  more and more being       
sacrificed to a dubious enlightenment1  
involving  progressive degeneration of  
the physical and mental powers4 ,it is  
in  this tone1 half indignantly and half
 contemptuously1 that ,aristophanic     
comedy is wont to speak of both of      
them--to the consternation of  modern   
men1 who would indeed be willing enough 
to give up ,euripides1  but cannot      
suppress their amazement that ,socrates 
should appear in  ,aristophanes as the  
first and head sophist1 as the mirror   
and epitome  of all sophistical         
tendencies2 in connection with which it 
offers the  single consolation of       

putting ,aristophanes himself in the    
pillory1 as a  rakish1 lying ,alcibiades
 of poetry4 ,without here defending the 
profound  instincts of ,aristophanes    
against such attacks1 ,i shall now      
indicate1  by means of the sentiments of
 the time1 the close connection between 
,socrates and ,euripides4 ,with this    
purpose in view1 it is especially to  be
 remembered that ,socrates1 as an       
opponent of tragic art1 did not         
ordinarily patronise tragedy1 but only  
appeared among the spectators  when a   
new play of ,euripides was performed4   
,the most noted thing1  however1 is the 
close juxtaposition of the two names in 
the ,delphic  oracle1 which designated  
,socrates as the wisest of men1 but at  
the same  time decided that the second  
prize in the contest of wisdom was due  
to  ,euripides4    ,sophocles was       
designated as the third in this scale of
 rank2 he who  could pride himself that1
 in comparison with schylus1 he did what
  was right1 and did it1 moreover1      

because he knew what was right4 ,it  is 
evidently just the degree of clearness  
of this knowledge1 which  distinguishes 
these three men in common as the three  
knowing ones of  their age4    ,the most
 decisive word1 however1 for this new   
and unprecedented  esteem of knowledge  
and insight was spoken by ,socrates when
 he  found that he was the only one who 
acknowledged to himself that he  knew   
nothing while in his critical pilgrimage
 through ,athens1 and  calling on the   
greatest statesmen1 orators1 poets1 and 
artists1 he  discovered everywhere the  
conceit of knowledge4 ,he perceived1 to 
his  astonishment1 that all these       
celebrities were without a proper and   
accurate insight1 even with regard to   
their own callings1 and practised  them 
only by instinct4 ,only by instinct3    
with this phrase we touch  upon the     
heart and core of the ,socratic         
tendency4 ,socratism condemns  therewith
 existing art as well as existing       
ethics2 wherever ,socratism  turns its  

searching eyes it beholds the lack of   
insight and the  power of illusion2 and 
from this lack infers the inner         
perversity and  objectionableness of    
existing conditions4 ,from this point   
onwards1  ,socrates believed that he was
 called upon to1 correct existence2     
and1 with an air of disregard and       
superiority1 as the precursor  of an    
altogether different culture1 art1 and  
morality1 he enters  single-handed into 
a world1 of which1 if we reverently     
touched the hem1  we should count it our
 greatest happiness4    ,here is the    
extraordinary hesitancy which always    
seizes upon us with  regard to          
,socrates1 and again and again invites  
us to ascertain the  sense and purpose  
of this most questionable phenomenon of 
antiquity4  ,who is it that ventures    
single-handed to disown the ,greek      
character1  which1 as ,homer1 ,pindar1  
and schylus1 as ,phidias1 as ,pericles1 
as  ,pythia and ,dionysus1 as the       
deepest abyss and the highest height1 is

  sure of our wondering admiration8     
,what demoniac power is it which would  
presume to spill this magic draught in  
the dust8 ,what demigod is it to  whom  
the chorus of spirits of the noblest of 
mankind must call out3  ,weh6 ,weh6 ,du 
hast sie zerstrt1 die schne ,welt1 mit  
mchtiger ,faust2  sie strzt1 sie        
zerfllt6#ag    ,a key to the character  
of ,socrates is presented to us by the  
surprising  phenomenon designated as the
 daimonion of ,socrates4 ,in special    
circumstances1 when his gigantic        
intellect began to stagger1 he got  a   
secure support in the utterances of a   
divine voice which then  spake to him4  
,this voice1 whenever it comes1 always  
dissuades4  ,in this totally abnormal   
nature instinctive wisdom only appears  
in  order to hinder the progress of     
conscious perception here and there4    
,while in all productive men it is      
instinct which is the creatively        
affirmative force1 consciousness only   
comporting itself critically  and       

dissuasively2 with ,socrates it is      
instinct which becomes critic2  it is   
consciousness which becomes creator--a  
perfect monstrosity  per defectum6 ,and 
we do indeed observe here a monstrous   
defectus  of all mystical aptitude1 so  
that ,socrates might be designated as   
the specific non-mystic1 in whom the    
logical nature is developed1  through a 
superfoetation1 to the same excess as   
instinctive wisdom  is developed in the 
mystic4 ,on the other hand1 however1 the
 logical  instinct which appeared in    
,socrates was absolutely prohibited from
  turning against itself2 in its        
unchecked flow it manifests a native    
power such as we meet with1 to our      
shocking surprise1 only among the  very 
greatest instinctive forces4 ,he who has
 experienced even a breath  of the      
divine navet and security of the        
,socratic course of life in  the        
,platonic writings1 will also feel that 
the enormous driving-wheel  of logical  
,socratism is in motion1 as it were1    

behind ,socrates1 and  that it must be  
viewed through ,socrates as through a   
shadow4 ,and  that he himself had a     
boding of this relation is apparent from
 the  dignified earnestness with which  
he everywhere1 and even before his      
judges1 insisted on his divine calling4 
,to refute him here was really  as      
impossible as to approve of his         
instinct-disintegrating influence4  ,in 
view of this indissoluble conflict1 when
 he had at last been brought  before the
 forum of the ,greek state1 there was   
only one punishment  demanded1 namely   
exile2 he might have been sped across   
the borders as  something thoroughly    
enigmatical1 irrubricable and           
inexplicable1 and so  posterity would   
have been quite unjustified in charging 
the ,athenians  with a deed of ignominy4
 ,but that the sentence of death1 and   
not mere  exile1 was pronounced upon    
him1 seems to have been brought about by
  ,socrates himself1 with perfect       
knowledge of the circumstances1 and     

without the natural fear of death3 he   
met his death with the calmness  with   
which1 according to the description of  
,plato1 he leaves the  symposium at     
break of day1 as the last of the        
revellers1 to begin a new  day2 while   
the sleepy companions remain behind on  
the benches and the  floor1 to dream of 
,socrates1 the true eroticist4 ,the     
dying ,socrates  became the new ideal of
 the noble ,greek youths1--an ideal they
 had  never yet beheld1--and above all1 
the typical ,hellenic youth1 ,plato1    
prostrated himself before this scene    
with all the fervent devotion of  his   
visionary soul4      #ag        ,woe6   
,woe6      ,thou hast it destroyed1     
,the beautiful world2      ,with        
powerful fist2      ,in ruin 'tis       
hurled6      ,faust1 trans4 of ,bayard  
,taylor4--,,tr4        #ad4      ,let us
 now imagine the one great ,cyclopean   
eye of ,socrates fixed on  tragedy1 that
 eye in which the fine frenzy of        
artistic enthusiasm had  never          

glowed--let us think how it was denied  
to this eye to gaze with  pleasure into 
the ,dionysian abysses--what could it   
not but see in the  sublime and greatly 
lauded tragic art1 as ,plato called it8 
,something  very absurd1 with causes    
that seemed to be without effects1 and  
effects apparently without causes2 the  
whole1 moreover1 so motley and          
diversified that it could not but be    
repugnant to a thoughtful mind1 a       
dangerous incentive1 however1 to        
sensitive and irritable souls4 ,we know 
what was the sole kind of poetry which  
he comprehended3 the sopian  fable3 and 
he did this no doubt with that smiling  
complaisance with  which the good honest
 ,gellert sings the praise of poetry in 
the fable  of the bee and the hen3--    
,du siehst an mir1 wozu sie ntzt1       
,dem1 der nicht viel ,verstand besitzt1 
,die ,wahrheit durch ein ,bild zu       
sagen4#ah    ,but then it seemed to     
,socrates that tragic art did not even  
tell the  truth3 not to mention the fact

 that it addresses itself to him who    
hath but little wit2 consequently not to
 the philosopher3 a twofold  reason why 
it should be avoided4 ,like ,plato1 he  
reckoned it among the  seductive arts   
which only represent the agreeable1 not 
the useful1 and  hence he required of   
his disciples abstinence and strict     
separation  from such unphilosophical   
allurements2 with such success that the 
youthful tragic poet ,plato first of all
 burned his poems to be able to  become 
a scholar of ,socrates4 ,but where      
unconquerable native capacities  bore up
 against the ,socratic maxims1 their    
power1 together with the  momentum of   
his mighty character1 still sufficed to 
force poetry itself  into new and       
hitherto unknown channels4    ,an       
instance of this is the aforesaid       
,plato3 he1 who in the condemnation  of 
tragedy and of art in general certainly 
did not fall short of  the nave cynicism
 of his master1 was nevertheless        
constrained by  sheer artistic necessity

 to create a form of art which is       
inwardly  related even to the then      
existing forms of art which he          
repudiated4  ,plato's main objection to 
the old art--that it is the imitation of
  a phantom1#ai and hence belongs to a  
sphere still lower than the  empiric    
world--could not at all apply to the new
 art3 and so we find  ,plato            
endeavouring to go beyond reality and   
attempting to represent  the idea which 
underlies this pseudo-reality4 ,but     
,plato1 the thinker1  thereby arrived by
 a roundabout road just at the point    
where he had  always been at home as    
poet1 and from which ,sophocles and all 
the old  artists had solemnly protested 
against that objection4 ,if tragedy     
absorbed into itself all the earlier    
varieties of art1 the same  could again 
be said in an unusual sense of ,platonic
 dialogue1 which1  engendered by a      
mixture of all the then existing forms  
and styles1  hovers midway between      
narrative1 lyric and drama1 between     

prose and  poetry1 and has also thereby 
broken loose from the older strict law  
of unity of linguistic form2 a movement 
which was carried still  farther by the 
cynic writers1 who in the most          
promiscuous style1  oscillating to and  
fro betwixt prose and metrical forms1   
realised also  the literary picture of  
the raving ,socrates whom they were wont
 to  represent in life4 ,platonic       
dialogue was as it were the boat in     
which  the shipwrecked ancient poetry   
saved herself together with all her     
children3 crowded into a narrow space   
and timidly obsequious to the  one      
steersman1 ,socrates1 they now launched 
into a new world1 which  never tired of 
looking at the fantastic spectacle of   
this procession4  ,in very truth1 ,plato
 has given to all posterity the         
prototype of a new  form of art1 the    
prototype of the novel which must be    
designated as  the infinitely evolved   
sopian fable1 in which poetry holds the 
same  rank with reference to dialectic  

philosophy as this same philosophy  held
 for many centuries with reference to   
theology3 namely1 the rank of  ancilla4 
,this was the new position of poetry    
into which ,plato forced  it under the  
pressure of the demon-inspired          
,socrates4    ,here philosophic thought 
overgrows art and compels it to cling   
close  to the trunk of dialectics4 ,the 
,apollonian tendency has chrysalised  in
 the logical schematism2 just as        
something analogous in the case  of     
,euripides 7and moreover a translation  
of the ,dionysian into the  naturalistic
 emotion7 was forced upon our attention4
 ,socrates1 the  dialectical hero in    
,platonic drama1 reminds us of the      
kindred nature  of the ,euripidean hero1
 who has to defend his actions by       
arguments and  counter-arguments1 and   
thereby so often runs the risk of       
forfeiting  our tragic pity2 for who    
could mistake the optimistic element  in
 the essence of dialectics1 which       
celebrates a jubilee in every           

conclusion1 and can breathe only in cool
 clearness and consciousness3  the      
optimistic element1 which1 having once  
forced its way into tragedy1  must      
gradually overgrow its ,dionysian       
regions1 and necessarily impel it  to   
self-destruction--even to the death-leap
 into the bourgeois drama4  ,let us but 
realise the consequences of the         
,socratic maxims3 ,virtue is  knowledge2
 man only sins from ignorance2 he who is
 virtuous is happy3  these three        
fundamental forms of optimism involve   
the death of tragedy4  ,for the virtuous
 hero must now be a dialectician2 there 
must now be a  necessary1 visible       
connection between virtue and knowledge1
 between  belief and morality2 the      
transcendental justice of the plot in   
schylus  is now degraded to the         
superficial and audacious principle of  
poetic  justice with its usual deus ex  
machina4    ,how does the chorus1 and1  
in general1 the entire ,dionyso-musical 
substratum of tragedy1 now appear in the

 light of this new  ,socrato-optimistic 
stage-world8 ,as something accidental1  
as a readily  dispensable reminiscence  
of the origin of tragedy2 while we have 
in fact seen that the chorus can be     
understood only as the cause of         
tragedy1 and of the tragic generally4   
,this perplexity with respect to  the   
chorus first manifests itself in        
,sophocles--an important sign that  the 
,dionysian basis of tragedy already     
begins to disintegrate with  him4 ,he no
 longer ventures to entrust to the      
chorus the main share  of the effect1   
but limits its sphere to such an extent 
that it now  appears almost co-ordinate 
with the actors1 just as if it were     
elevated  from the orchestra into the   
scene3 whereby of course its character  
is completely destroyed1 notwithstanding
 that ,aristotle countenances  this very
 theory of the chorus4 ,this alteration 
of the position of  the chorus1 which   
,sophocles at any rate recommended by   
his practice1  and1 according to        

tradition1 even by a treatise1 is the   
first step  towards the annihilation of 
the chorus1 the phases of which follow  
one another with alarming rapidity in   
,euripides1 ,agathon1 and the ,new      
,comedy4 ,optimistic dialectics drives1 
music out of tragedy with the  scourge  
of its syllogisms3 that is1 it destroys 
the essence of tragedy1  which can be   
explained only as a manifestation and   
illustration of  ,dionysian states1 as  
the visible symbolisation of music1 as  
the  dream-world of ,dionysian ecstasy4 
,if1 therefore1 we are to assume an     
anti-,dionysian tendency operating  even
 before ,socrates1 which received in him
 only an unprecedentedly  grand         
expression1 we must not shrink from the 
question as to what  a phenomenon like  
that of ,socrates indicates3 whom in    
view of the  ,platonic dialogues we are 
certainly not entitled to regard as a   
purely  disintegrating1 negative power4 
,and though there can be no doubt       
whatever that the most immediate effect 

of the ,socratic impulse tended  to the 
dissolution of ,dionysian tragedy1 yet a
 profound experience of  ,socrates' own 
life compels us to ask whether there is 
necessarily  only an antipodal relation 
between ,socratism and art1 and whether 
the  birth of an artistic ,socrates is  
in general something contradictory  in  
itself4    ,for that despotic logician  
had now and then the feeling of a gap1  
or  void1 a sentiment of semi-reproach1 
as of a possibly neglected duty  with   
respect to art4 ,there often came to    
him1 as he tells his friends  in prison1
 one and the same dream-apparition1     
which kept constantly  repeating to him3
 ,socrates1 practise music4 ,up to his  
very last days  he solaces himself with 
the opinion that his philosophising is  
the  highest form of poetry1 and finds  
it hard to believe that a deity will    
remind him of the common1 popular music4
 ,finally1 when in prison1  he consents 
to practise also this despised music1 in
 order thoroughly  to unburden his      

conscience4 ,and in this frame of mind  
he composes  a poem on ,apollo and turns
 a few sopian fables into verse4 ,it was
  something similar to the demonian     
warning voice which urged him to  these 
practices2 it was because of his        
,apollonian insight that1 like a        
barbaric king1 he did not understand the
 noble image of a god and was  in danger
 of sinning against a deity--through    
ignorance4 ,the prompting  voice of the 
,socratic dream-vision is the only sign 
of doubtfulness  as to the limits of    
logical nature4 ,perhaps --thus he had  
to ask  himself--what is not            
intelligible to me is not therefore     
unreasonable8  ,perhaps there is a realm
 of wisdom from which the logician is   
banished8  ,perhaps art is even a       
necessary correlative of and supplement 
to  science8      #ah        ,in me thou
 seest its benefit1--      ,to him who  
hath but little wit1      ,through      
parables to tell the truth4    #ai      
,scheinbild  4--,,tr4        #ae4       

,in the sense of these last portentous  
questions it must now be  indicated how 
the influence of ,socrates 7extending to
 the present  moment1 indeed1 to all    
futurity7 has spread over posterity like
 an  ever-increasing shadow in the      
evening sun1 and how this influence     
again and again necessitates a          
regeneration of art1--yea1 of art       
already with metaphysical1 broadest and 
profoundest sense1--and its own         
eternity guarantees also the eternity of
 art4    ,before this could be          
perceived1 before the intrinsic         
dependence of  every art on the ,greeks1
 the ,greeks from ,homer to ,socrates1  
was  conclusively demonstrated1 it had  
to happen to us with regard to these    
,greeks as it happened to the ,athenians
 with regard to ,socrates4 ,nearly      
every age and stage of culture has at   
some time or other sought with  deep    
displeasure to free itself from the     
,greeks1 because in their  presence     
everything self-achieved1 sincerely     

admired and apparently  quite original1 
seemed all of a sudden to lose life and 
colour  and shrink to an abortive copy1 
even to caricature4 ,and so hearty      
indignation breaks forth time after time
 against this presumptuous  little      
nation1 which dared to designate as     
barbaric for all time  everything not   
native3 who are they1 one asks one's    
self1 who1 though  they possessed only  
an ephemeral historical splendour1      
ridiculously  restricted institutions1 a
 dubious excellence in their customs1   
and  were even branded with ugly vices1 
yet lay claim to the dignity and        
singular position among the peoples to  
which genius is entitled among  the     
masses4 ,what a pity one has not been so
 fortunate as to find the  cup of       
hemlock with which such an affair could 
be disposed of without  ado3 for all the
 poison which envy1 calumny1 and        
rankling resentment  engendered within  
themselves have not sufficed to destroy 
that  self-sufficient grandeur6 ,and so 

one feels ashamed and afraid in the     
presence of the ,greeks3 unless one     
prize truth above all things1 and  dare 
also to acknowledge to one's self this  
truth1 that the ,greeks1  as            
charioteers1 hold in their hands the    
reins of our own and of  every culture1 
but that almost always chariot and      
horses are of too  poor material and    
incommensurate with the glory of their  
guides1 who  then will deem it sport to 
run such a team into an abyss3 which    
they  themselves clear with the leap of 
,achilles4    ,in order to assign also  
to ,socrates the dignity of such a      
leading  position1 it will suffice to   
recognise in him the type of an         
unheard-of  form of existence1 the type 
of the theoretical man1 with regard  to 
whose meaning and purpose it will be our
 next task to attain  an insight4 ,like 
the artist1 the theorist also finds an  
infinite  satisfaction in what is and1  
like the former1 he is shielded by this 
satisfaction from the practical ethics  

of pessimism with its lynx eyes  which  
shine only in the dark4 ,for if the     
artist in every unveiling  of truth     
always cleaves with raptured eyes only  
to that which still  remains veiled     
after the unveiling1 the theoretical    
man1 on the other  hand1 enjoys and     
contents himself with the cast-off veil1
 and finds  the consummation of his     
pleasure in the process of a            
continuously  successful unveiling      
through his own unaided efforts4 ,there 
would  have been no science if it had   
only been concerned about that one      
naked goddess and nothing else4 ,for    
then its disciples would have been      
obliged to feel like those who purposed 
to dig a hole straight through  the     
earth3 each one of whom perceives that  
with the utmost lifelong  exertion he is
 able to excavate only a very little of 
the enormous  depth1 which is again     
filled up before his eyes by the labours
 of his  successor1 so that a third man 
seems to do well when on his own account

  he selects a new spot for his attempts
 at tunnelling4 ,if now some one  proves
 conclusively that the antipodal goal   
cannot be attained in this  direct way1 
who will still care to toil on in the   
old depths1 unless he  has learned to   
content himself in the meantime with    
finding precious  stones or discovering 
natural laws8 ,for that reason ,lessing1
 the most  honest theoretical man1      
ventured to say that he cared more for  
the  search after truth than for truth  
itself3 in saying which he revealed  the
 fundamental secret of science1 to the  
astonishment1 and indeed1  to the       
vexation of scientific men4 ,well1 to be
 sure1 there stands  alongside of this  
detached perception1 as an excess of    
honesty1 if not  of presumption1 a      
profound illusion which first came to   
the world  in the person of ,socrates1  
the imperturbable belief that1 by means 
of the clue of causality1 thinking      
reaches to the deepest abysses of       
being1 and that thinking is able not    

only to perceive being but even  to     
correct it4 ,this sublime metaphysical  
illusion is added as an  instinct to    
science and again and again leads the   
latter to its limits1  where it must    
change into art2 which is really the    
end1 to be attained  by this mechanism4 
,if we now look at ,socrates in the     
light of this thought1 he appears to  us
 as the first who could not only live1  
but--what is far more--also  die under  
the guidance of this instinct of        
science3 and hence the  picture of the  
dying1 ,socrates1 as the man delivered  
from the fear of  death by knowledge and
 argument1 is the escutcheon1 above the 
entrance  to science which reminds every
 one of its mission1 namely1 to make    
existence appear to be comprehensible1  
and therefore to be justified3  for     
which purpose1 if arguments do not      
suffice1 myth also must be  used1 which 
,i just now designated even as the      
necessary consequence1  yea1 as the end 
of science4    ,he who once makes       

intelligible to himself how1 after the  
death of  ,socrates1 the mystagogue of  
science1 one philosophical school       
succeeds  another1 like wave upon       
wave1--how an entirely unfore-shadowed  
universal development of the thirst for 
knowledge in the widest  compass of the 
cultured world 7and as the specific task
 for every  one highly gifted7 led      
science on to the high sea from which   
since  then it has never again been able
 to be completely ousted2 how  through  
the universality of this movement a     
common net of thought  was first        
stretched over the entire globe1 with   
prospects1 moreover1  of conformity to  
law in an entire solar system2--he who  
realises all  this1 together with the   
amazingly high pyramid of our           
present-day  knowledge1 cannot fail to  
see in ,socrates the turning-point and  
vortex  of so-called universal history4 
,for if one were to imagine the whole   
incalculable sum of energy which has    
been used up by that universal          

tendency1--employed1 not in the service 
of knowledge1 but for the  practical1   
i4e41 egoistical ends of individuals and
 peoples1--then  probably the           
instinctive love of life would be so    
much weakened in  universal wars of     
destruction and incessant migrations of 
peoples1  that1 owing to the practice of
 suicide1 the individual would perhaps  
feel the last remnant of a sense of     
duty1 when1 like the native of  the     
,fiji ,islands1 as son he strangles his 
parents and1 as friend1 his  friend3 a  
practical pessimism which might even    
give rise to a horrible  ethics of      
general slaughter out of pity--which1   
for the rest1 exists  and has existed   
wherever art in one form or another1    
especially as  science and religion1 has
 not appeared as a remedy and preventive
 of  that pestilential breath4    ,in   
view of this practical pessimism1       
,socrates is the archetype of  the      
theoretical optimist1 who in the        
above-indicated belief in the           

fathomableness of the nature of things1 
attributes to knowledge and  perception 
the power of a universal medicine1 and  
sees in error and  evil4 ,to penetrate  
into the depths of the nature of things1
 and to  separate true perception from  
error and illusion1 appeared to the     
,socratic man the noblest and even the  
only truly human calling3 just as  from 
the time of ,socrates onwards the       
mechanism of concepts1 judgments1  and  
inferences was prized above all other   
capacities as the highest  activity and 
the most admirable gift of nature4 ,even
 the sublimest  moral acts1 the         
stirrings of pity1 of self-sacrifice1 of
 heroism1  and that tranquillity of     
soul1 so difficult of attainment1 which 
the  ,apollonian ,greek called          
,sophrosyne1 were derived by ,socrates1 
and his  like-minded successors up to   
the present day1 from the dialectics of 
knowledge1 and were accordingly         
designated as teachable4 ,he who has    
experienced in himself the joy of a     

,socratic perception1 and felt how  it  
seeks to embrace1 in constantly widening
 circles1 the entire world  of          
phenomena1 will thenceforth find no     
stimulus which could urge him  to       
existence more forcible than the desire 
to complete that conquest  and to knit  
the net impenetrably close4 ,to a person
 thus minded the  ,platonic ,socrates   
then appears as the teacher of an       
entirely new form  of ,greek            
cheerfulness and felicity of existence1 
which seeks to  discharge itself in     
actions1 and will find its discharge for
 the most  part in maieutic and         
pedagogic influences on noble youths1   
with a view  to the ultimate production 
of genius4    ,but now science1 spurred 
on by its powerful illusion1 hastens    
irresistibly to its limits1 on which its
 optimism1 hidden in the  essence of    
logic1 is wrecked4 ,for the periphery of
 the circle of  science has an infinite 
number of points1 and while there is    
still no  telling how this circle can   

ever be completely measured1 yet the    
noble  and gifted man1 even before the  
middle of his career1 inevitably comes  
into contact with those extreme points  
of the periphery where he stares  at the
 inexplicable4 ,when he here sees to his
 dismay how logic coils  round itself at
 these limits and finally bites its own 
tail--then the  new form of perception  
discloses itself1 namely tragic         
perception1  which1 in order even to be 
endured1 requires art as a safeguard and
  remedy4    ,if1 with eyes strengthened
 and refreshed at the sight of the      
,greeks1 we  look upon the highest      
spheres of the world that surrounds us1 
we behold  the avidity of the insatiate 
optimistic knowledge1 of which ,socrates
 is  the typical representative1        
transformed into tragic resignation and 
the  need of art3 while1 to be sure1    
this same avidity1 in its lower stages1 
has to exhibit itself as antagonistic to
 art1 and must especially have  an      
inward detestation of ,dionyso-tragic   

art1 as was exemplified in the          
opposition of ,socratism to schylean    
tragedy4    ,here then with agitated    
spirit we knock at the gates of the     
present and  the future3 will that      
transforming lead to ever new           
configurations  of genius1 and          
especially of the music-practising      
,socrates8 ,will the  net of art which  
is spread over existence1 whether under 
the name of  religion or of science1 be 
knit always more closely and delicately1
  or is it destined to be torn to shreds
 under the restlessly barbaric  activity
 and whirl which is called the present  
day8--,anxious1 yet  not disconsolate1  
we stand aloof for a little while1 as   
the spectators  who are permitted to be 
witnesses of these tremendous struggles 
and  transitions4 ,alas6 ,it is the     
charm of these struggles that he who    
beholds them must also fight them6      
#af4      ,by this elaborate historical 
example we have endeavoured to make it  
clear that tragedy perishes as surely by

 evanescence of the spirit of  music as 
it can be born only out of this spirit4 
,in order to qualify  the singularity of
 this assertion1 and1 on the other hand1
 to disclose  the source of this insight
 of ours1 we must now confront with     
clear  vision the analogous phenomena of
 the present time2 we must enter  into  
the midst of these struggles1 which1 as 
,i said just now1 are  being carried on 
in the highest spheres of our present   
world between  the insatiate optimistic 
perception and the tragic need of art4  
,in  so doing ,i shall leave out of     
consideration all other antagonistic    
tendencies which at all times oppose    
art1 especially tragedy1 and which  at  
present again extend their sway         
triumphantly1 to such an extent that  of
 the theatrical arts only the farce and 
the ballet1 for example1 put  forth     
their blossoms1 which perhaps not every 
one cares to smell1 in  tolerably rich  
luxuriance4 ,i will speak only of the   
,most ,illustrious  ,opposition to the  

tragic conception of things--and by this
 ,i mean  essentially optimistic        
science1 with its ancestor ,socrates at 
the head  of it4 ,presently also the    
forces will be designated which seem to 
me  to guarantee a re-birth of          
tragedy--and who knows what other       
blessed  hopes for the ,german genius6  
,before we plunge into the midst of     
these struggles1 let us array  ourselves
 in the armour of our hitherto acquired 
knowledge4 ,in  contrast to all those   
who are intent on deriving the arts from
 one  exclusive principle1 as the       
necessary vital source of every work of 
art1 ,i keep my eyes fixed on the two   
artistic deities of the ,greeks1        
,apollo and ,dionysus1 and recognise in 
them the living and conspicuous         
representatives of two worlds of art    
which differ in their intrinsic  essence
 and in their highest aims4 ,apollo     
stands before me as the  transfiguring  
genius of the principium individuationis
 through  which alone the redemption in 

appearance is to be truly attained1     
while by the mystical cheer of ,dionysus
 the spell of individuation  is broken1 
and the way lies open to the ,mothers of
 ,being1#bj to the  innermost heart of  
things4 ,this extraordinary antithesis1 
which opens  up yawningly between       
plastic art as the ,apollonian and music
 as the  ,dionysian art1 has become     
manifest to only one of the great       
thinkers1  to such an extent that1 even 
without this key to the symbolism of the
  ,hellenic divinities1 he allowed to   
music a different character and  origin 
in advance of all the other arts1       
because1 unlike them1 it is  not a copy 
of the phenomenon1 but a direct copy of 
the will itself1 and  therefore         
represents the metaphysical of          
everything physical in the  world1 the  
thing-in-itself of every phenomenon4    
7,schopenhauer1 ,welt  als ,wille und   
,vorstellung1 ,i4 #caj47 ,to this most  
important perception  of sthetics 7with 
which1 taken in a serious sense1        

sthetics properly  commences71 ,richard 
,wagner1 by way of confirmation of its  
eternal  truth1 affixed his seal1 when  
he asserted in his ,beethoven that      
music must be judged according to       
sthetic principles quite different  from
 those which apply to the plastic arts1 
and not1 in general1  according to the  
category of beauty3 although an         
erroneous sthetics1  inspired by a      
misled and degenerate art1 has by virtue
 of the concept  of beauty prevailing in
 the plastic domain accustomed itself to
 demand  of music an effect analogous to
 that of the works of plastic art1      
namely the suscitating delight in       
beautiful forms4 ,upon perceiving  this 
extraordinary antithesis1 ,i felt a     
strong inducement to approach  the      
essence of ,greek tragedy1 and1 by means
 of it1 the profoundest  revelation of  
,hellenic genius3 for ,i at last thought
 myself to be in  possession of a charm 
to enable me--far beyond the phraseology
 of our  usual sthetics--to represent   

vividly to my mind the primitive problem
  of tragedy3 whereby such an astounding
 insight into the ,hellenic  character  
was afforded me that it necessarily     
seemed as if our proudly  comporting    
classico-,hellenic science had thus far 
contrived to subsist  almost exclusively
 on phantasmagoria and externalities4   
,perhaps we may lead up to this         
primitive problem with the question3    
what sthetic effect results when the    
intrinsically separate  art-powers1 the 
,apollonian and the ,dionysian1 enter   
into concurrent  actions8 ,or1 in       
briefer form3 how is music related to   
image and  concept8--,schopenhauer1 whom
 ,richard ,wagner1 with especial        
reference to  this point1 accredits with
 an unsurpassable clearness and         
perspicuity  of exposition1 expresses   
himself most copiously on the subject in
  the following passage which ,i shall  
cite here at full length#ba  7,welt als 
,wille und ,vorstellung1 ,i4 p4 #cji73  
,according to all  this1 we may regard  

the phenomenal world1 or nature1 and    
music as  two different expressions of  
the same thing1#bj which is therefore   
itself the only medium of the analogy   
between these two expressions1  so that 
a knowledge of this medium is required  
in order to understand  that analogy4   
,music1 therefore1 if regarded as an    
expression of the  world1 is in the     
highest degree a universal language1    
which is related  indeed to the         
universality of concepts1 much as these 
are related to  the particular things4  
,its universality1 however1 is by no    
means the  empty universality of        
abstraction1 but of quite a different   
kind1 and  is united with thorough and  
distinct definiteness4 ,in this respect 
it  resembles geometrical figures and   
numbers1 which are the universal  forms 
of all possible objects of experience   
and applicable to them all  a priori1   
and yet are not abstract but perceptiple
 and thoroughly  determinate4 ,all      
possible efforts1 excitements and       

manifestations of  will1 all that goes  
on in the heart of man and that reason  
includes in  the wide1 negative concept 
of feeling1 may be expressed by the     
infinite  number of possible melodies1  
but always in the universality of mere  
form1 without the material1 always      
according to the thing-in-itself1  not  
the phenomenon1--of which they reproduce
 the very soul and essence  as it were1 
without the body4 ,this deep relation   
which music bears to  the true nature of
 all things also explains the fact that 
suitable  music played to any scene1    
action1 event1 or surrounding seems to  
disclose to us its most secret meaning1 
and appears as the most  accurate and   
distinct commentary upon it2 as also the
 fact that whoever  gives himself up    
entirely to the impression of a symphony
 seems to see  all the possible events  
of life and the world take place in     
himself3  nevertheless upon reflection  
he can find no likeness between the     
music  and the things that passed before

 his mind4 ,for1 as we have said1 music 
is distinguished from all the other arts
 by the fact that it is not a  copy of  
the phenomenon1 or1 more accurately1 the
 adequate objectivity  of the will1 but 
the direct copy of the will itself1 and 
therefore  represents the metaphysical  
of everything physical in the world1 and
  the thing-in-itself of every          
phenomenon4 ,we might1 therefore1 just  
as  well call the world embodied music  
as embodied will3 and this is the       
reason why music makes every picture1   
and indeed every scene of real  life and
 of the world1 at once appear with      
higher significance2 all the  more so1  
to be sure1 in proportion as its melody 
is analogous to the  inner spirit of the
 given phenomenon4 ,it rests upon this  
that we are  able to set a poem to music
 as a song1 or a perceptible            
representation  as a pantomime1 or both 
as an opera4 ,such particular pictures  
of human  life1 set to the universal    
language of music1 are never bound to it

  or correspond to it with stringent    
necessity1 but stand to it only  in the 
relation of an example chosen at will to
 a general concept4  ,in the            
determinateness of the real they        
represent that which music  expresses in
 the universality of mere form4 ,for    
melodies are to a  certain extent1 like 
general concepts1 an abstraction from   
the actual4  ,this actual world1 then1  
the world of particular things1 affords 
the  object of perception1 the special  
and the individual1 the particular      
case1 both to the universality of       
concepts and to the universality of  the
 melodies4 ,but these two universalities
 are in a certain respect  opposed to   
each other2 for the concepts contain    
only the forms1 which  are first of all 
abstracted from perception1--the        
separated outward  shell of things1 as  
it were1--and hence they are1 in the    
strictest  sense of the term1 abstracta2
 music1 on the other hand1 gives the    
inmost kernel which precedes all forms1 

or the heart of things4 ,this  relation 
may be very well expressed in the       
language of the schoolmen1  by saying3  
the concepts are the universalia post   
rem1 but music gives  the universalia   
ante rem1 and the real world the        
universalia in  re4--,but that in       
general a relation is possible between a
 composition  and a perceptible         
representation rests1 as we have said1  
upon the  fact that both are simply     
different expressions of the same inner 
being of the world4 ,when now1 in the   
particular case1 such a relation  is    
actually given1 that is to say1 when the
 composer has been able to  express in  
the universal language of music the     
emotions of will which  constitute the  
heart of an event1 then the melody of   
the song1 the  music of the opera1 is   
expressive4 ,but the analogy discovered 
by the  composer between the two must   
have proceeded from the direct knowledge
  of the nature of the world unknown to 
his reason1 and must not be an          

imitation produced with conscious       
intention by means of conceptions2      
otherwise the music does not express the
 inner nature of the will  itself1 but  
merely gives an inadequate imitation of 
its phenomenon3 all  specially imitative
 music does this4    ,we have therefore1
 according to the doctrine of           
,schopenhauer1 an  immediate            
understanding of music as the language  
of the will1 and  feel our imagination  
stimulated to give form to this         
invisible and  yet so actively stirred  
spirit-world which speaks to us1 and    
prompted  to embody it in an analogous  
example4 ,on the other hand1 image and  
concept1 under the influence of a truly 
conformable music1 acquire a  higher    
significance4 ,dionysian art therefore  
is wont to exercise--two  kinds of      
influences1 on the ,apollonian          
art-faculty3 music firstly  incites to  
the symbolic intuition of ,dionysian    
universality1 and1  secondly1 it causes 
the symbolic image to stand forth in its

 fullest  significance4 ,from these     
facts1 intelligible in themselves and   
not  inaccessible to profounder         
observation1 ,i infer the capacity of   
music  to give birth to myth1 that is to
 say1 the most significant exemplar1    
and precisely tragic myth3 the myth     
which speaks of ,dionysian  knowledge in
 symbols4 ,in the phenomenon of the     
lyrist1 ,i have set forth  that in him  
music strives to express itself with    
regard to its nature  in ,apollonian    
images4 ,if now we reflect that music in
 its highest  potency must seek to      
attain also to its highest              
symbolisation1 we must  deem it possible
 that it also knows how to find the     
symbolic expression  of its inherent    
,dionysian wisdom2 and where shall we   
have to seek for  this expression if not
 in tragedy and1 in general1 in the     
conception of  the tragic8    ,from the 
nature of art1 as it is ordinarily      
conceived according to  the single      
category of appearance and beauty1 the  

tragic cannot be  honestly deduced at   
all2 it is only through the spirit of   
music that  we understand the joy in the
 annihilation of the individual4 ,for in
  the particular examples of such       
annihilation only is the eternal        
phenomenon of ,dionysian art made clear 
to us1 which gives expression  to the   
will in its omnipotence1 as it were1    
behind the principium  individuationis1 
the eternal life beyond all phenomena1  
and in  spite of all annihilation4 ,the 
metaphysical delight in the tragic  is a
 translation of the instinctively       
unconscious ,dionysian wisdom  into the 
language of the scene3 the hero1 the    
highest manifestation  of the will1 is  
disavowed for our pleasure1 because he  
is only  phenomenon1 and because the    
eternal life of the will is not affected
  by his annihilation4 ,we believe in   
eternal life1 tragedy exclaims2  while  
music is the proximate idea of this     
life4 ,plastic art has an  altogether   
different object3 here ,apollo          

vanquishes the suffering of  the        
individual by the radiant glorification 
of the eternity of the  phenomenon2 here
 beauty triumphs over the suffering     
inherent in life2  pain is in a manner  
surreptitiously obliterated from the    
features of  nature4 ,in ,dionysian art 
and its tragic symbolism the same nature
  speaks to us with its true            
undissembled voice3 ,be as ,i am6       
,amidst the  ceaseless change of        
phenomena the eternally creative        
primordial mother1  eternally impelling 
to existence1 self-satisfying eternally 
with this  change of phenomena6      #bj
 ,cf4 ,world and ,will as ,idea1 ,i4 p4 
#cci1 trans4 by  ,haldane and ,kemp4    
#ba ,that is the will as understood by  
,schopenhauer4--,,tr4        #ag4       
,dionysian art1 too1 seeks to convince  
us of the eternal joy of  existence3    
only we are to seek this joy not in     
phenomena1 but behind  phenomena4 ,we   
are to perceive how all that comes into 
being must be  ready for a sorrowful    

end2 we are compelled to look into the  
terrors of  individual existence--yet we
 are not to become torpid3 a            
metaphysical  comfort tears us          
momentarily from the bustle of the      
transforming  figures4 ,we are really   
for brief moments ,primordial ,being    
itself1  and feel its indomitable desire
 for being and joy in existence2 the    
struggle1 the pain1 the destruction of  
phenomena1 now appear to us as          
something necessary1 considering the    
surplus of innumerable forms of         
existence which throng and push one     
another into life1 considering  the     
exuberant fertility of the universal    
will4 ,we are pierced by the  maddening 
sting of these pains at the very moment 
when we have become1  as it were1 one   
with the immeasurable primordial joy in 
existence1  and when we anticipate1 in  
,dionysian ecstasy1 the                 
indestructibility  and eternity of this 
joy4 ,in spite of fear and pity1 we are 
the happy  living beings1 not as        

individuals1 but as the one living      
being1 with  whose procreative joy we   
are blended4    ,the history of the rise
 of ,greek tragedy now tells us with    
luminous  precision that the tragic art 
of the ,greeks was really born of the   
spirit of music3 with which conception  
we believe we have done justice  for the
 first time to the original and most    
astonishing significance of  the chorus4
 ,at the same time1 however1 we must    
admit that the import of  tragic myth as
 set forth above never became           
transparent with sufficient  lucidity to
 the ,greek poets1 let alone the ,greek 
philosophers2 their  heroes speak1 as it
 were1 more superficially than they act2
 the myth  does not at all find its     
adequate objectification in the spoken  
word4  ,the structure of the scenes and 
the conspicuous images reveal a deeper  
wisdom than the poet himself can put    
into words and concepts3 the same  being
 also observed in ,shakespeare1 whose   
,hamlet1 for instance1 in an  analogous 

manner talks more superficially than he 
acts1 so that the  previously mentioned 
lesson of ,hamlet is to be gathered not 
from his  words1 but from a more        
profound contemplation and survey of the
 whole4  ,with respect to ,greek        
tragedy1 which of course presents itself
 to us  only as word-drama1 ,i have even
 intimated that the incongruence between
  myth and expression might easily tempt
 us to regard it as shallower  and less 
significant than it really is1 and      
accordingly to postulate  for it a more 
superficial effect than it must have had
 according to  the testimony of the     
ancients3 for how easily one forgets    
that what  the word-poet did not succeed
 in doing1 namely realising the highest 
spiritualisation and ideality of myth1  
he might succeed in doing  every moment 
as creative musician6 ,we require1 to be
 sure1 almost by  philological method to
 reconstruct for ourselves the          
ascendency of  musical influence in     
order to receive something of the       

incomparable  comfort which must be     
characteristic of true tragedy4 ,even   
this musical  ascendency1 however1 would
 only have been felt by us as such had  
we been ,greeks3 while in the entire    
development of ,greek music--as         
compared with the infinitely richer     
music known and familiar to us--we      
imagine we hear only the youthful song  
of the musical genius intoned  with a   
feeling of diffidence4 ,the ,greeks are1
 as the ,egyptian priests  say1 eternal 
children1 and in tragic art also they   
are only children  who do not know what 
a sublime play-thing has originated     
under their  hands and--is being        
demolished4    ,that striving of the    
spirit of music for symbolic and        
mythical  manifestation1 which increases
 from the beginnings of lyric poetry to 
,attic tragedy1 breaks off all of a     
sudden immediately after attaining      
luxuriant development1 and disappears1  
as it were1 from the surface  of        
,hellenic art3 while the ,dionysian view

 of things born of this  striving lives 
on in ,mysteries and1 in its strangest  
metamorphoses and  debasements1 does not
 cease to attract earnest natures4 ,will
 it not one  day rise again as art out  
of its mystic depth8    ,here the       
question occupies us1 whether the power 
by the counteracting  influence of which
 tragedy perished1 has for all time     
strength enough  to prevent the artistic
 reawaking of tragedy and of the tragic 
view  of things4 ,if ancient tragedy was
 driven from its course by the          
dialectical desire for knowledge and the
 optimism of science1 it might  be      
inferred that there is an eternal       
conflict between the theoretic  and the 
tragic view of things1 and only after   
the spirit of science  has been led to  
its boundaries1 and its claim to        
universal validity  has been destroyed  
by the evidence of these boundaries1 can
 we hope  for a re-birth of tragedy3 for
 which form of culture we should have to
  use the symbol of the music-practising

 ,socrates in the sense spoken  of      
above4 ,in this contrast1 ,i understand 
by the spirit of science the  belief    
which first came to light in the person 
of ,socrates1--the belief  in the       
fathomableness of nature and in         
knowledge as a panacea4    ,he who      
recalls the immediate consequences of   
this restlessly  onward-pressing spirit 
of science will realise at once that    
myth  was annihilated by it1 and that1  
in consequence of this annihilation1    
poetry was driven as a homeless being   
from her natural ideal soil4  ,if we    
have rightly assigned to music the      
capacity to reproduce myth  from itself1
 we may in turn expect to find the      
spirit of science on  the path where it 
inimically opposes this mythopoeic power
 of music4  ,this takes place in the    
development of the ,new ,attic          
,dithyramb1 the  music of which no      
longer expressed the inner essence1 the 
will itself1  but only rendered the     
phenomenon insufficiently1 in an        

imitation by  means of concepts2 from   
which intrinsically degenerate music the
 truly  musical natures turned away with
 the same repugnance that they felt  for
 the art-destroying tendency of         
,socrates4 ,the unerring instinct of    
,aristophanes surely did the proper     
thing when it comprised ,socrates       
himself1 the tragedy of ,euripides1 and 
the music of the new ,dithyrambic  poets
 in the same feeling of hatred1 and     
perceived in all three  phenomena the   
symptoms of a degenerate culture4 ,by   
this ,new ,dithyramb1  music has in an  
outrageous manner been made the         
imitative portrait of  phenomena1 for   
instance1 of a battle or a storm at sea1
 and has thus1  of course1 been entirely
 deprived of its mythopoeic power4 ,for 
if it  endeavours to excite our delight 
only by compelling us to seek external  
analogies between a vital or natural    
process and certain rhythmical  figures 
and characteristic sounds of music2 if  
our understanding is  expected to       

satisfy itself with the perception of   
these analogies1 we  are reduced to a   
frame of mind in which the reception of 
the mythical  is impossible2 for the    
myth as a unique exemplar of generality 
and truth towering into the infinite1   
desires to be conspicuously  perceived4 
,the truly ,dionysean music presents    
itself to us as such  a general mirror  
of the universal will3 the conspicuous  
event which  is refracted in this mirror
 expands at once for our consciousness  
to  the copy of an eternal truth4       
,conversely1 such a conspicious event is
  at once divested of every mythical    
character by the tone-painting  of the  
,new ,dithyramb2 music has here become a
 wretched copy of the  phenomenon1 and  
therefore infinitely poorer than the    
phenomenon itself3  through which       
poverty it still further reduces even   
the phenomenon for  our consciousness1  
so that now1 for instance1 a musically  
imitated  battle of this sort exhausts  
itself in marches1 signal-sounds1 etc41 

and our imagination is arrested         
precisely by these superficialities4    
,tone-painting is therefore in every    
respect the counterpart of true  music  
with its mythopoeic power3 through it   
the phenomenon1 poor in  itself1 is made
 still poorer1 while through an isolated
 ,dionysian music  the phenomenon is    
evolved and expanded into a picture of  
the world4  ,it was an immense triumph  
of the non-,dionysian spirit1 when1 in  
the  development of the ,new ,dithyramb1
 it had estranged music from itself  and
 reduced it to be the slave of          
phenomena4 ,euripides1 who1 albeit in  a
 higher sense1 must be designated as a  
thoroughly unmusical nature1  is for    
this very reason a passionate adherent  
of the ,new ,dithyrambic  ,music1 and   
with the liberality of a freebooter     
employs all its  effective turns and    
mannerisms4    ,in another direction    
also we see at work the power of this   
un-,dionysian1 myth-opposing spirit1    
when we turn our eyes to the  prevalence

 of character representation and        
psychological refinement  from          
,sophocles onwards4 ,the character must 
no longer be expanded into  an eternal  
type1 but1 on the contrary1 must operate
 individually  through artistic         
by-traits and shadings1 through the     
nicest precision  of all lines1 in such 
a manner that the spectator is in       
general no  longer conscious of the     
myth1 but of the mighty nature-myth and 
the  imitative power of the artist4     
,here also we observe the victory of    
the phenomenon over the ,universal1 and 
the delight in the particular           
quasi-anatomical preparation2 we        
actually breathe the air of a           
theoretical world1 in which scientific  
knowledge is valued more highly  than   
the artistic reflection of a universal  
law4 ,the movement along  the line of   
the representation of character proceeds
 rapidly3 while  ,sophocles still       
delineates complete characters and      
employs myth for  their refined         

development1 ,euripides already         
delineates only prominent  individual   
traits of character1 which can express  
themselves in violent  bursts of        
passion2 in the ,new ,attic ,comedy1    
however1 there are only  masks with one 
expression3 frivolous old men1 duped    
panders1 and  cunning slaves in untiring
 repetition4 ,where now is the          
mythopoeic  spirit of music8 ,what is   
still left now of music is either       
excitatory  music or souvenir music1    
that is1 either a stimulant for dull and
  used-up nerves1 or tone-painting4 ,as 
regards the former1 it hardly  matters  
about the text set to it3 the heroes and
 choruses of ,euripides  are already    
dissolute enough when once they begin to
 sing2 to what pass  must things have   
come with his brazen successors8    ,the
 new un-,dionysian spirit1 however1     
manifests itself most clearly in  the   
dnouements of the new dramas4 ,in the   
,old ,tragedy one could feel  at the    
close the metaphysical comfort1 without 

which the delight in  tragedy cannot be 
explained at all2 the conciliating tones
 from another  world sound purest1      
perhaps1 in the dipus at ,colonus4 ,now 
that the  genius of music has fled from 
tragedy1 tragedy is1 strictly speaking1 
dead3 for from whence could one now draw
 the metaphysical comfort8 ,one  sought1
 therefore1 for an earthly unravelment  
of the tragic dissonance2  the hero1    
after he had been sufficiently tortured 
by fate1 reaped a  well-deserved reward 
through a superb marriage or divine     
tokens of  favour4 ,the hero had turned 
gladiator1 on whom1 after being         
liberally  battered about and covered   
with wounds1 freedom was occasionally   
bestowed4 ,the deus ex machina took the 
place of metaphysical comfort4  ,i will 
not say that the tragic view of things  
was everywhere completely  destroyed by 
the intruding spirit of the             
un-,dionysian3 we only know  that it was
 compelled to flee from art into the    
under-world as it were1  in the         

degenerate form of a secret cult4 ,over 
the widest extent of the  ,hellenic     
character1 however1 there raged the     
consuming blast of this  spirit1 which  
manifests itself in the form of ,greek  
cheerfulness1  which we have already    
spoken of as a senile1 unproductive love
 of  existence2 this cheerfulness is the
 counterpart of the splendid  navet of  
the earlier ,greeks1 which1 according to
 the characteristic  indicated above1   
must be conceived as the blossom of the 
,apollonian  culture growing out of a   
dark abyss1 as the victory which the    
,hellenic  will1 through its mirroring  
of beauty1 obtains over suffering and   
the  wisdom of suffering4 ,the noblest  
manifestation of that other form of     
,greek cheerfulness1 the ,alexandrine1  
is the cheerfulness of the  theoretical 
man3 it exhibits the same symptomatic   
characteristics as  ,i have just        
inferred concerning the spirit of the   
un-,dionysian3--it  combats ,dionysian  
wisdom and art1 it seeks to dissolve    

myth1 it  substitutes for metaphysical  
comfort an earthly consonance1 in fact1 
a  deus ex machina of its own1 namely   
the god of machines and crucibles1  that
 is1 the powers of the genii of nature  
recognised and employed in  the service 
of higher egoism2 it believes in        
amending the world by  knowledge1 in    
guiding life by science1 and that it can
 really confine  the individual within a
 narrow sphere of solvable problems1    
where he  cheerfully says to life3 ,i   
desire thee3 it is worth while to know  
thee4        #ah4      ,it is an eternal
 phenomenon3 the avidious will can      
always1 by means  of an illusion spread 
over things1 detain its creatures in    
life  and compel them to live on4 ,one  
is chained by the ,socratic love of     
knowledge and the vain hope of being    
able thereby to heal the eternal  wound 
of existence2 another is ensnared by    
art's seductive veil of  beauty         
fluttering before his eyes2 still       
another by the metaphysical  comfort    

that eternal life flows on              
indestructibly beneath the whirl of     
phenomena3 to say nothing of the more   
ordinary and almost more powerful       
illusions which the will has always at  
hand4 ,these three specimens of         
illusion are on the whole designed only 
for the more nobly endowed  natures1 who
 in general feel profoundly the weight  
and burden of  existence1 and must be   
deluded into forgetfulness of their     
displeasure  by exquisite stimulants4   
,all that we call culture is made up of 
these  stimulants2 and1 according to the
 proportion of the ingredients1 we  have
 either a specially ,socratic or        
artistic or tragic culture3  or1 if     
historical exemplifications are wanted1 
there is either an  ,alexandrine or a   
,hellenic or a ,buddhistic culture4     
,our whole modern world is entangled in 
the meshes of ,alexandrine  culture1 and
 recognises as its ideal the theorist   
equipped with  the most potent means of 
knowledge1 and labouring in the service 

of  science1 of whom the archetype and  
progenitor is ,socrates4 ,all our       
educational methods have originally this
 ideal in view3 every other  form of    
existence must struggle onwards         
wearisomely beside it1 as  something    
tolerated1 but not intended4 ,in an     
almost alarming manner the  cultured man
 was here found for a long time only in 
the form of the  scholar3 even our      
poetical arts have been forced to evolve
 from learned  imitations1 and in the   
main effect of the rhyme we still       
recognise the  origin of our poetic form
 from artistic experiments with a       
non-native  and thoroughly learned      
language4 ,how unintelligible must      
,faust1 the  modern cultured man1 who is
 in himself intelligible1 have appeared 
to a  true ,greek1--,faust1 storming    
discontentedly through all the          
faculties1  devoted to magic and the    
devil from a desire for knowledge1 whom 
we  have only to place alongside of     
,socrates for the purpose of comparison1

  in order to see that modern man begins
 to divine the boundaries of  this      
,socratic love of perception and longs  
for a coast in the wide  waste of the   
ocean of knowledge4 ,when ,goethe on one
 occasion said to  ,eckermann with      
reference to ,napoleon3 ,yes1 my good   
friend1 there is  also a productiveness 
of deeds1 he reminded us in a charmingly
 nave  manner that the non-theorist is  
something incredible and astounding to  
modern man2 so that the wisdom of       
,goethe is needed once more in order  to
 discover that such a surprising form of
 existence is comprehensible1  nay even 
pardonable4    ,now1 we must not hide   
from ourselves what is concealed in the 
heart  of this ,socratic culture3       
,optimism1 deeming itself absolute6     
,well1 we  must not be alarmed if the   
fruits of this optimism ripen1--if      
society1  leavened to the very lowest   
strata by this kind of culture1         
gradually  begins to tremble through    
wanton agitations and desires1 if the   

belief  in the earthly happiness of all1
 if the belief in the possibility of    
such a general intellectual culture is  
gradually transformed into the          
threatening demand for such an          
,alexandrine earthly happiness1 into    
the conjuring of a ,euripidean deus ex  
machina4 ,let us mark this  well3 the   
,alexandrine culture requires a slave   
class1 to be able to  exist permanently3
 but1 in its optimistic view of life1 it
 denies the  necessity of such a class1 
and consequently1 when the effect of its
  beautifully seductive and             
tranquillising utterances about the     
dignity  of man and the dignity of      
labour is spent1 it gradually drifts    
towards a dreadful destination4 ,there  
is nothing more terrible than  a        
barbaric slave class1 who have learned  
to regard their existence  as an        
injustice1 and now prepare to take      
vengeance1 not only for  themselves1 but
 for all generations4 ,in the face of   
such threatening  storms1 who dares to  

appeal with confident spirit to our pale
 and  exhausted religions1 which even in
 their foundations have degenerated     
into scholastic religions8--so that     
myth1 the necessary prerequisite  of    
every religion1 is already paralysed    
everywhere1 and even in this  domain the
 optimistic spirit--which we have just  
designated as the  annihilating germ of 
society--has attained the mastery4      
,while the evil slumbering in the heart 
of theoretical culture gradually  begins
 to disquiet modern man1 and makes him  
anxiously ransack the  stores of his    
experience for means to avert the       
danger1 though not  believing very much 
in these means2 while he1 therefore1    
begins to  divine the consequences his  
position involves3 great1 universally   
gifted natures have contrived1 with an  
incredible amount of thought1 to  make  
use of the apparatus of science itself1 
in order to point out the  limits and   
the relativity of knowledge generally1  
and thus definitely  to deny the claim  

of science to universal validity and    
universal ends3  with which             
demonstration the illusory notion was   
for the first time  recognised as such1 
which pretends1 with the aid of         
causality1 to be  able to fathom the    
innermost essence of things4 ,the       
extraordinary  courage and wisdom of    
,kant and ,schopenhauer have succeeded  
in  gaining the most1 difficult1        
victory1 the victory over the optimism  
hidden in the essence of logic1 which   
optimism in turn is the basis of  our   
culture4 ,while this optimism1 resting  
on apparently unobjectionable  terna    
veritates1 believed in the              
intelligibility and solvability of  all 
the riddles of the world1 and treated   
space1 time1 and causality  as totally  
unconditioned laws of the most universal
 validity1 ,kant1 on  the other hand1   
showed that these served in reality only
 to elevate the  mere phenomenon1 the   
work of ,my1 to the sole and highest    
reality1  putting it in place of the    

innermost and true essence of things1   
thus  making the actual knowledge of    
this essence impossible1 that is1       
according to the expression of          
,schopenhauer1 to lull the dreamer still
  more soundly asleep 7,welt als ,wille 
und ,vorstellung1 ,i4 #dih74 ,with  this
 knowledge a culture is inaugurated     
which ,i venture to designate as  a     
tragic culture2 the most important      
characteristic of which is that  wisdom 
takes the place of science as the       
highest end1--wisdom1 which1            
uninfluenced by the seductive           
distractions of the sciences1 turns     
with unmoved eye to the comprehensive   
view of the world1 and seeks to         
apprehend therein the eternal suffering 
as its own with sympathetic  feelings of
 love4 ,let us imagine a rising         
generation with this  undauntedness of  
vision1 with this heroic desire for the 
prodigious1  let us imagine the bold    
step of these dragon-slayers1 the proud 
and  daring spirit with which they turn 

their backs on all the effeminate       
doctrines of optimism in order to live  
resolutely in the ,whole and in  the    
,full3 would it not be necessary for the
 tragic man of this culture1  with his  
self-discipline to earnestness and      
terror1 to desire a new  art1 the art of
 metaphysical comfort1--namely1 tragedy1
 as the ,hellena  belonging to him1 and 
that he should exclaim with ,faust3     
,und sollt' ich nicht1 sehnschtigster   
,gewalt1      ,in's ,leben ziehn die    
einzigste ,gestalt8#ba    ,but now that 
the ,socratic culture has been shaken   
from two directions1  and is only able  
to hold the sceptre of its infallibility
 with  trembling hands1--once by the    
fear of its own conclusions which it at 
length begins to surmise1 and again1    
because it is no longer convinced  with 
its former nave trust of the eternal    
validity of its foundation1  --it is a  
sad spectacle to behold how the dance of
 its thought always  rushes longingly on
 new forms1 to embrace them1 and then1  

shuddering1  lets them go of a sudden1  
as ,mephistopheles does the seductive   
,lami4  ,it is certainly the symptom of 
the breach which all are wont to speak  
of as the primordial suffering of modern
 culture that the theoretical  man1     
alarmed and dissatisfied at his own     
conclusions1 no longer dares  to entrust
 himself to the terrible ice-stream of  
existence3 he runs  timidly up and down 
the bank4 ,he no longer wants to have   
anything  entire1 with all the natural  
cruelty of things1 so thoroughly has he 
been spoiled by his optimistic          
contemplation4 ,besides1 he feels that  
a culture built up on the principles of 
science must perish when it  begins to  
grow illogical1 that is1 to avoid its   
own conclusions4  ,our art reveals this 
universal trouble3 in vain does one seek
 help by  imitating all the great       
productive periods and natures1 in vain 
does  one accumulate the entire         
world-literature around modern man for  
his comfort1 in vain does one place     

one's self in the midst of the          
art-styles and artists of all ages1 so  
that one may give names to them  as     
,adam did to the beasts3 one still      
continues the eternal hungerer1  the    
critic without joy and energy1 the      
,alexandrine man1 who is in  the main a 
librarian and corrector of proofs1 and  
who1 pitiable wretch  goes blind from   
the dust of books and printers' errors4 
#ba ,cf4 ,introduction1 p4 #ad4         
#ai4      ,we cannot designate the      
intrinsic substance of ,socratic culture
 more  distinctly than by calling it the
 culture of the opera3 for it is in     
this department that culture has        
expressed itself with special navet     
concerning its aims and perceptions1    
which is sufficiently surprising  when  
we compare the genesis of the opera and 
the facts of operatic  development with 
the eternal truths of the ,apollonian   
and ,dionysian4  ,i call to mind first  
of all the origin of the stilo          
rappresentativo  and the recitative4 ,is

 it credible that this thoroughly       
externalised  operatic music1 incapable 
of devotion1 could be received and      
cherished  with enthusiastic favour1 as 
a re-birth1 as it were1 of all true     
music1  by the very age in which the    
ineffably sublime and sacred music of   
,palestrina had originated8 ,and who1 on
 the other hand1 would think of  making 
only the diversion-craving luxuriousness
 of those ,florentine  circles and the  
vanity of their dramatic singers        
responsible for the  love of the opera  
which spread with such rapidity8 ,that  
in the same  age1 even among the same   
people1 this passion for a half-musical 
mode of speech should awaken alongside  
of the vaulted structure  of ,palestrine
 harmonies which the entire ,christian  
,middle ,age had  been building up1 ,i  
can explain to myself only by a         
co-operating  extra-artistic tendency in
 the essence of the recitative4    ,the 
listener1 who insists on distinctly     
hearing the words under the  music1 has 

his wishes met by the singer in that he 
speaks rather than  sings1 and          
intensifies the pathetic expression of  
the words in this  half-song3 by this   
intensification of the pathos he        
facilitates the  understanding of the   
words and surmounts the remaining half  
of the  music4 ,the specific danger     
which now threatens him is that in some 
unguarded moment he may give undue      
importance to music1 which would        
forthwith result in the destruction of  
the pathos of the speech and  the       
distinctness of the words3 while1 on the
 other hand1 he always  feels himself   
impelled to musical delivery and to     
virtuose exhibition  of vocal talent4   
,here the poet comes to his aid1 who    
knows how to  provide him with abundant 
opportunities for lyrical interjections1
  repetitions of words and sentences1   
etc41--at which places the singer1  now 
in the purely musical element1 can rest 
himself without minding the  words4     
,this alternation of emotionally        

impressive1 yet only half-sung  speech  
and wholly sung interjections1 which is 
characteristic of the  stilo            
rappresentativo1 this rapidly changing  
endeavour to operate  now on the        
conceptional and representative faculty 
of the hearer1 now  on his musical      
sense1 is something so thoroughly       
unnatural and withal  so intrinsically  
contradictory both to the ,apollonian   
and ,dionysian  artistic impulses1 that 
one has to infer an origin of the       
recitative  foreign to all artistic     
instincts4 ,the recitative must be      
defined1  according to this description1
 as the combination of epic and lyric   
delivery1 not indeed as an intrinsically
 stable combination which  could not be 
attained in the case of such totally    
disparate elements1  but an entirely    
superficial mosaic conglutination1 such 
as is totally  unprecedented in the     
domain of nature and experience4 ,but   
this was  not the opinion of the        
inventors of the recitative3 they       

themselves1  and their age with them1   
believed rather that the mystery of     
antique  music had been solved by this  
stilo rappresentativo1 in which1 as     
they thought1 the only explanation of   
the enormous influence of an  ,orpheus1 
an ,amphion1 and even of ,greek tragedy 
was to be found4 ,the new  style was    
regarded by them as the re-awakening of 
the most effective  music1 the ,old     
,greek music3 indeed1 with the universal
 and popular  conception of the ,homeric
 world as the primitive world1 they     
could  abandon themselves to the dream  
of having descended once more into the  
paradisiac beginnings of mankind1       
wherein music also must needs have  had 
the unsurpassed purity1 power1 and      
innocence of which the poets  could give
 such touching accounts in their        
pastoral plays4 ,here we see  into the  
internal process of development of this 
thoroughly modern  variety of art1 the  
opera3 a powerful need here acquires an 
art1 but  it is a need of an unsthetic  

kind3 the yearning for the idyll1 the   
belief in the prehistoric existence of  
the artistic1 good man4 ,the  recitative
 was regarded as the rediscovered       
language of this primitive  man2 the    
opera as the recovered land of this     
idyllically or heroically  good         
creature1 who in every action follows at
 the same time a natural  artistic      
impulse1 who sings a little along with  
all he has to say1 in  order to sing    
immediately with full voice on the      
slightest emotional  excitement4 ,it is 
now a matter of indifference to us that 
the humanists  of those days combated   
the old ecclesiastical representation of
 man  as naturally corrupt and lost1    
with this new-created picture of the    
paradisiac artist3 so that opera may be 
understood as the oppositional  dogma of
 the good man1 whereby however a solace 
was at the same time  found for the     
pessimism to which precisely the        
seriously-disposed  men of that time    
were most strongly incited1 owing to the

 frightful  uncertainty of all          
conditions of life4 ,it is enough to    
have perceived  that the intrinsic      
charm1 and therefore the genesis1 of    
this new form  of art lies in the       
gratification of an altogether unsthetic
 need1 in  the optimistic glorification 
of man as such1 in the conception of the
  primitive man as the man naturally    
good and artistic3 a principle of  the  
opera which has gradually changed into a
 threatening and terrible  demand1      
which1 in face of the socialistic       
movements of the present  time1 we can  
no longer ignore4 ,the good primitive   
man wants his  rights3 what paradisiac  
prospects6    ,i here place by way of   
parallel still another equally obvious  
confirmation of my view that opera is   
built up on the same principles  as our 
,alexandrine culture4 ,opera is the     
birth of the theoretical man1  of the   
critical layman1 not of the artist3 one 
of the most surprising  facts in the    
whole history of art4 ,it was the demand

 of thoroughly  unmusical hearers that  
the words must above all be understood1 
so  that according to them a re-birth of
 music is only to be expected  when some
 mode of singing has been discovered in 
which the text-word  lords over the     
counterpoint as the master over the     
servant4 ,for the  words1 it is argued1 
are as much nobler than the accompanying
 harmonic  system as the soul is nobler 
than the body4 ,it was in accordance    
with  the laically unmusical crudeness  
of these views that the combination  of 
music1 picture and expression was       
effected in the beginnings of  the      
opera3 in the spirit of this sthetics   
the first experiments  were also made in
 the leading laic circles of ,florence  
by the poets  and singers patronised    
there4 ,the man incapable of art creates
 for  himself a species of art precisely
 because he is the inartistic man  as   
such4 ,because he does not divine the   
,dionysian depth of music1 he  changes  
his musical taste into appreciation of  

the understandable                      
word-and-tone-rhetoric of the passions  
in the stilo rappresentativo1  and into 
the voluptuousness of the arts of song2 
because he is unable  to behold a       
vision1 he forces the machinist and the 
decorative artist  into his service2    
because he cannot apprehend the true    
nature of the  artist1 he conjures up   
the artistic primitive man to suit his  
taste1  that is1 the man who sings and  
recites verses under the influence  of  
passion4 ,he dreams himself into a time 
when passion suffices to  generate songs
 and poems3 as if emotion had ever been 
able to create  anything artistic4 ,the 
postulate of the opera is a false belief
  concerning the artistic process1 in   
fact1 the idyllic belief that every     
sentient man is an artist4 ,in the sense
 of this belief1 opera is the           
expression of the taste of the laity in 
art1 who dictate their laws  with the   
cheerful optimism of the theorist4      
,should we desire to unite in one the   

two conceptions just set forth  as      
influential in the origin of opera1 it  
would only remain for us to  speak of an
 idyllic tendency of the opera3 in which
 connection we  may avail ourselves     
exclusively of the phraseology and      
illustration of  ,schiller4#bb ,nature  
and the ideal1 he says1 are either      
objects of  grief1 when the former is   
represented as lost1 the latter         
unattained2  or both are objects of joy1
 in that they are represented as real4  
,the first case furnishes the elegy in  
its narrower signification1  the second 
the idyll in its widest sense4 ,here we 
must at once call  attention to the     
common characteristic of these two      
conceptions in  operatic genesis1       
namely1 that in them the ideal is not   
regarded as  unattained or nature as    
lost ,agreeably to this sentiment1 there
 was  a primitive age of man when he lay
 close to the heart of nature1  and1    
owing to this naturalness1 had attained 
the ideal of mankind in  a paradisiac   

goodness and artist-organisation3 from  
which perfect  primitive man all of us  
were supposed to be descended2 whose    
faithful  copy we were in fact still    
said to be3 only we had to cast off some
  few things in order to recognise      
ourselves once more as this primitive   
man1 on the strength of a voluntary     
renunciation of superfluous             
learnedness1 of super-abundant culture4 
,it was to such a concord of  nature and
 the ideal1 to an idyllic reality1 that 
the cultured man  of the ,renaissance   
suffered himself to be led back by his  
operatic  imitation of ,greek tragedy2  
he made use of this tragedy1 as ,dante  
made  use of ,vergil1 in order to be led
 up to the gates of paradise3 while     
from this point he went on without      
assistance and passed over from an      
imitation of the highest form of ,greek 
art to a restoration of all  things1 to 
an imitation of man's original          
art-world4 ,what delightfully  nave     
hopefulness of these daring endeavours1 

in the very heart of  theoretical       
culture6--solely to be explained by the 
comforting belief1  that man-in-himself 
is the eternally virtuous hero of the   
opera1  the eternally fluting or singing
 shepherd1 who must always in the end   
rediscover himself as such1 if he has at
 any time really lost himself2  solely  
the fruit of the optimism1 which here   
rises like a sweetishly  seductive      
column of vapour out of the depth of the
 ,socratic conception  of the world4    
,the features of the opera therefore do 
not by any means exhibit the  elegiac   
sorrow of an eternal loss1 but rather   
the cheerfulness of  eternal            
rediscovery1 the indolent delight in an 
idyllic reality which  one can at least 
represent to one's self each moment as  
real3 and in  so doing one will perhaps 
surmise some day that this supposed     
reality  is nothing but a fantastically 
silly dawdling1 concerning which every  
one1 who could judge it by the terrible 
earnestness of true nature  and compare 

it with the actual primitive scenes of  
the beginnings of  mankind1 would have  
to call out with loathing3 ,away with   
the phantom6  ,nevertheless one would   
err if one thought it possible to       
frighten  away merely by a vigorous     
shout such a dawdling thing as the      
opera1  as if it were a spectre4 ,he who
 would destroy the opera must join      
issue with ,alexandrine cheerfulness1   
which expresses itself so navely        
therein concerning its favourite        
representation2 of which in fact  it is 
the specific form of art4 ,but what is  
to be expected for art  itself from the 
operation of a form of art1 the         
beginnings of which  do not at all lie  
in the sthetic province2 which has      
rather stolen  over from a half-moral   
sphere into the artistic domain1 and has
 been  able only now and then to delude 
us concerning this hybrid origin8 ,by   
what sap is this parasitic opera-concern
 nourished1 if not by that  of true art8
 ,must we not suppose that the highest  

and indeed the  truly serious task of   
art--to free the eye from its glance    
into the  horrors of night and to       
deliver the subject by the healing balm 
of  appearance from the spasms of       
volitional agitations--will degenerate  
under the influence of its idyllic      
seductions and ,alexandrine  adulation  
to an empty dissipating tendency1 to    
pastime8 ,what will  become of the      
eternal truths of the ,dionysian and    
,apollonian in such  an amalgamation of 
styles as ,i have exhibited in the      
character of the  stilo rappresentativo8
 where music is regarded as the servant1
 the  text as the master1 where music is
 compared with the body1 the text  with 
the soul8 where at best the highest aim 
will be the realisation  of a           
paraphrastic tone-painting1 just as     
formerly in the ,new ,attic  ,dithyramb8
 where music is completely alienated    
from its true dignity  of being1 the    
,dionysian mirror of the world1 so that 
the only thing  left to it is1 as a     

slave of phenomena1 to imitate the      
formal character  thereof1 and to excite
 an external pleasure in the play of    
lines and  proportions4 ,on close       
observation1 this fatal influence of the
 opera  on music is seen to coincide    
absolutely with the universal           
development  of modern music2 the       
optimism lurking in the genesis of the  
opera and  in the essence of culture    
represented thereby1 has1 with alarming 
rapidity1 succeeded in divesting music  
of its ,dionyso-cosmic mission  and in  
impressing on it a playfully formal and 
pleasurable character3 a  change with   
which perhaps only the metamorphosis of 
the schylean man  into the cheerful     
,alexandrine man could be compared4     
,if1 however1 in the exemplification    
herewith indicated we have rightly      
associated the evanescence of the       
,dionysian spirit with a most  striking1
 but hitherto unexplained transformation
 and degeneration of  the ,hellene--what
 hopes must revive in us when the most  

trustworthy  auspices guarantee the     
reverse process1 the gradual awakening  
of  the ,dionysian spirit in our modern 
world6 ,it is impossible for the  divine
 strength of ,herakles to languish for  
ever in voluptuous bondage  to ,omphale4
 ,out of the ,dionysian root of the     
,german spirit a power  has arisen which
 has nothing in common with the         
primitive conditions  of ,socratic      
culture1 and can neither be explained   
nor excused  thereby1 but is rather     
regarded by this culture as something   
terribly  inexplicable and              
overwhelmingly hostile1--namely1 ,german
 music as  we have to understand it1    
especially in its vast solar orbit from 
,bach to ,beethoven1 from ,beethoven to 
,wagner4 ,what even under the most      
favourable circumstances can the        
knowledge-craving ,socratism of our     
days do with this demon rising from     
unfathomable depths8 ,neither by  means 
of the zig-zag and arabesque work of    
operatic melody1 nor with  the aid of   

the arithmetical counting board of fugue
 and contrapuntal  dialectics is the    
formula to be found1 in the trebly      
powerful light#bc  of which one could   
subdue this demon and compel it to      
speak4 ,what  a spectacle1 when our     
sthetes1 with a net of beauty peculiar  
to  themselves1 now pursue and clutch at
 the genius of music romping  about     
before them with incomprehensible life1 
and in so doing display  activities     
which are not to be judged by the       
standard of eternal beauty  any more    
than by the standard of the sublime4    
,let us but observe these  patrons of   
music as they are1 at close range1 when 
they call out so  indefatigably beauty6 
beauty6 to discover whether they have   
the marks  of nature's darling children 
who are fostered and fondled in the lap 
of the beautiful1 or whether they do not
 rather seek a disguise for  their own  
rudeness1 an sthetical pretext for their
 own unemotional  insipidity3 ,i am     
thinking here1 for instance1 of ,otto   

,jahn4 ,but let the  liar and the       
hypocrite beware of our ,german music3  
for in the midst  of all our culture it 
is really the only genuine1 pure and    
purifying  fire-spirit from which and   
towards which1 as in the teaching of the
  great ,heraclitus of ,ephesus1 all    
things move in a double orbit-all  that 
we now call culture1 education1         
civilisation1 must appear some day      
before the unerring judge1 ,dionysus4   
,let us recollect furthermore how ,kant 
and ,schopenhauer made it  possible for 
the spirit of ,german philosophy        
streaming from the  same sources to     
annihilate the satisfied delight in     
existence of  scientific ,socratism by  
the delimitation of the boundaries      
thereof2 how  through this delimitation 
an infinitely profounder and more       
serious  view of ethical problems and of
 art was inaugurated1 which we may      
unhesitatingly designate as ,dionysian  
wisdom comprised in concepts4  ,to what 
then does the mystery of this oneness of

 ,german music and  philosophy point1 if
 not to a new form of existence1        
concerning the  substance of which we   
can only inform ourselves presentiently 
from  ,hellenic analogies8 ,for to us   
who stand on the boundary line between  
two different forms of existence1 the   
,hellenic prototype retains the         
immeasurable value1 that therein all    
these transitions and struggles  are    
imprinted in a classically instructive  
form3 except that we1 as  it were1      
experience analogically in reverse order
 the chief epochs  of the ,hellenic     
genius1 and seem now1 for instance1 to  
pass backwards  from the ,alexandrine   
age to the period of tragedy4 ,at the   
same time  we have the feeling that the 
birth of a tragic age betokens only a   
return to itself of the ,german spirit1 
a blessed self-rediscovering  after     
excessive and urgent external influences
 have for a long time  compelled it1    
living as it did in helpless barbaric   
formlessness1 to  servitude under their 

form4 ,it may at last1 after returning  
to the  primitive source of its being1  
venture to stalk along boldly and freely
  before all nations without hugging the
 leading-strings of a ,romanic          
civilisation3 if only it can learn      
implicitly of one people--the  ,greeks1 
of whom to learn at all is itself a high
 honour and a rare  distinction4 ,and   
when did we require these highest of all
 teachers more  than at present1 when we
 experience a re-birth of tragedy and   
are in  danger alike of not knowing     
whence it comes1 and of being unable to 
make clear to ourselves whither it      
tends4      #bb ,essay on ,elegiac      
,poetry4--,,tr4    #bc ,see ,faust1     
,part #a4a4 #ife--,,tr4        #bj4     
,it may be weighed some day before an   
impartial judge1 in what time and  in   
what men the ,german spirit has thus far
 striven most resolutely to  learn of   
the ,greeks3 and if we confidently      
assume that this unique  praise must be 
accorded to the noblest intellectual    

efforts of ,goethe1  ,schiller1 and     
,winkelmann1 it will certainly have to  
be added that  since their time1 and    
subsequently to the more immediate      
influences of  these efforts1 the       
endeavour to attain to culture and to   
the ,greeks by  this path has in an     
incomprehensible manner grown feebler   
and feebler4  ,in order not to despair  
altogether of the ,german spirit1 must  
we not  infer therefrom that possibly1  
in some essential matter1 even these    
champions could not penetrate into the  
core of the ,hellenic nature1  and were 
unable to establish a permanent friendly
 alliance between  ,german and ,greek   
culture8 ,so that perhaps an unconscious
 perception  of this shortcoming might  
raise also in more serious minds the    
disheartening doubt as to whether after 
such predecessors they could  advance   
still farther on this path of culture1  
or could reach the goal  at all4        
,accordingly1 we see the opinions       
concerning the value of ,greek          

contribution to culture degenerate since
 that time in the most alarming  manner2
 the expression of compassionate        
superiority may be heard  in the most   
heterogeneous intellectual and          
non-intellectual camps1  and elsewhere a
 totally ineffective declamation dallies
 with ,greek  harmony1 ,greek beauty1   
,greek cheerfulness4 ,and in the very   
circles  whose dignity it might be to   
draw indefatigably from the ,greek      
channel  for the good of ,german        
culture1 in the circles of the teachers 
in the  higher educational institutions1
 they have learned best to compromise   
with the ,greeks in good time and on    
easy terms1 to the extent often of  a   
sceptical abandonment of the ,hellenic  
ideal and a total perversion of  the    
true purpose of antiquarian studies4 ,if
 there be any one at all in  these      
circles who has not completely exhausted
 himself in the endeavour  to be a      
trustworthy corrector of old texts or a 
natural-history  microscopist of        

language1 he perhaps seeks also to      
appropriate ,grecian  antiquity         
historically along with other           
antiquities1 and in any case  according 
to the method and with the supercilious 
air of our present  cultured            
historiography4 ,when1 therefore1 the   
intrinsic efficiency  of the higher     
educational institutions has never      
perhaps been lower  or feebler than at  
present1 when the journalist1 the paper 
slave  of the day1 has triumphed over   
the academic teacher in all matters     
pertaining to culture1 and there only   
remains to the latter the often         
previously experienced metamorphosis of 
now fluttering also1 as a  cheerful     
cultured butterfly1 in the idiom of the 
journalist1 with the  light elegance    
peculiar thereto--with what painful     
confusion must the  cultured persons of 
a period like the present gaze at the   
phenomenon  7which can perhaps be       
comprehended analogically only by means 
of the  profoundest principle of the    

hitherto unintelligible ,hellenic       
genius7  of the reawakening of the      
,dionysian spirit and the re-birth of   
tragedy8  ,never has there been another 
art-period in which so-called culture   
and true art have been so estranged and 
opposed1 as is so obviously  the case at
 present4 ,we understand why so feeble a
 culture hates true  art2 it fears      
destruction thereby4 ,but must not an   
entire domain of  culture1 namely the   
,socratic-,alexandrine1 have exhausted  
its powers  after contriving to         
culminate in such a daintily-tapering   
point as our  present culture8 ,when it 
was not permitted to heroes like ,goethe
 and  ,schiller to break open the       
enchanted gate which leads into the     
,hellenic  magic mountain1 when with    
their most dauntless striving they did  
not  get beyond the longing gaze which  
the ,goethean ,iphigenia cast from      
barbaric ,tauris to her home across the 
ocean1 what could the epigones  of such 
heroes hope for1 if the gate should not 

open to them suddenly  of its own       
accord1 in an entirely different        
position1 quite overlooked  in all      
endeavours of culture hitherto--amidst  
the mystic tones of  reawakened tragic  
music4    ,let no one attempt to weaken 
our faith in an impending re-birth of   
,hellenic antiquity2 for in it alone we 
find our hope of a renovation  and      
purification of the ,german spirit      
through the fire-magic of music4  ,what 
else do we know of amidst the present   
desolation and languor  of culture1     
which could awaken any comforting       
expectation for the  future8 ,we look in
 vain for one single                    
vigorously-branching root1 for  a speck 
of fertile and healthy soil3 there is   
dust1 sand1 torpidness  and languishing 
everywhere6 ,under such circumstances a 
cheerless  solitary wanderer could      
choose for himself no better symbol than
 the  ,knight with ,death and the       
,devil1 as ,drer has sketched him for   
us1 the  mail-clad knight1 grim and     

stern of visage1 who is able1           
unperturbed  by his gruesome companions1
 and yet hopelessly1 to pursue his      
terrible  path with horse and hound     
alone4 ,our ,schopenhauer was such a    
,drerian  knight3 he was destitute of   
all hope1 but he sought the truth4      
,there is  not his equal4    ,but how   
suddenly this gloomily depicted         
wilderness of our exhausted  culture    
changes when the ,dionysian magic       
touches it6 ,a hurricane  seizes        
everything decrepit1 decaying1          
collapsed1 and stunted2 wraps  it       
whirlingly into a red cloud of dust2 and
 carries it like a vulture  into the    
air4 ,confused thereby1 our glances seek
 for what has vanished3  for what they  
see is something risen to the golden    
light as from  a depression1 so full and
 green1 so luxuriantly alive1 so        
ardently  infinite4 ,tragedy sits in the
 midst of this exuberance of life1      
sorrow and joy1 in sublime ecstasy2 she 
listens to a distant doleful  song--it  

tells of the ,mothers of ,being1 whose  
names are3 ,wahn1 ,wille1               
,wehe#ba--,yes1 my friends1 believe with
 me in ,dionysian life and  in the      
re-birth of tragedy4 ,the time of the   
,socratic man is past3  crown yourselves
 with ivy1 take in your hands the       
thyrsus1 and do not  marvel if tigers   
and panthers lie down fawning at your   
feet4 ,dare now  to be tragic men1 for  
ye are to be redeemed6 ,ye are to       
accompany the  ,dionysian festive       
procession from ,india to ,greece6      
,equip yourselves for  severe conflict1 
but believe in the wonders of your god6 
#ba4      ,gliding back from these      
hortative tones into the mood which     
befits  the contemplative man1 ,i repeat
 that it can only be learnt from the    
,greeks what such a sudden and          
miraculous awakening of tragedy must    
signify for the essential basis of a    
people's life4 ,it is the people  of the
 tragic mysteries who fight the battles 
with the ,persians3 and  again1 the     

people who waged such wars required     
tragedy as a necessary  healing potion4 
,who would have imagined that there was 
still such a  uniformly powerful        
effusion of the simplest political      
sentiments1 the  most natural domestic  
instincts and the primitive manly       
delight in  strife in this very people  
after it had been shaken to its         
foundations  for several generations by 
the most violent convulsions of the     
,dionysian demon8 ,if at every          
considerable spreading of the ,dionysian
  commotion one always perceives that   
the ,dionysian loosing from the         
shackles of the individual makes itself 
felt first of all in an  increased      
encroachment on the political instincts1
 to the extent of  indifference1 yea    
even hostility1 it is certain1 on the   
other hand1  that the state-forming     
,apollo is also the genius of the       
principium  individuationis1 and that   
the state and domestic sentiment cannot 
live  without an assertion of individual

 personality4 ,there is only one way    
from orgasm for a people1--the way to   
,indian ,buddhism1 which1 in order  to  
be at all endured with its longing for  
nothingness1 requires the  rare ecstatic
 states with their elevation above      
space1 time1 and the  individual2 just  
as these in turn demand a philosophy    
which teaches how  to overcome the      
indescribable depression of the         
intermediate states by  means of a      
fancy4 ,with the same necessity1 owing  
to the unconditional  dominance of      
political impulses1 a people drifts into
 a path of  extremest secularisation1   
the most magnificent1 but also the most 
terrible expression of which is the     
,roman imperium4    ,placed between     
,india and ,rome1 and constrained to a  
seductive choice1  the ,greeks succeeded
 in devising in classical purity still a
 third form  of life1 not indeed for    
long private use1 but just on that      
account for  immortality4 ,for it holds 
true in all things that those whom the  

gods  love die young1 but1 on the other 
hand1 it holds equally true that they   
then live eternally with the gods4 ,one 
must not demand of what is most  noble  
that it should possess the durable      
toughness of leather2 the  staunch      
durability1 which1 for instance1 was    
inherent in the national  character of  
the ,romans1 does not probably belong to
 the indispensable  predicates of       
perfection4 ,but if we ask by what      
physic it was possible  for the ,greeks1
 in their best period1 notwithstanding  
the extraordinary  strength of their    
,dionysian and political impulses1      
neither to exhaust  themselves by       
ecstatic brooding1 nor by a consuming   
scramble for empire  and worldly honour1
 but to attain the splendid mixture     
which we find  in a noble1 inflaming1   
and contemplatively disposing wine1 we  
must  remember the enormous power of    
tragedy1 exciting1 purifying1 and       
disburdening the entire life of a       
people2 the highest value of which  we  

shall divine only when1 as in the case  
of the ,greeks1 it appears  to us as the
 essence of all the prophylactic healing
 forces1 as the  mediator arbitrating   
between the strongest and most          
inherently fateful  characteristics of a
 people4    ,tragedy absorbs the highest
 musical orgasm into itself1 so that it 
absolutely brings music to perfection   
among the ,greeks1 as among  ourselves2 
but it then places alongside thereof    
tragic myth and the  tragic hero1 who1  
like a mighty ,titan1 takes the entire  
,dionysian world  on his shoulders and  
disburdens us thereof2 while1 on the    
other hand1  it is able by means of this
 same tragic myth1 in the person of the 
tragic hero1 to deliver us from the     
intense longing for this existence1  and
 reminds us with warning hand of another
 existence and a higher  joy1 for which 
the struggling hero prepares himself    
presentiently by  his destruction1 not  
by his victories4 ,tragedy sets a       
sublime symbol1  namely the myth between

 the universal authority of its music   
and the  receptive ,dionysian hearer1   
and produces in him the illusion that   
music  is only the most effective means 
for the animation of the plastic world  
of myth4 ,relying upon this noble       
illusion1 she can now move her limbs    
for the dithyrambic dance1 and abandon  
herself unhesitatingly to an  orgiastic 
feeling of freedom1 in which she could  
not venture to indulge  as music itself1
 without this illusion4 ,the myth       
protects us from the  music1 while1 on  
the other hand1 it alone gives the      
highest freedom  thereto4 ,by way of    
return for this service1 music imparts  
to tragic  myth such an impressive and  
convincing metaphysical significance as 
could never be attained by word and     
image1 without this unique aid2  and the
 tragic spectator in particular         
experiences thereby the sure            
presentiment of supreme joy to which the
 path through destruction and  negation 
leads2 so that he thinks he hears1 as it

 were1 the innermost  abyss of things   
speaking audibly to him4    ,if in these
 last propositions ,i have succeeded in 
giving perhaps only a  preliminary      
expression1 intelligible to few at      
first1 to this difficult                
representation1 ,i must not here desist 
from stimulating my friends to a        
further attempt1 or cease from          
beseeching them to prepare themselves1  
by a detached example of our common     
experience1 for the perception of  the  
universal proposition4 ,in this example 
,i must not appeal to those  who make   
use of the pictures of the scenic       
processes1 the words and the  emotions  
of the performers1 in order to          
approximate thereby to musical          
perception2 for none of these speak     
music as their mother-tongue1  and1 in  
spite of the aids in question1 do not   
get farther than the  precincts of      
musical perception1 without ever being  
allowed to touch  its innermost shrines2
 some of them1 like ,gervinus1 do not   

even reach  the precincts by this path4 
,i have only to address myself to those 
who1 being immediately allied to music1 
have it as it were for their  mother's  
lap1 and are connected with things      
almost exclusively by  unconscious      
musical relations4 ,i ask the question  
of these genuine  musicians3 whether    
they can imagine a man capable of       
hearing the third  act of ,tristan und  
,isolde without any aid of word or      
scenery1 purely  as a vast symphonic    
period1 without expiring by a spasmodic 
distention  of all the wings of the     
soul8 ,a man who has thus1 so to speak1 
put his  ear to the heart-chamber of the
 cosmic will1 who feels the furious     
desire for existence issuing therefrom  
as a thundering stream or most  gently  
dispersed brook1 into all the veins of  
the world1 would he not  collapse all at
 once8 ,could he endure1 in the wretched
 fragile tenement  of the human         
individual1 to hear the re-echo of      
countless cries of  joy and sorrow from 

the vast void of cosmic night1 without  
flying  irresistibly towards his        
primitive home at the sound of this     
pastoral  dance-song of metaphysics8    
,but if1 nevertheless1 such a work can  
be  heard as a whole1 without a         
renunciation of individual existence1 if
  such a creation could be created      
without demolishing its creator--where  
are we to get the solution of this      
contradiction8    ,here there interpose 
between our highest musical excitement  
and the  music in question the tragic   
myth and the tragic hero--in reality    
only  as symbols of the most universal  
facts1 of which music alone can speak   
directly4 ,if1 however1 we felt as      
purely ,dionysian beings1 myth as a     
symbol would stand by us absolutely     
ineffective and unnoticed1 and  would   
never for a moment prevent us from      
giving ear to the re-echo of  the       
universalia ante rem4 ,here1 however1   
the ,apollonian power1 with  a view to  
the restoration of the well-nigh        

shattered individual1 bursts  forth with
 the healing balm of a blissful         
illusion3 all of a sudden  we imagine we
 see only ,tristan1 motionless1 with    
hushed voice saying  to himself3 the old
 tune1 why does it wake me8 ,and what   
formerly  interested us like a hollow   
sigh from the heart of being1 seems now 
only to tell us how waste and void is   
the sea4 ,and when1 breathless1  we     
thought to expire by a convulsive       
distention of all our feelings1  and    
only a slender tie bound us to our      
present existence1 we now hear  and see 
only the hero wounded to death and still
 not dying1 with his  despairing cry3   
,longing6 ,longing6 ,in dying still     
longing6 for longing  not dying6 ,and if
 formerly1 after such a surplus and     
superabundance of  consuming agonies1   
the jubilation of the born rent our     
hearts almost  like the very acme of    
agony1 the rejoicing ,kurwenal now      
stands between  us and the jubilation as
 such1 with face turned toward the ship 

which  carries ,isolde4 ,however        
powerfully fellow-suffering encroaches  
upon us1  it nevertheless delivers us in
 a manner from the primordial suffering 
of the world1 just as the symbol-image  
of the myth delivers us from the        
immediate perception of the highest     
cosmic idea1 just as the thought  and   
word deliver us from the unchecked      
effusion of the unconscious  will4 ,the 
glorious ,apollonian illusion makes it  
appear as if the very  realm of tones   
presented itself to us as a plastic     
cosmos1 as if even  the fate of ,tristan
 and ,isolde had been merely formed and 
moulded  therein as out of some most    
delicate and impressible material4      
,thus does the ,apollonian wrest us from
 ,dionysian universality and fill  us   
with rapture for individuals2 to these  
it rivets our sympathetic  emotion1     
through these it satisfies the sense of 
beauty which longs for  great and       
sublime forms2 it brings before us      
biographical portraits1  and incites us 

to a thoughtful apprehension of the     
essence of life  contained therein4     
,with the immense potency of the image1 
the concept1  the ethical teaching and  
the sympathetic emotion--the ,apollonian
  influence uplifts man from his        
orgiastic self-annihilation1 and        
beguiles him concerning the universality
 of the ,dionysian process  into the    
belief that he is seeing a detached     
picture of the world1  for instance1    
,tristan and ,isolde1 and that1 through 
music1 he will  be enabled to see it    
still more clearly and intrinsically4   
,what can  the healing magic of ,apollo 
not accomplish when it can even excite  
in  us the illusion that the ,dionysian 
is actually in the service of the       
,apollonian1 the effects of which it is 
capable of enhancing2 yea1 that  music  
is essentially the representative art   
for an ,apollonian substance8    ,with  
the pre-established harmony which       
obtains between perfect drama  and its  
music1 the drama attains the highest    

degree of conspicuousness1  such as is  
usually unattainable in mere spoken     
drama4 ,as all the  animated figures of 
the scene in the independently evolved  
lines  of melody simplify themselves    
before us to the distinctness of the    
catenary curve1 the coexistence of these
 lines is also audible in the  harmonic 
change which sympathises in a most      
delicate manner with the  evolved       
process3 through which change the       
relations of things become  immediately 
perceptible to us in a sensible and not 
at all abstract  manner1 as we likewise 
perceive thereby that it is only in     
these  relations that the essence of a  
character and of a line of melody       
manifests itself clearly4 ,and while    
music thus compels us to see more       
extensively and more intrinsically than 
usual1 and makes us spread out  the     
curtain of the scene before ourselves   
like some delicate texture1  the world  
of the stage is as infinitely expanded  
for our spiritualised1  introspective   

eye as it is illumined outwardly from   
within4 ,how can  the word-poet furnish 
anything analogous1 who strives to      
attain this  internal expansion and     
illumination of the visible stage-world 
by a  much more imperfect mechanism and 
an indirect path1 proceeding as he  does
 from word and concept8 ,albeit musical 
tragedy likewise avails  itself of the  
word1 it is at the same time able to    
place alongside  thereof its basis and  
source1 and can make the unfolding of   
the word1  from within outwards1 obvious
 to us4    ,of the process just set     
forth1 however1 it could still be said  
as decidedly that it is only a glorious 
appearance1 namely the  afore-mentioned 
,apollonian illusion1 through the       
influence of which  we are to be        
delivered from the ,dionysian obtrusion 
and excess4  ,in point of fact1 the     
relation of music to drama is precisely 
the  reverse2 music is the adequate idea
 of the world1 drama is but the  reflex 
of this idea1 a detached umbrage        

thereof4 ,the identity between  the line
 of melody and the lining form1 between 
the harmony and the  character-relations
 of this form1 is true in a sense       
antithetical to  what one would suppose 
on the contemplation of musical tragedy4
 ,we  may agitate and enliven the form  
in the most conspicuous manner1 and     
enlighten it from within1 but it still  
continues merely phenomenon1  from which
 there is no bridge to lead us into the 
true reality1 into  the heart of the    
world4 ,music1 however1 speaks out of   
this heart2 and  though countless       
phenomena of the kind might be passing  
manifestations  of this music1 they     
could never exhaust its essence1 but    
would always  be merely its externalised
 copies4 ,of course1 as regards the     
intricate  relation of music and drama1 
nothing can be explained1 while all may 
be confused by the popular and          
thoroughly false antithesis of soul and 
body2 but the unphilosophical crudeness 
of this antithesis seems to  have       

become--who knows for what reasons--a   
readily accepted ,article of  ,faith    
with our stheticians1 while they have   
learned nothing concerning  an          
antithesis of phenomenon and            
thing-in-itself1 or perhaps1 for        
reasons equally unknown1 have not cared 
to learn anything thereof4    ,should it
 have been established by our analysis  
that the ,apollonian  element in tragedy
 has by means of its illusion gained a  
complete  victory over the ,dionysian   
primordial element of music1 and has    
made  music itself subservient to its   
end1 namely1 the highest and clearest   
elucidation of the drama1 it would      
certainly be necessary to add the  very 
important restriction3 that at the most 
essential point this  ,apollonian       
illusion is dissolved and annihilated4  
,the drama1 which1 by  the aid of music1
 spreads out before us with such        
inwardly illumined  distinctness in all 
its movements and figures1 that we      
imagine we  see the texture unfolding on

 the loom as the shuttle flies to and   
fro1--attains as a whole an effect which
 transcends all ,apollonian  artistic   
effects4 ,in the collective effect of   
tragedy1 the ,dionysian  gets the upper 
hand once more2 tragedy ends with a     
sound which could  never emanate from   
the realm of ,apollonian art4 ,and the  
,apollonian  illusion is thereby found  
to be what it is1--the assiduous veiling
  during the performance of tragedy of  
the intrinsically ,dionysian  effect3   
which1 however1 is so powerful1 that it 
finally forces  the ,apollonian drama   
itself into a sphere where it begins to 
talk  with ,dionysian wisdom1 and even  
denies itself and its ,apollonian       
conspicuousness4 ,thus then the         
intricate relation of the ,apollonian   
and  the ,dionysian in tragedy must     
really be symbolised by a fraternal     
union  of the two deities3 ,dionysus    
speaks the language of ,apollo2 ,apollo1
  however1 finally speaks the language  
of ,dionysus2 and so the highest  goal  

of tragedy and of art in general is     
attained4        #bb4      ,let the     
attentive friend picture to himself     
purely and simply1  according to his    
experiences1 the effect of a true       
musical tragedy4 ,i  think ,i have so   
portrayed the phenomenon of this effect 
in both its  phases that he will now be 
able to interpret his own experiences4  
,for  he will recollect that with regard
 to the myth which passed before  him he
 felt himself exalted to a kind of      
omniscience1 as if his  visual faculty  
were no longer merely a surface faculty1
 but capable  of penetrating into the   
interior1 and as if he now saw before   
him1  with the aid of music1 the        
ebullitions of the will1 the conflict of
  motives1 and the swelling stream of   
the passions1 almost sensibly  visible1 
like a plenitude of actively moving     
lines and figures1 and  could thereby   
dip into the most tender secrets of     
unconscious emotions4  ,while he thus   
becomes conscious of the highest        

exaltation of his  instincts for        
conspicuousness and transfiguration1 he 
nevertheless  feels with equal          
definitiveness that this long series of 
,apollonian  artistic effects still does
 not generate the blissful continuance  
in  will-less contemplation which the   
plasticist and the epic poet1 that  is  
to say1 the strictly ,apollonian        
artists1 produce in him by their        
artistic productions3 to wit1 the       
justification of the world of the       
individuatio attained in this           
contemplation1--which is the object  and
 essence of ,apollonian art4 ,he beholds
 the transfigured world of  the stage   
and nevertheless denies it4 ,he sees    
before him the tragic  hero in epic     
clearness and beauty1 and nevertheless  
delights in his  annihilation4 ,he      
comprehends the incidents of the scene  
in all their  details1 and yet loves to 
flee into the incomprehensible4 ,he     
feels the  actions of the hero to be    
justified1 and is nevertheless still    

more  elated when these actions         
annihilate their originator4 ,he        
shudders at  the sufferings which will  
befall the hero1 and yet anticipates    
therein  a higher and much more         
overpowering joy4 ,he sees more         
extensively and  profoundly than ever1  
and yet wishes to be blind4 ,whence must
 we derive  this curious internal       
dissension1 this collapse of the        
,apollonian apex1  if not from the      
,dionysian spell1 which1 though         
apparently stimulating  the ,apollonian 
emotions to their highest pitch1 can    
nevertheless force  this superabundance 
of ,apollonian power into its service8  
,tragic  myth is to be understood only  
as a symbolisation of ,dionysian wisdom 
by means of the expedients of           
,apollonian art3 the mythus conducts the
  world of phenomena to its boundaries1 
where it denies itself1 and seeks  to   
flee back again into the bosom of the   
true and only reality2 where  it then1  
like ,isolde1 seems to strike up its    

metaphysical swan-song3--        ,in des
 ,wonnemeeres      wogendem ,schwall1   
in der ,duft-,wellen      tnendem       
,schall1      in des ,weltathems        
wehendem ,all--                         
ertrinken--versinken                    
unbewusst--hchste ,lust6#bd    ,we thus 
realise to ourselves in the experiences 
of the truly sthetic  hearer the tragic 
artist himself when he proceeds like a  
luxuriously  fertile divinity of        
individuation to create his figures 7in 
which sense  his work can hardly be     
understood as an imitation of           
nature7--and  when1 on the other hand1  
his vast ,dionysian impulse then absorbs
 the  entire world of phenomena1 in     
order to anticipate beyond it1 and      
through its annihilation1 the highest   
artistic primal joy1 in the bosom  of   
the ,primordial ,unity4 ,of course1 our 
sthetes have nothing to say  about this 
return in fraternal union of the two    
art-deities to the  original home1 nor  
of either the ,apollonian or ,dionysian 

excitement  of the hearer1 while they   
are indefatigable in characterising the 
struggle of the hero with fate1 the     
triumph of the moral order of the       
world1 or the disburdenment of the      
emotions through tragedy1 as the        
properly ,tragic3 an indefatigableness  
which makes me think that they  are     
perhaps not sthetically excitable men at
 all1 but only to be  regarded as moral 
beings when hearing tragedy4 ,never     
since ,aristotle  has an explanation of 
the tragic effect been proposed1 by     
which an  sthetic activity of the hearer
 could be inferred from artistic        
circumstances4 ,at one time fear and    
pity are supposed to be forced to  an   
alleviating discharge through the       
serious procedure1 at another time  we  
are expected to feel elevated and       
inspired at the triumph of good  and    
noble principles1 at the sacrifice of   
the hero in the interest of  a moral    
conception of things2 and however       
certainly ,i believe that for  countless

 men precisely this1 and only this1 is  
the effect of tragedy1  it as obviously 
follows therefrom that all these1       
together with their  interpreting       
sthetes1 have had no experience of      
tragedy as the highest  art4 ,the       
pathological discharge1 the catharsis of
 ,aristotle1 which  philologists are at 
a loss whether to include under         
medicinal or moral  phenomena1 recalls a
 remarkable anticipation of ,goethe4    
,without a  lively pathological         
interest1 he says1 ,i too have never yet
 succeeded  in elaborating a tragic     
situation of any kind1 and hence ,i have
 rather  avoided than sought it4 ,can it
 perhaps have been still another of the 
merits of the ancients that the deepest 
pathos was with them merely  sthetic    
play1 whereas with us the truth of      
nature must co-operate in  order to     
produce such a work8 ,we can now answer 
in the affirmative  this latter profound
 question after our glorious            
experiences1 in which  we have found to 

our astonishment in the case of musical 
tragedy  itself1 that the deepest pathos
 can in reality be merely sthetic play3 
and therefore we are justified in       
believing that now for the first time   
the proto-phenomenon of the tragic can  
be portrayed with some degree  of       
success4 ,he who now will still persist 
in talking only of those  vicarious     
effects proceeding from ultra-sthetic   
spheres1 and does not  feel himself     
raised above the pathologically-moral   
process1 may be left  to despair of his 
sthetic nature3 for which we recommend  
to him1 by  way of innocent equivalent1 
the interpretation of ,shakespeare after
 the  fashion of ,gervinus1 and the     
diligent search for poetic justice4     
,thus with the re-birth of tragedy the  
sthetic hearer is also  born anew1 in   
whose place in the theatre a curious    
quid pro quo  was wont to sit with      
half-moral and half-learned             
pretensions1--the  critic4 ,in his      
sphere hitherto everything has been     

artificial and  merely glossed over with
 a semblance of life4 ,the performing   
artist  was in fact at a loss what to do
 with such a critically comporting      
hearer1 and hence he1 as well as the    
dramatist or operatic composer  who     
inspired him1 searched anxiously for the
 last remains of life  in a being so    
pretentiously barren and incapable of   
enjoyment4 ,such  critics1 however1 have
 hitherto constituted the public2 the   
student1  the school-boy1 yea1 even the 
most harmless womanly creature1 were    
already unwittingly prepared by         
education and by journals for a similar 
perception of works of art4 ,the nobler 
natures among the artists  counted upon 
exciting the moral-religious forces in  
such a public1  and the appeal to a     
moral order of the world operated       
vicariously1  when in reality some      
powerful artistic spell should have     
enraptured  the true hearer4 ,or again1 
some imposing or at all events exciting 
tendency of the contemporary political  

and social world was presented  by the  
dramatist with such vividness that the  
hearer could forget his  critical       
exhaustion and abandon himself to       
similar emotions1 as1 in  patriotic or  
warlike moments1 before the tribune of  
parliament1 or  at the condemnation of  
crime and vice3--an estrangement of the 
true  aims of art which could not but   
lead directly now and then to a cult  of
 tendency4 ,but here there took place   
what has always taken place  in the case
 of factitious arts1 an extraordinary   
rapid depravation  of these tendencies1 
so that for instance the tendency to    
employ the  theatre as a means for the  
moral education of the people1 which in 
,schiller's time was taken seriously1 is
 already reckoned among the  incredible 
antiquities of a surmounted culture4    
,while the critic got  the upper hand in
 the theatre and concert-hall1 the      
journalist in the  school1 and the press
 in society1 art degenerated into a     
topic of  conversation of the most      

trivial kind1 and sthetic criticism was 
used  as the cement of a vain1          
distracted1 selfish and moreover        
piteously  unoriginal sociality1 the    
significance of which is suggested by   
the  ,schopenhauerian parable of the    
porcupines1 so that there has never     
been so much gossip about art and so    
little esteem for it4 ,but is it  still 
possible to have intercourse with a man 
capable of conversing on  ,beethoven or 
,shakespeare8 ,let each answer this     
question according to  his sentiments3  
he will at any rate show by his answer  
his conception  of culture1 provided he 
tries at least to answer the question1  
and  has not already grown mute with    
astonishment4    ,on the other hand1    
many a one more nobly and delicately    
endowed by  nature1 though he may have  
gradually become a critical barbarian   
in the manner described1 could tell of  
the unexpected as well as  totally      
unintelligible effect which a successful
 performance of  ,lohengrin1 for        

example1 exerted on him3 except that    
perhaps every  warning and interpreting 
hand was lacking to guide him2 so that  
the  incomprehensibly heterogeneous and 
altogether incomparable sensation  which
 then affected him also remained        
isolated and became extinct1 like  a    
mysterious star after a brief           
brilliancy4 ,he then divined what the   
sthetic hearer is4      #bd        ,in  
the sea of pleasure's      ,billowing   
roll1      ,in the ether-waves          
,knelling and toll1      ,in the        
world-breath's      ,wavering whole--   
,to drown in1 go down in--      ,lost in
 swoon--greatest boon6        #bc4      
,he who wishes to test himself          
rigorously as to how he is related to   
the  true sthetic hearer1 or whether he 
belongs rather to the community  of the 
,socrato-critical man1 has only to      
enquire sincerely concerning  the       
sentiment with which he accepts the     
wonder represented on the  stage3       
whether he feels his historical sense1  

which insists on strict  psychological  
causality1 insulted by it1 whether with 
benevolent  concession he as it were    
admits the wonder as a phenomenon       
intelligible  to childhood1 but         
relinquished by him1 or whether he      
experiences  anything else thereby4 ,for
 he will thus be enabled to determine   
how  far he is on the whole capable of  
understanding myth1 that is to  say1 the
 concentrated picture of the world1     
which1 as abbreviature of  phenomena1   
cannot dispense with wonder4 ,it is     
probable1 however1 that  nearly every   
one1 upon close examination1 feels so   
disintegrated by  the critico-historical
 spirit of our culture1 that he can only
 perhaps  make the former existence of  
myth credible to himself by learned     
means through intermediary abstractions4
 ,without myth1 however1 every  culture 
loses its healthy1 creative natural     
power3 it is only a horizon  encompassed
 with myths which rounds off to unity a 
social movement4  ,it is only by myth   

that all the powers of the imagination  
and of the  ,apollonian dream are freed 
from their random rovings4 ,the mythical
  figures have to be the invisibly      
omnipresent genii1 under the care of    
which the young soul grows to maturity1 
by the signs of which the man  gives a  
meaning to his life and struggles3 and  
the state itself knows  no more powerful
 unwritten law than the mythical        
foundation which  vouches for its       
connection with religion and its growth 
from mythical  ideas4    ,let us now    
place alongside thereof the abstract man
 proceeding  independently of myth1 the 
abstract education1 the abstract usage1 
the abstract right1 the abstract state3 
let us picture to ourselves  the lawless
 roving of the artistic imagination1 not
 bridled by any  native myth3 let us    
imagine a culture which has no fixed and
 sacred  primitive seat1 but is doomed  
to exhaust all its possibilities1 and   
has to nourish itself wretchedly from   
the other cultures--such is the         

,present1 as the result of ,socratism1  
which is bent on the destruction  of    
myth4 ,and now the myth-less man remains
 eternally hungering among  all the     
bygones1 and digs and grubs for roots1  
though he have to dig  for them even    
among the remotest antiquities4 ,the    
stupendous historical  exigency of the  
unsatisfied modern culture1 the         
gathering around one of  countless other
 cultures1 the consuming desire for     
knowledge--what does  all this point to1
 if not to the loss of myth1 the loss of
 the mythical  home1 the mythical       
source8 ,let us ask ourselves whether   
the feverish  and so uncanny stirring of
 this culture is aught but the eager    
seizing  and snatching at food of the   
hungerer--and who would care to         
contribute  anything more to a culture  
which cannot be appeased by all it      
devours1  and in contact with which the 
most vigorous and wholesome nourishment 
is wont to change into history and      
criticism8    ,we should also have to   

regard our ,german character with       
despair and  sorrow1 if it had already  
become inextricably entangled in1 or    
even  identical with this culture1 in a 
similar manner as we can observe it  to 
our horror to be the case in civilised  
,france2 and that which for  a long time
 was the great advantage of ,france and 
the cause of her  vast preponderance1 to
 wit1 this very identity of people and  
culture1  might compel us at the sight  
thereof to congratulate ourselves that  
this culture of ours1 which is so       
questionable1 has hitherto had  nothing 
in common with the noble kernel of the  
character of our people4  ,all our      
hopes1 on the contrary1 stretch out     
longingly towards the  perception that  
beneath this restlessly palpitating     
civilised life and  educational         
convulsion there is concealed a         
glorious1 intrinsically  healthy1       
primeval power1 which1 to be sure1 stirs
 vigorously only at  intervals in       
stupendous moments1 and then dreams on  

again in view of  a future awakening4   
,it is from this abyss that the ,german 
,reformation  came forth3 in the        
choral-hymn of which the future melody  
of ,german  music first resounded4 ,so  
deep1 courageous1 and soul-breathing1 so
  exuberantly good and tender did this  
chorale of ,luther sound1--as the  first
 ,dionysian-luring call which breaks    
forth from dense thickets  at the       
approach of spring4 ,to it responded    
with emulative echo the  solemnly wanton
 procession of ,dionysian revellers1 to 
whom we are  indebted for ,german       
music--and to whom we shall be indebted 
for the  re-birth of ,german myth4    ,i
 know that ,i must now lead the         
sympathising and attentive friend to  an
 elevated position of lonesome          
contemplation1 where he will have  but  
few companions1 and ,i call out         
encouragingly to him that we must  hold 
fast to our shining guides1 the ,greeks4
 ,for the rectification  of our sthetic 
knowledge we previously borrowed from   

them the two  divine figures1 each of   
which sways a separate realm of art1 and
  concerning whose mutual contact and   
exaltation we have acquired a  notion   
through ,greek tragedy4 ,through a      
remarkable disruption of both  these    
primitive artistic impulses1 the ruin of
 ,greek tragedy seemed  to be           
necessarily brought about3 with which   
process a degeneration  and a           
transmutation of the ,greek national    
character was strictly in  keeping1     
summoning us to earnest reflection as to
 how closely and  necessarily art and   
the people1 myth and custom1 tragedy and
 the state1  have coalesced in their    
bases4 ,the ruin of tragedy was at the  
same  time the ruin of myth4 ,until then
 the ,greeks had been involuntarily     
compelled immediately to associate all  
experiences with their myths1  indeed   
they had to comprehend them only through
 this association3  whereby even the    
most immediate present necessarily      
appeared to them  sub specie terni and  

in a certain sense as timeless4 ,into   
this  current of the timeless1 however1 
the state as well as art plunged  in    
order to find repose from the burden and
 eagerness of the moment4  ,and a       
people--for the rest1 also a man--is    
worth just as much only as  its ability 
to impress on its experiences the seal  
of eternity3 for  it is thus1 as it     
were1 desecularised1 and reveals its    
unconscious  inner conviction of the    
relativity of time and of the true1 that
 is1  the metaphysical significance of  
life4 ,the contrary happens when a      
people begins to comprehend itself      
historically and to demolish the        
mythical bulwarks around it3 with which 
there is usually connected  a marked    
secularisation1 a breach with the       
unconscious metaphysics  of its earlier 
existence1 in all ethical consequences4 
,greek art and  especially ,greek       
tragedy delayed above all the           
annihilation of myth3  it was necessary 
to annihilate these also to be able to  

live detached  from the native soil1    
unbridled in the wilderness of thought1 
custom1  and action4 ,even in such      
circumstances this metaphysical impulse 
still  endeavours to create for itself a
 form of apotheosis 7weakened1 no       
doubt7 in the ,socratism of science     
urging to life3 but on its lower  stage 
this same impulse led only to a feverish
 search1 which gradually  merged into a 
pandemonium of myths and superstitions  
accumulated from  all quarters3 in the  
midst of which1 nevertheless1 the       
,hellene sat with  a yearning heart till
 he contrived1 as ,grculus1 to mask his 
fever with  ,greek cheerfulness and     
,greek levity1 or to narcotise himself  
completely  with some gloomy ,oriental  
superstition4    ,we have approached    
this condition in the most striking     
manner since the  reawakening of the    
,alexandro--,roman antiquity in the     
fifteenth century1  after a long1 not   
easily describable1 interlude4 ,on the  
heights there  is the same exuberant    

love of knowledge1 the same insatiate   
happiness  of the discoverer1 the same  
stupendous secularisation1 and1 together
  with these1 a homeless roving about1  
an eager intrusion at foreign  tables1 a
 frivolous deification of the present or
 a dull senseless  estrangement1 all sub
 speci sculi1 of the present time3 which
  same symptoms lead one to infer the   
same defect at the heart of  this       
culture1 the annihilation of myth4 ,it  
seems hardly possible to  transplant a  
foreign myth with permanent success1    
without dreadfully  injuring the tree   
through this transplantation3 which is  
perhaps  occasionally strong enough and 
sound enough to eliminate the foreign   
element after a terrible struggle2 but  
must ordinarily consume itself  in a    
languishing and stunted condition or in 
sickly luxuriance4 ,our  opinion of the 
pure and vigorous kernel of the ,german 
being is such  that we venture to expect
 of it1 and only of it1 this elimination
 of  forcibly ingrafted foreign         

elements1 and we deem it possible that  
the ,german spirit will reflect anew on 
itself4 ,perhaps many a one  will be of 
opinion that this spirit must begin its 
struggle with the  elimination of the   
,romanic element3 for which it might    
recognise an  external preparation and  
encouragement in the victorious bravery 
and  bloody glory of the late war1 but  
must seek the inner constraint in the   
emulative zeal to be for ever worthy of 
the sublime protagonists on  this path1 
of ,luther as well as our great artists 
and poets4 ,but let  him never think he 
can fight such battles without his      
household gods1  without his mythical   
home1 without a restoration of all      
,german things  ,i ,and if the ,german  
should look timidly around for a guide  
to lead  him back to his long-lost home1
 the ways and paths of which he knows   
no longer--let him but listen to the    
delightfully luring call of the         
,dionysian bird1 which hovers above him1
 and would fain point out to him  the   

way thither4        #bd4      ,among the
 peculiar artistic effects of musical   
tragedy we had to  emphasise an         
,apollonian illusion1 through which we  
are to be saved  from immediate oneness 
with the ,dionysian music1 while our    
musical  excitement is able to discharge
 itself on an ,apollonian domain and  in
 an interposed visible middle world4 ,it
 thereby seemed to us that  precisely   
through this discharge the middle world 
of theatrical  procedure1 the drama     
generally1 became visible and           
intelligible from  within in a degree   
unattainable in the other forms of      
,apollonian art3  so that here1 where   
this art was as it were winged and borne
 aloft by  the spirit of music1 we had  
to recognise the highest exaltation of  
its  powers1 and consequently in the    
fraternal union of ,apollo and ,dionysus
  the climax of the ,apollonian as well 
as of the ,dionysian artistic aims4     
,of course1 the ,apollonian             
light-picture did not1 precisely with   

this  inner illumination through music1 
attain the peculiar effect of the       
weaker grades of ,apollonian art4 ,what 
the epos and the animated stone  can    
do--constrain the contemplating eye to  
calm delight in the world  of the       
individuatio--could not be realised     
here1 notwithstanding  the greater      
animation and distinctness4 ,we         
contemplated the drama  and penetrated  
with piercing glance into its inner     
agitated world of  motives--and yet it  
seemed as if only a symbolic picture    
passed before  us1 the profoundest      
significance of which we almost believed
 we had  divined1 and which we desired  
to put aside like a curtain in order to 
behold the original behind it4 ,the     
greatest distinctness of the picture    
did not suffice us3 for it seemed to    
reveal as well as veil something2  and  
while it seemed1 with its symbolic      
revelation1 to invite the  rending of   
the veil for the disclosure of the      
mysterious background1  this illumined  

all-conspicuousness itself enthralled   
the eye and  prevented it from          
penetrating more deeply ,he who has not 
experienced  this1--to have to view1 and
 at the same time to have a longing     
beyond the viewing1--will hardly be able
 to conceive how clearly and  definitely
 these two processes coexist in the     
contemplation of tragic  myth and are   
felt to be conjoined2 while the truly   
sthetic spectators  will confirm my     
assertion that among the peculiar       
effects of tragedy  this conjunction is 
the most noteworthy4 ,now let this      
phenomenon of the  sthetic spectator be 
transferred to an analogous process in  
the tragic  artist1 and the genesis of  
tragic myth will have been understood4  
,it  shares with the ,apollonian sphere 
of art the full delight in appearance   
and contemplation1 and at the same time 
it denies this delight and  finds a     
still higher satisfaction in the        
annihilation of the visible  world of   
appearance4 ,the substance of tragic    

myth is first of all an  epic event     
involving the glorification of the      
fighting hero3 but whence  originates   
the essentially enigmatical trait1 that 
the suffering in  the fate of the hero1 
the most painful victories1 the most    
agonising  contrasts of motives1 in     
short1 the exemplification of the wisdom
 of  ,silenus1 or1 sthetically          
expressed1 the ,ugly and ,discordant1 is
 always  represented anew in such       
countless forms with such predilection1 
and  precisely in the most youthful and 
exuberant age of a people1 unless  there
 is really a higher delight experienced 
in all this8    ,for the fact that      
things actually take such a tragic      
course would  least of all explain the  
origin of a form of art2 provided that  
art  is not merely an imitation of the  
reality of nature1 but in truth a       
metaphysical supplement to the reality  
of nature1 placed alongside  thereof for
 its conquest4 ,tragic myth1 in so far  
as it really belongs  to art1 also fully

 participates in this transfiguring     
metaphysical  purpose of art in general3
 ,what does it transfigure1 however1    
when it  presents the phenomenal world  
in the guise of the suffering hero8     
,least  of all the reality of this      
phenomenal world1 for it says to us3    
,look  at this6 ,look carefully6 ,it is 
your life6 ,it is the hour-hand of your 
clock of existence6    ,and myth has    
displayed this life1 in order thereby to
 transfigure it  to us8 ,if not1 how    
shall we account for the sthetic        
pleasure with  which we make even these 
representations pass before us8 ,i am   
inquiring  concerning the sthetic       
pleasure1 and am well aware that many of
  these representations may moreover    
occasionally create even a moral        
delectation1 say under the form of pity 
or of a moral triumph4 ,but he  who     
would derive the effect of the tragic   
exclusively from these moral  sources1  
as was usually the case far too long in 
sthetics1 let him not  think that he has

 done anything for ,art thereby2 for    
,art must above all  insist on purity in
 her domain4 ,for the explanation of    
tragic myth the  very first requirement 
is that the pleasure which characterises
 it must  be sought in the purely       
sthetic sphere1 without encroaching on  
the  domain of pity1 fear1 or the       
morally-sublime4 ,how can the ugly and  
the  discordant1 the substance of tragic
 myth1 excite an sthetic pleasure8      
,here it is necessary to raise ourselves
 with a daring bound into a  metaphysics
 of ,art4 ,i repeat1 therefore1 my      
former proposition1 that  it is only as 
an sthetic phenomenon that existence and
 the world1  appear justified3 and in   
this sense it is precisely the function 
of  tragic myth to convince us that even
 the ,ugly and ,discordant is an        
artistic game which the will1 in the    
eternal fulness of its joy1 plays  with 
itself4 ,but this not easily            
comprehensible proto-phenomenon of      
,dionysian ,art becomes1 in a direct    

way1 singularly intelligible1 and  is   
immediately apprehended in the wonderful
 significance of musical  dissonance3   
just as in general it is music alone1   
placed in contrast  to the world1 which 
can give us an idea as to what is meant 
by the  justification of the world as an
 sthetic phenomenon4 ,the joy that the  
tragic myth excites has the same origin 
as the joyful sensation of  dissonance  
in music4 ,the ,dionysian1 with its     
primitive joy experienced  in pain      
itself1 is the common source of music   
and tragic myth4    ,is it not possible 
that by calling to our aid the musical  
relation of  dissonance1 the difficult  
problem of tragic effect may have       
meanwhile  been materially facilitated8 
,for we now understand what it means to 
wish to view tragedy and at the same    
time to have a longing beyond the       
viewing3 a frame of mind1 which1 as     
regards the artistically employed       
dissonance1 we should simply have to    
characterise by saying that we  desire  

to hear and at the same time have a     
longing beyond the hearing4  ,that      
striving for the infinite1 the          
pinion-flapping of longing1             
accompanying the highest delight in the 
clearly-perceived reality1  remind one  
that in both states we have to recognise
 a ,dionysian  phenomenon1 which again  
and again reveals to us anew the playful
  up-building and demolishing of the    
world of individuals as the efflux  of a
 primitive delight1 in like manner as   
when ,heraclitus the ,obscure  compares 
the world-building power to a playing   
child which places  stones here and     
there and builds sandhills only to      
overthrow them again4    ,hence1 in     
order to form a true estimate of the    
,dionysian capacity of  a people1 it    
would seem that we must think not only  
of their music1  but just as much of    
their tragic myth1 the second witness of
 this  capacity4 ,considering this most 
intimate relationship between music  and
 myth1 we may now in like manner suppose

 that a degeneration and  depravation of
 the one involves a deterioration of the
 other3 if it be  true at all that the  
weakening of the myth is generally      
expressive of  a debilitation of the    
,dionysian capacity4 ,concerning both1  
however1  a glance at the development of
 the ,german genius should not leave  us
 in any doubt2 in the opera just as in  
the abstract character of  our myth-less
 existence1 in an art sunk to pastime   
just as in a life  guided by concepts1  
the inartistic as well as life-consuming
 nature  of ,socratic optimism had      
revealed itself to us4 ,yet there have  
been  indications to console us that    
nevertheless in some inaccessible abyss 
the ,german spirit still rests and      
dreams1 undestroyed1 in glorious        
health1 profundity1 and ,dionysian      
strength1 like a knight sunk in         
slumber3 from which abyss the ,dionysian
 song rises to us to let us  know that  
this ,german knight even still dreams   
his primitive ,dionysian  myth in       

blissfully earnest visions4 ,let no one 
believe that the ,german  spirit has for
 ever lost its mythical home when it    
still understands so  obviously the     
voices of the birds which tell of that  
home4 ,some day it  will find itself    
awake in all the morning freshness of a 
deep sleep3  then it will slay the      
dragons1 destroy the malignant dwarfs1  
and waken  ,brnnhilde--and ,wotan's     
spear itself will be unable to obstruct 
its  course6    ,my friends1 ye who     
believe in ,dionysian music1 ye know    
also what  tragedy means to us4 ,there  
we have tragic myth1 born anew from     
music1--and in this latest birth ye can 
hope for everything and forget  what is 
most afflicting4 ,what is most          
afflicting to all of us1 however1       
is--the prolonged degradation in which  
the ,german genius has lived  estranged 
from house and home in the service of   
malignant dwarfs4 ,ye  understand my    
allusion--as ye will also1 in           
conclusion1 understand my  hopes4       

#be4      ,music and tragic myth are    
equally the expression of the ,dionysian
  capacity of a people1 and are         
inseparable from each other4 ,both      
originate in an ultra ,apollonian sphere
 of art2 both transfigure a  region in  
the delightful accords of which all     
dissonance1 just like  the terrible     
picture of the world1 dies charmingly   
away2 both play  with the sting of      
displeasure1 trusting to their most     
potent magic2  both justify thereby the 
existence even of the worst world4 ,here
  the ,dionysian1 as compared with the  
,apollonian1 exhibits itself as  the    
eternal and original artistic force1    
which in general calls into  existence  
the entire world of phenomena3 in the   
midst of which a new  transfiguring     
appearance becomes necessary1 in order  
to keep alive the  animated world of    
individuation4 ,if we could conceive an 
incarnation  of dissonance--and what is 
man but that8--then1 to be able to live 
this dissonance would require a glorious

 illusion which would spread  a veil of 
beauty over its peculiar nature4 ,this  
is the true function  of ,apollo as     
deity of art3 in whose name we comprise 
all the countless  manifestations of the
 fair realm of illusion1 which each     
moment render  life in general worth    
living and make one impatient for the   
experience  of the next moment4    ,at  
the same time1 just as much of this     
basis of all existence--the  ,dionysian 
substratum of the world--is allowed to  
enter into the  consciousness of human  
beings1 as can be surmounted again by   
the  ,apollonian transfiguring power1 so
 that these two art-impulses are        
constrained to develop their powers in  
strictly mutual proportion1  according  
to the law of eternal justice4 ,when the
 ,dionysian powers rise  with such      
vehemence as we experience at present1  
there can be no doubt  that1 veiled in a
 cloud1 ,apollo has already descended to
 us2 whose  grandest beautifying        
influences a coming generation will     

perhaps behold4    ,that this effect is 
necessary1 however1 each one would most 
surely  perceive by intuition1 if once  
he found himself carried back--even in  
a dream--into an ,old-,hellenic         
existence4 ,in walking under high ,ionic
  colonnades1 looking upwards to a      
horizon defined by clear and noble      
lines1 with reflections of his          
transfigured form by his side in shining
  marble1 and around him solemnly       
marching or quietly moving men1 with    
harmoniously sounding voices and        
rhythmical pantomime1 would he not in   
the presence of this perpetual influx of
 beauty have to raise his hand  to      
,apollo and exclaim3 ,blessed race of   
,hellenes6 ,how great ,dionysus  must be
 among you1 when the ,delian god deems  
such charms necessary  to cure you of   
your dithyrambic madness6--,to one in   
this frame of  mind1 however1 an aged   
,athenian1 looking up to him with the   
sublime  eye of schylus1 might answer3  
,say also this1 thou curious stranger3  

what sufferings this people must have   
undergone1 in order to be able  to      
become thus beautiful6 ,but now follow  
me to a tragic play1 and  sacrifice with
 me in the temple of both the deities6  
,,appendix4      ,late in the year      
#ahhh1 not long before he was overcome  
by his sudden  attack of insanity1      
,nietzsche wrote down a few notes       
concerning  his early work1 the ,birth  
of ,tragedy4 ,these were printed in his 
sister's biography 7,das ,leben         
,friedrich ,nietzsches1 vol4 ii4 pt4  i4
 pp4 #ajb ff471 and are here translated 
as likely to be of interest  to readers 
of this remarkable work4 ,they also     
appear in the ,ecce                     
,homo4--,,translator',s ,,note4    ,to  
be just to the ,birth of                
,tragedy7#ahgb71 one will have to forget
  some few things4 ,it has wrought      
effects1 it even fascinated through     
that wherein it was amiss--through its  
application to ,wagnerism1  just as if  
this ,wagnerism were symptomatic of a   

rise and going up4  ,and just on that   
account was the book an event in        
,wagner's life3 from  thence and only   
from thence were great hopes linked to  
the name of  ,wagner4 ,even to-day      
people remind me1 sometimes right in the
 midst of  a talk on ,parsifal1 that ,i 
and none other have it on my conscience 
that such a high opinion of the cultural
 value of this movement came  to the    
top4 ,more than once have ,i found the  
book referred to as 'the  ,re-birth of  
,tragedy out of the ,spirit of ,music'3 
one only had an ear  for a new formula  
of ,wagner's art1 aim1 task1--and failed
 to hear  withal what was at bottom     
valuable therein4 ',hellenism and       
,pessimism'  had been a more unequivocal
 title3 namely1 as a first lesson on the
  way in which the ,greeks got the      
better of pessimism1--on the means      
whereby they overcame it4 ,tragedy      
simply proves that the ,greeks were  no 
pessimists3 ,schopenhauer was mistaken  
here as he was mistaken  in all other   

things4 ,considered with some           
neutrality1 the ,birth of  ,tragedy     
appears very unseasonable3 one would not
 even dream that  it was begun amid the 
thunders of the battle of ,wrth4 ,i     
thought  these problems through and     
through before the walls of ,metz in    
cold  ,september nights1 in the midst of
 the work of nursing the sick2 one      
might even believe the book to be fifty 
years older4 ,it is politically         
indifferent--un-,german one will say    
to-day1--it smells shockingly           
,hegelian1 in but a few formul does it  
scent of ,schopenhauer's  funereal      
perfume4 ,an 'idea'--the antithesis of  
',dionysian versus                      
,apollonian'--translated into           
metaphysics2 history itself as the      
evolution of this 'idea'2 the antithesis
 dissolved into oneness  in ,tragedy2   
through this optics things that had     
never yet looked  into one another's    
face1 confronted of a sudden1 and       
illumined and  comprehended through one 

another3 for instance1 ,opera and       
,revolution4  ,the two decisive         
innovations of the book are1 on the one 
hand1 the  comprehension of the         
,dionysian phenomenon among the ,greeks 
7it gives  the first psychology thereof1
 it sees therein the ,one root of all   
,grecian art72 on the other1 the        
comprehension of ,socratism3 ,socrates  
diagnosed for the first time as the tool
 of ,grecian dissolution1 as  a typical 
decadent4 ',rationality' against        
instinct6 ',rationality'  at any price  
as a dangerous1 as a life-undermining   
force6 ,throughout  the whole book a    
deep hostile silence on ,christianity3  
it is neither  ,apollonian nor          
,dionysian2 it negatives all sthetic    
values 7the  only values recognised by  
the ,birth of ,tragedy71 it is in the   
widest  sense nihilistic1 whereas in the
 ,dionysian symbol the utmost limit  of 
affirmation is reached4 ,once or twice  
the ,christian priests are  alluded to  
as a 'malignant kind of dwarfs1' as     

'subterraneans4'        #b4      ,this  
beginning is singular beyond measure4 ,i
 had for my own inmost  experience      
discovered the only symbol and          
counterpart of history1--,i  had just   
thereby been the first to grasp the     
wonderful phenomenon  of the ,dionysian4
 ,and again1 through my diagnosing      
,socrates as a  decadent1 ,i had given a
 wholly unequivocal proof of how little 
risk  the trustworthiness of my         
psychological grasp would run of being  
weakened by some moralistic             
idiosyncrasy--to view morality itself as
 a  symptom of decadence is an          
innovation1 a novelty of the first rank 
in  the history of knowledge4 ,how far  
,i had leaped in either case beyond  the
 smug shallow-pate-gossip of optimism   
contra pessimism6 ,i was  the first to  
see the intrinsic antithesis3 here1 the 
degenerating  instinct which1 with      
subterranean vindictiveness1 turns      
against life  7,christianity1 the       
philosophy of ,schopenhauer1 in a       

certain sense  already the philosophy of
 ,plato1 all idealistic systems as      
typical  forms71 and there1 a formula of
 highest affirmation1 born of fullness  
and overfullness1 a yea-saying without  
reserve to suffering's self1  to guilt's
 self1 to all that is questionable and  
strange in existence  itself4 ,this     
final1 cheerfullest1 exuberantly        
mad-and-merriest ,yea to  life is not   
only the highest insight1 it is also the
 deepest1 it  is that which is most     
rigorously confirmed and upheld by truth
 and  science4 ,naught that is1 is to be
 deducted1 naught is dispensable2 the   
phases of existence rejected by the     
,christians and other nihilists are     
even of an infinitely higher order in   
the hierarchy of values than  that which
 the instinct of decadence sanctions1   
yea durst sanction4  ,to comprehend this
 courage is needed1 and1 as a condition 
thereof1 a  surplus of strength3 for    
precisely in degree as courage dares to 
thrust forward1 precisely according to  

the measure of strength1 does  one      
approach truth4 ,perception1 the        
yea-saying to reality1 is as much  a    
necessity to the strong as to the weak1 
under the inspiration of  weakness1     
cowardly shrinking1 and flight from     
reality--the 'ideal4'  444 ,they are not
 free to perceive3 the decadents have   
need of the  lie1--it is one of their   
conditions of self-preservation4 ,whoso 
not  only comprehends the word          
,dionysian1 but also grasps his self in 
this word1 requires no refutation of    
,plato or of ,christianity or of        
,schopenhauer--he smells the            
putrefaction4        #c4      ,to what  
extent ,i had just thereby found the    
concept 'tragic1' the  definitive       
perception of the psychology of tragedy1
 ,i have but lately  stated in the      
,twilight of the ,idols1 page #aci 7#ast
 edit473 ',the  affirmation of life1    
even in its most unfamiliar and severe  
problems1  the will to life1 enjoying   
its own inexhaustibility in the         

sacrifice  of its highest types1--that  
is what ,i called ,dionysian1 that is   
what ,i divined as the bridge to a      
psychology of the tragic poet4  ,not in 
order to get rid of terror and pity1 not
 to purify from a  dangerous passion by 
its vehement discharge 7it was thus that
 ,aristotle  misunderstood it72 but1    
beyond terror and pity1 to realise in   
fact  the eternal delight of becoming1  
that delight which even involves in     
itself the joy of annihilating6#a ,in   
this sense ,i have the right  to        
understand myself to be the first tragic
 philosopher--that is1  the utmost      
antithesis and antipode to a pessimistic
 philosopher4 ,prior  to myself there is
 no such translation of the ,dionysian  
into the  philosophic pathos3 there     
lacks the tragic wisdom1--,i have sought
  in vain for an indication thereof even
 among the great ,greeks of  philosophy1
 the thinkers of the two centuries      
before ,socrates4 ,a  doubt still       
possessed me as touching ,heraclitus1 in

 whose proximity  ,i in general begin to
 feel warmer and better than anywhere   
else4 ,the  affirmation of transiency   
and annihilation1 to wit the decisive   
factor in a ,dionysian philosophy1 the  
yea-saying to antithesis  and war1 to   
becoming1 with radical rejection even of
 the concept  'being1'--that ,i must    
directly acknowledge as1 of all thinking
  hitherto1 the nearest to my own4 ,the 
doctrine of 'eternal recurrence1'  that 
is1 of the unconditioned and infinitely 
repeated cycle of all  things--this     
doctrine of ,zarathustra's might after  
all have been  already taught by        
,heraclitus4 ,at any rate the portico#b 
which  inherited well-nigh all its      
fundamental conceptions from            
,heraclitus1  shows traces thereof4     
,illustration3 ,facsimile of ,nietzsches
 handwriting4        #d4      ,in this  
book speaks a prodigious hope4 ,in fine1
 ,i see no reason  whatever for taking  
back my hope of a ,dionysian future for 
music4 ,let  us cast a glance a century 

ahead1 let us suppose my assault upon   
two  millenniums of anti-nature and     
man-vilification succeeds6 ,that new    
party of life which will take in hand   
the greatest of all tasks1 the          
upbreeding of mankind to something      
higher1--add thereto the relentless     
annihilation of all things degenerating 
and parasitic1 will again make  possible
 on earth that too-much of life1 from   
which there also must  needs grow again 
the ,dionysian state4 ,i promise a      
tragic age3 the  highest art in the     
yea-saying to life1 tragedy1 will be    
born anew1 when  mankind have behind    
them the consciousness of the hardest   
but most  necessary wars1 without       
suffering therefrom4 ,a psychologist    
might  still add that what ,i heard in  
my younger years in ,wagnerian music had
  in general naught to do with ,wagner2 
that when ,i described ,wagnerian  music
 ,i described what ,i had heard1 that ,i
 had instinctively to  translate and    
transfigure all into the new spirit     

which ,i bore within  myself4444      #a
 ,mr4 ,common's translation1 pp4        
#bbg-bh4    #b ,greek3 4                
,,translator',s ,,note4      ,while the 
translator flatters himself that this   
version of ,nietzsche's  early          
work--having been submitted to          
unsparingly scrutinising eyes--is  not  
altogether unworthy of the original1 he 
begs to state that he  holds            
twentieth-century ,english to be a      
rather unsatisfactory vehicle  for      
philosophical thought4 ,accordingly1 in 
conjunction with his  friend ,dr4       
,ernest ,lacy1 he has prepared a second1
 more unconventional  translation1--in  
brief1 a translation which will enable  
one whose  knowledge of ,english extends
 to1 say1 the period of ,elizabeth1 to  
appreciate ,nietzsche in more forcible  
language1 because the language of  a    
stronger age4 ,it is proposed to provide
 this second translation with  an       
appendix1 containing many references to 
the translated writings of  ,wagner and 

,schopenhauer2 to the works of ,pater1  
,browning1 ,burckhardt1  ,rohde1 and    
others1 and a summmary and index4       
,for help in preparing the present      
translation1 the translator wishes  to  
express his thanks to his friends ,dr4  
,ernest ,lacy1 ,litt4,d42 ,dr4  ,james  
,waddell ,tupper1 ,ph4,d42 ,prof4 ,harry
 ,max ,ferren2 ,mr4 ,james ,m',kirdy1   
,pittsburg2 and ,mr4 ,thomas ,common1   
,edinburgh4                             
,,william ,,august ,,haussmann1 ,a4,b41 
,ph4,d4