,,the ,,genealogy ,,of ,,morals    ,a   
,,polemic    ,,by    ,,friedrich        
,,nietzsche    ,,translated ,,by        
,,horace ,b4 ,,samuel1 ,m4,a4           
,,peoples ,,and ,,countries 7,,fragment7
      ,t4 ,n4 ,,foulis    #ac  #ae      
,,frederick ,,street    ,,edinburgh3    
,,and ,,london    #aiac                 
,,editor',s ,,note4      ,in #ahhg1 with
 the view of amplifying and completing  
certain new  doctrines which he had     
merely sketched in ,beyond ,good and    
,evil  7see especially aphorism #bfj71  
,nietzsche published ,the ,genealogy of 
,morals4 ,this work is perhaps the least
 aphoristic1 in form1 of all            
,nietzsche's productions4 ,for          
analytical power1 more especially in    
those  parts where ,nietzsche examines  
the ascetic ideal1 ,the ,genealogy of   
,morals is unequalled by any other of   
his works2 and1 in the light  which it  
throws upon the attitude of the         
ecclesiast to the man of  resentment and
 misfortune1 it is one of the most      

valuable contributions  to sacerdotal   
psychology4          ,,contents4        
,,first ,,essay4 ,,good ,,and ,,evil1   
,,good ,,and ,,bad    ,,second ,,essay4 
,,guilt1 ,,bad ,,conscience1 ,,and ,,the
 ,,like    ,,third ,,essay4 ,,what ,,is 
,,the ,,meaning ,,of ,,ascetic ,,ideals8
    ,,peoples ,,and ,,countries4        
,translated by ,j4 ,m4 ,kennedy         
,,preface4      #a4    ,we are unknown1 
we knowers1 ourselves to ourselves3 this
 has its own  good reason4 ,we have     
never searched for ourselves--how should
 it then  come to pass1 that we should  
ever find ourselves8 ,rightly has it    
been  said3 ,where your treasure is1    
there will your heart be also4 ,our     
treasure is there1 where stand the hives
 of our knowledge4 ,it is to  those     
hives that we are always striving2 as   
born creatures of flight1  and as the   
honey-gatherers of the spirit1 we care  
really in our hearts  only for one      
thing--to bring something home to the   
hive6    ,as far as the rest of life    

with its so-called experiences is       
concerned1 which of us has even         
sufficient serious interest8 or         
sufficient time8 ,in our dealings with  
such points of life1 we are1 ,i  fear1  
never properly to the point2 to be      
precise1 our heart is not  there1 and   
certainly not our ear4 ,rather like one 
who1 delighting  in a divine            
distraction1 or sunken in the seas of   
his own soul1 in  whose ear the clock   
has just thundered with all its force   
its twelve  strokes of noon1 suddenly   
wakes up1 and asks himself1 ,what has in
  point of fact just struck8 so do we at
 times rub afterwards1 as it  were1 our 
puzzled ears1 and ask in complete       
astonishment and complete               
embarrassment1 ,through what have we in 
point of fact just lived8  further1 ,who
 are we in point of fact8 and count1    
after they have  struck1 as ,i have     
explained1 all the twelve throbbing     
beats of the  clock of our experience1  
of our life1 of our being--ah6--and     

count  wrong in the endeavour4 ,of      
necessity we remain strangers to        
ourselves1  we understand ourselves not1
 in ourselves we are bound to be        
mistaken1  for of us holds good to all  
eternity the motto1 ,each one is the    
farthest away from himself--as far as   
ourselves are concerned we are  not     
knowers4      #b4    ,my thoughts       
concerning the genealogy of our moral   
prejudices--for  they constitute the    
issue in this polemic--have their first1
 bald1  and provisional expression in   
that collection of aphorisms entitled   
,human1 all-too-,human1 a ,book for     
,free ,minds1 the writing of which  was 
begun in ,sorrento1 during a winter     
which allowed me to gaze over  the broad
 and dangerous territory through which  
my mind had up to that  time wandered4  
,this took place in the winter of       
#ahgf-gg2 the thoughts  themselves are  
older4 ,they were in their substance    
already the same  thoughts which ,i take
 up again in the following              

treatises3--we hope  that they have     
derived benefit from the long interval1 
that they have  grown riper1 clearer1   
stronger1 more complete4 ,the fact1     
however1  that ,i still cling to them   
even now1 that in the meanwhile they    
have  always held faster by each other1 
have1 in fact1 grown out of their       
original shape and into each other1 all 
this strengthens in my mind the  joyous 
confidence that they must have been     
originally neither separate             
disconnected capricious nor sporadic    
phenomena1 but have sprung from  a      
common root1 from a fundamental fiat of 
knowledge1 whose empire  reached to the 
soul's depth1 and that ever grew more   
definite in its  voice1 and more        
definite in its demands4 ,that is the   
only state of  affairs that is proper in
 the case of a philosopher4    ,we have 
no right to be disconnected2 we must    
neither err  disconnectedly nor strike  
the truth disconnectedly4 ,rather with  
the necessity with which a tree bears   

its fruit1 so do our thoughts1  our     
values1 our ,yes's and ,no's and ,if's  
and ,whether's1 grow connected  and     
interrelated1 mutual witnesses of one   
will1 one health1 one  kingdom1 one     
sun--as to whether they are to your     
taste1 these  fruits of ours8--,but what
 matters that to the trees8 ,what       
matters that  to us1 us the             
philosophers8      #c4    ,owing to a   
scrupulosity peculiar to myself1 which  
,i confess  reluctantly1--it concerns   
indeed morality1--a scrupulosity1 which 
manifests itself in my life at such an  
early period1 with so much  spontaneity1
 with so chronic a persistence and so   
keen an opposition  to environment1     
epoch1 precedent1 and ancestry that ,i  
should have  been almost entitled to    
style it my  priori--my curiosity and my
  suspicion felt themselves betimes     
bound to halt at the question1 of  what 
in point of actual fact was the origin  
of our ,good and of  our ,evil4 ,indeed1
 at the boyish age of thirteen the      

problem of the  origin of ,evil already 
haunted me3 at an age when games and    
,god divide  one's heart1 ,i devoted to 
that problem my first childish attempt  
at the literary game1 my first          
philosophic essay--and as regards my    
infantile solution of the problem1 well1
 ,i gave quite properly the  honour to  
,god1 and made him the father of evil4  
,did my own   priori demand that precise
 solution from me8 that new1 immoral1 or
  at least amoral  priori and that      
categorical imperative which  was its   
voice 7but oh6 how hostile to the       
,kantian article1 and how  pregnant with
 problems671 to which since then ,i have
 given more and  more attention1 and    
indeed what is more than attention4     
,fortunately  ,i soon learned to        
separate theological from moral         
prejudices1 and  ,i gave up looking for 
a supernatural origin of evil4 ,a       
certain  amount of historical and       
philological education1 to say nothing  
of  an innate faculty of psychological  

discrimination par excellence  succeeded
 in transforming almost immediately my  
original problem into  the following    
one3--,under what conditions did ,man   
invent for himself  those judgments of  
values1 ,good and ,evil8 ,and what      
intrinsic value  do they possess in     
themselves8 ,have they up to the present
 hindered  or advanced human well-being8
 ,are they a symptom of the distress1   
impoverishment1 and degeneration of     
,human ,life8 ,or1 conversely1 is  it in
 them that is manifested the fulness1   
the strength1 and the  will of ,life1   
its courage1 its self-confidence1 its   
future8 ,on this  point ,i found and    
hazarded in my mind the most diverse    
answers1 ,i  established distinctions in
 periods1 peoples1 and castes1 ,i became
 a  specialist in my problem1 and from  
my answers grew new questions1 new      
investigations1 new conjectures1 new    
probabilities2 until at last ,i had  a  
land of my own and a soil of my own1 a  
whole secret world growing and          

flowering1 like hidden gardens of whose 
existence no one could have an          
inkling--oh1 how happy are we1 we       
finders of knowledge1 provided that  we 
know how to keep silent sufficiently    
long4      #d4    ,my first impulse to  
publish some of my hypotheses concerning
 the origin  of morality ,i owe to a    
clear1 well-written1 and even precocious
 little  book1 in which a perverse and  
vicious kind of moral philosophy 7your  
real ,english kind7 was definitely      
presented to me for the first time2  and
 this attracted me--with that magnetic  
attraction1 inherent in that  which is  
diametrically opposed and antithetical  
to one's own ideas4  ,the title of the  
book was ,the ,origin of the ,moral     
,emotions2 its  author1 ,dr4 ,paul ,re2 
the year of its appearance1 #ahgg4 ,i   
may almost  say that ,i have never read 
anything in which every single dogma and
  conclusion has called forth from me so
 emphatic a negation as did that  book2 
albeit a negation tainted by either     

pique or intolerance4 ,i  referred      
accordingly both in season and out of   
season in the previous  works1 at which 
,i was then working1 to the arguments of
 that book1 not  to refute them--for    
what have ,i got to do with mere        
refutations but  substituting1 as is    
natural to a positive mind1 for an      
improbable  theory one which is more    
probable1 and occasionally no doubt1 for
 one  philosophic error1 another4 ,in   
that early period ,i gave1 as ,i have   
said1 the first public expression to    
those theories of origin to which  these
 essays are devoted1 but with a         
clumsiness which ,i was the last  to    
conceal from myself1 for ,i was as yet  
cramped1 being still without  a special 
language for these special subjects1    
still frequently liable  to relapse and 
to vacillation4 ,to go into details1    
compare what ,i say  in ,human1         
all-too-,human1 part i41 about the      
parallel early history  of ,good and    
,evil1 ,aph4 #de 7namely1 their origin  

from the castes of the  aristocrats and 
the slaves72 similarly1 ,aph4 #acf et   
seq41 concerning  the birth and value of
 ascetic morality2 similarly1 ,aphs4    
#if1 #ii1  vol4 ii41 ,aph4 #hi1         
concerning the ,morality of ,custom1    
that far older  and more original kind  
of morality which is toto clo different 
from the altruistic ethics 7in which    
,dr4 ,re1 like all the ,english  moral  
philosophers1 sees the ethical          
,thing-in-itself72 finally1  ,aph4 #ib4 
,similarly1 ,aph4 #bf in ,human1        
all-too-,human1 part ii41 and  ,aph4    
#aab1 the ,dawn of ,day1 concerning the 
origin of ,justice as a  balance between
 persons of approximately equal power   
7equilibrium as  the hypothesis of all  
contract1 consequently of all law72     
similarly1  concerning the origin of    
,punishment1 ,human1 all-too-,human1    
part  ii41 ,aphs4 #bb1 #bc1 in regard to
 which the deterrent object is neither  
essential nor original 7as ,dr4 ,re     
thinks3--rather is it that this  object 

is only imported1 under certain definite
 conditions1 and always  as something   
extra and additional74      #e4    ,in  
reality ,i had set my heart at that time
 on something much more  important than 
the nature of the theories of myself or 
others  concerning the origin of        
morality 7or1 more precisely1 the real  
function from my view of these theories 
was to point an end to which  they were 
one among many means74 ,the issue for me
 was the value  of morality1 and on that
 subject ,i had to place myself in a    
state  of abstraction1 in which ,i was  
almost alone with my great teacher      
,schopenhauer1 to whom that book1 with  
all its passion and inherent            
contradiction 7for that book also was a 
polemic71 turned for present  help as   
though he were still alive4 ,the issue  
was1 strangely enough1  the value of the
 un-egoistic instincts1 the instincts of
 pity1  self-denial1 and self-sacrifice 
which ,schopenhauer had so persistently 
painted in golden colours1 deified and  

etherealised1 that eventually  they     
appeared to him1 as it were1 high and   
dry1 as intrinsic values  in themselves1
 on the strength of which he uttered    
both to ,life  and to himself his own   
negation4 ,but against these very       
instincts  there voiced itself in my    
soul a more and more fundamental        
mistrust1 a  scepticism that dug ever   
deeper and deeper3 and in this very     
instinct  ,i saw the great danger of    
mankind1 its most sublime temptation and
  seduction--seduction to what8 to      
nothingness8--in these very instincts   
,i saw the beginning of the end1        
stability1 the exhaustion that gazes    
backwards1 the will turning against     
,life1 the last illness announcing      
itself with its own mincing melancholy3 
,i realised that the morality  of pity  
which spread wider and wider1 and whose 
grip infected even  philosophers with   
its disease1 was the most sinister      
symptom of our  modern ,european        
civilisation2 ,i realised that it was   

the route along  which that civilisation
 slid on its way to--a new ,buddhism8--a
 ,european  ,buddhism8--,nihilism8 ,this
 exaggerated estimation in which modern 
philosophers have held pity1 is quite a 
new phenomenon3 up to that time         
philosophers were absolutely unanimous  
as to the worthlessness of pity4  ,i    
need only mention ,plato1 ,spinoza1 ,la 
,rochefoucauld1 and ,kant--four  minds  
as mutually different as is possible1   
but united on one point2  their contempt
 of pity4      #f4    ,this problem of  
the value of pity and of the            
pity-morality 7,i am an  opponent of the
 modern infamous emasculation of our    
emotions7 seems at  the first blush a   
mere isolated problem1 a note of        
interrogation for  itself2 he1 however1 
who once halts at this problem1 and     
learns how to  put questions1 will      
experience what ,i experienced3--a new  
and immense  vista unfolds itself before
 him1 a sense of potentiality seizes him
  like a vertigo1 every species of      

doubt1 mistrust1 and fear springs  up1  
the belief in morality1 nay1 in all     
morality1 totters1--finally a  new      
demand voices itself4 ,let us speak out 
this new demand3 we need  a critique of 
moral values1 the value of these values 
is for the  first time to be called into
 question--and for this purpose a       
knowledge  is necessary of the          
conditions and circumstances out of     
which these  values grew1 and under     
which they experienced their evolution  
and  their distortion 7morality as a    
result1 as a symptom1 as a mask1 as     
,tartuffism1 as disease1 as a           
misunderstanding2 but also morality as a
  cause1 as a remedy1 as a stimulant1 as
 a fetter1 as a drug71 especially  as   
such a knowledge has neither existed up 
to the present time nor is  even now    
generally desired4 ,the value of these  
values was taken for  granted as an     
indisputable fact1 which was beyond all 
question4 ,no one  has1 up to the       
present1 exhibited the faintest doubt or

 hesitation in  judging the good man to 
be of a higher value than the evil man1 
of  a higher value with regard          
specifically to human progress1 utility1
  and prosperity generally1 not         
forgetting the future4 ,what8 ,suppose  
the  converse were the truth6 ,what8    
,suppose there lurked in the good man  a
 symptom of retrogression1 such as a    
danger1 a temptation1 a poison1  a      
narcotic1 by means of which the present 
battened on the future6  ,more          
comfortable and less risky perhaps than 
its opposite1 but also  pettier1 meaner6
 ,so that morality would really be      
saddled with the  guilt1 if the maximum 
potentiality of the power and splendour 
of the  human species were never to be  
attained8 ,so that really morality would
  be the danger of dangers8      #g4    
,enough1 that after this vista had      
disclosed itself to me1 ,i myself had   
reason to search for learned1 bold1 and 
industrious colleagues 7,i am  doing it 
even to this very day74 ,it means       

traversing with new clamorous           
questions1 and at the same time with new
 eyes1 the immense1 distant1  and       
completely unexplored land of           
morality--of a morality which has       
actually existed and been actually      
lived6 and is this not practically      
equivalent to first discovering that    
land8 ,if1 in this context1 ,i  thought1
 amongst others1 of the aforesaid ,dr4  
,re1 ,i did so because ,i  had no doubt 
that from the very nature of his        
questions he would be  compelled to have
 recourse to a truer method1 in order to
 obtain his  answers4 ,have ,i deceived 
myself on that score8 ,i wished at all  
events  to give a better direction of   
vision to an eye of such keenness1 and  
such impartiality4 ,i wished to direct  
him to the real history of  morality1   
and to warn him1 while there was yet    
time1 against a world  of ,english      
theories that culminated in the blue    
vacuum of heaven4  ,other colours1 of   
course1 rise immediately to one's mind  

as being a  hundred times more potent   
than blue for a genealogy of            
morals3--for  instance1 grey1 by which  
,i mean authentic facts capable of      
definite  proof and having actually     
existed1 or1 to put it shortly1 the     
whole  of that long hieroglyphic script 
7which is so hard to decipher7 about    
the past history of human morals4 ,this 
script was unknown to ,dr4 ,re2  but he 
had read ,darwin3--and so in his        
philosophy the ,darwinian beast  and    
that pink of modernity1 the demure      
weakling and dilettante1 who  bites no  
longer1 shake hands politely in a       
fashion that is at least  instructive1  
the latter exhibiting a certain facial  
expression of  refined and good-humoured
 indolence1 tinged with a touch of      
pessimism  and exhaustion2 as if it     
really did not pay to take all these    
things--,i  mean moral problems--so     
seriously4 ,i1 on the other hand1 think 
that  there are no subjects which pay   
better for being taken seriously2 part  

of this payment is1 that perhaps        
eventually they admit of being taken    
gaily4 ,this gaiety indeed1 or1 to use  
my own language1 this joyful  wisdom1 is
 a payment2 a payment for a protracted1 
brave1 laborious1 and  burrowing        
seriousness1 which1 it goes without     
saying1 is the attribute  of but a few4 
,but on that day on which we say from   
the fullness of our  hearts1 ,forward6  
our old morality too is fit material for
 ,comedy1  we shall have discovered a   
new plot1 and a new possibility for the 
,dionysian drama entitled ,the ,soul's  
,fate--and he will speedily utilise  it1
 one can wager safely1 he1 the great    
ancient eternal dramatist of  the comedy
 of our existence4      #h4    ,if this 
writing be obscure to any individual1   
and jar on his ears1 ,i  do not think   
that it is necessarily ,i who am to     
blame4 ,it is clear  enough1 on the     
hypothesis which ,i presuppose1 namely1 
that the reader  has first read my      
previous writings and has not grudged   

them a certain  amount of trouble3 it is
 not1 indeed1 a simple matter to get    
really at  their essence4 ,take1 for    
instance1 my ,zarathustra2 ,i allow no  
one  to pass muster as knowing that     
book1 unless every single word therein  
has at some time wrought in him a       
profound wound1 and at some time        
exercised on him a profound enchantment3
 then and not till then can he  enjoy   
the privilege of participating          
reverently in the halcyon element1  from
 which that work is born1 in its sunny  
brilliance1 its distance1  its          
spaciousness1 its certainty4 ,in other  
cases the aphoristic form  produces     
difficulty1 but this is only because    
this form is treated  too casually4 ,an 
aphorism properly coined and cast into  
its final  mould is far from being      
deciphered as soon as it has been read2 
on  the contrary1 it is then that it    
first requires to be expounded--of      
course for that purpose an art of       
exposition is necessary4 ,the third     

essay in this book provides an example  
of what is offered1 of what in  such    
cases ,i call exposition3 an aphorism is
 prefixed to that essay1  the essay     
itself is its commentary4 ,certainly one
 quality which  nowadays has been best  
forgotten--and that is why it will take 
some  time yet for my writings to become
 readable--is essential in order  to    
practise reading as an art--a quality   
for the exercise of which it  is        
necessary to be a cow1 and under no     
circumstances a modern man6--           
rumination4    ,sils-,maria1 ,upper     
,engadine1 ,july #ahhg4          ,,first
 ,,essay4 ,,good ,,and ,,evil1 ,,good   
,,and ,,bad4      #a4    ,those ,english
 psychologists1 who up to the present   
are the only  philosophers who are to be
 thanked for any endeavour to get as far
  as a history of the origin of         
morality--these men1 ,i say1 offer us   
in their own personalities no paltry    
problem2--they even have1 if ,i  am to  
be quite frank about it1 in their       

capacity of living riddles1  an         
advantage over their books--they        
themselves are interesting6  ,these     
,english psychologists--what do they    
really mean8 ,we always  find them      
voluntarily or involuntarily at the same
 task of pushing  to the front the      
partie honteuse of our inner world1 and 
looking  for the efficient1 governing1  
and decisive principle in that precise  
quarter where the intellectual          
self-respect of the race would be  the  
most reluctant to find it 7for example1 
in the vis inerti of  habit1 or in      
forgetfulness1 or in a blind and        
fortuitous mechanism  and association of
 ideas1 or in some factor that is purely
 passive1  reflex1 molecular1 or        
fundamentally stupid7--what is the real 
motive  power which always impels these 
psychologists in precisely this         
direction8 ,is it an instinct for human 
disparagement somewhat sinister1        
vulgar1 and malignant1 or perhaps       
incomprehensible even to itself8 or     

perhaps a touch of pessimistic jealousy1
 the mistrust of disillusioned          
idealists who have become gloomy1       
poisoned1 and bitter8 or a petty        
subconscious enmity and rancour against 
,christianity 7and ,plato71 that  has   
conceivably never crossed the threshold 
of consciousness8 or just a  vicious    
taste for those elements of life which  
are bizarre1 painfully  paradoxical1    
mystical1 and illogical8 or1 as a final 
alternative1 a  dash of each of these   
motives--a little vulgarity1 a little   
gloominess1  a little                   
anti-,christianity1 a little craving for
 the necessary piquancy8    ,but ,i am  
told that it is simply a case of old    
frigid and tedious frogs  crawling and  
hopping around men and inside men1 as if
 they were as  thoroughly at home there1
 as they would be in a swamp4    ,i am  
opposed to this statement1 nay1 ,i do   
not believe it2 and if1 in  the         
impossibility of knowledge1 one is      
permitted to wish1 so do ,i wish  from  

my heart that just the converse metaphor
 should apply1 and that  these analysts 
with their psychological microscopes    
should be1 at  bottom1 brave1 proud1 and
 magnanimous animals who know how to    
bridle  both their hearts and their     
smarts1 and have specifically trained   
themselves to sacrifice what is         
desirable to what is true1 any truth  in
 fact1 even the simple1 bitter1 ugly1   
repulsive1 unchristian1 and  immoral    
truths--for there are truths of that    
description4      #b4    ,all honour1   
then1 to the noble spirits who would    
fain dominate these  historians of      
morality4 ,but it is certainly a pity   
that they lack the  historical sense    
itself1 that they themselves are quite  
deserted  by all the beneficent spirits 
of history4 ,the whole train of their   
thought runs1 as was always the way of  
old-fashioned philosophers1 on          
thoroughly unhistorical lines3 there is 
no doubt on this point4 ,the  crass     
ineptitude of their genealogy of morals 

is immediately apparent  when the       
question arises of ascertaining the     
origin of the idea and  judgment of     
good4 ,man had originally1 so speaks    
their decree1  praised and called 'good'
 altruistic acts from the standpoint of 
those on whom they were conferred1 that 
is1 those to whom they were  useful2    
subsequently the origin of this praise  
was forgotten1 and  altruistic acts1    
simply because1 as a sheer matter of    
habit1 they were  praised as good1 came 
also to be felt as good--as though they 
contained  in themselves some intrinsic 
goodness4 ,the thing is obvious3--this  
initial derivation contains already all 
the typical and idiosyncratic  traits of
 the ,english psychologists--we have    
utility1 forgetting1  habit1 and finally
 error1 the whole assemblage forming the
 basis  of a system of values1 on which 
the higher man has up to the present    
prided himself as though it were a kind 
of privilege of man in general4  ,this  
pride must be brought low1 this system  

of values must lose its  values3 is that
 attained8    ,now the first argument   
that comes ready to my hand is that the 
real  homestead of the concept good is  
sought and located in the wrong  place3 
the judgment good did not originate     
among those to whom  goodness was shown4
 ,much rather has it been the good      
themselves1  that is1 the aristocratic1 
the powerful1 the high-stationed1 the   
high-minded1 who have felt that they    
themselves were good1 and that  their   
actions were good1 that is to say of the
 first order1 in  contradistinction to  
all the low1 the low-minded1 the vulgar1
 and  the plebeian4 ,it was out of this 
pathos of distance that they first      
arrogated the right to create values for
 their own profit1 and to  coin the     
names of such values3 what had they to  
do with utility8 ,the  standpoint of    
utility is as alien and as inapplicable 
as it could  possibly be1 when we have  
to deal with so volcanic an             
effervescence of  supreme values1       

creating and demarcating as they do a   
hierarchy within  themselves3 it is at  
this juncture that one arrives at an    
appreciation  of the contrast to that   
tepid temperature1 which is the         
presupposition  on which every          
combination of worldly wisdom and every 
calculation of  practical expediency is 
always based--and not for one           
occasional1 not  for one exceptional    
instance1 but chronically4 ,the pathos  
of nobility  and distance1 as ,i have   
said1 the chronic and despotic esprit de
  corps and fundamental instinct of a   
higher dominant race coming into        
association with a meaner race1 an under
 race1 this is the origin of  the       
antithesis of good and bad4    7,the    
masters' right of giving names goes so  
far that it is permissible  to look upon
 language itself as the expression of   
the power of the  masters3 they say this
 is that1 and that1 they seal finally   
every  object and every event with a    
sound1 and thereby at the same time take

  possession of it47 ,it is because of  
this origin that the word good  is far  
from having any necessary connection    
with altruistic acts1 in  accordance    
with the superstitious belief of these  
moral philosophers4  ,on the contrary1  
it is on the occasion of the decay of   
aristocratic  values1 that the          
antitheses between egoistic and         
altruistic  presses more and more       
heavily on the human conscience--it is1 
to use  my own language1 the herd       
instinct which finds in this antithesis 
an  expression in many ways4 ,and even  
then it takes a considerable time  for  
this instinct to become sufficiently    
dominant1 for the valuation  to be      
inextricably dependent on this          
antithesis 7as is the case in           
contemporary ,europe72 for to-day that  
prejudice is predominant1 which1  acting
 even now with all the intensity of an  
obsession and brain  disease1 holds that
 moral1 altruistic1 and dsintress are   
concepts of equal value4      #c4    ,in

 the second place1 quite apart from the 
fact that this hypothesis as  to the    
genesis of the value good cannot be     
historically upheld1 it  suffers from an
 inherent psychological contradiction4  
,the utility of  altruistic conduct has 
presumably been the origin of its being 
praised1  and this origin has become    
forgotten3--,but in what conceivable way
 is  this forgetting possible6 ,has     
perchance the utility of such conduct   
ceased at some given moment8 ,the       
contrary is the case4 ,this utility has 
rather been experienced every day at all
 times1 and is consequently  a feature  
that obtains a new and regular emphasis 
with every fresh  day2 it follows that1 
so far from vanishing from the          
consciousness1 so  far indeed from being
 forgotten1 it must necessarily become  
impressed  on the consciousness with    
ever-increasing distinctness4 ,how much 
more logical is that contrary theory 7it
 is not the truer for that7  which is   
represented1 for instance1 by ,herbert  

,spencer1 who places  the concept good  
as essentially similar to the concept   
useful1  purposive1 so that in the      
judgments good and bad mankind is       
simply summarising and investing with a 
sanction its unforgotten and            
unforgettable experiences concerning the
 useful-purposive and the               
mischievous-non-purposive4 ,according to
 this theory1 good is the  attribute of 
that which has previously shown itself  
useful2 and so  is able to claim to be  
considered valuable in the highest      
degree1  valuable in itself4 ,this      
method of explanation is also1 as ,i    
have  said1 wrong1 but at any rate the  
explanation itself is coherent1 and     
psychologically tenable4      #d4       
,the guide-post which first put me on   
the right track was this  question--what
 is the true etymological significance  
of the various  symbols for the idea    
good which have been coined in the      
various  languages8 ,i then found that  
they all led back to the same evolution 

of the same idea--that everywhere       
aristocrat1 noble 7in the  social       
sense71 is the root idea1 out of which  
have necessarily  developed good in the 
sense of with aristocratic soul1 noble1 
in the sense of with a soul of high     
calibre1 with a privileged  soul--a     
development which invariably runs       
parallel with that other  evolution by  
which vulgar1 plebeian1 low1 are made to
 change  finally into bad4 ,the most    
eloquent proof of this last contention  
is the ,german word schlecht itself3    
this word is identical with             
schlicht--7compare schlechtweg and      
schlechterdings7--which1  originally and
 as yet without any sinister innuendo1  
simply denoted  the plebeian man in     
contrast to the aristocratic man4 ,it is
 at the  sufficiently late period of the
 ,thirty ,years' ,war that this sense   
becomes changed to the sense now        
current4 ,from the standpoint of  the   
,genealogy of ,morals this discovery    
seems to be substantial3 the  lateness  

of it is to be attributed to the        
retarding influence exercised  in the   
modern world by democratic prejudice in 
the sphere of all  questions of origin4 
,this extends1 as will shortly be shown1
 even to  the province of natural       
science and physiology1 which1 prima    
facie  is the most objective4 ,the      
extent of the mischief which is caused  
by  this prejudice 7once it is free of  
all trammels except those of its own    
malice71 particularly to ,ethics and    
,history1 is shown by the notorious     
case of ,buckle3 it was in ,buckle that 
that plebeianism of the modern  spirit1 
which is of ,english origin1 broke out  
once again from its  malignant soil with
 all the violence of a slimy volcano1   
and with that  salted1 rampant1 and     
vulgar eloquence with which up to the   
present time  all volcanoes have spoken4
      #e4    ,with regard to our        
problem1 which can justly be called an  
intimate  problem1 and which elects to  
appeal to only a limited number of ears3

  it is of no small interest to         
ascertain that in those words and roots 
which denote good we catch glimpses of  
that arch-trait1 on the  strength of    
which the aristocrats feel themselves to
 be beings of  a higher order than their
 fellows4 ,indeed1 they call themselves 
in  perhaps the most frequent instances 
simply after their superiority  in power
 7e4g4 the powerful1 the lords1 the     
commanders71 or  after the most obvious 
sign of their superiority1 as for       
example  the rich1 the possessors 7that 
is the meaning of arya2 and the         
,iranian and ,slav languages            
correspond74 ,but they also call        
themselves  after some characteristic   
idiosyncrasy2 and this is the case which
  now concerns us4 ,they name           
themselves1 for instance1 the truthful3 
this is first done by the ,greek        
nobility whose mouthpiece is found in   
,theognis1 the ,megarian poet4 ,the word
 1 which is coined for the  purpose1    
signifies etymologically one who is1 who

 has reality1 who  is real1 who is true2
 and then with a subjective twist1 the  
true1  as the truthful3 at this stage in
 the evolution of the idea1 it  becomes 
the motto and party cry of the nobility1
 and quite completes  the transition to 
the meaning noble1 so as to place       
outside the pale  the lying1 vulgar man1
 as ,theognis conceives and portrays    
him--till  finally the word after the   
decay of the nobility is left to        
delineate  psychological noblesse1 and  
becomes as it were ripe and mellow4 ,in 
the word  as in  7the plebeian in       
contrast to the 7  the cowardice is     
emphasised4 ,this affords perhaps an    
inkling on what  lines the etymological 
origin of the very ambiguous  is to be  
investigated4 ,in the ,latin malus      
7which ,i place side by side with  7 the
 vulgar man can be distinguished as the 
dark-coloured1 and  above all as the    
black-haired 7hic niger est71 as the    
pre-,aryan  inhabitants of the ,italian 
soil1 whose complexion formed the       

clearest  feature of distinction from   
the dominant blondes1 namely1 the ,aryan
  conquering race3--at any rate ,gaelic 
has afforded me the exact               
analogue--,fin 7for instance1 in the    
name ,fin-,gal71 the distinctive  word  
of the nobility1 finally--good1 noble1  
clean1 but originally the  blonde-haired
 man in contrast to the dark            
black-haired aboriginals4 ,the  ,celts1 
if ,i may make a parenthetic statement1 
were throughout a blonde  race2 and it  
is wrong to connect1 as ,virchow still  
connects1 those  traces of an           
essentially dark-haired population which
 are to be seen  on the more elaborate  
ethnographical maps of ,germany with any
 ,celtic  ancestry or with any admixture
 of ,celtic blood3 in this context it is
  rather the pre-,aryan population of   
,germany which surges up to these       
districts4 7,the same is true           
substantially of the whole of ,europe3  
in  point of fact1 the subject race has 
finally again obtained the upper  hand1 

in complexion and the shortness of the  
skull1 and perhaps in  the intellectual 
and social qualities4 ,who can guarantee
 that modern  democracy1 still more     
modern anarchy1 and indeed that tendency
 to the  ,commune1 the most primitive   
form of society1 which is now common to 
all the ,socialists in ,europe1 does not
 in its real essence signify a          
monstrous reversion--and that the       
conquering and master race--the  ,aryan 
race1 is not also becoming inferior     
physiologically87 ,i believe  that ,i   
can explain the ,latin bonus as the     
warrior3 my hypothesis  is that ,i am   
right in deriving bonus from an older   
duonus 7compare  bellum  duellum        
duen-lum1 in which the word duonus      
appears  to me to be contained74 ,bonus 
accordingly as the man of discord1 of   
variance1 entzweiung 7duo71 as the      
warrior3 one sees what in  ancient ,rome
 the good meant for a man4 ,must not our
 actual ,german  word gut mean the      
godlike1 the man of godlike race8 and be

  identical with the national name      
7originally the nobles' name7 of the    
,goths8    ,the grounds for this        
supposition do not appertain to this    
work4      #f4    ,above all1 there is  
no exception 7though there are          
opportunities for  exceptions7 to this  
rule1 that the idea of political        
superiority  always resolves itself into
 the idea of psychological superiority1 
in  those cases where the highest caste 
is at the same time the priestly  caste1
 and in accordance with its general     
characteristics confers on  itself the  
privilege of a title which alludes      
specifically to its  priestly function4 
,it is in these cases1 for instance1    
that clean and  unclean confront each   
other for the first time as badges of   
class  distinction2 here again there    
develops a good and a bad1 in a sense   
which has ceased to be merely social4   
,moreover1 care should be taken  not to 
take these ideas of clean and unclean   
too seriously1 too  broadly1 or too     

symbolically3 all the ideas of ancient  
man have1 on  the contrary1 got to be   
understood in their initial stages1 in a
 sense  which is1 to an almost          
inconceivable extent1 crude1 coarse1    
physical1  and narrow1 and above all    
essentially unsymbolical4 ,the clean man
 is  originally only a man who washes   
himself1 who abstains from certain      
foods which are conducive to skin       
diseases1 who does not sleep with  the  
unclean women of the lower classes1 who 
has a horror of blood--not  more1 not   
much more6 ,on the other hand1 the very 
nature of a priestly  aristocracy shows 
the reasons why just at such an early   
juncture  there should ensue a really   
dangerous sharpening and intensification
  of opposed values3 it is1 in fact1    
through these opposed values that  gulfs
 are cleft in the social plane1 which a 
veritable ,achilles of  free thought    
would shudder to cross4 ,there is from  
the outset a  certain diseased taint in 
such sacerdotal aristocracies1 and in   

the  habits which prevail in such       
societies--habits which1 averse as they 
are to action1 constitute a compound of 
introspection and explosive             
emotionalism1 as a result of which there
 appears that introspective  morbidity  
and neurasthenia1 which adheres almost  
inevitably to all  priests at all times3
 with regard1 however1 to the remedy    
which they  themselves have invented for
 this disease--the philosopher has no   
option but to state1 that it has proved 
itself in its effects a hundred  times  
more dangerous than the disease1 from   
which it should have been  the          
deliverer4 ,humanity itself is still    
diseased from the effects of  the navets
 of this priestly cure4 ,take1 for      
instance1 certain kinds  of diet        
7abstention from flesh71 fasts1 sexual  
continence1 flight  into the wilderness 
7a kind of ,weir-,mitchell isolation1   
though of  course without that system of
 excessive feeding and fattening which  
is the most efficient antidote to all   

the hysteria of the ascetic  ideal72    
consider too the whole metaphysic of the
 priests1 with its  war on the senses1  
its enervation1 its hair-splitting2     
consider its  self-hypnotism on the     
fakir and ,brahman principles 7it uses  
,brahman as  a glass disc and           
obsession71 and that climax which we can
 understand  only too well of an unusual
 satiety with its panacea of nothingness
  7or ,god3--the demand for a unio      
mystica with ,god is the demand of the  
,buddhist for nothingness1 ,nirvana--and
 nothing else674 ,in sacerdotal         
societies every element is on a more    
dangerous scale1 not merely  cures and  
remedies1 but also pride1 revenge1      
cunning1 exaltation1 love1  ambition1   
virtue1 morbidity3--further1 it can     
fairly be stated that it  is on the soil
 of this essentially dangerous form of  
human society1  the sacerdotal form1    
that man really becomes for the first   
time an  interesting animal1 that it is 
in this form that the soul of man has   

in a higher sense attained depths and   
become evil--and those are  the two     
fundamental forms of the superiority    
which up to the present  man has        
exhibited over every other animal4      
#g4    ,the reader will have already    
surmised with what ease the priestly    
mode  of valuation can branch off from  
the knightly aristocratic mode1 and     
then develop into the very antithesis of
 the latter3 special impetus  is given  
to this opposition1 by every occasion   
when the castes of the  priests and     
warriors confront each other with mutual
 jealousy and  cannot agree over the    
prize4 ,the knightly-aristocratic values
 are  based on a careful cult of the    
physical1 on a flowering1 rich1 and     
even effervescing healthiness1 that goes
 considerably beyond what  is necessary 
for maintaining life1 on war1 adventure1
 the chase1  the dance1 the tourney--on 
everything1 in fact1 which is contained 
in strong1 free1 and joyous action4 ,the
 priestly-aristocratic mode  of         

valuation is--we have seen--based on    
other hypotheses3 it is bad  enough for 
this class when it is a question of war6
 ,yet the priests  are1 as is notorious1
 the worst enemies--why8 ,because they  
are the  weakest4 ,their weakness causes
 their hate to expand into a monstrous  
and sinister shape1 a shape which is    
most crafty and most poisonous4  ,the   
really great haters in the history of   
the world have always been  priests1 who
 are also the cleverest haters--in      
comparison with the  cleverness of      
priestly revenge1 every other piece of  
cleverness is  practically negligible4  
,human history would be too fatuous for 
anything  were it not for the cleverness
 imported into it by the weak--take at  
once the most important instance4 ,all  
the world's efforts against the         
aristocrats1 the mighty1 the masters1   
the holders of power1  are negligible by
 comparison with what has been          
accomplished against  those classes by  
the ,jews--the ,jews1 that priestly     

nation which  eventually realised that  
the one method of effecting satisfaction
 on  its enemies and tyrants was by     
means of a radical transvaluation of    
values1 which was at the same time an   
act of the cleverest revenge4  ,yet the 
method was only appropriate to a nation 
of priests1 to a nation  of the most    
jealously nursed priestly               
revengefulness4 ,it was the ,jews  who1 
in opposition to the aristocratic       
equation 7good  aristocratic   beautiful
  happy  loved by the gods71 dared with 
a terrifying  logic to suggest the      
contrary equation1 and indeed to        
maintain with  the teeth of the most    
profound hatred 7the hatred of weakness7
 this  contrary equation1 namely1 the   
wretched are alone the good2 the poor1  
the weak1 the lowly1 are alone the good2
 the suffering1 the needy1 the  sick1   
the loathsome1 are the only ones who are
 pious1 the only ones  who are blessed1 
for them alone is salvation--but you1 on
 the other  hand1 you aristocrats1 you  

men of power1 you are to all eternity   
the  evil1 the horrible1 the covetous1  
the insatiate1 the godless2 eternally   
also shall you be the unblessed1 the    
cursed1 the damned6 ,we know who  it was
 who reaped the heritage of this ,jewish
 transvaluation4 ,in the  context of the
 monstrous and inordinately fateful     
initiative which  the ,jews have        
exhibited in connection with this most  
fundamental of  all declarations of war1
 ,i remember the passage which came to  
my pen  on another occasion 7,beyond    
,good and ,evil1 ,aph4 #aie7--that it   
was1  in fact1 with the ,jews that the  
revolt of the slaves begins in the      
sphere of morals2 that revolt which has 
behind it a history of two  millennia1  
and which at the present day has only   
moved out of our  sight1 because it--has
 achieved victory4      #h4    ,but you 
understand this not8 ,you have no eyes  
for a force which  has taken two        
thousand years to achieve               
victory8--,there is nothing  wonderful  

in this3 all lengthy processes are hard 
to see and to  realise4 ,but this is    
what took place3 from the trunk of that 
tree  of revenge and hate1 ,jewish      
hate1--that most profound and sublime   
hate1 which creates ideals and changes  
old values to new creations1  the like  
of which has never been on earth1--there
 grew a phenomenon  which was equally   
incomparable1 a new love1 the most      
profound and  sublime of all kinds of   
love2--and from what other trunk could  
it have  grown8 ,but beware of supposing
 that this love has soared on its upward
  growth1 as in any way a real negation 
of that thirst for revenge1 as  an      
antithesis to the ,jewish hate6 ,no1 the
 contrary is the truth6 ,this  love grew
 out of that hate1 as its crown1 as its 
triumphant crown1  circling wider and   
wider amid the clarity and fulness of   
the sun1 and  pursuing in the very      
kingdom of light and height its goal of 
hatred1  its victory1 its spoil1 its    
strategy1 with the same intensity with  

which the roots of that tree of hate    
sank into everything which was  deep and
 evil with increasing stability and     
increasing desire4 ,this  ,jesus of     
,nazareth1 the incarnate gospel of love1
 this ,redeemer  bringing salvation and 
victory to the poor1 the sick1 the      
sinful--was  he not really temptation in
 its most sinister and irresistible     
form1  temptation to take the tortuous  
path to those very ,jewish values and   
those very ,jewish ideals8 ,has not     
,israel really obtained the final goal  
of its sublime revenge1 by the tortuous 
paths of this ,redeemer1 for  all that  
he might pose as ,israel's adversary and
 ,israel's destroyer8 ,is  it not due to
 the black magic of a really great      
policy of revenge1  of a far-seeing1    
burrowing revenge1 both acting and      
calculating with  slowness1 that ,israel
 himself must repudiate before all the  
world the  actual instrument of his own 
revenge and nail it to the cross1 so    
that all the world--that is1 all the    

enemies of ,israel--could nibble        
without suspicion at this very bait8    
,could1 moreover1 any human mind  with  
all its elaborate ingenuity invent a    
bait that was more truly  dangerous8    
,anything that was even equivalent in   
the power of its  seductive1            
intoxicating1 defiling1 and corrupting  
influence to that  symbol of the holy   
cross1 to that awful paradox of a god on
 the  cross1 to that mystery of the     
unthinkable1 supreme1 and utter horror  
of the self-crucifixion of a god for the
 salvation of man8 ,it is  at least     
certain that sub hoc signo ,israel1 with
 its revenge and  transvaluation of all 
values1 has up to the present always    
triumphed  again over all other ideals1 
over all more aristocratic ideals4      
#i4    ,but why do you talk of nobler   
ideals8 ,let us submit to the facts2    
that the people have triumphed--or the  
slaves1 or the populace1 or the  herd1  
or whatever name you care to give       
them--if this has happened  through the 

,jews1 so be it6 ,in that case no nation
 ever had a greater  mission in the     
world's history4 ,the 'masters' have    
been done away  with2 the morality of   
the vulgar man has triumphed4 ,this     
triumph may  also be called a           
blood-poisoning 7it has mutually fused  
the races7--,i  do not dispute it2 but  
there is no doubt but that this         
intoxication  has succeeded4 ,the       
'redemption' of the human race 7that is1
 from the  masters7 is progressing      
swimmingly2 everything is obviously     
becoming  ,judaised1 or ,christianised1 
or vulgarised 7what is there in the     
words874 ,it seems impossible to stop   
the course of this poisoning  through   
the whole body politic of mankind--but  
its tempo and pace  may from the present
 time be slower1 more delicate1 quieter1
 more  discreet--there is time enough4  
,in view of this context has the ,church
  nowadays any necessary purpose8 has   
it1 in fact1 a right to live8 ,or  could
 man get on without it8 ,quritur4 ,it   

seems that it fetters and  retards this 
tendency1 instead of accelerating it4   
,well1 even that  might be its utility4 
,the ,church certainly is a crude and   
boorish  institution1 that is repugnant 
to an intelligence with any pretence at 
delicacy1 to a really modern taste4     
,should it not at any rate learn to  be 
somewhat more subtle8 ,it alienates     
nowadays1 more than it allures4  ,which 
of us would1 forsooth1 be a freethinker 
if there were no ,church8  ,it is the   
,church which repels us1 not its        
poison--apart from the ,church  we like 
the poison4 ,this is the epilogue of a  
freethinker to my  discourse1 of an     
honourable animal 7as he has given      
abundant proof71  and a democrat to     
boot2 he had up to that time listened to
 me1 and  could not endure my silence1  
but for me1 indeed1 with regard to this 
topic there is much on which to be      
silent4      #aj4    ,the revolt of the 
slaves in morals begins in the very     
principle of  resentment becoming       

creative and giving birth to values--a  
resentment  experienced by creatures    
who1 deprived as they are of the proper 
outlet  of action1 are forced to find   
their compensation in an imaginary      
revenge4 ,while every aristocratic      
morality springs from a triumphant      
affirmation of its own demands1 the     
slave morality says no from the  very   
outset to what is outside itself1       
different from itself1 and  not itself3 
and this no is its creative deed4 ,this 
volte-face of  the valuing              
standpoint--this inevitable gravitation 
to the objective  instead of back to the
 subjective--is typical of resentment3  
the  slave-morality requires as the     
condition of its existence an external  
and objective world1 to employ          
physiological terminology1 it requires  
objective stimuli to be capable of      
action at all--its action is            
fundamentally a reaction4 ,the contrary 
is the case when we come to  the        
aristocrat's system of values3 it acts  

and grows spontaneously1  it merely     
seeks its antithesis in order to        
pronounce a more grateful  and exultant 
yes to its own self2--its negative      
conception1 low1  vulgar1 bad1 is merely
 a pale late-born foil in comparison    
with its  positive and fundamental      
conception 7saturated as it is with life
 and  passion71 of we aristocrats1 we   
good ones1 we beautiful ones1 we happy  
ones4    ,when the aristocratic morality
 goes astray and commits sacrilege on   
reality1 this is limited to that        
particular sphere with which it  is not 
sufficiently acquainted--a sphere1 in   
fact1 from the real  knowledge of which 
it disdainfully defends itself4 ,it     
misjudges1 in  some cases1 the sphere   
which it despises1 the sphere of the    
common  vulgar man and the low people3  
on the other hand1 due weight should be 
given to the consideration that in any  
case the mood of contempt1 of  disdain1 
of superciliousness1 even on the        
supposition that it falsely  portrays   

the object of its contempt1 will always 
be far removed from  that degree of     
falsity which will always characterise  
the attacks--in  effigy1 of course--of  
the vindictive hatred and revengefulness
 of  the weak in onslaughts on their    
enemies4 ,in point of fact1 there is  in
 contempt too strong an admixture of    
nonchalance1 of casualness1  of boredom1
 of impatience1 even of personal        
exultation1 for it to be  capable of    
distorting its victim into a real       
caricature or a real  monstrosity4      
,attention again should be paid to the  
almost benevolent  nuances which1 for   
instance1 the ,greek nobility imports   
into all  the words by which it         
distinguishes the common people from    
itself2  note how continuously a kind of
 pity1 care1 and consideration imparts  
its honeyed flavour1 until at last      
almost all the words which are  applied 
to the vulgar man survive finally as    
expressions for unhappy1  worthy of pity
 7compare 1 1 1 2 the  latter two names 

really denoting the vulgar man as       
labour-slave  and beast of burden7--and 
how1 conversely1 bad1 low1 unhappy  have
 never ceased to ring in the ,greek ear 
with a tone in which  unhappy is the    
predominant note3 this is a heritage of 
the old noble  aristocratic morality1   
which remains true to itself even in    
contempt  7let philologists remember the
 sense in which 1 1 1  1  used to be    
employed74 ,the well-born simply  felt  
themselves the happy2 they did not have 
to manufacture their  happiness         
artificially through looking at their   
enemies1 or in cases  to talk and lie   
themselves into happiness 7as is the    
custom with all  resentful men72 and    
similarly1 complete men as they were1   
exuberant  with strength1 and           
consequently necessarily energetic1 they
 were too  wise to dissociate happiness 
from action--activity becomes in their  
minds necessarily counted as happiness  
7that is the etymology of   7--all in   
sharp contrast to the happiness of the  

weak and  the oppressed1 with their     
festering venom and malignity1 among    
whom  happiness appears essentially as a
 narcotic1 a deadening1 a quietude1  a  
peace1 a ,sabbath1 an enervation of the 
mind and relaxation  of the limbs1--in  
short1 a purely passive phenomenon4     
,while the  aristocratic man lived in   
confidence and openness with himself    
7gennaios1 noble-born1 emphasises the   
nuance sincere1 and perhaps  also naf71 
the resentful man1 on the other hand1 is
 neither sincere  nor naf1 nor honest   
and candid with himself4 ,his soul      
squints2 his  mind loves hidden         
crannies1 tortuous paths and back-doors1
 everything  secret appeals to him as   
his world1 his safety1 his balm2 he is  
past master in silence1 in not          
forgetting1 in waiting1 in provisional  
self-depreciation and self-abasement4 ,a
 race of such resentful men  will of    
necessity eventually prove more prudent 
than any aristocratic  race1 it will    
honour prudence on quite a distinct     

scale1 as1 in fact1 a  paramount        
condition of existence1 while prudence  
among aristocratic men  is apt to be    
tinged with a delicate flavour of luxury
 and refinement2  so among them it plays
 nothing like so integral a part as that
 complete  certainty of function of the 
governing unconscious instincts1 or  as 
indeed a certain lack of prudence1 such 
as a vehement and valiant  charge1      
whether against danger or the enemy1 or 
as those ecstatic  bursts of rage1 love1
 reverence1 gratitude1 by which at all  
times  noble souls have recognised each 
other4 ,when the resentment of the      
aristocratic man manifests itself1 it   
fulfils and exhausts itself in  an      
immediate reaction1 and consequently    
instills no venom3 on the  other hand1  
it never manifests itself at all in     
countless instances1  when in the case  
of the feeble and weak it would be      
inevitable4 ,an  inability to take      
seriously for any length of time their  
enemies1  their disasters1 their        

misdeeds--that is the sign of the full  
strong  natures who possess a           
superfluity of moulding plastic force1  
that  heals completely and produces     
forgetfulness3 a good example of this in
  the modern world is ,mirabeau1 who had
 no memory for any insults and          
meannesses which were practised on him1 
and who was only incapable  of forgiving
 because he forgot4 ,such a man indeed  
shakes off with a  shrug many a worm    
which would have buried itself in       
another2 it is  only in characters like 
these that we see the possibility       
7supposing1  of course1 that there is   
such a possibility in the world7 of the 
real  love of one's enemies4 ,what      
respect for his enemies is found1       
forsooth1 in an aristocratic man--and   
such a reverence is already  a bridge to
 love6 ,he insists on having his enemy  
to himself as his  distinction4 ,he     
tolerates no other enemy but a man in   
whose character  there is nothing to    
despise and much to honour6 ,on the     

other hand1  imagine the enemy as the   
resentful man conceives him--and it is  
here  exactly that we see his work1 his 
creativeness2 he has conceived the  evil
 enemy1 the evil one1 and indeed that is
 the root idea from  which he now       
evolves as a contrasting and            
corresponding figure a good  one1       
himself--his very self6      #aa    ,the
 method of this man is quite contrary to
 that of the aristocratic  man1 who     
conceives the root idea good            
spontaneously and straight  away1 that  
is to say1 out of himself1 and from that
 material then  creates for himself a   
concept of bad6 ,this bad of            
aristocratic  origin and that evil out  
of the cauldron of unsatisfied          
hatred--the  former an imitation1 an    
extra1 an additional nuance2 the latter1
  on the other hand1 the original1 the  
beginning1 the essential act in  the    
conception of a slave-morality--these   
two words bad and evil1  how great a    
difference do they mark1 in spite of the

 fact that they  have an identical      
contrary in the idea good4 ,but the idea
 good is  not the same3 much rather let 
the question be asked1 ,who is really   
evil according to the meaning of the    
morality of resentment8 ,in  all        
sternness let it be answered thus3--just
 the good man of the  other morality1   
just the aristocrat1 the powerful one1  
the one who  rules1 but who is distorted
 by the venomous eye of resentfulness1  
into a new colour1 a new signification1 
a new appearance4 ,this  particular     
point we would be the last to deny3 the 
man who learnt to  know those good ones 
only as enemies1 learnt at the same time
 not  to know them only as evil enemies 
and the same men who inter  pares were  
kept so rigorously in bounds through    
convention1 respect1  custom1 and       
gratitude1 though much more through     
mutual vigilance  and jealousy inter    
pares1 these men who in their relations 
with  each other find so many new ways  
of manifesting consideration1           

self-control1 delicacy1 loyalty1 pride1 
and friendship1 these men  are in       
reference to what is outside their      
circle 7where the foreign  element1 a   
foreign country1 begins71 not much      
better than beasts  of prey1 which have 
been let loose4 ,they enjoy there       
freedom from  all social control1 they  
feel that in the wilderness they can    
give  vent with impunity to that tension
 which is produced by enclosure and     
imprisonment in the peace of society1   
they revert to the innocence  of the    
beast-of-prey conscience1 like jubilant 
monsters1 who perhaps  come from a      
ghastly bout of murder1 arson1 rape1 and
 torture1 with  bravado and a moral     
equanimity1 as though merely some wild  
student's  prank had been played1       
perfectly convinced that the poets have 
now an  ample theme to sing and         
celebrate4 ,it is impossible not to     
recognise  at the core of all these     
aristocratic races the beast of prey2   
the  magnificent blonde brute1 avidly   

rampant for spoil and victory2  this    
hidden core needed an outlet from time  
to time1 the beast must  get loose      
again1 must return into the             
wilderness--the ,roman1 ,arabic1        
,german1 and ,japanese nobility1 the    
,homeric heroes1 the ,scandinavian      
,vikings1 are all alike in this need4   
,it is the aristocratic races who  have 
left the idea ,barbarian on all the     
tracks in which they have  marched2 nay1
 a consciousness of this very           
barbarianism1 and even  a pride in it1  
manifests itself even in their highest  
civilisation  7for example1 when        
,pericles says to his ,athenians in that
 celebrated  funeral oration1 ,our      
audacity has forced a way over every    
land and  sea1 rearing everywhere       
imperishable memorials of itself for    
good  and for evil74 ,this audacity of  
aristocratic races1 mad1 absurd1  and   
spasmodic as may be its expression2 the 
incalculable and fantastic  nature of   
their enterprises1,pericles sets in     

special relief and  glory the  of the   
,athenians1 their nonchalance and       
contempt for  safety1 body1 life1 and   
comfort1 their awful joy and intense    
delight  in all destruction1 in all the 
ecstasies of victory and cruelty1--all  
these features become crystallised1 for 
those who suffered thereby  in the      
picture of the barbarian1 of the evil   
enemy1 perhaps of  the ,goth and of the 
,vandal4 ,the profound1 icy mistrust    
which  the ,german provokes1 as soon as 
he arrives at power1--even at the       
present time1--is always still an       
aftermath of that inextinguishable      
horror with which for whole centuries   
,europe has regarded the wrath  of the  
blonde ,teuton beast 7although between  
the old ,germans and  ourselves there   
exists scarcely a psychological1 let    
alone a physical1  relationship74 ,i    
have once called attention to the       
embarrassment of  ,hesiod1 when he      
conceived the series of social ages1 and
 endeavoured  to express them in gold1  

silver1 and bronze4 ,he could only      
dispose  of the contradiction1 with     
which he was confronted1 by the ,homeric
  world1 an age magnificent indeed1 but 
at the same time so awful and  so       
violent1 by making two ages out of one1 
which he henceforth placed  one behind  
each other--first1 the age of the heroes
 and demigods1 as  that world had       
remained in the memories of the         
aristocratic families1  who found       
therein their own ancestors2 secondly1  
the bronze age1 as  that corresponding  
age appeared to the descendants of the  
oppressed1  spoiled1 ill-treated1       
exiled1 enslaved2 namely1 as an age of  
bronze1  as ,i have said1 hard1 cold1   
terrible1 without feelings and without  
conscience1 crushing everything1 and    
bespattering everything with  blood4    
,granted the truth of the theory now    
believed to be true1 that  the very     
essence of all civilisation is to train 
out of man1 the  beast of prey1 a tame  
and civilised animal1 a domesticated    

animal1  it follows indubitably that we 
must regard as the real tools of        
civilisation all those instincts of     
reaction and resentment1 by the  help of
 which the aristocratic races1 together 
with their ideals1  were finally        
degraded and overpowered2 though that   
has not yet come  to be synonymous with 
saying that the bearers of those tools  
also  represented the civilisation4 ,it 
is rather the contrary that is  not only
 probable--nay1 it is palpable to-day2  
these bearers of  vindictive instincts  
that have to be bottled up1 these       
descendants of  all ,european and       
non-,european slavery1 especially of the
 pre-,aryan  population--these people1  
,i say1 represent the decline of        
humanity6  ,these tools of civilisation 
are a disgrace to humanity1 and         
constitute in reality more of an        
argument against civilisation1 more  of 
a reason why civilisation should be     
suspected4 ,one may be perfectly        
justified in being always afraid of the 

blonde beast that lies at  the core of  
all aristocratic races1 and in being on 
one's guard3 but  who would not a       
hundred times prefer to be afraid1 when 
one at the  same time admires1 than to  
be immune from fear1 at the cost of     
being  perpetually obsessed with the    
loathsome spectacle of the distorted1   
the  dwarfed1 the stunted1 the          
envenomed8 ,and is that not our fate8   
,what  produces to-day our repulsion    
towards man8--for we suffer from  man1  
there is no doubt about it4 ,it is not  
fear2 it is rather that  we have nothing
 more to fear from men2 it is that the  
worm man is in  the foreground and      
pullulates2 it is that the tame man1 the
 wretched  mediocre and unedifying      
creature1 has learnt to consider himself
 a goal  and a pinnacle1 an inner       
meaning1 an historic principle1 a higher
  man2 yes1 it is that he has a certain 
right so to consider himself1  in so far
 as he feels that in contrast to that   
excess of deformity1  disease1          

exhaustion1 and effeteness whose odour  
is beginning to pollute  present-day    
,europe1 he at any rate has achieved a  
relative success1 he  at any rate still 
says yes to life4      #ab4    ,i cannot
 refrain at this juncture from uttering 
a sigh and one last  hope4 ,what is it  
precisely which ,i find intolerable8    
,that which ,i alone  cannot get rid of1
 which makes me choke and faint8 ,bad   
air6 bad air6  ,that something          
misbegotten comes near me2 that ,i must 
inhale the odour  of the entrails of a  
misbegotten soul6--,that excepted1 what 
can one  not endure in the way of need1 
privation1 bad weather1 sickness1 toil1 
solitude8 ,in point of fact1 one manages
 to get over everything1 born  as one is
 to a burrowing and battling existence2 
one always returns  once again to the   
light1 one always lives again one's     
golden hour of  victory--and then one   
stands as one was born1 unbreakable1    
tense1 ready  for something more        
difficult1 for something more distant1  

like a bow  stretched but the tauter by 
every strain4 ,but from time to time do 
ye  grant me--assuming that beyond good 
and evil there are goddesses who  can   
grant--one glimpse1 grant me but one    
glimpse only1 of something  perfect1    
fully realised1 happy1 mighty1          
triumphant1 of something  that still    
gives cause for fear6 ,a glimpse of a   
man that justifies  the existence of    
man1 a glimpse of an incarnate human    
happiness that  realises and redeems1   
for the sake of which one may hold fast 
to the  belief in man6 ,for the position
 is this3 in the dwarfing and levelling 
of the ,european man lurks our greatest 
peril1 for it is this outlook  which    
fatigues--we see to-day nothing which   
wishes to be greater1 we  surmise that  
the process is always still backwards1  
still backwards  towards something more 
attenuated1 more inoffensive1 more      
cunning1  more comfortable1 more        
mediocre1 more indifferent1 more        
,chinese1 more  ,christian--man1 there  

is no doubt about it1 grows always      
better  --the destiny of ,europe lies   
even in this--that in losing the fear of
  man1 we have also lost the hope in    
man1 yea1 the will to be man4 ,the      
sight of man now fatigues4--,what is    
present-day ,nihilism if it is not      
that8--,we are tired of man4      #ac4  
,but let us come back to it2 the problem
 of another origin of the  good--of the 
good1 as the resentful man has thought  
it out--demands  its solution4 ,it is   
not surprising that the lambs should    
bear a grudge  against the great birds  
of prey1 but that is no reason for      
blaming the  great birds of prey for    
taking the little lambs4 ,and when the  
lambs  say among themselves1 ,these     
birds of prey are evil1 and he who is as
  far removed from being a bird of prey1
 who is rather its opposite1  a         
lamb1--is he not good8 then there is    
nothing to cavil at in the  setting up  
of this ideal1 though it may also be    
that the birds of prey  will regard it a

 little sneeringly1 and perchance say to
 themselves1  ,we bear no grudge against
 them1 these good lambs1 we even like   
them3  nothing is tastier than a tender 
lamb4 ,to require of strength that it   
should not express itself as strength1  
that it should not be a wish to         
overpower1 a wish to overthrow1 a wish  
to become master1 a thirst for  enemies 
and antagonisms and triumphs1 is just as
 absurd as to require  of weakness that 
it should express itself as strength4 ,a
 quantum of  force is just such a       
quantum of movement1 will1              
action--rather it  is nothing else than 
just those very phenomena of moving1    
willing1  acting1 and can only appear   
otherwise in the misleading errors of   
language 7and the fundamental fallacies 
of reason which have become  petrified  
therein71 which understands1 and        
understands wrongly1 all  working as    
conditioned by a worker1 by a subject4  
,and just exactly  as the people        
separate the lightning from its flash1  

and interpret the  latter as a thing    
done1 as the working of a subject which 
is called  lightning1 so also does the  
popular morality separate strength from 
the  expression of strength1 as though  
behind the strong man there existed     
some indifferent neutral substratum1    
which enjoyed a caprice and  option as  
to whether or not it should express     
strength4 ,but there  is no such        
substratum1 there is no being behind    
doing1 working1  becoming2 the doer is a
 mere appanage to the action4 ,the      
action is  everything4 ,in point of     
fact1 the people duplicate the doing1   
when they  make the lightning lighten1  
that is a doing-doing3 they make the    
same  phenomenon first a cause1 and     
then1 secondly1 the effect of that      
cause4  ,the scientists fail to improve 
matters when they say1 ,force moves1    
force causes1 and so on4 ,our whole     
science is still1 in spite of all  its  
coldness1 of all its freedom from       
passion1 a dupe of the tricks of        

language1 and has never succeeded in    
getting rid of that superstitious       
changeling the subject 7the atom1 to    
give another instance1 is such  a       
changeling1 just as the ,kantian        
,thing-in-itself74 ,what wonder1  if the
 suppressed and stealthily simmering    
passions of revenge and  hatred exploit 
for their own advantage this belief1 and
 indeed hold no  belief with a more     
steadfast enthusiasm than this--that the
 strong  has the option of being weak1  
and the bird of prey of being a lamb4   
,thereby do they win for themselves the 
right of attributing to the  birds of   
prey the responsibility for being birds 
of prey3 when the  oppressed1           
down-trodden1 and overpowered say to    
themselves with the  vindictive guile of
 weakness1 ,let us be otherwise than the
 evil1  namely1 good6 and good is every 
one who does not oppress1 who hurts  no 
one1 who does not attack1 who does not  
pay back1 who hands over  revenge to    
,god1 who holds himself1 as we do1 in   

hiding2 who goes out  of the way of     
evil1 and demands1 in short1 little from
 life2 like  ourselves the patient1 the 
meek1 the just1--yet all this1 in its   
cold  and unprejudiced interpretation1  
means nothing more than once for  all1  
the weak are weak2 it is good to do     
nothing for which we are not  strong    
enough2 but this dismal state of        
affairs1 this prudence of the  lowest   
order1 which even insects possess 7which
 in a great danger are  fain to sham    
death so as to avoid doing too much71   
has1 thanks to  the counterfeiting and  
self-deception of weakness1 come to     
masquerade  in the pomp of an ascetic1  
mute1 and expectant virtue1 just as     
though  the very weakness of the        
weak--that is1 forsooth1 its being1 its 
working1 its whole unique inevitable    
inseparable reality--were a  voluntary  
result1 something wished1 chosen1 a     
deed1 an act of merit4  ,this kind of   
man finds the belief in a neutral1      
free-choosing subject  necessary from an

 instinct of self-preservation1 of      
self-assertion1  in which every lie is  
fain to sanctify itself4 ,the subject   
7or1 to  use popular language1 the soul7
 has perhaps proved itself the best     
dogma in the world simply because it    
rendered possible to the horde  of      
mortal1 weak1 and oppressed individuals 
of every kind1 that most  sublime       
specimen of self-deception1 the         
interpretation of weakness as  freedom1 
of being this1 or being that1 as merit4 
#ad4    ,will any one look a little     
into--right into--the mystery of how    
ideals  are manufactured in this world8 
,who has the courage to do it8 ,come6   
,here we have a vista opened into these 
grimy workshops4 ,wait just a  moment1  
dear ,mr4 ,inquisitive and ,foolhardy2  
your eye must first grow  accustomed to 
this false changing light--,yes6        
,enough6 ,now speak6 ,what  is happening
 below down yonder8 ,speak out that what
 you see1 man of the  most dangerous    
curiosity--for now ,i am the listener4  

,i see nothing1 ,i hear the more4 ,it is
 a cautious1 spiteful1 gentle           
whispering and muttering together in all
 the corners and crannies4 ,it  seems to
 me that they are lying2 a sugary       
softness adheres to every  sound4       
,weakness is turned to merit1 there is  
no doubt about it--it is  just as you   
say4    ,further6    ,and the impotence 
which requites not1 is turned to        
'goodness1' craven  baseness to         
meekness1 submission to those whom one  
hates1 to obedience  7namely1 obedience 
to one of whom they say that he ordered 
this  submission--they call him ,god74  
,the inoffensive character of the weak1 
the very cowardice in which he is rich1 
his standing at the door1 his  forced   
necessity of waiting1 gain here fine    
names1 such as 'patience1'  which is    
also called 'virtue'2 not being able to 
avenge one's self1 is  called not       
wishing to avenge one's self1 perhaps   
even forgiveness 7for  they know not    
what they do--we alone know what they   

do74 ,they also  talk of the 'love of   
their enemies' and sweat thereby4       
,further6    ,they are miserable1 there 
is no doubt about it1 all these         
whisperers  and counterfeiters in the   
corners1 although they try to get warm  
by  crouching close to each other1 but  
they tell me that their misery is  a    
favour and distinction given to them by 
,god1 just as one beats the  dogs one   
likes best2 that perhaps this misery is 
also a preparation1 a  probation1 a     
training2 that perhaps it is still more 
something which  will one day be        
compensated and paid back with a        
tremendous interest in  gold1 nay in    
happiness4 ,this they call              
',blessedness4'    ,further6    ,they   
are now giving me to understand1 that   
not only are they better  men than the  
mighty1 the lords of the earth1 whose   
spittle they have  got to lick 7not out 
of fear1 not at all out of fear6 ,but   
because  ,god ordains that one should   
honour all authority7--not only are they

  better men1 but that they also have a 
'better time1' at any rate1  will one   
day have a 'better time4' ,but enough6  
,enough6 ,i can endure  it no longer4   
,bad air6 ,bad air6 ,these workshops    
where ideals are  manufactured--verily  
they reek with the crassest lies4       
,nay4 ,just one minute6 ,you are saying 
nothing about the masterpieces  of these
 virtuosos of black magic1 who can      
produce whiteness1 milk1  and innocence 
out of any black you like3 have you not 
noticed what a  pitch of refinement is  
attained by their chef d'uvre1 their    
most  audacious1 subtle1 ingenious1 and 
lying artist-trick8 ,take care6 ,these  
cellar-beasts1 full of revenge and      
hate--what do they make1 forsooth1  out 
of their revenge and hate8 ,do you hear 
these words8 ,would you  suspect1 if you
 trusted only their words1 that you are 
among men of  resentment and nothing    
else8    ,i understand1 ,i prick my ears
 up again 7ah6 ah6 ah6 and ,i hold my   
nose74 ,now do ,i hear for the first    

time that which they have said so       
often3 ',we good1 we are the            
righteous'--what they demand they call  
not revenge but 'the triumph of         
righteousness'2 what they hate is  not  
their enemy1 no1 they hate              
'unrighteousness1' 'godlessness'2 what  
they believe in and hope is not the hope
 of revenge1 the intoxication  of sweet 
revenge 7--sweeter than honey1 did      
,homer call it871 but the  victory of   
,god1 of the righteous ,god over the    
'godless'2 what is  left for them to    
love in this world is not their brothers
 in hate1  but their 'brothers in love1'
 as they say1 all the good and righteous
  on the earth4    ,and how do they name
 that which serves them as a solace     
against all  the troubles of life--their
 phantasmagoria of their anticipated    
future  blessedness8    ,how8 ,do ,i    
hear right8 ,they call it 'the last     
judgment1' the advent of  their kingdom1
 'the kingdom of ,god'--but in the      
meanwhile they live  'in faith1' 'in    

love1' 'in hope4'    ,enough6 ,enough6  
#ae4    ,in the faith in what8 ,in the  
love for what8 ,in the hope of what8    
,these  weaklings6--they also1 forsooth1
 wish to be the strong some time2 there 
is no doubt about it1 some time their   
kingdom also must come--the  kingdom of 
,god is their name for it1 as has been  
mentioned3 they are  so meek in         
everything6 ,yet in order to experience 
that kingdom it  is necessary to live   
long1 to live beyond death1--yes1       
eternal life  is necessary so that one  
can make up for ever for that earthly   
life  in faith1 in love1 in hope4 ,make 
up for what8 ,make up by what8  ,dante1 
as it seems to me1 made a crass mistake 
when with awe-inspiring  ingenuity he   
placed that inscription over the gate of
 his hell1 ,me too  made eternal love3  
at any rate the following inscription   
would have  a much better right to stand
 over the gate of the ,christian        
,paradise  and its eternal              
blessedness--,me too made eternal       

hate--granted  of course that a truth   
may rightly stand over the gate to a    
lie6 ,for  what is the blessedness of   
that ,paradise8 ,possibly we could      
quickly  surmise it2 but it is better   
that it should be explicitly attested by
  an authority who in such matters is   
not to be disparaged1 ,thomas of        
,aquinas1 the great teacher and saint4  
,beati in regno celesti says  he1 as    
gently as a lamb1 videbunt pnas         
damnatorum1 ut beatitudo  illis magis   
complaceat4 ,or if we wish to hear a    
stronger tone1 a word  from the mouth of
 a triumphant father of the ,church1 who
 warned his  disciples against the cruel
 ecstasies of the public                
spectacles--,but  why8 ,faith offers us 
much more1--says he1 de ,spectac41 c4   
#bi  ss41--something much stronger2     
thanks to the redemption1 joys of quite 
another kind stand at our disposal2     
instead of athletes we have our         
martyrs2 we wish for blood1 well1 we    
have the blood of ,christ--but  what    

then awaits us on the day of his return1
 of his triumph4 ,and  then does he     
proceed1 does this enraptured visionary3
 at enim  supersunt alia spectacula1    
ille ultimas et perpetuus judicii dies1 
ille  nationibus insperatus1 ille       
derisus1 cum tanta sculi vetustas et tot
  ejus nativitates uno igne haurientur4 
,qu tunc spectaculi latitudo6  ,quid    
admirer6 quid rideam6 ,ubigaudeam6 ,ubi 
exultem1 spectans tot et  tantos reges1 
qui in clum recepti nuntiabantur1 cum   
ipso ,jove et ipsis  suis testibus in   
imis tenebris congemescentes6 ,item     
prsides 7the  provincial governors7     
persecutores dominici nominis svioribus 
quam  ipsi flammis svierunt             
insultantibus contra ,christianos       
liquescentes6  ,quos prterea sapientes  
illos philosophos coram discipulis suis 
una  conflagrantibus erubescentes1      
quibus nihil ad deum pertinere          
suadebant1  quibus animas aut nullas aut
 non in pristina corpora redituras      
affirmabant6 ,etiam poetas non ad       

,rhadamanti nec ad ,minois1 sed ad      
inopinati ,christi tribunal palpitantes6
 ,tunc magis tragdi audiendi1  magis    
scilicet vocales 7with louder tones and 
more violent shrieks7  in sua propria   
calamitate2 tunc histriones cognoscendi1
 solutiores  multo per ignem2 tunc      
spectandus auriga in flammea rota totus 
rubens1  tunc xystici contemplandi non  
in gymnasiis1 sed in igne jaculati1 nisi
  quod ne tunc quidem illos velim vivos1
 ut qui malim ad eos potius  conspectum 
insatiabilem conferre1 qui in dominum   
scevierunt4 ,hic est  ille1 dicam fabri 
aut qustuari filius 7as is shown by the 
whole of  the following1 and in         
particular by this well-known           
description of the  mother of ,jesus    
from the ,talmud1 ,tertullian is        
henceforth referring to  the ,jews71    
sabbati destructor1 ,samarites et       
dmonium habens4 ,hic est  quem a ,juda  
redemistis1 hic est ille arundine et    
colaphis diverberatus1  sputamentis de  
decoratus1 felle et acete potatus4 ,hic 

est1 quem  clam discentes subripuerunt1 
ut resurrexisse dicatur vel hortulanus  
detraxit1 ne lactuc su frequentia       
commeantium laderentur4 ,ut talia       
species1 ut talibus exultes1 quis tibi  
prtor aut consul aut sacerdos  de sua   
liberalitate prastabit8 ,et tamen hc jam
 habemus quodammodo per  fidem spiritu  
imaginante reprsentata4 ,ceterum qualia 
illa sunt1 qu  nec oculus vidit nec     
auris audivit nec in cor hominis        
ascenderunt8 7,i  ,cor4 ii4 #i47 ,credo 
circo et utraque cavea 7first and fourth
 row1  or1 according to others1 the     
comic and the tragic stage7 et omni     
studio gratiora4 ,per fidem3 so stands  
it written4      #af4    ,let us come to
 a conclusion4 ,the two opposing values1
 good and bad1  good and evil1 have     
fought a dreadful1 thousand-year fight  
in the  world1 and though indubitably   
the second value has been for a long    
time  in the preponderance1 there are   
not wanting places where the fortune  of
 the fight is still undecisive4 ,it can 

almost be said that in the  meanwhile   
the fight reaches a higher and higher   
level1 and that in the  meanwhile it has
 become more and more intense1 and      
always more and more  psychological2 so 
that nowadays there is perhaps no more  
decisive mark  of the higher nature1 of 
the more psychological nature1 than to  
be in  that sense self-contradictory1   
and to be actually still a battleground 
for those two opposites4 ,the symbol of 
this fight1 written in a writing  which 
has remained worthy of perusal          
throughout the course of history  up to 
the present time1 is called ,rome       
against ,juda1 ,juda against  ,rome4    
,hitherto there has been no greater     
event than that fight1  the putting of  
that question1 that deadly antagonism4  
,rome found  in the ,jew the incarnation
 of the unnatural1 as though it were its
  diametrically opposed monstrosity1 and
 in ,rome the ,jew was held to  be      
convicted of hatred of the whole human  
race3 and rightly so1 in  so far as it  

is right to link the well-being and the 
future of the  human race to the        
unconditional mastery of the            
aristocratic values1 of  the ,roman     
values4 ,what1 conversely1 did the ,jews
 feel against ,rome8  ,one can surmise  
it from a thousand symptoms1 but it is  
sufficient to  carry one's mind back to 
the ,johannian ,apocalypse1 that most   
obscene  of all the written outbursts1  
which has revenge on its conscience4    
7,one should also appraise at its full  
value the profound logic of the         
,christian instinct1 when over this very
 book of hate it wrote the name  of the 
,disciple of ,love1 that self-same      
disciple to whom it attributed  that    
impassioned and ecstatic                
,gospel--therein lurks a portion of     
truth1 however much literary forging may
 have been necessary for  this purpose47
 ,the ,romans were the strong and       
aristocratic2 a nation  stronger and    
more aristocratic has never existed in  
the world1 has  never even been dreamed 

of2 every relic of them1 every          
inscription  enraptures1 granted that   
one can divine what it is that writes   
the  inscription4 ,the ,jews1           
conversely1 were that priestly nation of
  resentment par excellence1 possessed  
by a unique genius for popular  morals3 
just compare with the ,jews the nations 
with analogous gifts1  such as the      
,chinese or the ,germans1 so as to      
realise afterwards what is  first rate1 
and what is fifth rate4    ,which of    
them has been provisionally victorious1 
,rome or ,juda8 but  there is not a     
shadow of doubt2 just consider to whom  
in ,rome itself  nowadays you bow down1 
as though before the quintessence of all
 the  highest values--and not only in   
,rome1 but almost over half the world1  
everywhere where man has been tamed or  
is about to be tamed--to three  ,jews1  
as we know1 and one ,jewess 7to ,jesus  
of ,nazareth1 to ,peter  the fisher1 to 
,paul the tent-maker1 and to the mother 
of the aforesaid  ,jesus1 named ,mary74 

,this is very remarkable3 ,rome is      
undoubtedly  defeated4 ,at any rate     
there took place in the ,renaissance a  
brilliantly  sinister revival of the    
classical ideal1 of the aristocratic    
valuation  of all things3 ,rome herself1
 like a man waking up from a trance1    
stirred beneath the burden of the new   
,judaised ,rome that had been built     
over her1 which presented the appearance
 of an cumenical synagogue  and was     
called the ,church3 but immediately     
,juda triumphed again1  thanks to that  
fundamentally popular 7,german and      
,english7 movement  of revenge1 which is
 called the ,reformation1 and taking    
also into  account its inevitable       
corollary1 the restoration of the       
,church--the  restoration also of the   
ancient graveyard peace of classical    
,rome4  ,juda proved yet once more      
victorious over the classical ideal in  
the  ,french ,revolution1 and in a sense
 which was even more crucial and even   
more profound3 the last political       

aristocracy that existed in ,europe1    
that of the ,french seventeenth and     
eighteenth centuries1 broke into  pieces
 beneath the instincts of a resentful   
populace--never had the  world heard a  
greater jubilation1 a more uproarious   
enthusiasm3 indeed1  there took place in
 the midst of it the most monstrous and 
unexpected  phenomenon2 the ancient     
ideal itself swept before the eyes and  
conscience of humanity with all its life
 and with unheard-of splendour1  and in 
opposition to resentment's lying war-cry
 of the prerogative  of the most1 in    
opposition to the will to lowliness1    
abasement1 and  equalisation1 the will  
to a retrogression and twilight of      
humanity1  there rang out once again1   
stronger1 simpler1 more penetrating than
  ever1 the terrible and enchanting     
counter-warcry of the prerogative of    
the few6 ,like a final signpost to other
 ways1 there appeared ,napoleon1  the   
most unique and violent anachronism that
 ever existed1 and in him  the incarnate

 problem of the aristocratic ideal in   
itself--consider  well what a problem it
 is3--,napoleon1 that synthesis of      
,monster and  ,superman4      #ag4      
,was it therewith over8 ,was that       
greatest of all antitheses of ideals    
thereby relegated ad acta for all time8 
,or only postponed1 postponed  for a    
long time8 ,may there not take place at 
some time or other a  much more awful1  
much more carefully prepared flaring up 
of the old  conflagration8 ,further6    
,should not one wish that consummation  
with  all one's strength8--will it one's
 self8 demand it one's self8 ,he who  at
 this juncture begins1 like my readers1 
to reflect1 to think further1  will have
 difficulty in coming quickly to a      
conclusion1--ground enough  for me to   
come myself to a conclusion1 taking it  
for granted that for  some time past    
what ,i mean has been sufficiently      
clear1 what ,i exactly  mean by that    
dangerous motto which is inscribed on   
the body of my  last book3 ,beyond ,good

 and ,evil--at any rate that is not the 
same as  ,beyond ,good and ,bad4        
,note4--,i avail myself of the          
opportunity offered by this treatise to 
express1 openly and formally1 a wish    
which up to the present has only  been  
expressed in occasional conversations   
with scholars1 namely1  that some       
,faculty of philosophy should1 by means 
of a series of prize  essays1 gain the  
glory of having promoted the further    
study of the  history of morals--perhaps
 this book may serve to give forcible   
impetus in such a direction4 ,with      
regard to a possibility of this         
character1 the following question       
deserves consideration4 ,it merits      
quite as much the attention of          
philologists and historians as of actual
  professional philosophers4    ,what   
indication of the history of the        
evolution of the moral ideas is         
afforded by philology1 and especially by
 etymological investigation8    ,on the 
other hand1 it is of course equally     

necessary to induce  physiologists and  
doctors to be interested in these       
problems 7of the  value of the          
valuations which have prevailed up to   
the present73 in  this connection the   
professional philosophers may be trusted
 to act  as the spokesmen and           
intermediaries in these particular      
instances1  after1 of course1 they have 
quite succeeded in transforming the     
relationship between philosophy and     
physiology and medicine1 which  is      
originally one of coldness and          
suspicion1 into the most friendly  and  
fruitful reciprocity4 ,in point of fact1
 all tables of values1  all the thou    
shalts known to history and ethnology1  
need primarily  a physiological1 at any 
rate in preference to a psychological1  
elucidation and interpretation2 all     
equally require a critique from  medical
 science4 ,the question1 ,what is the   
value of this or that  table of 'values'
 and morality8 will be asked from the   
most varied  standpoints4 ,for instance1

 the question of valuable for what can  
never be analysed with sufficient       
nicety4 ,that1 for instance1 which      
would evidently have value with regard  
to promoting in a race the  greatest    
possible powers of endurance 7or with   
regard to increasing its  adaptability  
to a specific climate1 or with regard to
 the preservation  of the greatest      
number7 would have nothing like the same
 value1 if it  were a question of       
evolving a stronger species4 ,in gauging
 values1  the good of the majority and  
the good of the minority are opposed    
standpoints3 we leave it to the navet of
 ,english biologists to regard  the     
former standpoint as intrinsically      
superior4 ,all the sciences  have now to
 pave the way for the future task of the
 philosopher2 this  task being          
understood to mean1 that he must solve  
the problem of  value1 that he has to   
fix the hierarchy of values4            
,,second ,,essay4 ,,guilt1 ,,bad        
,,conscience1 ,,and ,,the ,,like4       

#a4    ,the breeding of an animal that  
can promise--is not this just that  very
 paradox of a task which nature has set 
itself in regard to man8 ,is  not this  
the very problem of man8 ,the fact that 
this problem has been  to a great extent
 solved1 must appear all the more       
phenomenal to one  who can estimate at  
its full value that force of            
forgetfulness which  works in opposition
 to it4 ,forgetfulness is no mere vis   
inerti1  as the superficial believe1    
rather is it a power of obstruction1    
active and1 in the strictest sense of   
the word1 positive--a power  responsible
 for the fact that what we have lived1  
experienced1 taken  into ourselves1 no  
more enters into consciousness during   
the process  of digestion 7it might be  
called psychic absorption7 than all the 
whole manifold process by which our     
physical nutrition1 the so-called       
incorporation1 is carried on4 ,the      
temporary shutting of the doors  and    
windows of consciousness1 the relief    

from the clamant alarums and            
excursions1 with which our subconscious 
world of servant organs works  in mutual
 co-operation and antagonism2 a little  
quietude1 a little  tabula rasa of the  
consciousness1 so as to make room again 
for the  new1 and above all for the more
 noble functions and functionaries1 room
  for government1 foresight1            
predetermination 7for our organism is on
 an  oligarchic model7--this is the     
utility1 as ,i have said1 of the active 
forgetfulness1 which is a very sentinel 
and nurse of psychic order1  repose1    
etiquette2 and this shows at once why it
 is that there can  exist no happiness1 
no gladness1 no hope1 no pride1 no real 
present1  without forgetfulness4 ,the   
man in whom this preventative apparatus 
is  damaged and discarded1 is to be     
compared to a dyspeptic1 and it is      
something more than a comparison--he can
 get rid of nothing4 ,but  this very    
animal who finds it necessary to be     
forgetful1 in whom1 in  fact1           

forgetfulness represents a force and a  
form of robust health1  has reared for  
himself an opposition-power1 a memory1  
with whose help  forgetfulness is1 in   
certain instances1 kept in check--in the
 cases1  namely1 where promises have to 
be made2--so that it is by no means  a  
mere passive inability to get rid of a  
once indented impression1  not merely   
the indigestion occasioned by a once    
pledged word1 which  one cannot dispose 
of1 but an active refusal to get rid of 
it1 a  continuing and a wish to continue
 what has once been willed1 an actual   
memory of the will2 so that between the 
original ,i will1 ,i shall  do1 and the 
actual discharge of the will1 its act1  
we can easily  interpose a world of new 
strange phenomena1 circumstances1       
veritable  volitions1 without the       
snapping of this long chain of the will4
 ,but  what is the underlying hypothesis
 of all this8 ,how thoroughly1 in order 
to be able to regulate the future in    
this way1 must man have first  learnt to

 distinguish between necessitated and   
accidental phenomena1 to  think         
causally1 to see the distant as present 
and to anticipate it1 to  fix with      
certainty what is the end1 and what is  
the means to that end2  above all1 to   
reckon1 to have power to calculate--how 
thoroughly must  man have first become  
calculable1 disciplined1 necessitated   
even for  himself and his own conception
 of himself1 that1 like a man entering  
into a promise1 he could guarantee      
himself as a future4      #b4    ,this  
is simply the long history of the origin
 of responsibility4  ,that task of      
breeding an animal which can make       
promises1 includes1 as  we have already 
grasped1 as its condition and           
preliminary1 the more  immediate task of
 first making man to a certain extent1  
necessitated1  uniform1 like among his  
like1 regular1 and consequently         
calculable4 ,the  immense work of what  
,i have called1 morality of custom#a    
7cp4 ,dawn  of ,day1 ,aphs4 #i1 #ad1 and

 #af71 the actual work of man on himself
 during  the longest period of the human
 race1 his whole prehistoric work1      
finds its meaning1 its great            
justification 7in spite of all its      
innate  hardness1 despotism1 stupidity1 
and idiocy7 in this fact3 man1 with  the
 help of the morality of customs and of 
social strait-waistcoats1  was made     
genuinely calculable4 ,if1 however1 we  
place ourselves at  the end of this     
colossal process1 at the point where the
 tree finally  matures its fruits1 when 
society and its morality of custom      
finally  bring to light that to which it
 was only the means1 then do we find as 
the ripest fruit on its tree the        
sovereign individual1 that resembles    
only himself1 that has got loose from   
the morality of custom1 the  autonomous 
super-moral individual 7for autonomous  
and moral are  mutually-exclusive       
terms71--in short1 the man of the       
personal1 long1  and independent will1  
competent to promise1 and we find in him

 a  proud consciousness 7vibrating in   
every fibre71 of what has been at  last 
achieved and become vivified in him1 a  
genuine consciousness of  power and     
freedom1 a feeling of human perfection  
in general4 ,and this  man who has grown
 to freedom1 who is really competent to 
promise1  this lord of the free will1   
this sovereign--how is it possible for  
him not to know how great is his        
superiority over everything incapable   
of binding itself by promises1 or of    
being its own security1 how great  is   
the trust1 the awe1 the reverence that  
he awakes--he deserves  all three--not  
to know that with this mastery over     
himself he is  necessarily also given   
the mastery over circumstances1 over    
nature1  over all creatures with shorter
 wills1 less reliable characters8  ,the 
free man1 the owner of a long           
unbreakable will1 finds in this         
possession his standard of value3       
looking out from himself upon  the      
others1 he honours or he despises1 and  

just as necessarily as he  honours his  
peers1 the strong and the reliable      
7those who can bind  themselves by      
promises71--that is1 every one who      
promises like a  sovereign1 with        
difficulty1 rarely and slowly1 who is   
sparing with his  trusts but confers    
honour by the very fact of trusting1 who
 gives  his word as something that can  
be relied on1 because he knows himself  
strong enough to keep it even in the    
teeth of disasters1 even in the  teeth  
of fate1--so with equal necessity will  
he have the heel of his  foot ready for 
the lean and empty jackasses1 who       
promise when they have  no business to  
do so1 and his rod of chastisement ready
 for the liar1  who already breaks his  
word at the very minute when it is on   
his lips4  ,the proud knowledge of the  
extraordinary privilege of              
responsibility1  the consciousness of   
this rare freedom1 of this power over   
himself and  over fate1 has sunk right  
down to his innermost depths1 and has   

become  an instinct1 a dominating       
instinct--what name will he give to it1 
to  this dominating instinct1 if he     
needs to have a word for it8 ,but there 
is no doubt about it--the sovereign man 
calls it his conscience4      #c4       
,his conscience8--,one apprehends at    
once that the idea conscience1  which is
 here seen in its supreme manifestation1
 supreme in fact to  almost the point of
 strangeness1 should already have behind
 it a long  history and evolution4 ,the 
ability to guarantee one's self with all
  due pride1 and also at the same time  
to say yes to one's self--that  is1 as  
has been said1 a ripe fruit1 but also a 
late fruit3--,how long  must needs this 
fruit hang sour and bitter on the tree6 
,and for an even  longer period there   
was not a glimpse of such a fruit to to 
be had--no  one had taken it on himself 
to promise it1 although everything on   
the  tree was quite ready for it1 and   
everything was maturing for that very   
consummation4 ,how is a memory to be    

made for the man-animal8 ,how is an     
impression to be so deeply fixed upon   
this ephemeral understanding1  half     
dense1 and half silly1 upon this        
incarnate forgetfulness1 that  it will  
be permanently present8 ,as one may     
imagine1 this primeval  problem was not 
solved by exactly gentle answers and    
gentle means2  perhaps there is nothing 
more awful and more sinister in the     
early  history of man than his system of
 mnemonics4 ,something is burnt in  so  
as to remain in his memory3 only that   
which never stops hurting  remains in   
his memory4 ,this is an axiom of the    
oldest 7unfortunately  also the longest7
 psychology in the world4 ,it might even
 be said that  wherever solemnity1      
seriousness1 mystery1 and gloomy colours
 are now  found in the life of the men  
and of nations of the world1 there is   
some  survival of that horror which was 
once the universal concomitant of  all  
promises1 pledges1 and obligations4 ,the
 past1 the past with all  its length1   

depth1 and hardness1 wafts to us its    
breath1 and bubbles  up in us again1    
when we become serious4 ,when man thinks
 it necessary  to make for himself a    
memory1 he never accomplishes it without
 blood1  tortures1 and sacrifice2 the   
most dreadful sacrifices and forfeitures
  7among them the sacrifice of the      
first-born71 the most loathsome         
mutilation 7for instance1 castration71  
the most cruel rituals of all  the      
religious cults 7for all religions are  
really at bottom systems  of            
cruelty7--all these things originate    
from that instinct which  found in pain 
its most potent mnemonic4 ,in a certain 
sense the whole  of asceticism is to be 
ascribed to this3 certain ideas have got
 to  be made inextinguishable1          
omnipresent1 fixed1 with the object of  
hypnotising the whole nervous and       
intellectual system through these  fixed
 ideas--and the ascetic methods and     
modes of life are the means  of freeing 
those ideas from the competition of all 

other ideas so as to  make them         
unforgettable4 ,the worse memory man    
had1 the ghastlier the  signs presented 
by his customs2 the severity of the     
penal laws affords  in particular a     
gauge of the extent of man's difficulty 
in conquering  forgetfulness1 and in    
keeping a few primal postulates of      
social  intercourse ever present to the 
minds of those who were the slaves  of  
every momentary emotion and every       
momentary desire4 ,we ,germans do       
certainly not regard ourselves as an    
especially cruel and hard-hearted       
nation1 still less as an especially     
casual and happy-go-lucky one2  but one 
has only to look at our old penal       
ordinances in order to  realise what a  
lot of trouble it takes in the world to 
evolve a  nation of thinkers 7,i mean3  
the ,european nation which exhibits at  
this very day the maximum of            
reliability1 seriousness1 bad taste1 and
  positiveness1 which has on the        
strength of these qualities a right to  

train every kind of ,european mandarin74
 ,these ,germans employed terrible      
means to make for themselves a memory1  
to enable them to master their  rooted  
plebeian instincts and the brutal       
crudity of those instincts3  think of   
the old ,german punishments1 for        
instance1 stoning 7as far back  as the  
legend1 the millstone falls on the head 
of the guilty man71  breaking on the    
wheel 7the most original invention and  
speciality of  the ,german genius in the
 sphere of punishment71 dart-throwing1  
tearing1  or trampling by horses        
7quartering71 boiling the criminal in   
oil or  wine 7still prevalent in the    
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries71 the
  highly popular flaying 7slicing into  
strips71 cutting the flesh out  of the  
breast2 think also of the evil-doer     
being besmeared with honey1  and then   
exposed to the flies in a blazing sun4  
,it was by the help of  such images and 
precedents that man eventually kept in  
his memory five  or six ,i will nots    

with regard to which he had already     
given his  promise1 so as to be able to 
enjoy the advantages of society--and    
verily with the help of this kind of    
memory man eventually attained  reason6 
,alas6 reason1 seriousness1 mastery over
 the emotions1 all  these gloomy1 dismal
 things which are called reflection1 all
 these  privileges and pageantries of   
humanity3 how dear is the price that    
they  have exacted6 ,how much blood and 
cruelty is the foundation of all good   
things6      #d4    ,but how is it that 
that other melancholy object1 the       
consciousness of  sin1 the whole bad    
conscience1 came into the world8 ,and it
 is here  that we turn back to our      
genealogists of morals4 ,for the second 
time  ,i say--or have ,i not said it    
yet8--that they are worth nothing4 ,just
  their own five-spans-long limited     
modern experience2 no knowledge of  the 
past1 and no wish to know it2 still less
 a historic instinct1 a  power of second
 sight 7which is what is really required

 in this  case7--and despite this to go 
in for the history of morals4 ,it stands
  to reason that this must needs produce
 results which are removed from  the    
truth by something more than a          
respectful distance4    ,have these     
current genealogists of morals ever     
allowed themselves to  have even the    
vaguest notion1 for instance1 that the  
cardinal moral  idea of ought#b         
originates from the very material idea  
of owe8 ,or  that punishment developed  
as a retaliation absolutely             
independently  of any preliminary       
hypothesis of the freedom or            
determination of the  will8--,and this  
to such an extent1 that a high degree of
 civilisation  was always first         
necessary for the animal man to begin to
 make those  much more primitive        
distinctions of intentional1 negligent1 
accidental1 responsible1 and their      
contraries1 and apply them  in the      
assessing of punishment4 ,that idea--the
 wrong-doer deserves  punishment because

 he might have acted otherwise1 in spite
 of the  fact that it is nowadays so    
cheap1 obvious1 natural1 and inevitable1
  and that it has had to serve as an    
illustration of the way in which  the   
sentiment of justice appeared on earth1 
is in point of fact  an exceedingly     
late1 and even refined form of human    
judgment and  inference2 the placing of 
this idea back at the beginning of the  
world  is simply a clumsy violation of  
the principles of primitive psychology4 
,throughout the longest period of human 
history punishment was never  based on  
the responsibility of the evil-doer for 
his action1 and was  consequently not   
based on the hypothesis that only the   
guilty should  be punished2--on the     
contrary1 punishment was inflicted in   
those days  for the same reason that    
parents punish their children even      
nowadays1  out of anger at an injury    
that they have suffered1 an anger which 
vents  itself mechanically on the author
 of the injury--but this anger is kept  

in bounds and modified through the idea 
that every injury has somewhere  or     
other its equivalent price1 and can     
really be paid off1 even  though it be  
by means of pain to the author4 ,whence 
is it that this  ancient deep-rooted and
 now perhaps ineradicable idea has drawn
 its  strength1 this idea of an         
equivalency between injury and pain8 ,i 
have  already revealed its origin1 in   
the contractual relationship between    
creditor and ower1 that is as old as the
 existence of legal rights  at all1 and 
in its turn points back to the primary  
forms of purchase1  sale1 barter1 and   
trade4      #e4    ,the realisation of  
these contractual relations excites1 of 
course 7as  would be already expected   
from our previous observations71 a great
  deal of suspicion and opposition      
towards the primitive society which     
made or sanctioned them4 ,in this       
society promises will be made2 in  this 
society the object is to provide the    
promiser with a memory2  in this        

society1 so may we suspect1 there will  
be full scope for  hardness1 cruelty1   
and pain3 the ower1 in order to induce  
credit  in his promise of repayment1 in 
order to give a guarantee of the        
earnestness and sanctity of his promise1
 in order to drill into his  own        
conscience the duty1 the solemn duty1 of
 repayment1 will1 by  virtue of a       
contract with his creditor to meet the  
contingency of  his not paying1 pledge  
something that he still possesses1      
something  that he still has in his     
power1 for instance1 his life or his    
wife1  or his freedom or his body 7or   
under certain religious conditions  even
 his salvation1 his soul's welfare1 even
 his peace in the grave2  so in ,egypt1 
where the corpse of the ower found even 
in the grave no  rest from the          
creditor--of course1 from the ,egyptian 
standpoint1 this  peace was a matter of 
particular importance74 ,but especially 
has the  creditor the power of          
inflicting on the body of the ower all  

kinds of  pain and torture--the power1  
for instance1 of cutting off from it an 
amount that appeared proportionate to   
the greatness of the debt2--this  point 
of view resulted in the universal       
prevalence at an early date of  precise 
schemes of valuation1 frequently        
horrible in the minuteness  and         
meticulosity of their application1      
legally sanctioned schemes of  valuation
 for individual limbs and parts of the  
body4 ,i consider it as  already a      
progress1 as a proof of a freer1 less   
petty1 and more ,roman  conception of   
law1 when the ,roman ,code of the       
,twelve ,tables decreed  that it was    
immaterial how much or how little the   
creditors in such a  contingency cut    
off1 si plus minusve secuerunt1 ne      
fraude esto4 ,let  us make the logic of 
the whole of this equalisation process  
clear2 it  is strange enough4 ,the      
equivalence consists in this3 instead of
 an  advantage directly compensatory of 
his injury 7that is1 instead of an      

equalisation in money1 lands1 or some   
kind of chattel71 the creditor  is      
granted by way of repayment and         
compensation a certain sensation  of    
satisfaction--the satisfaction of being 
able to vent1 without any  trouble1 his 
power on one who is powerless1 the      
delight de faire le  mal pour le plaisir
 de le faire1 the joy in sheer violence3
 and this  joy will be relished in      
proportion to the lowness and humbleness
 of  the creditor in the social scale1  
and is quite apt to have the effect  of 
the most delicious dainty1 and even seem
 the foretaste of a higher  social      
position4 ,thanks to the punishment of  
the ower1 the creditor  participates in 
the rights of the masters4 ,at last he  
too1 for once in  a way1 attains the    
edifying consciousness of being able to 
despise and  ill-treat a creature--as an
 inferior--or at any rate of seeing him 
being despised and ill-treated1 in case 
the actual power of punishment1  the    
administration of punishment1 has       

already become transferred to the       
authorities4 ,the compensation          
consequently consists in a claim on     
cruelty and a right to draw thereon4    
#f4    ,it is then in this sphere of the
 law of contract that we find the       
cradle of the whole moral world of the  
ideas of guilt1 conscience1  duty1 the  
sacredness of duty1--their commencement1
 like the  commencement of all great    
things in the world1 is thoroughly and  
continuously saturated with blood4 ,and 
should we not add that this  world has  
never really lost a certain savour of   
blood and torture 7not  even in old     
,kant2 the categorical imperative reeks 
of cruelty74 ,it was  in this sphere    
likewise that there first became formed 
that sinister  and perhaps now          
indissoluble association of the ideas of
 guilt and  suffering4 ,to put the      
question yet again1 why can suffering be
 a  compensation for owing8--,because   
the infliction of suffering  produces   
the highest degree of happiness1 because

 the injured party  will get in exchange
 for his loss 7including his vexation at
 his loss7  an extraordinary            
counter-pleasure3 the infliction of     
suffering--a  real feast1 something     
that1 as ,i have said1 was all the more 
appreciated the greater the paradox     
created by the rank and social  status  
of the creditor4 ,these observations are
 purely conjectural2 for1  apart from   
the painful nature of the task1 it is   
hard to plumb such  profound depths3 the
 clumsy introduction of the idea of     
revenge as a  connecting-link simply    
hides and obscures the view instead of  
rendering  it clearer 7revenge itself   
simply leads back again to the identical
  problem--,how can the infliction of   
suffering be a satisfaction874  ,in my  
opinion it is repugnant to the delicacy1
 and still more to the  hypocrisy of    
tame domestic animals 7that is1 modern  
men2 that is1  ourselves71 to realise   
with all their energy the extent to     
which  cruelty constituted the great joy

 and delight of ancient man1 was  an    
ingredient which seasoned nearly all his
 pleasures1 and conversely  the extent  
of the navet and innocence with which he
 manifested his  need for cruelty1 when 
he actually made as a matter of         
principle  disinterested malice 7or1 to 
use ,spinoza's expression1 the sympathia
  malevolens7 into a normal             
characteristic of man--as consequently  
something to which the conscience says a
 hearty yes4 ,the more profound         
observer has perhaps already had        
sufficient opportunity for noticing     
this most ancient and radical joy and   
delight of mankind2 in ,beyond  ,good   
and ,evil1 ,aph4 #ahh 7and even earlier1
 in ,the ,dawn of ,day1 ,aphs4  #ah1    
#gg1 #aac71 ,i have cautiously indicated
 the continually growing                
spiritualisation and deification of     
cruelty1 which pervades the  whole      
history of the higher civilisation 7and 
in the larger sense even  constitutes   
it74 ,at any rate the time is not so    

long past when it was  impossible to    
conceive of royal weddings and national 
festivals on a  grand scale1 without    
executions1 tortures1 or perhaps an     
auto-da-f1  or similarly to conceive of 
an aristocratic household1 without a    
creature to serve as a butt for the     
cruel and malicious baiting of the      
inmates4 7,the reader will perhaps      
remember ,don ,quixote at the court of  
the ,duchess3 we read nowadays the whole
 of ,don ,quixote with a bitter  taste  
in the mouth1 almost with a sensation of
 torture1 a fact which  would appear    
very strange and very incomprehensible  
to the author and  his                  
contemporaries--they read it with the   
best conscience in the world  as the    
gayest of books2 they almost died with  
laughing at it47 ,the  sight of         
suffering does one good1 the infliction 
of suffering does one  more good--this  
is a hard maxim1 but none the less a    
fundamental maxim1  old1 powerful1 and  
human1 all-too-human2 one1 moreover1 to 

which  perhaps even the apes as well    
would subscribe3 for it is said that in 
inventing bizarre cruelties they are    
giving abundant proof of their  future  
humanity1 to which1 as it were1 they are
 playing the prelude4  ,without cruelty1
 no feast3 so teaches the oldest and    
longest history of  man--and in         
punishment too is there so much of the  
festive4      #g4    ,entertaining1 as  
,i do1 these thoughts1 ,i am1 let me say
 in parenthesis1  fundamentally opposed 
to helping our pessimists to new water  
for the  discordant and groaning mills  
of their disgust with life2 on the      
contrary1 it should be shown            
specifically that1 at the time when     
mankind was not yet ashamed of its      
cruelty1 life in the world was  brighter
 than it is nowadays when there are     
pessimists4 ,the darkening  of the      
heavens over man has always increased in
 proportion to the  growth of man's     
shame before man4 ,the tired pessimistic
 outlook1  the mistrust of the riddle of

 life1 the icy negation of disgusted    
ennui1 all those are not the signs of   
the most evil age of the human  race3   
much rather do they come first to the   
light of day1 as the  swamp-flowers1    
which they are1 when the swamp to which 
they belong1  comes into existence--,i  
mean the diseased refinement and        
moralisation1  thanks to which the      
animal man has at last learnt to be     
ashamed of  all his instincts4 ,on the  
road to angelhood 7not to use in this   
context  a harder word7 man has         
developed that dyspeptic stomach and    
coated  tongue1 which have made not only
 the joy and innocence of the animal    
repulsive to him1 but also life         
itself3--so that sometimes he stands    
with stopped nostrils before his own    
self1 and1 like ,pope ,innocent the     
,third1 makes a black list of his own   
horrors 7unclean generation1  loathsome 
nutrition when in the maternal body1    
badness of the matter  out of which man 
develops1 awful stench1 secretion of    

saliva1 urine1  and excrement74         
,nowadays1 when suffering is always     
trotted out  as the first argument      
against existence1 as its most sinister 
query1 it is well to remember the times 
when men judged on converse  principles 
because they could not dispense with the
 infliction of  suffering1 and saw      
therein a magic of the first order1 a   
veritable  bait of seduction to life4   
,perhaps in those days 7this is to      
solace the weaklings7 pain did not  hurt
 so much as it does nowadays3 any       
physician who has treated negroes       
7granted that these are taken as        
representative of the prehistoric  man7 
suffering from severe internal          
inflammations which would bring  a      
,european1 even though he had the       
soundest constitution1 almost to        
despair1 would be in a position to come 
to this conclusion4 ,pain has  not the  
same effect with negroes4 7,the curve of
 human sensibilities  to pain seems     
indeed to sink in an extraordinary and  

almost sudden  fashion1 as soon as one  
has passed the upper ten thousand or ten
  millions of over-civilised humanity1  
and ,i personally have no doubt  that1  
by comparison with one painful night    
passed by one single  hysterical chit of
 a cultured woman1 the suffering of all 
the animals  taken together who have    
been put to the question of the knife1  
so as  to give scientific answers1 are  
simply negligible47 ,we may perhaps  be 
allowed to admit the possibility of the 
craving for cruelty not  necessarily    
having become really extinct3 it only   
requires1 in view  of the fact that pain
 hurts more nowadays1 a certain         
sublimation and  subtilisation1 it must 
especially be translated to the         
imaginative and  psychic plane1 and be  
adorned with such smug euphemisms1 that 
even the  most fastidious and           
hypocritical conscience could never grow
 suspicious  of their real nature       
7,tragic pity is one of these           
euphemisms3  another is les nostalgies  

de la croix74 ,what really raises one's 
indignation against suffering is not    
suffering intrinsically1 but  the       
senselessness of suffering2 such a      
senselessness1 however1  existed neither
 in ,christianity1 which interpreted    
suffering into a  whole mysterious      
salvation-apparatus1 nor in the beliefs 
of the naive  ancient man1 who only knew
 how to find a meaning in suffering from
  the standpoint of the spectator1 or   
the inflictor of the suffering4  ,in    
order to get the secret1 undiscovered1  
and unwitnessed suffering  out of the   
world it was almost compulsory to invent
 gods and a  hierarchy of intermediate  
beings1 in short1 something which       
wanders  even among secret places1 sees 
even in the dark1 and makes a point  of 
never missing an interesting and painful
 spectacle4 ,it was with  the help of   
such inventions that life got to learn  
the tour de  force1 which has become    
part of its stock-in-trade1 the tour de 
force of self-justification1 of the     

justification of evil2 nowadays  this   
would perhaps require other auxiliary   
devices 7for instance1  life as a       
riddle1 life as a problem of knowledge74
 ,every evil is  justified in the sight 
of which a god finds edification1 so    
rang the  logic of primitive            
sentiment--and1 indeed1 was it only of  
primitive8  ,the gods conceived as      
friends of spectacles of cruelty--oh how
 far  does this primeval conception     
extend even nowadays into our ,european 
civilisation6 ,one would perhaps like in
 this context to consult ,luther  and   
,calvin4 ,it is at any rate certain that
 even the ,greeks knew no  more piquant 
seasoning for the happiness of their    
gods than the joys  of cruelty4 ,what1  
do you think1 was the mood with which   
,homer makes  his gods look down upon   
the fates of men8 ,what final meaning   
have at  bottom the ,trojan ,war and    
similar tragic horrors8 ,it is          
impossible to  entertain any doubt on   
the point3 they were intended as        

festival games  for the gods1 and1 in so
 far as the poet is of a more godlike   
breed  than other men1 as festival games
 also for the poets4 ,it was in just    
this spirit and no other1 that at a     
later date the moral philosophers  of   
,greece conceived the eyes of ,god as   
still looking down on the moral         
struggle1 the heroism1 and the          
self-torture of the virtuous2 the       
,heracles of duty was on a stage1 and   
was conscious of the fact2 virtue       
without witnesses was something quite   
unthinkable for this nation of  actors4 
,must not that philosophic invention1 so
 audacious and so fatal1  which was then
 absolutely new to ,europe1 the         
invention of free will1  of the absolute
 spontaneity of man in good and evil1   
simply have been  made for the specific 
purpose of justifying the idea1 that the
 interest  of the gods in humanity and  
human virtue was inexhaustible8         
,there would never on the stage of this 
free-will world be a dearth of  really  

new1 really novel and exciting          
situations1 plots1 catastrophes4  ,a    
world thought out on completely         
deterministic lines would be easily     
guessed by the gods1 and would          
consequently soon bore them--sufficient 
reason for these friends of the gods1   
the philosophers1 not to  ascribe to    
their gods such a deterministic world4  
,the whole of ancient  humanity is full 
of delicate consideration for the       
spectator1 being as  it is a world of   
thorough publicity and theatricality1   
which could not  conceive of happiness  
without spectacles and festivals4--,and1
 as has  already been said1 even in     
great punishment there is so much which 
is  festive4      #h4    ,the feeling of
 ought1 of personal obligation 7to take 
up again  the train of our inquiry71 has
 had1 as we saw1 its origin in the      
oldest and most original personal       
relationship that there is1 the         
relationship between buyer and seller1  
creditor and ower3 here it  was that    

individual confronted individual1 and   
that individual  matched himself against
 individual4 ,there has not yet been    
found  a grade of civilisation so low1  
as not to manifest some trace of  this  
relationship4 ,making prices1 assessing 
values1 thinking out  equivalents1      
exchanging--all this preoccupied the    
primal thoughts  of man to such an      
extent that in a certain sense it       
constituted  thinking itself3 it was    
here that was trained the oldest form of
  sagacity1 it was here in this sphere  
that we can perhaps trace the  first    
commencement of man's pride1 of his     
feeling of superiority over  other      
animals4 ,perhaps our word ,mensch      
7manas7 still expresses  just something 
of this self-pride3 man denoted himself 
as the being  who measures values1 who  
values and measures1 as the assessing   
animal par excellence4 ,sale and        
purchase1 together with their           
psychological concomitants1 are older   
than the origins of any form of  social 

organisation and union3 it is rather    
from the most rudimentary  form of      
individual right that the budding       
consciousness of exchange1  commerce1   
debt1 right1 obligation1 compensation   
was first transferred  to the rudest and
 most elementary of the social complexes
 7in their  relation to similar         
complexes71 the habit of comparing force
 with  force1 together with that of     
measuring1 of calculating4 ,his eye was 
now focussed to this perspective2 and   
with that ponderous consistency         
characteristic of ancient thought1      
which1 though set in motion with        
difficulty1 yet proceeds inflexibly     
along the line on which it has  started1
 man soon arrived at the great          
generalisation1 everything has  its     
price1 all can be paid for1 the oldest  
and most naive moral  canon of justice1 
the beginning of all kindness1 of all   
equity1  of all goodwill1 of all        
objectivity in the world4 ,justice in   
this  initial phase is the goodwill     

among people of about equal power to    
come  to terms with each other1 to come 
to an understanding again by means of  a
 settlement1 and with regard to the less
 powerful1 to compel them  to agree     
among themselves to a settlement4       
#i4    ,measured always by the standard 
of antiquity 7this antiquity1 moreover1 
is present or again possible at all     
periods71 the community stands to  its  
members in that important and radical   
relationship of creditor to  his owers4 
,man lives in a community1 man enjoys   
the advantages of  a community 7and what
 advantages6 we occasionally            
underestimate them  nowadays71 man lives
 protected1 spared1 in peace and trust1 
secure  from certain injuries and       
enmities1 to which the man outside the  
community1 the peaceless man1 is        
exposed1--a ,german understands the     
original meaning of ,elend              
7lend71--secure because he has entered  
into pledges and obligations to the     
community in respect of these very      

injuries and enmities4 ,what happens    
when this is not the case8 ,the         
community1 the defrauded creditor1 will 
get itself paid1 as well as it  can1 one
 can reckon on that4 ,in this case the  
question of the direct  damage done by  
the offender is quite subsidiary3 quite 
apart from  this the criminal#c is above
 all a breaker1 a breaker of word and   
covenant to the whole1 as regards all   
the advantages and amenities  of the    
communal life in which up to that time  
he had participated4 ,the  criminal is  
an ower who not only fails to repay the 
advances and  advantages that have been 
given to him1 but even sets out to      
attack  his creditor3 consequently he is
 in the future not only1 as is fair1    
deprived of all these advantages and    
amenities--he is in addition  reminded  
of the importance of those advantages4  
,the wrath of the  injured creditor1 of 
the community1 puts him back in the wild
 and  outlawed status from which he was 
previously protected3 the community     

repudiates him--and now every kind of   
enmity can vent itself on him4          
,punishment is in this stage of         
civilisation simply the copy1 the mimic1
  of the normal treatment of the hated1 
disdained1 and conquered enemy1  who is 
not only deprived of every right and    
protection but of every  mercy2 so we   
have the martial law and triumphant     
festival of the v  victis6 in all its   
mercilessness and cruelty4 ,this shows  
why war  itself 7counting the           
sacrificial cult of war7 has produced   
all the  forms under which punishment   
has manifested itself in history4       
#aj4    ,as it grows more powerful1 the 
community tends to take the offences of 
the individual less seriously1 because  
they are now regarded as being  much    
less revolutionary and dangerous to the 
corporate existence3 the  evil-doer is  
no more outlawed and put outside the    
pale1 the common  wrath can no longer   
vent itself upon him with its old       
licence1--on  the contrary1 from this   

very time it is against this wrath1 and 
particularly against the wrath of those 
directly injured1 that the  evil-doer is
 carefully shielded and protected by the
 community4 ,as1 in  fact1 the penal law
 develops1 the following characteristics
 become  more and more clearly marked3  
compromise with the wrath of those      
directly affected by the misdeed2 a     
consequent endeavour to localise  the   
matter and to prevent a further1 or     
indeed a general spread of  the         
disturbance2 attempts to find           
equivalents and to settle the whole     
matter 7compositio72 above all1 the     
will1 which manifests itself with       
increasing definiteness1 to treat every 
offence as in a certain degree  capable 
of being paid off1 and consequently1 at 
any rate up to a  certain point1 to     
isolate the offender from his act4 ,as  
the power and  the self-consciousness of
 a community increases1 so              
proportionately  does the penal law     
become mitigated2 conversely every      

weakening and  jeopardising of the      
community revives the harshest forms of 
that law4  ,the creditor has always     
grown more humane proportionately as he 
has  grown more rich2 finally the amount
 of injury he can endure without  really
 suffering becomes the criterion of his 
wealth4 ,it is possible  to conceive of 
a society blessed with so great a       
consciousness of its  own power as to   
indulge in the most aristocratic luxury 
of letting  its wrong-doers go          
scot-free4--,what do my parasites matter
 to me8  might society say4 ,let them   
live and flourish6 ,i am strong enough  
for  it4--,the justice which began with 
the maxim1 ,everything can be paid  off1
 everything must be paid off1 ends with 
connivance at the escape  of those who  
cannot pay to escape--it ends1 like     
every good thing on  earth1 by          
destroying itself4--,the                
self-destruction of ,justice6 we  know  
the pretty name it calls itself--,grace6
 it remains1 as is  obvious1 the        

privilege of the strongest1 better      
still1 their super-law4      #aa4    ,a 
deprecatory word here against the       
attempts1 that have lately been  made1  
to find the origin of justice on quite  
another basis--namely1  on that of      
resentment4 ,let me whisper a word in   
the ear of the  psychologists1 if they  
would fain study revenge itself at close
  quarters3 this plant blooms its       
prettiest at present among ,anarchists  
and anti-,semites1 a hidden flower1 as  
it has ever been1 like the  violet1     
though1 forsooth1 with another perfume4 
,and as like must  necessarily emanate  
from like1 it will not be a matter for  
surprise  that it is just in such       
circles that we see the birth of        
endeavours 7it  is their old            
birthplace--compare above1 ,first       
,essay1 paragraph #ad71  to sanctify    
revenge under the name of justice 7as   
though ,justice  were at bottom merely a
 development of the consciousness of    
injury71  and thus with the             

rehabilitation of revenge to reinstate  
generally  and collectively all the     
reactive emotions4 ,i object to this    
last  point least of all4 ,it even seems
 meritorious when regarded from the     
standpoint of the whole problem of      
biology 7from which standpoint the      
value of these emotions has up to the   
present been underestimated74  ,and that
 to which ,i alone call attention1 is   
the circumstance that  it is the spirit 
of revenge itself1 from which develops  
this new  nuance of scientific equity   
7for the benefit of hate1 envy1         
mistrust1  jealousy1 suspicion1 rancour1
 revenge74 ,this scientific equity      
stops immediately and makes way for the 
accents of deadly enmity and  prejudice1
 so soon as another group of emotions   
comes on the scene1  which in my opinion
 are of a much higher biological value  
than these  reactions1 and consequently 
have a paramount claim to the valuation 
and appreciation of science3 ,i mean the
 really active emotions1 such  as       

personal and material ambition1 and so  
forth4 7,e4 ,dhring1 ,value  of ,life2  
,course of ,philosophy1 and passim47 ,so
 much against this  tendency in general3
 but as for the particular maxim of     
,dhring's1  that the home of ,justice is
 to be found in the sphere of the       
reactive  feelings1 our love of truth   
compels us drastically to invert his own
  proposition and to oppose to him this 
other maxim3 the last sphere  conquered 
by the spirit of justice is the sphere  
of the feeling of  reaction6 ,when it   
really comes about that the just man    
remains just  even as regards his       
injurer 7and not merely cold1 moderate1 
reserved1  indifferent3 being just is   
always a positive state72 when1 in spite
  of the strong provocation of personal 
insult1 contempt1 and calumny1  the     
lofty and clear objectivity of the just 
and judging eye 7whose  glance is as    
profound as it is gentle7 is untroubled1
 why then we have  a piece of           
perfection1 a past master of the        

world--something1 in fact1  which it    
would not be wise to expect1 and which  
should not at any  rate be too easily   
believed4 ,speaking generally1 there is 
no doubt  but that even the justest     
individual only requires a little dose  
of  hostility1 malice1 or innuendo to   
drive the blood into his brain and  the 
fairness from it4 ,the active man1 the  
attacking1 aggressive man  is always a  
hundred degrees nearer to justice than  
the man who merely  reacts2 he certainly
 has no need to adopt the tactics1      
necessary in the  case of the reacting  
man1 of making false and biassed        
valuations of his  object4 ,it is1 in   
point of fact1 for this reason that the 
aggressive  man has at all times enjoyed
 the stronger1 bolder1 more             
aristocratic1  and also freer outlook1  
the better conscience4 ,on the other    
hand1  we already surmise who it really 
is that has on his conscience the       
invention of the bad conscience1--the   
resentful man6 ,finally1 let man  look  

at himself in history4 ,in what sphere  
up to the present has the  whole        
administration of law1 the actual need  
of law1 found its earthly  home8        
,perchance in the sphere of the reacting
 man8 ,not for a minute3  rather in that
 of the active1 strong1 spontaneous1    
aggressive man8 ,i  deliberately defy   
the above-mentioned agitator 7who       
himself makes this  self-confession1 the
 creed of revenge has run through all my
 works  and endeavours like the red     
thread of ,justice71 and say1 that      
judged  historically law in the world   
represents the very war against the     
reactive feelings1 the very war waged on
 those feelings by the powers  of       
activity and aggression1 which devote   
some of their strength to  damming and  
keeping within bounds this effervescence
 of hysterical  reactivity1 and to      
forcing it to some compromise4          
,everywhere where  justice is practised 
and justice is maintained1 it is to be  
observed  that the stronger power1 when 

confronted with the weaker powers which 
are inferior to it 7whether they be     
groups1 or individuals71 searches  for  
weapons to put an end to the senseless  
fury of resentment1 while  it carries on
 its object1 partly by taking the victim
 of resentment  out of the clutches of  
revenge1 partly by substituting for     
revenge a  campaign of its own against  
the enemies of peace and order1 partly  
by finding1 suggesting1 and occasionally
 enforcing settlements1  partly by      
standardising certain equivalents for   
injuries1 to which  equivalents the     
element of resentment is henceforth     
finally referred4  ,the most drastic    
measure1 however1 taken and effectuated 
by the supreme  power1 to combat the    
preponderance of the feelings of spite  
and  vindictiveness--it takes this      
measure as soon as it is at all strong  
enough to do so--is the foundation of   
law1 the imperative declaration  of what
 in its eyes is to be regarded as just  
and lawful1 and what  unjust and        

unlawful3 and while1 after the          
foundation of law1 the  supreme power   
treats the aggressive and arbitrary acts
 of individuals1  or of whole groups1 as
 a violation of law1 and a revolt       
against  itself1 it distracts the       
feelings of its subjects from the       
immediate  injury inflicted by such a   
violation1 and thus eventually attains  
the  very opposite result to that always
 desired by revenge1 which sees  and    
recognises nothing but the standpoint of
 the injured party4 ,from  henceforth   
the eye becomes trained to a more and   
more impersonal  valuation of the deed1 
even the eye of the injured party       
himself  7though this is in the final   
stage of all1 as has been previously    
remarked7--on this principle right and  
wrong first manifest  themselves after  
the foundation of law 7and not1 as      
,dhring maintains1  only after the act  
of violation74 ,to talk of intrinsic    
right and  intrinsic wrong is absolutely
 non-sensical2 intrinsically1 an injury1

  an oppression1 an exploitation1 an    
annihilation can be nothing wrong1      
inasmuch as life is essentially 7that   
is1 in its cardinal functions7          
something which functions by injuring1  
oppressing1 exploiting1 and             
annihilating1 and is absolutely         
inconceivable without such a character4 
,it is necessary to make an even more   
serious confession3--viewed from  the   
most advanced biological standpoint1    
conditions of legality can be  only     
exceptional conditions1 in that they are
 partial restrictions  of the real      
life-will1 which makes for power1 and in
 that they are  subordinated to the     
life-will's general end as particular   
means1  that is1 as means to create     
larger units of strength4 ,a legal      
organisation1 conceived of as sovereign 
and universal1 not as a weapon  in a    
fight of complexes of power1 but as a   
weapon against fighting1  generally     
something after the style of ,dhring's  
communistic model  of treating every    

will as equal with every other will1    
would be a  principle hostile to life1 a
 destroyer and dissolver of man1 an     
outrage on the future of man1 a symptom 
of fatigue1 a secret cut to             
,nothingness4--      #ab4    ,a word    
more on the origin and end of           
punishment--two problems which  are or  
ought to be kept distinct1 but which    
unfortunately are usually  lumped into  
one4 ,and what tactics have our moral   
genealogists employed  up to the present
 in these cases8 ,their inveterate      
navet4 ,they find  out some end in the  
punishment1 for instance1 revenge and   
deterrence1  and then in all their      
innocence set this end at the beginning1
 as the  causa fiendi of the punishment1
 and--they have done the trick4 ,but    
the patching up of a history of the     
origin of law is the last use to  which 
the ,end in ,law#d ought to be put4     
,perhaps there is no more  pregnant     
principle for any kind of history than  
the following1 which1  difficult though 

it is to master1 should none the less be
 mastered  in every detail4--,the origin
 of the existence of a thing and its    
final  utility1 its practical           
application and incorporation in a      
system of  ends1 are toto clo opposed to
 each other--everything1 anything1      
which exists and which prevails         
anywhere1 will always be put to new     
purposes by a force superior to itself1 
will be commandeered afresh1  will be   
turned and transformed to new uses2 all 
happening in the  organic world consists
 of overpowering and dominating1 and    
again all  overpowering and domination  
is a new interpretation and adjustment1 
which must necessarily obscure or       
absolutely extinguish the subsisting    
meaning and end4 ,the most perfect      
comprehension of the utility  of any    
physiological organ 7or also of a legal 
institution1 social  custom1 political  
habit1 form in art or in religious      
worship7 does not  for a minute imply   
any simultaneous comprehension of its   

origin3 this  may seem uncomfortable and
 unpalatable to the older men1--for it  
has  been the immemorial belief that    
understanding the final cause or the    
utility of a thing1 a form1 an          
institution1 means also understanding   
the reason for its origin3 to give an   
example of this logic1 the eye  was made
 to see1 the hand was made to grasp4 ,so
 even punishment was  conceived as      
invented with a view to punishing4 ,but 
all ends and all  utilities are only    
signs that a ,will to ,power has        
mastered a less  powerful force1 has    
impressed thereon out of its own self   
the meaning  of a function2 and the     
whole history of a ,thing1 an organ1 a  
custom1  can on the same principle be   
regarded as a continuous sign-chain  of 
perpetually new interpretations and     
adjustments1 whose causes1 so  far from 
needing to have even a mutual           
connection1 sometimes follow  and       
alternate with each other absolutely    
haphazard4 ,similarly1 the  evolution of

 a thing1 of a custom1 is anything but  
its progressus  to an end1 still less a 
logical and direct progressus attained  
with the minimum expenditure of energy  
and cost3 it is rather the  succession  
of processes of subjugation1 more or    
less profound1 more  or less mutually   
independent1 which operate on the thing 
itself2 it  is1 further1 the resistance 
which in each case invariably displayed 
this subjugation1 the ,protean wriggles 
by way of defence and reaction1  and1   
further1 the results of successful      
counter-efforts4 ,the form is  fluid1   
but the meaning is even more so--even   
inside every individual  organism the   
case is the same3 with every genuine    
growth of the whole1  the function of   
the individual organs becomes           
shifted1--in certain  cases a partial   
perishing of these organs1 a diminution 
of their  numbers 7for instance1 through
 annihilation of the connecting         
members71  can be a symptom of growing  
strength and perfection4 ,what ,i mean  

is  this3 even partial loss of utility1 
decay1 and degeneration1 loss of        
function and purpose1 in a word1 death1 
appertain to the conditions  of the     
genuine progressus2 which always appears
 in the shape of  a will and way to     
greater power1 and is always realised at
 the  expense of innumerable smaller    
powers4 ,the magnitude of a progress  is
 gauged by the greatness of the         
sacrifice that it requires3 humanity  as
 a mass sacrificed to the prosperity of 
the one stronger species  of ,man--that 
would be a progress4 ,i emphasise all   
the more this  cardinal characteristic  
of the historic method1 for the reason  
that in  its essence it runs counter to 
predominant instincts and prevailing    
taste1 which much prefer to put up with 
absolute casualness1 even with  the     
mechanical senselessness of all         
phenomena1 than with the theory  of a   
power-will1 in exhaustive play          
throughout all phenomena4 ,the          
democratic idiosyncrasy against         

everything which rules and wishes to    
rule1 the modern misarchism 7to coin a  
bad word for a bad thing71  has         
gradually but so thoroughly transformed 
itself into the guise of                
intellectualism1 the most abstract      
intellectualism1 that even nowadays  it 
penetrates and has the right to         
penetrate step by step into the  most   
exact and apparently the most objective 
sciences3 this tendency  has1 in fact1  
in my view already dominated the whole  
of physiology  and biology1 and to their
 detriment1 as is obvious1 in so far as 
it has spirited away a radical idea1 the
 idea of true activity4  ,the tyranny of
 this idiosyncrasy1 however1 results in 
the theory  of adaptation being pushed  
forward into the van of the argument1   
exploited2 adaptation--that means to    
say1 a second-class activity1 a  mere   
capacity for reacting2 in fact1 life    
itself has been defined  7by ,herbert   
,spencer7 as an increasingly effective  
internal adaptation  to external        

circumstances4 ,this definition1        
however1 fails to realise  the real     
essence of life1 its will to power4 ,it 
fails to appreciate the  paramount      
superiority enjoyed by those plastic    
forces of spontaneity1  aggression1 and 
encroachment with their new             
interpretations and  tendencies1 to the 
operation of which adaptation is only a 
natural  corollary3 consequently the    
sovereign office of the highest         
functionaries in the organism itself    
7among which the life-will appears  as  
an active and formative principle7 is   
repudiated4 ,one remembers  ,huxley's   
reproach to ,spencer of his             
administrative ,nihilism3 but it  is a  
case of something much more than        
administration4      #ac4    ,to return 
to our subject1 namely punishment1 we   
must make  consequently a double        
distinction3 first1 the relatively      
permanent  element1 the custom1 the act1
 the drama1 a certain rigid sequence  of
 methods of procedure2 on the other     

hand1 the fluid element1 the  meaning1  
the end1 the expectation which is       
attached to the operation of  such      
procedure4 ,at this point we immediately
 assume1 per analogiam  7in accordance  
with the theory of the historic method1 
which we have  elaborated above71 that  
the procedure itself is something older 
and  earlier than its utilisation in    
punishment1 that this utilisation was   
introduced and interpreted into the     
procedure 7which had existed  for a long
 time1 but whose employment had another 
meaning71 in short1  that the case is   
different from that hitherto supposed by
 our naf  genealogists of morals and of 
law1 who thought that the procedure was 
invented for the purpose of punishment1 
in the same way that the hand  had been 
previously thought to have been invented
 for the purpose of  grasping4 ,with    
regard to the other element in          
punishment1 its fluid  element1 its     
meaning1 the idea of punishment in a    
very late stage of  civilisation 7for   

instance1 contemporary ,europe7 is not  
content with  manifesting merely one    
meaning1 but manifests a whole synthesis
 of  meanings4 ,the past general history
 of punishment1 the history of its      
employment for the most diverse ends1   
crystallises eventually into  a kind of 
unity1 which is difficult to analyse    
into its parts1 and  which1 it is       
necessary to emphasise1 absolutely      
defies definition4  7,it is nowadays    
impossible to say definitely the precise
 reason  for punishment3 all ideas1 in  
which a whole process is promiscuously  
comprehended1 elude definition2 it is   
only that which has no history1  which  
can be defined47 ,at an earlier stage1  
on the contrary1 that  synthesis of     
meanings appears much less rigid and    
much more elastic2 we  can realise how  
in each individual case the elements of 
the synthesis  change their value and   
their position1 so that now one element 
and  now another stands out and         
predominates over the others1 nay1 in   

certain cases one element 7perhaps the  
end of deterrence7 seems to  eliminate  
all the rest4 ,at any rate1 so as to    
give some idea of the  uncertain1       
supplementary1 and accidental nature of 
the meaning of  punishment and of the   
manner in which one identical procedure 
can  be employed and adapted for the    
most diametrically opposed objects1  ,i 
will at this point give a scheme that   
has suggested itself to  me1 a scheme   
itself based on comparatively small and 
accidental  material4--,punishment1 as  
rendering the criminal harmless and     
incapable  of further                   
injury4--,punishment1 as compensation   
for the injury  sustained by the injured
 party1 in any form whatsoever          
7including  the form of sentimental     
compensation74--,punishment1 as an      
isolation  of that which disturbs the   
equilibrium1 so as to prevent the       
further  spreading of the               
disturbance4--,punishment as a means of 
inspiring  fear of those who determine  

and execute the punishment4--,punishment
  as a kind of compensation for         
advantages which the wrong-doer has  up 
to that time enjoyed 7for example1 when 
he is utilised as a  slave in the       
mines74--,punishment1 as the elimination
 of an element  of decay 7sometimes of a
 whole branch1 as according to the      
,chinese  laws1 consequently as a means 
to the purification of the race1 or  the
 preservation of a social               
type74---,punishment as a festival1 as  
the violent oppression and humiliation  
of an enemy that has at last  been      
subdued4--,punishment as a mnemonic1    
whether for him who suffers  the        
punishment--the so-called correction1 or
 for the witnesses of  its              
administration4 ,punishment1 as the     
payment of a fee stipulated  for by the 
power which protects the evil-doer from 
the excesses of  revenge4--,punishment1 
as a compromise with the natural        
phenomenon  of revenge1 in so far as    
revenge is still maintained and claimed 

as a privilege by the stronger          
races4--,punishment as a declaration    
and measure of war against an enemy of  
peace1 of law1 of order1  of authority1 
who is fought by society with the       
weapons which war  provides1 as a spirit
 dangerous to the community1 as a       
breaker of the  contract on which the   
community is based1 as a rebel1 a       
traitor1 and a  breaker of the peace4   
#ad4    ,this list is certainly not     
complete2 it is obvious that punishment 
is overloaded with utilities of all     
kinds4 ,this makes it all the  more     
permissible to eliminate one supposed   
utility1 which passes1 at  any rate in  
the popular mind1 for its most essential
 utility1 and  which is just what even  
now provides the strongest support for  
that  faith in punishment which is      
nowadays for many reasons tottering4    
,punishment is supposed to have the     
value of exciting in the guilty  the    
consciousness of guilt2 in punishment is
 sought the proper  instrumentum of that

 psychic reaction which becomes known as
 a bad  conscience1 remorse4 ,but this  
theory is even1 from the point of  view 
of the present1 a violation of reality  
and psychology3 and how  much more so is
 the case when we have to deal with the 
longest period  of man's history1 his   
primitive history6 ,genuine remorse is  
certainly  extremely rare among         
wrong-doers and the victims of          
punishment2 prisons  and houses of      
correction are not the soil on which    
this worm of  remorse pullulates for    
choice--this is the unanimous opinion of
 all  conscientious observers1 who in   
many cases arrive at such a judgment    
with enough reluctance and against their
 own personal wishes4 ,speaking         
generally1 punishment hardens and numbs1
 it produces concentration1 it  sharpens
 the consciousness of alienation1 it    
strengthens the power of  resistance4   
,when it happens that it breaks the     
man's energy and brings  about a piteous
 prostration and abjectness1 such a     

result is certainly  even less salutary 
than the average effect of punishment1  
which is  characterised by a harsh and  
sinister doggedness4 ,the thought of    
those  prehistoric millennia brings us  
to the unhesitating conclusion1  that it
 was simply through punishment that the 
evolution of the  consciousness of guilt
 was most forcibly retarded--at any rate
 in the  victims of the punishing power4
 ,in particular1 let us not             
underestimate  the extent to which1 by  
the very sight of the judicial and      
executive  procedure1 the wrong-doer is 
himself prevented from feeling that his 
deed1 the character of his act1 is      
intrinsically reprehensible3 for  he    
sees clearly the same kind of acts      
practised in the service of  justice1   
and then called good1 and practised with
 a good conscience2  acts such as       
espionage1 trickery1 bribery1 trapping1 
the whole  intriguing and insidious art 
of the policeman and the informer--the  
whole system1 in fact1 manifested in the

 different kinds of punishment  7a      
system not excused by passion1 but based
 on principle71 of robbing1  oppressing1
 insulting1 imprisoning1 racking1       
murdering4--,all this  he sees treated  
by his judges1 not as acts meriting     
censure and  condemnation in themselves1
 but only in a particular context and   
application4 ,it was not on this soil   
that grew the bad conscience1  that most
 sinister and interesting plant of our  
earthly vegetation--  in point of fact1 
throughout a most lengthy period1 no    
suggestion of  having to do with a      
guilty man manifested itself in the     
consciousness  of the man who judged and
 punished4 ,one had merely to deal with 
an  author of an injury1 an             
irresponsible piece of fate4 ,and the   
man  himself1 on whom the punishment    
subsequently fell like a piece of fate1 
was occasioned no more of an inner pain 
than would be occasioned by  the sudden 
approach of some uncalculated event1    
some terrible natural  catastrophe1 a   

rushing1 crushing avalanche against     
which there is no  resistance4      #ae4
    ,this truth came insidiously enough 
to the consciousness of ,spinoza 7to    
the disgust of his commentators1 who    
7like ,kuno ,fischer1 for instance7     
give themselves no end of trouble to    
misunderstand him on this  point71 when 
one afternoon 7as he sat raking up who  
knows what memory7  he indulged in the  
question of what was really left for him
 personally  of the celebrated morsus   
conscienti--,spinoza1 who had relegated 
good and evil to the sphere of human    
imagination1 and indignantly  defended  
the honour of his free ,god against     
those blasphemers who  affirmed that    
,god did everything sub ratione boni    
7but this was  tantamount to            
subordinating ,god to fate1 and would   
really be the  greatest of all          
absurdities74 ,for ,spinoza the world   
had returned  again to that innocence in
 which it lay before the discovery of   
the  bad conscience3 what1 then1 had    

happened to the morsus conscienti8  ,the
 antithesis of gaudium1 said he at last 
to himself1--,a sadness  accompanied by 
the recollection of a past event which  
has turned out  contrary to all         
expectation 7,eth4 ,,iii41 ,propos4     
,,xviii4 ,schol4  i4 ii474 ,evil-doers  
have throughout thousands of years felt 
when  overtaken by punishment exactly   
like ,spinoza1 on the subject of  their 
offence3 here is something which went   
wrong contrary to my  anticipation1 not 
,i ought not to have done this4--,they  
submitted  themselves to punishment1    
just as one submits one's self to a     
disease1  to a misfortune1 or to death1 
with that stubborn and resigned fatalism
  which gives the ,russians1 for        
instance1 even nowadays1 the advantage  
over us ,westerners1 in the handling of 
life4 ,if at that period there  was a   
critique of action1 the criterion was   
prudence3 the real effect  of punishment
 is unquestionably chiefly to be found  
in a sharpening  of the sense of        

prudence1 in a lengthening of the       
memory1 in a will  to adopt more of a   
policy of caution1 suspicion1 and       
secrecy2 in the  recognition that there 
are many things which are unquestionably
 beyond  one's capacity2 in a kind of   
improvement in self-criticism4 ,the     
broad  effects which can be obtained by 
punishment in man and beast1 are the    
increase of fear1 the sharpening of the 
sense of cunning1 the mastery  of the   
desires3 so it is that punishment tames 
man1 but does not make  him better--it  
would be more correct even to go so far 
as to assert  the contrary 7,injury     
makes a man cunning1 says a popular     
proverb3 so  far as it makes him        
cunning1 it makes him also bad4         
,fortunately1 it  often enough makes him
 stupid74      #af4    ,at this juncture
 ,i cannot avoid trying to give a       
tentative and  provisional expression to
 my own hypothesis concerning the origin
 of  the bad conscience3 it is difficult
 to make it fully appreciated1  and it  

requires continuous meditation1         
attention1 and digestion4 ,i  regard the
 bad conscience as the serious illness  
which man was bound  to contract under  
the stress of the most radical change   
which he has  ever experienced--that    
change1 when he found himself finally   
imprisoned  within the pale of society  
and of peace4    ,just like the plight  
of the water-animals1 when they were    
compelled  either to become land-animals
 or to perish1 so was the plight of     
these  half-animals1 perfectly adapted  
as they were to the savage life of war1 
prowling1 and adventure--suddenly all   
their instincts were rendered  worthless
 and switched off4 ,henceforward they   
had to walk on their  feet--carry       
themselves1 whereas heretofore they had 
been carried by  the water3 a terrible  
heaviness oppressed them4 ,they found   
themselves  clumsy in obeying the       
simplest directions1 confronted with    
this new  and unknown world they had no 
longer their old guides--the regulative 

instincts that had led them             
unconsciously to safety--they were      
reduced1  were those unhappy creatures1 
to thinking1 inferring1 calculating1    
putting together causes and results1    
reduced to that poorest and most        
erratic organ of theirs1 their          
consciousness4 ,i do not believe  there 
was ever in the world such a feeling of 
misery1 such a leaden                   
discomfort--further1 those old instincts
 had not immediately ceased  their      
demands6 ,only it was difficult and     
rarely possible to gratify  them3       
speaking broadly1 they were compelled to
 satisfy themselves by  new and1 as it  
were1 hole-and-corner methods4 ,all     
instincts which  do not find a vent     
without1 turn inwards--this is what ,i  
mean by  the growing internalisation of 
man3 consequently we have the first     
growth in man1 of what subsequently was 
called his soul4 ,the whole  inner      
world1 originally as thin as if it had  
been stretched between  two layers of   

skin1 burst apart and expanded          
proportionately1 and  obtained depth1   
breadth1 and height1 when man's external
 outlet  became obstructed4 ,these      
terrible bulwarks1 with which the social
  organisation protected itself against 
the old instincts of freedom            
7punishments belong pre-eminently to    
these bulwarks71 brought it  about that 
all those instincts of wild1 free1      
prowling man became  turned backwards   
against man himself4 ,enmity1 cruelty1  
the delight  in persecution1 in         
surprises1 change1 destruction--the     
turning all  these instincts against    
their own possessors3 this is the origin
 of  the bad conscience4 ,it was man1   
who1 lacking external enemies and       
obstacles1 and imprisoned as he was in  
the oppressive narrowness and  monotony 
of custom1 in his own impatience        
lacerated1 persecuted1  gnawed1         
frightened1 and ill-treated himself2 it 
was this animal in the  hands of the    
tamer1 which beat itself against the    

bars of its cage2 it  was this being    
who1 pining and yearning for that desert
 home of which  it had been deprived1   
was compelled to create out of its own  
self1 an  adventure1 a torture-chamber1 
a hazardous and perilous desert--it was 
this fool1 this homesick and desperate  
prisoner--who invented the bad          
conscience4 ,but thereby he introduced  
that most grave and sinister  illness1  
from which mankind has not yet          
recovered1 the suffering of  man from   
the disease called man1 as the result of
 a violent breaking  from his animal    
past1 the result1 as it were1 of a      
spasmodic plunge  into a new environment
 and new conditions of existence1 the   
result of  a declaration of war against 
the old instincts1 which up to that time
  had been the staple of his power1 his 
joy1 his formidableness4 ,let  us       
immediately add that this fact of an    
animal ego turning against  itself1     
taking part against itself1 produced in 
the world so novel1  profound1          

unheard-of1 problematic1 inconsistent1  
and pregnant a  phenomenon1 that the    
aspect of the world was radically       
altered thereby4  ,in sooth1 only divine
 spectators could have appreciated the  
drama  that then began1 and whose end   
baffles conjecture as yet--a drama too  
subtle1 too wonderful1 too paradoxical  
to warrant its undergoing a             
non-sensical and unheeded performance on
 some random grotesque planet6          
,henceforth man is to be counted as one 
of the most unexpected and  sensational 
lucky shots in the game of the big baby 
of ,heracleitus1  whether he be called  
,zeus or ,chance--he awakens on his     
behalf the  interest1 excitement1 hope1 
almost the confidence1 of his being the 
harbinger and forerunner of something1  
of man being no end1 but only a  stage1 
an interlude1 a bridge1 a great promise4
      #ag4    ,it is primarily involved 
in this hypothesis of the origin of the 
bad  conscience1 that that alteration   
was no gradual and no voluntary         

alteration1 and that it did not manifest
 itself as an organic  adaptation to new
 conditions1 but as a break1 a jump1 a  
necessity1 an  inevitable fate1 against 
which there was no resistance and never 
a  spark of resentment4 ,and            
secondarily1 that the fitting of a      
hitherto  unchecked and amorphous       
population into a fixed form1 starting  
as  it had done in an act of violence1  
could only be accomplished by  acts of  
violence and nothing else--that the     
oldest ,state appeared  consequently as 
a ghastly tyranny1 a grinding ruthless  
piece of  machinery1 which went on      
working1 till this raw material of a    
semi-animal populace was not only       
thoroughly kneaded and elastic1 but     
also moulded4 ,i used the word ,state3  
my meaning is self-evident1  namely1 a  
herd of blonde beasts of prey1 a race of
 conquerors and  masters1 which with all
 its warlike organisation and all its   
organising  power pounces with its      
terrible claws on a population1 in      

numbers  possibly tremendously superior1
 but as yet formless1 as yet nomad4     
,such is the origin of the ,state4 ,that
 fantastic theory that makes it  begin  
with a contract is1 ,i think1 disposed  
of4 ,he who can command1  he who is a   
master by nature1 he who comes on the   
scene forceful  in deed and             
gesture--what has he to do with         
contracts8 ,such beings  defy           
calculation1 they come like fate1       
without cause1 reason1 notice1  excuse1 
they are there like the lightning is    
there1 too terrible1 too  sudden1 too   
convincing1 too different1 to be        
personally even hated4  ,their work is  
an instinctive creating and impressing  
of forms1 they  are the most            
involuntary1 unconscious artists that   
there are3--their  appearance produces  
instantaneously a scheme of sovereignty 
which is  live1 in which the functions  
are partitioned and apportioned1 in     
which  above all no part is received or 
finds a place1 until pregnant with  a   

meaning in regard to the whole4 ,they   
are ignorant of the meaning  of guilt1  
responsibility1 consideration1 are these
 born organisers2  in them predominates 
that terrible artist-egoism1 that gleams
 like  brass1 and that knows itself     
justified to all eternity1 in its work1 
even as a mother in her child4 ,it is   
not in them that there grew  the bad    
conscience1 that is elementary--but it  
would not have grown  without them1     
repulsive growth as it was1 it would be 
missing1 had  not a tremendous quantity 
of freedom been expelled from the world 
by  the stress of their hammer-strokes1 
their artist violence1 or been at  any  
rate made invisible and1 as it were1    
latent4 ,this instinct of  freedom      
forced into being latent--it is already 
clear--this instinct  of freedom forced 
back1 trodden back1 imprisoned within   
itself1 and  finally only able to find  
vent and relief in itself2 this1 only   
this1  is the beginning of the bad      
conscience4      #ah4    ,beware of     

thinking lightly of this phenomenon1 by 
reason of its initial  painful ugliness4
 ,at bottom it is the same active force 
which is at  work on a more grandiose   
scale in those potent artists and       
organisers1  and builds states1 which   
here1 internally1 on a smaller and      
pettier  scale and with a retrogressive 
tendency1 makes itself a bad science in 
the labyrinth of the breast1 to use     
,goethe's phrase1 and which builds      
negative ideals2 it is1 ,i repeat1 that 
identical instinct of freedom  7to use  
my own language1 the will to power73    
only the material1 on  which this force 
with all its constructive and tyrannous 
nature is  let loose1 is here man       
himself1 his whole old animal self--and 
not as  in the case of that more        
grandiose and sensational phenomenon1   
the  other man1 other men4 ,this secret 
self-tyranny1 this cruelty of  the      
artist1 this delight in giving a form to
 one's self as a piece of  difficult1   
refractory1 and suffering material1 in  

burning in a will1 a  critique1 a       
contradiction1 a contempt1 a negation2  
this sinister and  ghastly labour of    
love on the part of a soul1 whose will  
is cloven  in two within itself1 which  
makes itself suffer from delight in the 
infliction of suffering2 this wholly    
active bad conscience has  finally 7as  
one already anticipates7--true          
fountainhead as it is of  idealism and  
imagination--produced an abundance of   
novel and amazing  beauty and           
affirmation1 and perhaps has really been
 the first to  give birth to beauty at  
all4 ,what would beauty be1 forsooth1 if
 its  contradiction had not first been  
presented to consciousness1 if the  ugly
 had not first said to itself1 ,i am    
ugly8 ,at any rate1 after this  hint the
 problem of how far idealism and beauty 
can be traced in such  opposite ideas as
 selflessness1 self-denial1             
self-sacrifice1  becomes less           
problematical2 and indubitably in future
 we shall  certainly know the real and  

original character of the delight       
experienced by the self-less1 the       
self-denying1 the self-sacrificing3     
this delight is a phase of cruelty4--,so
 much provisionally for the  origin of  
altruism as a moral value1 and the      
marking out the ground  from which this 
value has grown3 it is only the bad     
conscience1 only  the will for          
self-abuse1 that provides the necessary 
conditions for the  existence of        
altruism as a value4      #ai4          
,undoubtedly the bad conscience is an   
illness1 but an illness like  pregnancy 
is an illness4 ,if we search out the    
conditions under which  this illness    
reaches its most terrible and sublime   
zenith1 we shall see  what really first 
brought about its entry into the world4 
,but to do  this we must take a long    
breath1 and we must first of all go back
 once  again to an earlier point of     
view4 ,the relation at civil law of the 
ower to his creditor 7which has already 
been discussed in detail71 has  been    

interpreted once again 7and indeed in a 
manner which historically  is           
exceedingly remarkable and suspicious7  
into a relationship1 which  is perhaps  
more incomprehensible to us moderns than
 to any other era2  that is1 into the   
relationship of the existing generation 
to its  ancestors4 ,within the original 
tribal association--we are talking of   
primitive times--each living generation 
recognises a legal obligation  towards  
the earlier generation1 and particularly
 towards the earliest1  which founded   
the family 7and this is something much  
more than a mere  sentimental           
obligation1 the existence of which1     
during the longest  period of man's     
history1 is by no means indisputable74  
,there prevails  in them the conviction 
that it is only thanks to sacrifices and
 efforts  of their ancestors1 that the  
race persists at all--and that this  has
 to be paid back to them by sacrifices  
and services4 ,thus is  recognised the  
owing of a debt1 which accumulates      

continually by  reason of these         
ancestors never ceasing in their        
subsequent life as  potent spirits to   
secure by their power new privileges and
 advantages  to the race4 ,gratis1      
perchance8 ,but there is no gratis for  
that raw  and mean-souled age4 ,what    
return can be made8--,sacrifice 7at     
first1  nourishment1 in its crudest     
sense71 festivals1 temples1 tributes of 
veneration1 above all1 obedience--since 
all customs are1 qu works of  the       
ancestors1 equally their precepts and   
commands--are the ancestors  ever given 
enough8 ,this suspicion remains and     
grows3 from time to time  it extorts a  
great wholesale ransom1 something       
monstrous in the way of  repayment of   
the creditor 7the notorious sacrifice of
 the first-born1  for example1 blood1   
human blood in any case74 ,the fear of  
ancestors  and their power1 the         
consciousness of owing debts to them1   
necessarily  increases1 according to    
this kind of logic1 in the exact        

proportion  that the race itself        
increases1 that the race itself becomes 
more  victorious1 more independent1 more
 honoured1 more feared4 ,this1 and not  
the contrary1 is the fact4 ,each step   
towards race decay1 all disastrous      
events1 all symptoms of degeneration1 of
 approaching disintegration1  always    
diminish the fear of the founders'      
spirit1 and whittle away  the idea of   
his sagacity1 providence1 and potent    
presence4 ,conceive  this crude kind of 
logic carried to its climax3 it follows 
that the  ancestors of the most powerful
 races must1 through the growing fear   
that they exercise on the imaginations1 
grow themselves into monstrous          
dimensions1 and become relegated to the 
gloom of a divine mystery that          
transcends imagination--the ancestor    
becomes at last necessarily             
transfigured into a god4 ,perhaps this  
is the very origin of the gods1  that   
is1 an origin from fear6 ,and those who 
feel bound to add1 but  from piety also1

 will have difficulty in maintaining    
this theory1  with regard to the        
primeval and longest period of the human
 race4 ,and  of course this is even more
 the case as regards the middle period1 
the formative period of the aristocratic
 races--the aristocratic  races which   
have given back with interest to their  
founders1 the  ancestors 7heroes1 gods71
 all those qualities which in the       
meanwhile  have appeared in themselves1 
that is1 the aristocratic qualities4 ,we
  will later on glance again at the     
ennobling and promotion of the gods     
7which of course is totally distinct    
from their sanctification73 let  us now 
provisionally follow to its end the     
course of the whole of this  development
 of the consciousness of owing4         
#bj4    ,according to the teaching of   
history1 the consciousness of owing     
debts to the deity by no means came to  
an end with the decay of the  clan      
organisation of society2 just as mankind
 has inherited the  ideas of good and   

bad from the race-nobility 7together    
with its  fundamental tendency towards  
establishing social distinctions71 so   
with the heritage of the racial and     
tribal gods it has also inherited  the  
incubus of debts as yet unpaid and the  
desire to discharge them4  ,the         
transition is effected by those large   
populations of slaves and  bondsmen1    
who1 whether through compulsion or      
through submission and  mimicry1 have   
accommodated themselves to the religion 
of their  masters2 through this channel 
these inherited tendencies inundate  the
 world4 ,the feeling of owing a debt to 
the deity has grown  continuously for   
several centuries1 always in the same   
proportion in  which the idea of ,god   
and the consciousness of ,god have grown
 and  become exalted among mankind4     
7,the whole history of ethnic fights1   
victories1 reconciliations1             
amalgamations1 everything1 in fact1     
which  precedes the eventual classing of
 all the social elements in each great  

race-synthesis1 are mirrored in the     
hotch-potch genealogy of their  gods1 in
 the legends of their fights1 victories1
 and reconciliations4  ,progress towards
 universal empires invariably means     
progress towards  universal deities2    
despotism1 with its subjugation of the  
independent  nobility1 always paves the 
way for some system or other of         
monotheism47  ,the appearance of the    
,christian god1 as the record god up to 
this time1  has for that very reason    
brought equally into the world the      
record  amount of guilt consciousness4  
,granted that we have gradually started 
on the reverse movement1 there is no    
little probability in the  deduction1   
based on the continuous decay in the    
belief in the ,christian  god1 to the   
effect that there also already exists a 
considerable  decay in the human        
consciousness of owing 7ought72 in fact1
 we cannot  shut our eyes to the        
prospect of the complete and eventual   
triumph of  atheism freeing mankind from

 all this feeling of obligation to their
  origin1 their causa prima4 ,atheism   
and a kind of second innocence          
complement and supplement each other4   
#ba4    ,so much for my rough and       
preliminary sketch of the interrelation 
of  the ideas ought 7owe7 and duty with 
the postulates of religion4 ,i  have    
intentionally shelved up to the present 
the actual moralisation  of these ideas 
7their being pushed back into the       
conscience1 or more  precisely the      
interweaving of the bad conscience with 
the idea of  ,god71 and at the end of   
the last paragraph used language to the 
effect  that this moralisation did not  
exist1 and that consequently these ideas
  had necessarily come to an end1 by    
reason of what had happened to their    
hypothesis1 the credence in our         
creditor1 in ,god4 ,the actual facts    
differ terribly from this theory4 ,it is
 with the moralisation of the  ideas    
ought and duty1 and with their being    
pushed back into the  bad conscience1   

that comes the first actual attempt to  
reverse the  direction of the           
development we have just described1 or  
at any rate  to arrest its evolution2 it
 is just at this juncture that the very 
hope of an eventual redemption has to   
put itself once for all into  the prison
 of pessimism1 it is at this juncture   
that the eye has to  recoil and rebound 
in despair from off an adamantine       
impossibility1  it is at this juncture  
that the ideas guilt and duty have to   
turn  backwards--turn backwards against 
whom8 ,there is no doubt about  it2     
primarily against the ower1 in whom the 
bad conscience now  establishes itself1 
eats1 extends1 and grows like a polypus 
throughout  its length and breadth1 all 
with such virulence1 that at last1 with 
the impossibility of paying the debt1   
there becomes conceived the  idea of the
 impossibility of paying the penalty1   
the thought of its  inexpiability 7the  
idea of eternal punishment7--finally1   
too1 it  turns against the creditor1    

whether found in the causa prima of     
man1 the origin of the human race1 its  
sire1 who henceforth becomes  burdened  
with a curse 7,adam1 original sin1      
determination of the  will71 or in      
,nature from whose womb man springs1 and
 on whom the  responsibility for the    
principle of evil is now cast           
7,diabolisation of  ,nature71 or in     
existence generally1 on this logic an   
absolute white  elephant1 with which    
mankind is landed 7the ,nihilistic      
flight from  life1 the demand for       
,nothingness1 or for the opposite of    
existence1 for  some other existence1   
,buddhism and the like7--till suddenly  
we stand  before that paradoxical and   
awful expedient1 through which a        
tortured  humanity has found a temporary
 alleviation1 that stroke of genius     
called ,christianity3--,god personally  
immolating himself for the debt of  man1
 ,god paying himself personally out of a
 pound of his own flesh1 ,god  as the   
one being who can deliver man from what 

man had become unable to  deliver       
himself--the creditor playing scapegoat 
for his debtor1 from  love 7can you     
believe it871 from love of his          
debtor6444      #bb4    ,the reader will
 already have conjectured what took     
place on the stage  and behind the      
scenes of this drama4 ,that will for    
self-torture1 that  inverted cruelty of 
the animal man1 who1 turned subjective  
and scared  into introspection 7encaged 
as he was in the ,state1 as part of his 
taming process71 invented the bad       
conscience so as to hurt himself1  after
 the natural outlet for this will to    
hurt1 became blocked--in  other words1  
this man of the bad conscience exploited
 the religious  hypothesis so as to     
carry his martyrdom to the ghastliest   
pitch of  agonised intensity4 ,owing    
something to ,god3 this thought becomes 
his  instrument of torture4 ,he         
apprehends in ,god the most extreme     
antitheses  that he can find to his own 
characteristic and ineradicable animal  

instincts1 he himself gives a new       
interpretation to these animal          
instincts as being against what he owes 
to ,god 7as enmity1 rebellion1  and     
revolt against the ,lord1 the ,father1  
the ,sire1 the ,beginning  of the       
world71 he places himself between the   
horns of the dilemma1  ,god and ,devil4 
,every negation which he is inclined to 
utter to  himself1 to the nature1       
naturalness1 and reality of his being1  
he  whips into an ejaculation of yes1   
uttering it as something existing1      
living1 efficient1 as being ,god1 as the
 holiness of ,god1 the judgment  of     
,god1 as the hangmanship of ,god1 as    
transcendence1 as eternity1 as  unending
 torment1 as hell1 as infinity of       
punishment and guilt4 ,this is  a kind  
of madness of the will in the sphere of 
psychological cruelty  which is         
absolutely unparalleled3--man's will to 
find himself guilty  and blameworthy to 
the point of inexpiability1 his will to 
think of  himself as punished1 without  

the punishment ever being able to       
balance  the guilt1 his will to infect  
and to poison the fundamental basis  of 
the universe with the problem of        
punishment and guilt1 in order to  cut  
off once and for all any escape out of  
this labyrinth of fixed  ideas1 his will
 for rearing an ideal--that of the holy 
,god--face to  face with which he can   
have tangible proof of his own          
un-worthiness4  ,alas for this mad      
melancholy beast man6 ,what phantasies  
invade it1  what paroxysms of           
perversity1 hysterical senselessness1   
and mental  bestiality break out        
immediately1 at the very slightest check
 on its  being the beast of action4 ,all
 this is excessively interesting1 but   
at the same time tainted with a black1  
gloomy1 enervating melancholy1  so that 
a forcible veto must be invoked against 
looking too long into  these abysses4   
,here is disease1 undubitably1 the most 
ghastly disease  that has as yet played 
havoc among men3 and he who can still   

hear 7but  man turns now deaf ears to   
such sounds71 how in this night of      
torment  and nonsense there has rung out
 the cry of love1 the cry of the most   
passionate ecstasy1 of redemption in    
love1 he turns away gripped by  an      
invincible horror--in man there is so   
much that is ghastly--too long  has the 
world been a mad-house4      #bc4       
,let this suffice once for all          
concerning the origin of the holy ,god4 
,the fact that in itself the conception 
of gods is not bound to  lead           
necessarily to this degradation of the  
imagination 7a temporary  representation
 of whose vagaries we felt bound give71 
the fact that  there exist nobler       
methods of utilising the invention of   
gods than in  this self-crucifixion and 
self-degradation of man1 in which the   
last  two thousand years of ,europe have
 been past masters--these facts can     
fortunately be still perceived from     
every glance that we cast at the        
,grecian gods1 these mirrors of noble   

and grandiose men1 in which the  animal 
in man felt itself deified1 and did not 
devour itself in  subjective frenzy4    
,these ,greeks long utilised their gods 
as simple  buffers against the bad      
conscience--so that they could continue 
to enjoy their freedom of soul3 this1 of
 course1 is diametrically  opposed to   
,christianity's theory of its god4 ,they
 went very far on  this principle1 did  
these splendid and lion-hearted         
children2 and  there is no lesser       
authority than that of the ,homeric     
,zeus for making  them realise          
occasionally that they are taking life  
too casually4  ,wonderful1 says he on   
one occasion--it has to do with the case
 of  gistheus1 a very bad case indeed-- 
,wonderful how they grumble1 the mortals
 against the immortals1      ,only from 
us1 they presume1 comes evil1 but in    
their folly1      ,fashion they1 spite  
of fate1 the doom of their own disaster4
    ,yet the reader will note and       
observe that this ,olympian spectator   

and  judge is far from being angry with 
them and thinking evil of them on  this 
score4 ,how foolish they are1 so thinks 
he of the misdeeds  of mortals--and     
folly1 imprudence1 a little brain       
disturbance1  and nothing more1 are what
 the ,greeks1 even of the strongest1    
bravest  period1 have admitted to be the
 ground of much that is evil and        
fatal4--,folly1 not sin1 do you         
understand8444 ,but even this brain     
disturbance was a problem--,come1 how is
 it even possible8 ,how could it  have  
really got in brains like ours1 the     
brains of men of aristocratic  ancestry1
 of men of fortune1 of men of good      
natural endowments1 of  men of the best 
society1 of men of nobility and virtue8 
,this was the  question that for century
 on century the aristocratic ,greek put 
to  himself when confronted with every  
7to him incomprehensible7 outrage  and  
sacrilege with which one of his peers   
had polluted himself4 ,it  must be that 
a god had infatuated him1 he would say  

at last1 nodding  his head4--,this      
solution is typical of the ,greeks1 444 
accordingly  the gods in those times    
subserved the functions of justifying   
man to a  certain extent even in        
evil--in those days they took upon      
themselves  not the punishment1 but1    
what is more noble1 the guilt4      #bd4
    ,i conclude with three queries1 as  
you will see4 ,is an ideal actually  set
 up here1 or is one pulled down8 ,i am  
perhaps asked4444 ,but have  ye         
sufficiently asked yourselves how dear a
 payment has the setting up  of every   
ideal in the world exacted8 ,to achieve 
that consummation how  much truth must  
always be traduced and misunderstood1   
how many lies  must be sanctified1 how  
much conscience has got to be disturbed1
 how  many pounds of ,god have got to be
 sacrificed every time8 ,to enable  a   
sanctuary to be set up a sanctuary has  
got to be destroyed3 that  is a         
law--show me an instance where it has   
not been fulfilled6444  ,we modern men1 

we inherit the immemorial tradition of  
vivisecting  the conscience1 and        
practising cruelty to our animal selves4
 ,that is  the sphere of our most       
protracted training1 perhaps of our     
artistic  prowess1 at any rate of our   
dilettantism and our perverted taste4   
,man  has for too long regarded his     
natural proclivities with an evil eye1  
so that eventually they have become in  
his system affiliated to a  bad         
conscience4 ,a converse endeavour would 
be intrinsically feasible  --but who is 
strong enough to attempt it8--namely1 to
 affiliate to  the bad conscience all   
those unnatural proclivities1 all those 
transcendental aspirations1 contrary to 
sense1 instinct1 nature1 and            
animalism--in short1 all past and       
present ideals1 which are all ideals    
opposed to life1 and traducing the      
world4 ,to whom is one to turn  nowadays
 with such hopes and pretensions8--,it  
is just the good  men that we should    
thus bring about our ears2 and in       

addition1 as  stands to reason1 the     
indolent1 the hedgers1 the vain1 the    
hysterical1  the tired4444 ,what is more
 offensive or more thoroughly calculated
  to alienate1 than giving any hint of  
the exalted severity with which  we     
treat ourselves8 ,and again how         
conciliatory1 how full of love  does all
 the world show itself towards us so    
soon as we do as all  the world docs1   
and let ourselves go like all the world4
 ,for such  a consummation we need      
spirits of different calibre than seems 
really feasible in this age2 spirits    
rendered potent through wars and        
victories1 to whom conquest1 adventure1 
danger1 even pain1 have become  a need2 
for such a consummation we need         
habituation to sharp1 rare air1  to     
winter wanderings1 to literal and       
metaphorical ice and mountains2 we  even
 need a kind of sublime malice1 a       
supreme and most self-conscious         
insolence of knowledge1 which is the    
appanage of great health2 we need  7to  

summarise the awful truth7 just this    
great health6    ,is this even feasible 
to-day8444 ,but some day1 in a stronger 
age  than this rotting and introspective
 present1 must he in sooth come  to us1 
even the redeemer of great love and     
scorn1 the creative  spirit1 rebounding 
by the impetus of his own force back    
again away  from every transcendental   
plane and dimension1 he whose solitude  
is misunderstanded 7sic7 of the people1 
as though it were a flight  from        
reality2--while actually it is only his 
diving1 burrowing1 and  penetrating into
 reality1 so that when he comes again to
 the light  he can at once bring about  
by these means the redemption of this   
reality2 its redemption from the curse  
which the old ideal has laid  upon it4  
,this man of the future1 who in this    
wise will redeem us from  the old ideal1
 as he will from that ideal's necessary 
corollary of  great nausea1 will to     
nothingness1 and ,nihilism2 this tocsin 
of noon  and of the great verdict1 which

 renders the will again free1 who gives 
back to the world its goal and to man   
his hope1 this ,antichrist and          
,antinihilist1 this conqueror of ,god   
and of ,nothingness--he must one  day   
come4      #be4    ,but what am ,i      
talking of8 ,enough6 ,enough8 ,at this  
juncture ,i have  only one proper       
course1 silence3 otherwise tresspass on 
a domain open  alone to one who is      
younger than ,i1 one stronger1 more     
future than  ,i--open alone to          
,zarathustra1 ,zarathustra the godless4 
#a ,the ,german is3 ,sittlichkeit der   
,sitte4 ,h4 ,b4 ,s4    #b ,the ,german  
world schuld means both debt and guilt4 
,cp4 the  ,english owe and ought1 by    
which ,i occasionally render the double 
meaning4--,h4 ,b4 ,s4    #c ,german3    
,verbrecher4--,h4,b4,s4    #d ,an       
allusion to ,der ,zweck im ,recht1 by   
the great ,german jurist1  ,professor   
,ihering4          ,,third ,,essay4     
,,what ,,is ,,the ,,meaning ,,of        
,,ascetic ,,ideals8      ,careless1     

mocking1 forceful--so does wisdom wish  
us3 she is a woman1  and never loves any
 one but a warrior4 ,thus ,spake        
,zarathustra4      #a4    ,what is the  
meaning of ascetic ideals8 ,in artists1 
nothing1 or too  much2 in philosophers  
and scholars1 a kind of flair and       
instinct for  the conditions most       
favourable to advanced intellectualism2 
in women1  at best an additional        
seductive fascination1 a little         
morbidezza  on a fine piece of flesh1   
the angelhood of a fat1 pretty animal2  
in  physiological failures and whiners  
7in the majority of mortals71  an       
attempt to pose as too good for this    
world1 a holy form of  debauchery1 their
 chief weapon in the battle with        
lingering pain and  ennui2 in priests1  
the actual priestly faith1 their best   
engine of  power1 and also the supreme  
authority for power2 in saints1 finally 
a pretext for hibernation1 their        
novissima glori cupido1 their  peace in 
nothingness 7,god71 their form of       

madness4    ,but in the very fact that  
the ascetic ideal has meant so much to  
man1 lies expressed the fundamental     
feature of man's will1 his  horror      
vacui3 he needs a goal--and he will     
sooner will nothingness  than not will  
at all4--,am ,i not understood8--,have  
,i not been  understood8--,certainly    
not1 sir8--,well1 let us begin at the   
beginning4      #b4    ,what is the     
meaning of ascetic ideals8 ,or1 to take 
an individual  case in regard to which  
,i have often been consulted1 what is   
the  meaning1 for example1 of an artist 
like ,richard ,wagner paying homage  to 
chastity in his old age8 ,he had always 
done so1 of course1 in a  certain sense1
 but it was not till quite the end1 that
 he did so in  an ascetic sense4 ,what  
is the meaning of this change of        
attitude1  this radical revolution in   
his attitude--for that was what it was8 
,wagner veered thereby straight round   
into his own opposite4 ,what is  the    
meaning of an artist veering round into 

his own opposite8 ,at  this point       
7granted that we do not mind stopping a 
little over this  question71 we         
immediately call to mind the best1      
strongest1 gayest1  and boldest period1 
that there perhaps ever was in ,wagner's
 life3 that  was the period1 when he was
 genuinely and deeply occupied with the 
idea of ,luther's ,wedding4 ,who knows  
what chance is responsible for  our now 
having the ,meistersingers instead of   
this wedding music8  ,and how much in   
the latter is perhaps just an echo of   
the former8 ,but  there is no doubt but 
that the theme would have dealt with the
 praise  of chastity4 ,and certainly it 
would also have dealt with the praise   
of sensuality1 and even so1 it would    
seem quite in order1 and even  so1 it   
would have been equally ,wagnerian4 ,for
 there is no necessary  antithesis      
between chastity and sensuality3 every  
good marriage1 every  authentic         
heart-felt love transcends this         
antithesis4 ,wagner would1 it  seems to 

me1 have done well to have brought this 
pleasing reality  home once again to his
 ,germans1 by means of a bold and       
graceful ,luther  ,comedy1 for there    
were and are among the ,germans many    
revilers of  sensuality2 and perhaps    
,luther's greatest merit lies just in   
the fact  of his having had the courage 
of his sensuality 7it used to be        
called1 prettily enough1 evangelistic   
freedom 74 ,but even in those  cases    
where that antithesis between chastity  
and sensuality does exist1  there has   
fortunately been for some time no       
necessity for it to be in  any way a    
tragic antithesis4 ,this should1 at any 
rate1 be the case with  all beings who  
are sound in mind and body1 who are far 
from reckoning  their delicate balance  
between animal and angel1 as being on   
the  face of it one of the principles   
opposed to existence--the most subtle   
and brilliant spirits1 such as ,goethe1 
such as ,hafiz1 have even seen  in this 
a further charm of life4 ,such conflicts

 actually allure  one to life4 ,on the  
other hand1 it is only too clear that   
when once  these ruined swine are       
reduced to worshipping chastity--and    
there  are such swine--they only see and
 worship in it the antithesis to        
themselves1 the antithesis to ruined    
swine4 ,oh what a tragic grunting  and  
eagerness6 ,you can just think of       
it--they worship that painful  and      
superfluous contrast1 which ,richard    
,wagner in his latter days  undoubtedly 
wished to set to music1 and to place on 
the stage6 ,for  what purpose1 forsooth8
 as we may reasonably ask4 ,what did the
 swine  matter to him2 what do they     
matter to us8      #c4    ,at this point
 it is impossible to beg the further    
question of what he  really had to do   
with that manly 7ah1 so unmanly7 country
 bumpkin1  that poor devil and natural1 
,parsifal1 whom he eventually made a    
,catholic by such fraudulent devices4   
,what8 ,was this ,parsifal really  meant
 seriously8 ,one might be tempted to    

suppose the contrary1 even  to wish     
it--that the ,wagnerian ,parsifal was   
meant joyously1 like a  concluding play 
of a trilogy or satyric drama1 in which 
,wagner the  tragedian wished to take   
farewell of us1 of himself1 above all of
  tragedy1 and to do so in a manner that
 should be quite fitting and  worthy1   
that is1 with an excess of the most     
extreme and flippant parody  of the     
tragic itself1 of the ghastly earthly   
seriousness and earthly  woe of old--a  
parody of that most crude phase in the  
unnaturalness  of the ascetic ideal1    
that had at length been overcome4 ,that1
 as ,i  have said1 would have been quite
 worthy of a great tragedian2 who like  
every artist first attains the supreme  
pinnacle of his greatness when  he can  
look down into himself and his art1 when
 he can laugh at  himself4 ,is ,wagner's
 ,parsifal his secret laugh of          
superiority over  himself1 the triumph  
of that supreme artistic freedom and    
artistic  transcendency which he has at 

length attained4 ,we might1 ,i repeat1  
wish it were so1 for what can ,parsifal1
 taken seriously1 amount to8  ,is it    
really necessary to see in it 7according
 to an expression once  used against me7
 the product of an insane hate of       
knowledge1 mind1  and flesh8 ,a curse on
 flesh and spirit in one breath of hate8
 ,an  apostasy and reversion to the     
morbid ,christian and obscurantist      
ideals8  ,and finally a self-negation   
and self-elimination on the part of an  
artist1 who till then had devoted all   
the strength of his will to the         
contrary1 namely1 the highest artistic  
expression of soul and body4  ,and not  
only of his art2 of his life as well4   
,just remember with what  enthusiasm    
,wagner followed in the footsteps of    
,feuerbach4 ,feuerbach's  motto of      
healthy sensuality rang in the ears of  
,wagner during the  thirties and forties
 of the century1 as it did in the ears  
of many  ,germans 7they dubbed          
themselves ,young ,germans71 like the   

word of  redemption4 ,did he eventually 
change his mind on the subject8 ,for it 
seems at any rate that he eventually    
wished to change his teaching  on that  
subject 444 and not only is that the    
case with the ,parsifal  trumpets on the
 stage3 in the melancholy1 cramped1 and 
embarrassed  lucubrations of his later  
years1 there are a hundred places in    
which  there are manifestations of a    
secret wish and will1 a despondent1     
uncertain1 unavowed will to preach      
actual retrogression1 conversion1       
,christianity1 medivalism1 and to say to
 his disciples1 ,all is vanity6  ,seek  
salvation elsewhere6 ,even the blood of 
the ,redeemer is once  invoked4      #d4
    ,let me speak out my mind in a case 
like this1 which has many painful       
elements--and it is a typical case3 it  
is certainly best to separate  an artist
 from his work so completely that he    
cannot be taken as  seriously as his    
work4 ,he is after all merely the       
presupposition of  his work1 the womb1  

the soil1 in certain cases the dung and 
manure1  on which and out of which it   
grows--and consequently1 in most cases1 
something that must be forgotten if the 
work itself is to be enjoyed4  ,the     
insight into the origin of a work is a  
matter for psychologists  and           
vivisectors1 but never either in the    
present or the future for the  sthetes1 
the artists4 ,the author and creator of 
,parsifal was as little  spared the     
necessity of sinking and living himself 
into the terrible  depths and           
foundations of medival soul-contrasts1  
the necessity of a  malignant           
abstraction from all intellectual       
elevation1 severity1 and  discipline1   
the necessity of a kind of mental       
perversity 7if the reader  will pardon  
me such a word71 as little as a pregnant
 woman is spared  the horrors and       
marvels of pregnancy1 which1 as ,i have 
said1 must  be forgotten if the child is
 to be enjoyed4 ,we must guard ourselves
  against the confusion1 into which an  

artist himself would fall only  too     
easily 7to employ the ,english          
terminology7 out of psychological       
contiguity2 as though the artist himself
 actually were the object  which he is  
able to represent1 imagine1 and express4
 ,in point of fact1  the position is    
that even if he conceived he were such  
an object1 he  would certainly not      
represent1 conceive1 express it4 ,homer 
would not  have created an ,achilles1   
nor ,goethe a ,faust1 if ,homer had been
 an  ,achilles or if ,goethe had been a 
,faust4 ,a complete and perfect artist  
is to all eternity separated from the   
real1 from the actual2 on the  other    
hand1 it will be appreciated that he can
 at times get tired to  the point of    
despair of this eternal unreality and   
falseness of his  innermost being--and  
that he then sometimes attempts to      
trespass on  to the most forbidden      
ground1 on reality1 and attempts to have
 real  existence4 ,with what success8   
,the success will be guessed--it is the 

typical velleity of the artist2 the same
 velleity to which ,wagner  fell a      
victim in his old age1 and for which he 
had to pay so dearly and  so fatally 7he
 lost thereby his most valuable         
friends74 ,but after all1  quite apart  
from this velleity1 who would not wish  
emphatically for  ,wagner's own sake    
that he had taken farewell of us and of 
his art in a  different manner1 not with
 a ,parsifal1 but in more victorious1   
more  self-confident1 more ,wagnerian   
style--a style less misleading1 a style 
less ambiguous with regard to his whole 
meaning1 less ,schopenhauerian1  less   
,nihilistic8444      #e4    ,what1 then1
 is the meaning of ascetic ideals8 ,in  
the case of an artist  we are getting to
 understand their meaning3 ,nothing at  
all 444 or so  much that it is as good  
as nothing at all4 ,indeed1 what is the 
use of  them8 ,our artists have for a   
long time past not taken up a           
sufficiently  independent attitude1     
either in the world or against it1 to   

warrant  their valuations and the       
changes in these valuations exciting    
interest4  ,at all times they have      
played the valet of some morality1      
philosophy1  or religion1 quite apart   
from the fact that unfortunately they   
have often enough been the inordinately 
supple courtiers of their  clients and  
patrons1 and the inquisitive toadies of 
the powers that  are existing1 or even  
of the new powers to come4 ,to put it at
 the  lowest1 they always need a        
rampart1 a support1 an already          
constituted  authority3 artists never   
stand by themselves1 standing alone is  
opposed  to their deepest instincts4    
,so1 for example1 did ,richard ,wagner  
take1 when the time had come1 the       
philosopher ,schopenhauer for his       
covering man in front1 for his rampart4 
,who would consider it even  thinkable1 
that he would have had the courage for  
an ascetic ideal1  without the support  
afforded him by the philosophy of       
,schopenhauer1  without the authority of

 ,schopenhauer1 which dominated ,europe 
in the  seventies8 7,this is without    
consideration of the question whether an
  artist without the milk#a of an       
orthodoxy would have been possible at   
all47 ,this brings us to the more       
serious question3 ,what is the meaning  
of a real philosopher paying homage to  
the ascetic ideal1 a really             
self-dependent intellect like           
,schopenhauer1 a man and knight with a  
glance of bronze1 who has the courage to
 be himself1 who knows how to  stand    
alone without first waiting for men who 
cover him in front1 and  the nods of his
 superiors8 ,let us now consider at once
 the remarkable  attitude of            
,schopenhauer towards art1 an attitude  
which has even a  fascination for       
certain types4 ,for that is obviously   
the reason why  ,richard ,wagner all at 
once went over to ,schopenhauer         
7persuaded  thereto1 as one knows1 by a 
poet1 ,herwegh71 went over so completely
  that there ensued the cleavage of a   

complete theoretic contradiction        
between his earlier and his later       
sthetic faiths--the earlier1 for        
example1 being expressed in ,opera and  
,drama1 the later in the  writings which
 he published from #ahgj onwards4 ,in   
particular1 ,wagner  from that time     
onwards 7and this is the volte-face     
which alienates us  the most7 had no    
scruples about changing his judgment    
concerning the  value and position of   
music itself4 ,what did he care if up to
 that time  he had made of music a      
means1 a medium1 a woman1 that in order 
to  thrive needed an end1 a man--that   
is1 the drama8 ,he suddenly realised    
that more could be effected by the      
novelty of the ,schopenhauerian  theory 
in majorem music gloriam--that is to    
say1 by means of the  sovereignty of    
music1 as ,schopenhauer understood it2  
music abstracted  from and opposed to   
all the other arts1 music as the        
independent  art-in-itself1 not like the
 other arts1 affording reflections of   

the  phenomenal world1 but rather the   
language of the will itself1 speaking   
straight out of the abyss as its most   
personal1 original1 and direct          
manifestation4 ,this extraordinary rise 
in the value of music 7a rise  which    
seemed to grow out of the               
,schopenhauerian philosophy7 was at     
once accompanied by an unprecedented    
rise in the estimation in which  the    
musician himself was held3 he became now
 an oracle1 a priest1 nay1  more than a 
priest1 a kind of mouthpiece for the    
intrinsic essence  of things1 a         
telephone from the other world--from    
henceforward  he talked not only music1 
did this ventriloquist of ,god1 he      
talked  metaphysic2 what wonder that one
 day he eventually talked ascetic       
ideals4      #f4    ,schopenhauer has   
made use of the ,kantian treatment of   
the sthetic  problem--though he         
certainly did not regard it with the    
,kantian eyes4  ,kant thought that he   
showed honour to art when he favoured   

and placed  in the foreground those of  
the predicates of the beautiful1 which  
constitute the honour of knowledge3     
impersonality and universality4  ,this  
is not the place to discuss whether this
 was not a complete  mistake2 all that  
,i wish to emphasise is that ,kant1 just
 like other  philosophers1 instead of   
envisaging the sthetic problem from the 
standpoint of the experiences of the    
artist 7the creator71 has only          
considered art and beauty from the      
standpoint of the spectator1 and  has   
thereby imperceptibly imported the      
spectator himself into the idea  of the 
beautiful6 ,but if only the philosophers
 of the beautiful had  sufficient       
knowledge of this spectator6--,knowledge
 of him as a great  fact of personality1
 as a great experience1 as a wealth of  
strong and  most individual events1     
desires1 surprises1 and raptures in the 
sphere  of beauty6 ,but1 as ,i feared1  
the contrary was always the case4 ,and  
so  we get from our philosophers1 from  

the very beginning1 definitions  on     
which the lack of a subtler personal    
experience squats like a fat  worm of   
crass error1 as it does on ,kant's      
famous definition of the  beautiful4    
,that is beautiful1 says ,kant1 which   
pleases without  interesting4 ,without  
interesting6 ,compare this definition   
with this  other one1 made by a real    
spectator and artist--by ,stendhal1 who 
once called the beautiful une promesse  
de bonheur4 ,here1 at any rate1  the one
 point which ,kant makes prominent in   
the sthetic position is  repudiated and 
eliminated--le dsintressement4 ,who is  
right1 ,kant  or ,stendhal8 ,when1      
forsooth1 our sthetes never get tired of
 throwing  into the scales in ,kant's   
favour the fact that under the magic of 
beauty men can look at even naked female
 statues without interest1  we can      
certainly laugh a little at their       
expense3--in regard to this  ticklish   
point the experiences of artists are    
more interesting1  and at any rate      

,pygmalion was not necessarily an       
unsthetic man4 ,let  us think all the   
better of the innocence of our sthetes1 
reflected  as it is in such arguments2  
let us1 for instance1 count to ,kant's  
honour the country-parson navet of his  
doctrine concerning the  peculiar       
character of the sense of touch6 ,and   
here we come back to  ,schopenhauer1 who
 stood in much closer neighbourhood to  
the arts  than did ,kant1 and yet never 
escaped outside the pale of the ,kantian
  definition2 how was that8 ,the        
circumstance is marvellous enough3 he   
interprets the expression1 without      
interest1 in the most personal  fashion1
 out of an experience which must in his 
case have been part and  parcel of his  
regular routine4 ,on few subjects does  
,schopenhauer speak  with such certainty
 as on the working of sthetic           
contemplation3 he  says of it that it   
simply counteracts sexual interest1 like
 lupulin  and camphor2 he never gets    
tired of glorifying this escape from    

the ,life-will as the great advantage   
and utility of the sthetic  state4 ,in  
fact1 one is tempted to ask if his      
fundamental conception  of ,will and    
,idea1 the thought that there can only  
exist freedom from  the will by means of
 idea1 did not originate in a           
generalisation  from this sexual        
experience4 7,in all questions          
concerning the  ,schopenhauerian        
philosophy1 one should1 by the bye1     
never lose sight of  the consideration  
that it is the conception of a youth of 
twenty-six1  so that it participates not
 only in what is peculiar to            
,schopenhauer's  life1 but in what is   
peculiar to that special period of his  
life47  ,let us listen1 for instance1 to
 one of the most expressive among the   
countless passages which he has written 
in honour of the sthetic  state 7,world 
as ,will and ,idea1 i4 #bca72 let us    
listen to the tone1  the suffering1 the 
happiness1 the gratitude1 with which    
such words  are uttered3 ,this is the   

painless state which ,epicurus praised  
as  the highest good and as the state of
 the gods2 we are during that  moment   
freed from the vile pressure of the     
will1 we celebrate the  ,sabbath of the 
will's hard labour1 the wheel of ,ixion 
stands still4  ,what vehemence of       
language6 ,what images of anguish and   
protracted  revulsion6 ,how almost      
pathological is that temporal antithesis
 between  that moment and everything    
else1 the wheel of ,ixion1 the hard     
labour of the will1 the vile pressure of
 the will4 ,but granted  that           
,schopenhauer was a hundred times right 
for himself personally1  how does that  
help our insight into the nature of the 
beautiful8  ,schopenhauer has described 
one effect of the beautiful1--the       
calming  of the will1--but is this      
effect really normal8 ,as has been      
mentioned1  ,stendhal1 an equally       
sensual but more happily constituted    
nature than  ,schopenhauer1 gives       
prominence to another effect of the     

beautiful4  ,the beautiful promises     
happiness4 ,to him it is just the       
excitement  of the will7the interest7 by
 the beauty that seems the essential    
fact4 ,and does not ,schopenhauer       
ultimately lay himself open to the      
objection1 that he is quite wrong in    
regarding himself as a ,kantian on  this
 point1 that he has absolutely failed to
 understand in a ,kantian  sense the    
,kantian definition of the              
beautiful--2that the beautiful  pleased 
him as well by means of an interest1 by 
means1 in fact1 of the  strongest and   
most personal interest of all1 that3 of 
the victim of  torture who escapes from 
his torture8--,and to come back again to
 our  first question1 ,what is the      
meaning of a philosopher paying homage  
to  ascetic ideals8 ,we get now1 at any 
rate1 a first hint2 he wishes to  escape
 from a torture4      #g4    ,let us    
beware of making dismal faces at the    
word torture--there is  certainly in    
this case enough to deduct1 enough to   

discount--there is  even something to   
laugh at4 ,for we must certainly not    
underestimate  the fact that            
,schopenhauer1 who in practice treated  
sexuality as  a personal enemy          
7including its tool1 woman1 that        
instrumentum  diaboli71 needed enemies  
to keep him in a good humour2 that he   
loved  grim1 bitter1 blackish-green     
words2 that he raged for the sake of    
raging1 out of passion2 that he would   
have grown ill1 would have become  a    
pessimist 7for he was not a pessimist1  
however much he wished to  be71 without 
his enemies1 without ,hegel1 woman1     
sensuality1 and the  whole will for     
existence keeping on4 ,without them     
,schopenhauer  would not have kept on1  
that is a safe wager2 he would have run 
away3  but his enemies held him fast1   
his enemies always enticed him back     
again to existence1 his wrath was just  
as theirs' was to the ancient  ,cynics1 
his balm1 his recreation1 his           
recompense1 his remedium  against       

disgust1 his happiness4 ,so much with   
regard to what is most  personal in the 
case of ,schopenhauer2 on the other     
hand1 there is  still much which is     
typical in him--and only now we come    
back to our  problem4 ,it is an accepted
 and indisputable fact1 so long as there
  are philosophers in the world and     
wherever philosophers have existed      
7from ,india to ,england1 to take the   
opposite poles of philosophic  ability71
 that there exists a real irritation and
 rancour on the part  of philosophers   
towards sensuality4 ,schopenhauer is    
merely the most  eloquent1 and if one   
has the ear for it1 also the most       
fascinating  and enchanting outburst4   
,there similarly exists a real          
philosophic  bias and affection for the 
whole ascetic ideal2 there should be no 
illusions on this score4 ,both these    
feelings1 as has been said1 belong  to  
the type2 if a philosopher lacks both of
 them1 then he is--you may  be certain  
of it--never anything but a pseudo4     

,what does this mean8  ,for this state  
of affairs must first be1 interpreted3  
in itself it  stands there stupid1 to   
all eternity1 like any ,thing-in-itself4
 ,every  animal1 including la bte       
philosophe1 strives instinctively after 
an  optimum of favourable conditions1   
under which he can let his whole        
strength have play1 and achieves his    
maximum consciousness of power2  with   
equal instinctiveness1 and with a fine  
perceptive flair which is  superior to  
any reason1 every animal shudders       
mortally at every kind  of disturbance  
and hindrance which obstructs or could  
obstruct his way  to that optimum 7it is
 not his way to happiness of which ,i am
 talking1  but his way to power1 to     
action1 the most powerful action1 and in
  point of fact in many cases his way to
 unhappiness74 ,similarly1 the          
philosopher shudders mortally at        
bmarriage_/b1 together with all  that   
could persuade him to it--marriage as a 
fatal hindrance on the  way to the      

optimum4 ,up to the present what great  
philosophers have  been married8        
,heracleitus1 ,plato1 ,descartes1       
,spinoza1 ,leibnitz1 ,kant1             
,schopenhauer--they were not married1   
and1 further1 one cannot imagine  them  
as married4 ,a married philosopher      
belongs to comedy1 that is  my rule2 as 
for that exception of a ,socrates--the  
malicious ,socrates  married himself1 it
 seems1 ironice1 just to prove this very
 rule4  ,every philosopher would say1 as
 ,buddha said1 when the birth of a son  
was announced to him3 ,rhoula has been  
born to me1 a fetter has been  forged   
for me 7,rhoula means here a little     
demon72 there must come  an hour of     
reflection to every free spirit 7granted
 that he has had  previously an hour of 
thoughtlessness71 just as one came once 
to the  same ,buddha3 ,narrowly cramped1
 he reflected1 is life in the house2  it
 is a place of uncleanness2 freedom is  
found in leaving the house4  ,because he
 thought like this1 he left the house4  

,so many bridges to  independence are   
shown in the ascetic idea1 that the     
philosopher  cannot refrain from        
exultation and clapping of hands when he
 hears  the history of all those        
resolute ones1 who on one day uttered a 
nay  to all servitude and went into some
 desert2 even granting that they  were  
only strong asses1 and the absolute     
opposite of strong minds4  ,what1 then1 
does the ascetic ideal mean in a        
philosopher8 ,this is my  answer--it    
will have been guessed long ago3 when he
 sees this ideal  the philosopher smiles
 because he sees therein an optimum of  
the  conditions of the highest and      
boldest intellectuality2 he does not    
thereby deny existence1 he rather       
affirms thereby his existence  and only 
his existence1 and this perhaps to the  
point of not being  far off the         
blasphemous wish1 pereat mundus1 fiat   
philosophia1 fiat  philosophus1 fiam6   
#h4    ,these philosophers1 you see1 are
 by no means uncorrupted witnesses and  

judges of the value of the ascetic      
ideal4 ,they think of themselves  --what
 is the saint to them8 ,they think of   
that which to them  personally is most  
indispensable2 of freedom from          
compulsion1  disturbance1 noise3 freedom
 from business1 duties1 cares2 of clear 
head2 of the dance1 spring1 and flight  
of thoughts2 of good air--rare1  clear1 
free1 dry1 as is the air on the heights1
 in which every animal  creature becomes
 more intellectual and gains wings2 they
 think of  peace in every cellar2 all   
the hounds neatly chained2 no baying of 
enmity and uncouth rancour2 no remorse  
of wounded ambition2 quiet  and         
submissive internal organs1 busy as     
mills1 but unnoticed2 the  heart alien1 
transcendent1 future1 posthumous--to    
summarise1 they  mean by the ascetic    
ideal the joyous asceticism of a deified
 and  newly fledged animal1 sweeping    
over life rather than resting4 ,we know 
what are the three great catch-words of 
the ascetic ideal3 poverty1  humility1  

chastity2 and now just look closely at  
the life of all  the great fruitful     
inventive spirits--you will always find 
again  and again these three qualities  
up to a certain extent4 ,not for a      
minute1 as is self-evident1 as though1  
perchance1 they were part of  their     
virtues--what has this type of man to do
 with virtues8--but as  the most        
essential and natural conditions of     
their best existence1  their finest     
fruitfulness4 ,in this connection it is 
quite possible  that their predominant  
intellectualism had first to curb an    
unruly and  irritable pride1 or an      
insolent sensualism1 or that it had all 
its  work cut out to maintain its wish  
for the desert against perhaps  an      
inclination to luxury and dilettantism1 
or similarly against an  extravagant    
liberality of heart and hand4 ,but their
 intellect did  effect all this1 simply 
because it was the dominant instinct1   
which  carried through its orders in the
 case of all the other instincts4  ,it  

effects it still2 if it ceased to do so1
 it would simply not be  dominant4 ,but 
there is not one iota of virtue in all  
this4 ,further1  the desert1 of which ,i
 just spoke1 in which the strong1       
independent1  and well-equipped spirits 
retreat into their hermitage--oh1 how   
different is it from the cultured       
classes' dream of a desert6 ,in  certain
 cases1 in fact1 the cultured classes   
themselves are the desert4  ,and it is  
certain that all the actors of the      
intellect would not endure  this desert 
for a minute4 ,it is nothing like       
romantic and ,syrian enough  for them1  
nothing like enough of a stage desert6  
,here as well there  are plenty of      
asses1 but at this point the resemblance
 ceases4 ,but a  desert nowadays is     
something like this--perhaps a          
deliberate obscurity2  a getting-out-of 
the way of one's self2 a fear of noise1 
admiration1  papers1 influence2 a little
 office1 a daily task1 something that   
hides  rather than brings to light2     

sometimes associating with harmless1    
cheerful beasts and fowls1 the sight of 
which refreshes2 a mountain for         
company1 but not a dead one1 one with   
eyes 7that is1 with lakes72  in certain 
cases even a room in a crowded hotel    
where one can reckon  on not being      
recognised1 and on being able to talk   
with impunity to  every one3 here is the
 desert--oh1 it is lonely enough1       
believe me6  ,i grant that when         
,heracleitus retreated to the courts and
 cloisters  of the colossal temple of   
,artemis1 that wilderness was worthier2 
why do we lack such temples8 7perchance 
we do not lack them3 ,i just  think of  
my splendid study in the ,piazza di ,san
 ,marco1 in spring1 of  course1 and in  
the morning1 between ten and twelve74   
,but that which  ,heracleitus shunned is
 still just what we too avoid nowadays3 
the  noise and democratic babble of the 
,ephesians1 their politics1 their  news 
from the empire 7,i mean1 of course1    
,persia71 their market-trade  in the    

things of to-day --for there is one     
thing from which we  philosophers       
especially need a rest--from the things 
of to-day4 ,we  honour the silent1 the  
cold1 the noble1 the far1 the past1     
everything1  in fact1 at the sight of   
which the soul is not bound to brace    
itself up  and defend itself--something 
with which one can speak without        
speaking  aloud4 ,just listen now to the
 tone a spirit has when it speaks2 every
  spirit has its own tone and loves its 
own tone4 ,that thing yonder1 for       
instance1 is bound to be an agitator1   
that is1 a hollow head1 a hollow  mug3  
whatever may go into him1 everything    
comes back from him dull and  thick1    
heavy with the echo of the great void4  
,that spirit yonder nearly  always      
speaks hoarse3 has he1 perchance1       
thought himself hoarse8  ,it may be     
so--ask the physiologists--but he who   
thinks in words1  thinks as a speaker   
and not as a thinker 7it shows that he  
does not  think of objects or think     

objectively1 but only of his relations  
with objects--that1 in point of fact1 he
 only thinks of himself and  his        
audience74 ,this third one speaks       
aggressively1 he comes too near  our    
body1 his breath blows on us--we shut   
our mouth involuntarily1  although he   
speaks to us through a book3 the tone of
 his style supplies  the reason--he has 
no time1 he has small faith in himself1 
he finds  expression now or never4 ,but 
a spirit who is sure of himself speaks  
softly2 he seeks secrecy1 he lets       
himself be awaited1 ,a philosopher  is  
recognised by the fact that he shuns    
three brilliant and noisy  things--fame1
 princes1 and women3 which is not to say
 that they do not  come to him4 ,he     
shuns every glaring light3 therefore he 
shuns his time  and its daylight4       
,therein he is as a shadow2 the deeper  
sinks the  sun1 the greater grows the   
shadow4 ,as for his humility1 he        
endures1 as  he endures darkness1 a     
certain dependence and obscurity3       

further1 he is  afraid of the shock of  
lightning1 he shudders at the insecurity
 of a  tree which is too isolated and   
too exposed1 on which every storm vents 
its temper1 every temper its storm4 ,his
 maternal instinct1 his secret  love for
 that which grows in him1 guides him    
into states where he is  relieved from  
the necessity of taking care of himself1
 in the same  way in which the mother   
instinct in woman has thoroughly        
maintained  up to the present woman's   
dependent position4 ,after all1 they    
demand  little enough1 do these         
philosophers1 their favourite motto is1 
,he  who possesses is possessed4 ,all   
this is not1 as ,i must say again  and  
again1 to be attributed to a virtue1 to 
a meritorious wish for  moderation and  
simplicity2 but because their supreme   
lord so demands  of them1 demands wisely
 and inexorably2 their lord who is eager
 only  for one thing1 for which alone he
 musters1 and for which alone he  hoards
 everything--time1 strength1 love1      

interest4 ,this kind of man  likes not  
to be disturbed by enmity1 he likes not 
to be disturbed by  friendship1 it is a 
type which forgets or despises easily4  
,it strikes  him as bad form to play the
 martyr1 to suffer for truth--he leaves 
all that to the ambitious and to the    
stage-heroes of the intellect1  and to  
all those1 in fact1 who have time enough
 for such luxuries  7they themselves1   
the philosophers1 have something to do  
for truth74  ,they make a sparing use of
 big words2 they are said to be adverse 
to  the word truth itself3 it has a high
 falutin' ring4 ,finally1 as  far as the
 chastity of philosophers is concerned1 
the fruitfulness  of this type of mind  
is manifestly in another sphere than    
that of  children2 perchance in some    
other sphere1 too1 they have the        
survival  of their name1 their little   
immortality 7philosophers in ancient    
,india would express themselves with    
still greater boldness3 ,of what  use is
 posterity to him whose soul is the     

world874 ,in this attitude  there is not
 a trace of chastity1 by reason of any  
ascetic scruple or  hatred of the flesh1
 any more than it is chastity for an    
athlete or a  jockey to abstain from    
women2 it is rather the will of the     
dominant  instinct1 at any rate1 during 
the period of their advanced philosophic
  pregnancy4 ,every artist knows the    
harm done by sexual intercourse  on     
occasions of great mental strain and    
preparation2 as far as the  strongest   
artists and those with the surest       
instincts are concerned1  this is not   
necessarily a case of experience--hard  
experience--but it  is simply their     
maternal instinct which1 in order to    
benefit the  growing work1 disposes     
recklessly 7beyond all its normal stocks
 and  supplies7 of the vigour of its    
animal life2 the greater power then     
absorbs the lesser4 ,let us now apply   
this interpretation to gauge  correctly 
the case of ,schopenhauer1 which we have
 already mentioned3 in  his case1 the   

sight of the beautiful acted manifestly 
like a resolving  irritant on the chief 
power of his nature 7the power of       
contemplation  and of intense           
penetration72 so that this strength     
exploded and became  suddenly master of 
his consciousness4 ,but this by no means
 excludes  the possibility of that      
particular sweetness and fulness1 which 
is  peculiar to the sthetic state1      
springing directly from the ingredient  
of sensuality 7just as that idealism    
which is peculiar to girls at  puberty  
originates in the same source7--it may  
be1 consequently1 that  sensuality is   
not removed by the approach of the      
sthetic state1 as  ,schopenhauer        
believed1 but merely becomes            
transfigured1 and ceases to  enter into 
the consciousness as sexual excitement4 
7,i shall return once  again to this    
point in connection with the more       
delicate problems of  the physiology of 
the sthetic1 a subject which up to the  
present has  been singularly untouched  

and unelucidated47      #i4    ,a       
certain asceticism1 a grimly gay        
whole-hearted renunciation1 is1 as  we  
have seen1 one of the most favourable   
conditions for the highest              
intellectualism1 and1 consequently1 for 
the most natural corollaries  of such   
intellectualism3 we shall therefore be  
proof against any  surprise at the      
philosophers in particular always       
treating the ascetic  ideal with a      
certain amount of predilection4 ,a      
serious historical  investigation shows 
the bond between the ascetic ideal and  
philosophy  to be still much tighter and
 still much stronger4 ,it may be said   
that  it was only in the leading strings
 of this ideal that philosophy  really  
learnt to make its first steps and baby 
paces--alas how  clumsily1 alas how     
crossly1 alas how ready to tumble down  
and lie on  its stomach was this shy    
little darling of a brat with its bandy 
legs6  ,the early history of philosophy 
is like that of all good things2--for a 

long time they had not the courage to be
 themselves1 they kept always  looking  
round to see if no one would come to    
their help2 further1 they  were afraid  
of all who looked at them4 ,just        
enumerate in order the  particular      
tendencies and virtues of the           
philosopher--his tendency to  doubt1 his
 tendency to deny1 his tendency to wait 
7to be ephectic71  his tendency to      
analyse1 search1 explore1 dare1 his     
tendency to compare  and to equalise1   
his will to be neutral and objective1   
his will for  everything which is sine  
ira et studio3--has it yet been realised
  that for quite a lengthy period these 
tendencies went counter to the  first   
claims of morality and conscience8 7,to 
say nothing at all of  ,reason1 which   
even ,luther chose to call ,frau        
,klglin1#b the sly  whore47 ,has it been
 yet appreciated that a philosopher1 in 
the event  of his arriving at           
self-consciousness1 must needs feel     
himself an  incarnate nitimur in        

vetitum--and consequently guard himself 
against  his own sensations1 against    
self-consciousness8 ,it is1 ,i repeat1  
just  the same with all good things1 on 
which we now pride ourselves2 even      
judged by the standard of the ancient   
,greeks1 our whole modern life1  in so  
far as it is not weakness1 but power and
 the consciousness of  power1 appears   
pure ,hybris and godlessness3 for the   
things which are  the very reverse of   
those which we honour to-day1 have had  
for a long  time conscience on their    
side1 and ,god as their guardian4       
,hybris  is our whole attitude to nature
 nowadays1 our violation of nature  with
 the help of machinery1 and all the     
unscrupulous ingenuity of our           
scientists and engineers4 ,hybris is our
 attitude to ,god1 that is1 to  some    
alleged teleological and ethical spider 
behind the meshes of the  great trap of 
the causal web4 ,like ,charles the ,bold
 in his war with  ,louis the ,eleventh1 
we may say1 je combats l'universelle    

araigne2  ,hybris is our attitude to    
ourselves--for we experiment with       
ourselves  in a way that we would not   
allow with any animal1 and with pleasure
  and curiosity open our soul in our    
living body3 what matters now to  us the
 salvation of the soul8 ,we heal        
ourselves afterwards3 being  ill is     
instructive1 we doubt it not1 even more 
instructive than being                  
well--inoculators of disease seem to us 
to-day even more necessary  than any    
medicine-men and saviours4 ,there is no 
doubt we do violence  to ourselves      
nowadays1 we crackers of the soul's     
kernel1 we incarnate  riddles1 who are  
ever asking riddles1 as though life were
 naught else  than the cracking of a    
nut2 and even thereby must we           
necessarily become  day by day more and 
more worthy to be asked questions and   
worthy to ask  them1 even thereby do we 
perchance also become worthier to--live8
    444 ,all good things were once bad  
things2 from every original sin has     

grown an original virtue4 ,marriage1 for
 example1 seemed for a long time  a sin 
against the rights of the community2 a  
man formerly paid a fine  for the       
insolence of claiming one woman to      
himself 7to this phase  belongs1 for    
instance1 the jus prim noctis1 to-day   
still in ,cambodia  the privilege of the
 priest1 that guardian of the good old  
customs74    ,the soft1 benevolent1     
yielding1 sympathetic                   
feelings--eventually valued  so highly  
that they almost became intrinsic       
values1 were for a very  long time      
actually despised by their possessors3  
gentleness was then  a subject for      
shame1 just as hardness is now 7compare 
,beyond ,good  and ,evil1 ,aph4 #bfj74  
,the submission to law3 oh1 with what   
qualms of  conscience was it that the   
noble races throughout the world        
renounced  the vendetta and gave the law
 power over themselves6 ,law was long a 
vetitum1 a blasphemy1 an innovation2 it 
was introduced with force1  like a      

force1 to which men only submitted with 
a sense of personal  shame4 ,every tiny 
step forward in the world was formerly  
made at  the cost of mental and physical
 torture4 ,nowadays the whole of this   
point of view--that not only stepping   
forward1 nay1 stepping at all1          
movement1 change1 all needed their      
countless martyrs1 rings in our  ears   
quite strangely4 ,i have put it forward 
in the ,dawn of ,day1 ,aph4  #ah4       
,nothing is purchased more dearly1 says 
the same book a little  later1 than the 
modicum of human reason and freedom     
which is now our  pride4 ,but that pride
 is the reason why it is now almost     
impossible  for us to feel in sympathy  
with those immense periods of the       
',morality  of ,custom1' which lie at   
the beginning of the 'world's history1' 
constituting as they do the real        
decisive historical principle which  has
 fixed the character of humanity2 those 
periods1 ,i repeat1 when  throughout the
 world suffering passed for virtue1     

cruelty for virtue1  deceit for virtue1 
revenge for virtue1 repudiation of the  
reason for  virtue2 and when1           
conversely1 well-being passed current   
for danger1 the  desire for knowledge   
for danger1 pity for danger1 peace for  
danger1  being pitied for shame1 work   
for shame1 madness for divinity1 and    
change for immorality and incarnate     
corruption6      #aj4    ,there is in   
the same book1 ,aph4 #ab1 an explanation
 of the burden  of unpopularity under   
which the earliest race of contemplative
 men  had to live--despised almost as   
widely as they were first feared6       
,contemplation first appeared on earth  
in a disguised shape1 in an  ambiguous  
form1 with an evil heart and often with 
an uneasy head3  there is no doubt about
 it4 ,the inactive1 brooding1 unwarlike 
element  in the instincts of            
contemplative men long invested them    
with a cloud  of suspicion3 the only way
 to combat this was to excite a definite
  fear4 ,and the old ,brahmans1 for     

example1 knew to a nicety how to do     
this6 ,the oldest philosophers were well
 versed in giving to their very         
existence and appearance1 meaning1      
firmness1 background1 by reason  whereof
 men learnt to fear them2 considered    
more precisely1 they  did this from an  
even more fundamental need1 the need of 
inspiring  in themselves fear and       
self-reverence4 ,for they found even in 
their  own souls all the valuations     
turned against themselves2 they had  to 
fight down every kind of suspicion and  
antagonism against the  philosophic     
element in themselves4 ,being men of a  
terrible age1  they did this with       
terrible means3 cruelty to themselves1  
ingenious  self-mortification--this was 
the chief method of these ambitious     
hermits and intellectual                
revolutionaries1 who were obliged to    
force  down the gods and the traditions 
of their own soul1 so as to enable      
themselves to believe in their own      
revolution4 ,i remember the famous      

story of the ,king ,vicvamitra1 who1 as 
the result of a thousand years  of      
self-martyrdom1 reached such a          
consciousness of power and such a       
confidence in himself that he undertook 
to build a new heaven3 the  sinister    
symbol of the oldest and newest history 
of philosophy in the  whole world4      
,every one who has ever built anywhere a
 new heaven  first found the power      
thereto in his own hell44 44 ,let us    
compress  the facts into a short        
formula4 ,the philosophic spirit had1 in
 order  to be possible to any extent at 
all1 to masquerade and disguise  itself 
as one of the previously fixed types of 
the contemplative  man1 to disguise     
itself as priest1 wizard1 soothsayer1 as
 a religious  man generally3 the ascetic
 ideal has for a long time served the   
philosopher as a superficial form1 as a 
condition which enabled him  to exist4  
44 4 ,to be able to be a philosopher he 
had to exemplify the  ideal2 to         
exemplify it1 he was bound to believe in

 it4 ,the peculiarly  etherealised      
abstraction of philosophers1 with their 
negation of the  world1 their enmity to 
life1 their disbelief in the senses1    
which has  been maintained up to the    
most recent time1 and has almost thereby
 come  to be accepted as the ideal      
philosophic attitude--this abstraction  
is the result of those enforced         
conditions under which philosophy  came 
into existence1 and continued to exist2 
inasmuch as for quite  a very long time 
philosophy would have been absolutely   
impossible  in the world without an     
ascetic cloak and dress1 without an     
ascetic  self-misunderstanding4         
,expressed plainly and palpably1 the    
ascetic  priest has taken the repulsive 
and sinister form of the caterpillar1   
beneath which and behind which alone    
philosophy could live and slink  about44
 44    ,has all that really changed8    
,has that flamboyant and dangerous      
winged  creature1 that spirit which that
 caterpillar concealed within itself1   

has it1 ,i say1 thanks to a sunnier1    
warmer1 lighter world1 really  and      
finally flung off its hood and escaped  
into the light8 ,can we  to-day point to
 enough pride1 enough daring1 enough    
courage1 enough  self-confidence1 enough
 mental will1 enough will for           
responsibility1  enough freedom of the  
will1 to enable the philosopher to be   
now in the  world really--possible8     
#aa4    ,and now1 after we have caught  
sight of the ascetic priest1 let us     
tackle our problem4 ,what is the meaning
 of the ascetic ideal8 ,it now  first   
becomes serious--vitally serious4 ,we   
are now confronted with the  real       
representatives of the serious4 ,what is
 the meaning of all  seriousness8 ,this 
even more radical question is perchance 
already  on the tip of our tongue3 a    
question1 fairly1 for physiologists1 but
  which we for the time being skip4 ,in 
that ideal the ascetic priest  finds not
 only his faith1 but also his will1 his 
power1 his interest4  ,his right to     

existence stands and falls with that    
ideal4 ,what wonder  that we here run up
 against a terrible opponent 7on the    
supposition1  of course1 that we are the
 opponents of that ideal71 an opponent  
fighting for his life against those who 
repudiate that ideal64 44 ,on  the other
 hand1 it is from the outset improbable 
that such a biased  attitude towards our
 problem will do him any particular     
good2 the  ascetic priest himself will  
scarcely prove the happiest champion of 
his own ideal 7on the same principle on 
which a woman usually fails  when she   
wishes to champion woman7--let alone    
proving the most  objective critic and  
judge of the controversy now raised4 ,we
 shall  therefore--so much is already   
obvious--rather have actually to help   
him to defend himself properly against  
ourselves1 than we shall have  to fear  
being too well beaten by him4 ,the idea1
 which is the subject  of this dispute1 
is the value of our life from the       
standpoint of the  ascetic priests3 this

 life1 then 7together with the whole of 
which it  is a part1 ,nature1 the world1
 the whole sphere of becoming and       
passing away71 is placed by them in     
relation to an existence of quite       
another character1 which it excludes and
 to which it is opposed1 unless  it deny
 its own self3 in this case1 the case of
 an ascetic life1  life is taken as a   
bridge to another existence4 ,the       
ascetic treats  life as a maze1 in which
 one must walk backwards till one comes 
to the  place where it starts2 or he    
treats it as an error which one may1 nay
  must1 refute by action3 for he demands
 that he should be followed2  he        
enforces1 where he can1 his valuation of
 existence4 ,what does this  mean8 ,such
 a monstrous valuation is not an        
exceptional case1 or a  curiosity       
recorded in human history3 it is one of 
the most general  and persistent facts  
that there are4 ,the reading from the   
vantage  of a distant star of the       
capital letters of our earthly life1    

would  perchance lead to the conclusion 
that the earth was the especially       
ascetic planet1 a den of discontented1  
arrogant1 and repulsive  creatures1 who 
never got rid of a deep disgust of      
themselves1 of the  world1 of all life1 
and did themselves as much hurt as      
possible out  of pleasure in            
hurting--presumably their one and only  
pleasure4 ,let  us consider how         
regularly1 how universally1 how         
practically at every  single period the 
ascetic priest puts in his appearance3  
he belongs to  no particular race2 he   
thrives everywhere2 he grows out of all 
classes4  ,not that he perhaps bred this
 valuation by heredity and propagated   
it--the contrary is the case4 ,it must  
be a necessity of the first order  which
 makes this species1 hostile1 as it is1 
to life1 always grow  again and always  
thrive again4--,life itself must        
certainly have an  interest in the      
continuance of such a type of           
self-contradiction4 ,for  an ascetic    

life is a self-contradiction3 here rules
 resentment without  parallel1 the      
resentment of an insatiate instinct and 
ambition1 that  would be master1 not    
over some element in life1 but over life
 itself1  over life's deepest1          
strongest1 innermost conditions2 here is
 an  attempt made to utilise power to   
dam the sources of power2 here does  the
 green eye of jealousy turn even against
 physiological well-being1  especially  
against the expression of such          
well-being1 beauty1 joy2  while a sense 
of pleasure is experienced and sought in
 abortion1 in  decay1 in pain1 in       
misfortune1 in ugliness1 in voluntary   
punishment1  in the exercising1         
flagellation1 and sacrifice of the self4
 ,all this  is in the highest degree    
paradoxical3 we are here confronted with
 a  rift that wills itself to be a rift1
 which enjoys itself in this  very      
suffering1 and even becomes more and    
more certain of itself1  more and more  
triumphant1 in proportion as its own    

presupposition1  physiological vitality1
 decreases4 ,the triumph just in the    
supreme  agony 3 under this extravagant 
emblem did the ascetic ideal fight from 
of old2 in this mystery of seduction1 in
 this picture of rapture and  torture1  
it recognised its brightest light1 its  
salvation1 its final  victory4 ,crux1   
nux1 lux--it has all these three in one4
      #ab4    ,granted that such an     
incarnate will for contradiction and    
unnaturalness  is induced to            
philosophise2 on what will it vent its  
pet caprice8  ,on that which has been   
felt with the greatest certainty to be  
true1  to be real2 it will look for     
error in those very places where the    
life instinct fixes truth with the      
greatest positiveness4 ,it will1 for    
instance1 after the example of the      
ascetics of the ,vedanta ,philosophy1   
reduce matter to an illusion1 and       
similarly treat pain1 multiplicity1  the
 whole logical contrast of ,subject and 
,object--errors1  nothing but errors6   

,to renounce the belief in one's own    
ego1 to  deny to one's self one's own   
reality--what a triumph6 and here       
already we have a much higher kind of   
triumph1 which is not merely  a triumph 
over the senses1 over the palpable1 but 
an infliction of  violence and cruelty  
on reason2 and this ecstasy culminates  
in the  ascetic self-contempt1 the      
ascetic scorn of one's own reason making
  this decree3 there is a domain of     
truth and of life1 but reason is        
specially excluded therefrom44 44 ,by   
the bye1 even in the ,kantian  idea of  
the intellegible character of things    
there remains a trace  of that schism1  
so dear to the heart of the ascetic1    
that schism  which likes to turn reason 
against reason2 in fact1 intelligible   
character means in ,kant a kind of      
quality in things of which the          
intellect comprehends this much1 that   
for it1 the intellect1 it is  absolutely
 incomprehensible4 ,after all1 let us1  
in our character  of knowers1 not be    

ungrateful towards such determined      
reversals of  the ordinary perspectives 
and values1 with which the mind had for 
too long raged against itself with an   
apparently futile sacrilege6  ,in the   
same way the very seeing of another     
vista1 the very wishing  to see another 
vista1 is no little training and        
preparation of the  intellect for its   
eternal ,objectivity--objectivity being 
understood  not as contemplation without
 interest 7for that is inconceivable    
and non-sensical71 but as the ability to
 have the pros and cons in  one's power 
and to switch them on and off1 so as to 
get to know how  to utilise1 for the    
advancement of knowledge1 the difference
 in  the perspective and in the         
emotional interpretations4 ,but let us1 
forsooth1 my philosophic colleagues1    
henceforward guard ourselves more       
carefully against this mythology of     
dangerous ancient ideas1 which has  set 
up a pure1 will-less1 painless1 timeless
 subject of knowledge2  let us guard    

ourselves from the tentacles of such    
contradictory ideas  as pure reason1    
absolute spirituality1                  
knowledge-in-itself3--in  these theories
 an eye that cannot be thought of is    
required to think1  an eye which ex     
hypothesi has no direction at all1 an   
eye in which  the active and            
interpreting functions are cramped1 are 
absent2 those  functions1 ,i say1 by    
means of which abstract seeing first    
became  seeing something2 in these      
theories consequently the absurd and the
  non-sensical is always demanded of the
 eye4 ,there is only a seeing  from a   
perspective1 only a knowing from a      
perspective1 and the more  emotions we  
express over a thing1 the more eyes1    
different eyes1 we  train on the same   
thing1 the more complete will be our    
idea of that  thing1 our objectivity4   
,but the elimination of the will        
altogether1  the switching off of the   
emotions all and sundry1 granted that we
 could  do so1 what6 would not that be  

called intellectual castration8         
#ac4    ,but let us turn back4 ,such a  
self-contradiction1 as apparently       
manifests itself among the ascetics1    
,life turned against ,life1  is--this   
much is absolutely obvious--from the    
physiological and not now  from the     
psychological standpoint1 simply        
nonsense4 ,it can only be an  apparent  
contradiction2 it must be a kind of     
provisional expression1 an  explanation1
 a formula1 an adjustment1 a            
psychological misunderstanding  of      
something1 whose real nature could not  
be understood for a long  time1 and     
whose real essence could not be         
described2 a mere word  jammed into an  
old gap of human knowledge4 ,to put     
briefly the  facts against its being    
real3 the ascetic ideal springs from the
  prophylactic and self-preservative    
instincts which mark a decadent  life1  
which seeks by every means in its power 
to maintain its position  and fight for 
its existence2 it points to a partial   

physiological  depression and           
exhaustion1 against which the most      
profound and intact  life-instincts     
fight ceaselessly with new weapons and  
discoveries4 ,the  ascetic ideal is such
 a weapon3 its position is consequently 
exactly  the reverse of that which the  
worshippers of the ideal imagine--life  
struggles in it and through it with     
death and against death2 the  ascetic   
ideal is a dodge for the preservation of
 life4 ,an important  fact is brought   
out in the extent to which1 as history  
teaches1 this  ideal could rule and     
exercise power over man1 especially in  
all those  places where the civilisation
 and taming of man was completed3 that  
fact is1 the diseased state of man up to
 the present1 at any rate1 of  the man  
who has been tamed1 the physiological   
struggle of man with  death 7more       
precisely1 with the disgust with life1  
with exhaustion1  with the wish for the 
end74 ,the ascetic priest is the        
incarnate wish  for an existence of     

another kind1 an existence on another   
plane1--he  is1 in fact1 the highest    
point of this wish1 its official ecstasy
 and  passion3 but it is the very power 
of this wish which is the fetter  that  
binds him here2 it is just that which   
makes him into a tool that  must labour 
to create more favourable conditions for
 earthly existence1  for existence on   
the human plane--it is with this very   
power that he  keeps the whole herd of  
failures1 distortions1 abortions1       
unfortunates1  sufferers from themselves
 of every kind1 fast to existence1 while
  he as the herdsman goes instinctively 
on in front4 ,you understand  me        
already3 this ascetic priest1 this      
apparent enemy of life1 this  denier--he
 actually belongs to the really great   
conservative and  affirmative forces of 
life4444 ,what does it come from1 this  
diseased  state8 ,for man is more       
diseased1 more uncertain1 more          
changeable1  more unstable than any     
other animal1 there is no doubt of      

it--he is  the diseased animal3 what    
does it spring from8 ,certainly he has  
also  dared1 innovated1 braved more1    
challenged fate more than all the other 
animals put together2 he1 the great     
experimenter with himself1 the          
unsatisfied1 the insatiate1 who         
struggles for the supreme mastery with  
beast1 ,nature1 and gods1 he1 the as yet
 ever uncompelled1 the ever  future1 who
 finds no more any rest from his own    
aggressive strength1  goaded inexorably 
on by the spur of the future dug into   
the flesh of  the present3--how should  
not so brave and rich an animal also be 
the  most endangered1 the animal with   
the longest and deepest sickness  among 
all sick animals8444 ,man is sick of it1
 oft enough there are  whole epidemics  
of this satiety 7as about #acdh1 the    
time of the ,dance  of ,death73 but even
 this very nausea1 this tiredness1 this 
disgust  with himself1 all this is      
discharged from him with such force that
  it is immediately made into a new     

fetter4 ,his nay1 which he utters  to   
life1 brings to light as though by magic
 an abundance of graceful  yeas2 even   
when he wounds himself1 this master of  
destruction1 of  self-destruction1 it is
 subsequently the wound itself that     
forces him  to live4      #ad4    ,the  
more normal is this sickliness in       
man--and we cannot dispute  this        
normality--the higher honour should be  
paid to the rare cases  of psychical and
 physical powerfulness1 the windfalls of
 humanity1  and the more strictly should
 the sound be guarded from that worst of
  air1 the air of the sick-room4 ,is    
that done8 ,the sick are the greatest   
danger for the healthy2 it is not from  
the strongest that harm comes to  the   
strong1 but from the weakest4 ,is that  
known8 ,broadly considered1  it is not  
for a minute the fear of man1 whose     
diminution should be  wished for2 for   
this fear forces the strong to be       
strong1 to be at  times terrible--it    
preserves in its integrity the sound    

type of man4  ,what is to be feared1    
what does work with a fatality found in 
no other  fate1 is not the great fear   
of1 but the great nausea with1 man2 and 
equally so the great pity for man4      
,supposing that both these things  were 
one day to espouse each other1 then     
inevitably the maximum of  monstrousness
 would immediately come into the        
world--the last will  of man1 his will  
for nothingness1 ,nihilism4 ,and1 in    
sooth1 the way is  well paved thereto4  
,he who not only has his nose to smell  
with1 but  also has eyes and ears1 he   
sniffs almost wherever he goes to-day an
  air something like that of a          
mad-house1 the air of a hospital--,i am 
speaking1 as stands to reason1 of the   
cultured areas of mankind1 of  every    
kind of ,europe that there is in fact in
 the world4 ,the sick  are the great    
danger of man1 not the evil1 not the    
beasts of  prey4 ,they who are from the 
outset botched1 oppressed1 broken1 those
  are they1 the weakest are they1 who   

most undermine the life beneath the     
feet of man1 who instil the most        
dangerous venom and scepticism into  our
 trust in life1 in man1 in ourselves4   
,where shall we escape from  it1 from   
that covert look 7from which we carry   
away a deep sadness71  from that averted
 look of him who is misborn from the    
beginning1 that  look which betrays what
 such a man says to himself--that look  
which is  a groan8 ,would that ,i were  
something else1 so groans this look1 but
  there is no hope4 ,i am what ,i am3   
how could ,i get away from myself8      
,and1 verily--,i am sick of myself6 ,on 
such a soil of self-contempt1  a        
veritable swamp soil1 grows that weed1  
that poisonous growth1 and  all so tiny1
 so hidden1 so ignoble1 so sugary4 ,here
 teem the worms  of revenge and         
vindictiveness2 here the air reeks of   
things secret  and unmentionable2 here  
is ever spun the net of the most        
malignant  conspiracy--the conspiracy of
 the sufferers against the sound and the

  victorious2 here is the sight of the  
victorious hated4 ,and what  lying so as
 not to acknowledge this hate as hate6  
,what a show of big  words and          
attitudes1 what an art of righteous     
calumniation6 ,these  abortions6 what a 
noble eloquence gushes from their lips6 
,what an  amount of sugary1 slimy1      
humble submission oozes in their eyes6  
,what do  they really want8 ,at any rate
 to represent righteousness ness1 love1 
wisdom1 superiority1 that is the        
ambition of these lowest ones1 these    
sick ones6 ,and how clever does such an 
ambition make them6 ,you cannot1  in    
fact1 but admire the counterfeiter      
dexterity with which the stamp  of      
virtue1 even the ring1 the golden ring  
of virtue1 is here imitated4  ,they have
 taken a lease of virtue absolutely for 
themselves1 have these  weaklings and   
wretched invalids1 there is no doubt of 
it2 ,we alone are  the good1 the        
righteous1 so do they speak1 we alone   
are the homines  bon voluntatis4 ,they  

stalk about in our midst as living      
reproaches1  as warnings to us--as      
though health1 fitness1 strength1 pride1
 the  sensation of power1 were really   
vicious things in themselves1 for  which
 one would have some day to do penance1 
bitter penance4 ,oh1 how  they          
themselves are ready in their hearts to 
exact penance1 how they  thirst after   
being hangmen6    ,among them is an     
abundance of revengeful ones disguised  
as judges1  who ever mouth the word     
righteousness like a venomous           
spittle--with  mouth1 ,i say1 always    
pursed1 always ready to spit at         
everything1  which does not wear a      
discontented look1 but is of good cheer 
as it  goes on its way4 ,among them1    
again1 is that most loathsome species   
of the vain1 the lying abortions1 who   
make a point of representing  beautiful 
souls1 and perchance of bringing to the 
market as purity  of heart their        
distorted sensualism swathed in verses  
and other  bandages2 the species of     

self-comforters and masturbators of     
their  own souls4 ,the sick man's will  
to represent some form or other of      
superiority1 his instinct for crooked   
paths1 which lead to a tyranny  over the
 healthy--where can it not be found1    
this will to power of  the very weakest8
 ,the sick woman especially3 no one     
surpasses her  in refinements for       
ruling1 oppressing1 tyrannising4 ,the   
sick woman1  moreover1 spares nothing   
living1 nothing dead2 she grubs up again
 the  most buried things 7the ,bogos    
say1 ,woman is a hyena74 ,look into  the
 background of every family1 of every   
body1 of every community3  everywhere   
the fight of the sick against the       
healthy--a silent fight  for the most   
part with minute poisoned powders1 with 
pin-pricks1 with  spiteful grimaces of  
patience1 but also at times with that   
diseased  pharisaism of pure pantomime1 
which plays for choice the rle of       
righteous indignation4 ,right into the  
hallowed chambers of knowledge  can it  

make itself heard1 can this hoarse      
yelping of sick hounds1 this  rabid     
lying and frenzy of such noble          
,pharisees 7,i remind readers1 who  have
 ears1 once more of that ,berlin apostle
 of revenge1 ,eugen ,dhring1  who makes 
the most disreputable and revolting use 
in all present-day  ,germany of moral   
refuse2 ,dhring1 the paramount moral    
blusterer that  there is to-day1 even   
among his own kidney1 the               
,anti-,semites74 ,they  are all men of  
resentment1 are these physiological     
distortions and  worm-riddled objects1 a
 whole quivering kingdom of burrowing   
revenge1  indefatigable and insatiable  
in its outbursts against the happy1 and 
equally so in disguises for revenge1 in 
pretexts for revenge3 when  will they   
really reach their final1 fondest1 most 
sublime triumph of  revenge8 ,at that   
time1 doubtless1 when they succeed in   
pushing their  own misery1 in fact1 all 
misery1 into the consciousness of the   
happy2  so that the latter begin one day

 to be ashamed of their happiness1  and 
perchance say to themselves when they   
meet1 ,it is a shame to be  happy6 there
 is too much misery6 444 ,but there     
could not possibly  be a greater and    
more fatal misunderstanding than that of
 the happy1  the fit1 the strong in body
 and soul1 beginning in this way to     
doubt  their right to happiness4 ,away  
with this perverse world6 ,away with    
this shameful soddenness of sentiment6  
,preventing the sick making the  healthy
 sick--for that is what such a          
soddenness comes to--this ought  to be  
our supreme object in the world--but for
 this it is above all  essential that   
the healthy should remain separated from
 the sick1  that they should even guard 
themselves from the look of the sick1   
that  they should not even associate    
with the sick4 ,or may it1 perchance1   
be their mission to be nurses or        
doctors8 ,but they could not mistake    
and disown their mission more           
grossly--the higher must not degrade    

itself to be the tool of the lower1 the 
pathos of distance must to all  eternity
 keep their missions also separate4 ,the
 right of the happy to  existence1 the  
right of bells with a full tone over the
 discordant  cracked bells1 is verily a 
thousand times greater3 they alone are  
the  sureties of the future1 they alone 
are bound to man's future4 ,what  they  
can1 what they must do1 that can the    
sick never do1 should never  do6 but if 
they are to be enabled to do what only  
they must do1  how can they possibly be 
free to play the doctor1 the comforter1 
the  ,saviour of the sick8444 ,and      
therefore good air6 good air6 and away1 
at any rate1 from the neighbourhood of  
all the madhouses and hospitals  of     
civilisation6 ,and therefore good       
company1 our own company1 or  solitude1 
if it must be so6 but away1 at any rate1
 from the evil fumes  of internal       
corruption and the secret worm-eaten    
state of the sick6  that1 forsooth1 my  
friends1 we may defend ourselves1 at any

 rate for  still a time1 against the two
 worst plagues that could have been     
reserved for us--against the great      
nausea with man6 against the  great pity
 for man6      #ae4    ,if you have     
understood in all their depths--and ,i  
demand that you  should grasp them      
profoundly and understand them          
profoundly--the  reasons for the        
impossibility of its being the business 
of the healthy  to nurse the sick1 to   
make the sick healthy1 it follows that  
you have  grasped this further          
necessity--the necessity of doctors and 
nurses  who themselves are sick4 ,and   
now we have and hold with both our hands
  the essence of the ascetic priest4    
,the ascetic priest must be accepted  by
 us as the predestined saviour1         
herdsman1 and champion of the sick      
herd3 thereby do we first understand his
 awful historic mission4 ,the  lordship 
over sufferers is his kingdom1 to that  
points his instinct1  in that he finds  
his own special art1 his master-skill1  

his kind of  happiness4 ,he must himself
 be sick1 he must be kith and kin to the
  sick and the abortions so as to       
understand them1 so as to arrive at an  
understanding with them2 but he must    
also be strong1 even more master  of    
himself than of others1 impregnable1    
forsooth1 in his will for  power1 so as 
to acquire the trust and the awe of the 
weak1 so that he  can be their hold1    
bulwark1 prop1 compulsion1 overseer1    
tyrant1 god4  ,he has to protect them1  
protect his herds--against whom8        
,against  the healthy1 doubtless also   
against the envy towards the healthy4   
,he  must be the natural adversary and  
scorner of every rough1 stormy1         
reinless1 hard1 violently-predatory     
health and power4 ,the priest is  the   
first form of the more delicate animal  
that scorns more easily  than it hates4 
,he will not be spared the waging of war
 with the beasts  of prey1 a war of     
guile 7of spirit7 rather than of force1 
as is  self-evident--he will in certain 

cases find it necessary to conjure up   
out of himself1 or at any rate to       
represent practically a new type of  the
 beast of prey--a new animal monstrosity
 in which the polar bear1  the supple1  
cold1 crouching panther1 and1 not least 
important1 the fox1  are joined together
 in a trinity as fascinating as it is   
fearsome4  ,if necessity exacts it1 then
 will he come on the scene with bearish 
seriousness1 venerable1 wise1 cold1 full
 of treacherous superiority1 as  the    
herald and mouthpiece of mysterious     
powers1 sometimes going among  even the 
other kind of beasts of prey1 determined
 as he is to sow on  their soil1        
wherever he can1 suffering1 discord1    
self-contradiction1  and only too sure  
of his art1 always to be lord of        
sufferers at all  times4 ,he brings with
 him1 doubtless1 salve and balsam2 but  
before he  can play the physician he    
must first wound2 so1 while he soothes  
the  pain which the wound makes1 he at  
the same time poisons the wound4  ,well 

versed is he in this above all things1  
is this wizard and wild  beast tamer1 in
 whose vicinity everything healthy must 
needs become  ill1 and everything ill   
must needs become tame4 ,he protects1 in
 sooth1  his sick herd well enough1 does
 this strange herdsman2 he protects     
them also against themselves1 against   
the sparks 7even in the centre  of the  
herd7 of wickedness1 knavery1 malice1   
and all the other ills  that the plaguey
 and the sick are heir to2 he fights    
with cunning1  hardness1 and stealth    
against anarchy and against the ever    
imminent  break-up inside the herd1     
where resentment1 that most dangerous   
blasting-stuff and explosive1 ever      
accumulates and accumulates4 ,getting   
rid of this blasting-stuff in such a way
 that it does not blow up the  herd and 
the herdsman1 that is his real feat1 his
 supreme utility2  if you wish to       
comprise in the shortest formula the    
value of the  priestly life1 it would be
 correct to say the priest is the       

diverter  of the course of resentment4  
,every sufferer1 in fact1 searches      
instinctively for a cause of his        
suffering2 to put it more exactly1  a   
doer1--to put it still more precisely1 a
 sentient responsible  doer1--in brief1 
something living1 on which1 either      
actually or in  effigie1 he can on any  
pretext vent his emotions4 ,for the     
venting  of emotions is the sufferer's  
greatest attempt at alleviation1 that   
is to say1 stupefaction1 his            
mechanically desired narcotic against   
pain of any kind4 ,it is in this        
phenomenon alone that is found1         
according to my judgment1 the real      
physiological cause of resentment1      
revenge1 and their family is to be      
found--that is1 in a demand for the     
deadening of pain through emotion3 this 
cause is generally1 but in  my view very
 erroneously1 looked for in the         
defensive parry of a bare  protective   
principle of reaction1 of a reflex      
movement in the case  of any sudden hurt

 and danger1 after the manner that a    
decapitated  frog still moves in order  
to get away from a corrosive acid4 ,but 
the  difference is fundamental4 ,in one 
case the object is to prevent being     
hurt any more2 in the other case the    
object is to deaden a racking1          
insidious1 nearly unbearable pain by a  
more violent emotion of any  kind       
whatsoever1 and at any rate for the time
 being to drive it out of  the          
consciousness--for this purpose an      
emotion is needed1 as wild an  emotion  
as possible1 and to excite that emotion 
some excuse or other  is needed4 ,it    
must be somebody's fault that ,i feel   
bad--this kind of  reasoning is peculiar
 to all invalids1 and is but the more   
pronounced1  the more ignorant they     
remain of the real cause of their       
feeling bad1  the physiological cause   
7the cause may lie in a disease of the  
nervus  sympathicus1 or in an excessive 
secretion of bile1 or in a want of      
sulphate and phosphate of potash in the 

blood1 or in pressure in the  bowels    
which stops the circulation of the      
blood1 or in degeneration of  the       
ovaries1 and so forth74 ,ail sufferers  
have an awful resourcefulness  and      
ingenuity in finding excuses for painful
 emotions2 they even  enjoy their       
jealousy1 their broodings over base     
actions and apparent  injuries1 they    
burrow through the intestines of their  
past and present  in their search for   
obscure mysteries1 wherein they will be 
at liberty  to wallow in a torturing    
suspicion and get drunk on the venom of 
their  own malice--they tear open the   
oldest wounds1 they make themselves     
bleed from the scars which have long    
been healed1 they make evil-doers  out  
of friends1 wife1 child1 and everything 
which is nearest to them4  ,i suffer3 it
 must be somebody's fault--so thinks    
every sick sheep4  ,but his herdsman1   
the ascetic priest1 says to him1 ,quite 
so1 my sheep1  it must be the fault of  
some one2 but thou thyself art that some

 one1  it is all the fault of thyself   
alone--it is the fault of thyself alone 
against thyself3 that is bold enough1   
false enough1 but one thing is  at least
 attained2 thereby1 as ,i have said1 the
 course of resentment  is--diverted4    
#af4    ,you can see now what the       
remedial instinct of life has at least  
tried  to effect1 according to my       
conception1 through the ascetic priest1 
and the purpose for which he had to     
employ a temporary tyranny of  such     
paradoxical and anomalous ideas as      
guilt1 sin1 sinfulness1  corruption1    
damnation4 ,what was done was to make   
the sick  harmless up to a certain      
point1 to destroy the incurable by means
 of  themselves1 to turn the milder     
cases severely on to themselves1 to give
  their resentment a backward direction 
7man needs but one thing71 and  to      
exploit similarly the bad instincts of  
all sufferers with a view  to           
self-discipline1 self-surveillance1     
self-mastery4 ,it is obvious that  there

 can be no question at all in the case  
of a medication of this  kind1 a mere   
emotional medication1 of any real       
healing of the sick in  the             
physiological sense2 it cannot even for 
a moment be asserted that  in this      
connection the instinct of life has     
taken healing as its goal  and purpose4 
,on the one hand1 a kind of congestion  
and organisation of  the sick 7the word 
,church is the most popular name for    
it73 on the  other1 a kind of           
provisional safeguarding of the         
comparatively healthy1  the more perfect
 specimens1 the cleavage of a rift      
between healthy  and sick--for a long   
time that was all6 and it was much6 it  
was very  much6    ,i am proceeding1 as 
you see1 in this essay1 from an         
hypothesis which1  as far as such       
readers as ,i want are concerned1 does  
not require to be  proved2 the          
hypothesis that sinfulness in man is not
 an actual fact1  but rather merely the 
interpretation of a fact1 of a          

physiological  discomfort1--a discomfort
 seen through a moral religious         
perspective  which is no longer binding 
upon us4 ,the fact1 therefore1 that any 
one  feels guilty1 sinful1 is certainly 
not yet any proof that he is  right in  
feeling so1 any more than any one is    
healthy simply because  he feels        
healthy4 ,remember the celebrated       
witch-ordeals3 in those days  the most  
acute and humane judges had no doubt but
 that in these cases  they were         
confronted with guilt1--the witches     
themselves had no  doubt on the         
point1--and yet the guilt was lacking4  
,let me elaborate  this hypothesis3 ,i  
do not for a minute accept the very pain
 in the  soul as a real fact1 but only  
as an explanation 7a casual explanation7
  of facts that could not hitherto be   
precisely formulated2 ,i regard  it     
therefore as something as yet absolutely
 in the air and devoid of  scientific   
cogency--just a nice fat word in the    
place of a lean note  of interrogation4 

,when any one fails to get rid of his   
pain in the  soul1 the cause is1        
speaking crudely1 to be found not in his
 soul  but more probably in his stomach 
7speaking crudely1 ,i repeat1 but by  no
 means wishing thereby that you should  
listen to me or understand  me in a     
crude spirit74 ,a strong and            
well-constituted man digests his        
experiences 7deeds and misdeeds all     
included7 just as he digests his  meats1
 even when he has some tough morsels to 
swallow4 ,if he fails to  relieve       
himself of an experience1 this kind of  
indigestion is quite  as much           
physiological as the other              
indigestion--and indeed1 in more  ways  
than one1 simply one of the results of  
the other4 ,you can adopt  such a       
theory1 and yet entre nous be           
nevertheless the strongest  opponent of 
all materialism4      #ag4    ,but is he
 really a physician1 this ascetic       
priest8 ,we already  understand why we  
are scarcely allowed to call him a      

physician1 however  much he likes to    
feel a saviour and let himself be       
worshipped as a  saviour4#c ,it is only 
the actual suffering1 the discomfort of 
the  sufferer1 which he combats1 not its
 cause1 not the actual state of         
sickness--this needs must constitute our
 most radical objection to  priestly    
medication4 ,but just once put yourself 
into that point of  view1 of which the  
priests have a monopoly1 you will find  
it hard to  exhaust your amazement1 at  
what from that standpoint he has        
completely  seen1 sought1 and found4    
,the mitigation of suffering1 every kind
 of  consoling--all this manifests      
itself as his very genius3 with what    
ingenuity has he interpreted his mission
 of consoler1 with what aplomb  and     
audacity has he chosen weapons necessary
 for the part4 ,christianity  in        
particular should be dubbed a great     
treasure-chamber of ingenious           
consolations1--such a store of          
refreshing1 soothing1 deadening drugs   

has it accumulated within itself2 so    
many of the most dangerous and  daring  
expedients has it hazarded2 with such   
subtlety1 refinement1  ,oriental        
refinement1 has it divined what         
emotional stimulants can  conquer1 at   
any rate for a time1 the deep           
depression1 the leaden  fatigue1 the    
black melancholy of physiological       
cripples--for1 speaking  generally1 all 
religions are mainly concerned with     
fighting a certain  fatigue and         
heaviness that has infected everything4 
,you can regard it  as prima facie      
probable that in certain places in the  
world there  was almost bound to prevail
 from time to time among large masses of
  the population a sense of             
physiological depression1 which1        
however1  owing to their lack of        
physiological knowledge1 did not appear 
to their  consciousness as such1 so that
 consequently its cause and its cure    
can only be sought and essayed in the   
science of moral psychology  7this1 in  

fact1 is my most general formula for    
what is generally called  a religion74  
,such a feeling of depression can have  
the most diverse  origins2 it may be the
 result of the crossing of too          
heterogeneous  races 7or of             
classes--genealogical and racial        
differences are also  brought out in the
 classes3 the ,european ,weltschmerz1   
the ,pessimism  of the nineteenth       
century1 is really the result of an     
absurd and sudden  class-mixture72 it   
may be brought about by a mistaken      
emigration--a  race falling into a      
climate for which its power of          
adaptation is  insufficient 7the case of
 the ,indians in ,india72 it may be the 
effect  of old age and fatigue 7the     
,parisian pessimism from #ahej onwards72
 it  may be a wrong diet 7the alcoholism
 of the ,middle ,ages1 the nonsense  of 
vegetarianism--which1 however1 have in  
their favour the authority  of ,sir     
,christopher in ,shakespeare72 it may be
 blood-deterioration1  malaria1         

syphilis1 and the like 7,german         
depression after the ,thirty  ,years'   
,war1 which infected half ,germany with 
evil diseases1 and  thereby paved the   
way for ,german servility1 for ,german  
pusillanimity74  ,in such a case there  
is invariably recourse to a war on a    
grand scale  with the feeling of        
depression2 let us inform ourselves     
briefly on its  most important practices
 and phases 7,i leave on one side1 as   
stands to  reason1 the actual           
philosophic war against the feeling of  
depression  which is usually            
simultaneous--it is interesting enough1 
but too  absurd1 too practically        
negligible1 too full of cobwebs1 too    
much of a  hole-and-corner affair1      
especially when pain is proved to be a  
mistake1  on the naf hypothesis that    
pain must needs vanish when the mistake 
underlying it is recognised--but behold6
 it does anything but vanish  44474     
,that dominant depression is primarily  
fought by weapons which  reduce the     

consciousness of life itself to the     
lowest degree4 ,wherever  possible1 no  
more wishes1 no more wants2 shun        
everything which produces  emotion1     
which produces blood 7eating no salt1   
the fakir hygiene72  no love2 no hate2  
equanimity2 no revenge2 no getting rich2
 no work2  begging2 as far as possible1 
no woman1 or as little woman as         
possible2  as far as the intellect is   
concerned1 ,pascal's principle1 il faut 
s'abtir4 ,to put the result in ethical  
and psychological language1             
self-annihilation1 sanctification2 to   
put it in physiological  language1      
hypnotism--the attempt to find some     
approximate human  equivalent for what  
hibernation is for certain animals1 for 
what  stivation is for many tropical    
plants1 a minimum of assimilation  and  
metabolism in which life just manages to
 subsist without really  coming into the
 consciousness4 ,an amazing amount of   
human energy  has been devoted to this  
object--perhaps uselessly8 ,there cannot

 be  the slightest doubt but that such  
sportsmen of saintliness1 in  whom at   
times nearly every nation has abounded1 
have really found a  genuine relief from
 that which they have combated with such
 a rigorous  training--in countless     
cases they really escaped by the help of
 their  system of hypnotism away from   
deep physiological depression2 their    
method is consequently counted among the
 most universal ethnological  facts4    
,similarly it is improper to consider   
such a plan for starving  the physical  
element and the desires1 as in itself a 
symptom of  insanity 7as a clumsy       
species of roast-beef-eating            
freethinkers and  ,sir ,christophers are
 fain to do72 all the more certain is it
 that their  method can and does pave   
the way to all kinds of mental          
disturbances1  for instance1 inner      
lights 7as far as the case of the       
,hesychasts of  ,mount ,athos71 auditory
 and visual hallucinations1 voluptuous  
ecstasies  and effervescences of        

sensualism 7the history of ,st4         
,theresa74 ,the  explanation of such    
events given by the victims is always   
the acme of  fanatical falsehood2 this  
is self-evident4 ,note well1 however1   
the tone  of implicit gratitude that    
rings in the very will for an           
explanation  of such a character4 ,the  
supreme state1 salvation itself1 that   
final  goal of universal hypnosis and   
peace1 is always regarded by them as    
the mystery of mysteries1 which even the
 most supreme symbols are  inadequate to
 express2 it is regarded as an entry and
 homecoming to the  essence of things1  
as a liberation from all illusions1 as  
knowledge1  as truth1 as being as an    
escape from every end1 every wish1 every
  action1 as something even beyond ,good
 and ,evil4    ,good and ,evil1 quoth   
the ,buddhists1 both are fetters4 ,the  
perfect  man is master of them both4    
,the done and the undone1 quoth the     
disciple of the ,vedanta1 do  him no    
hurt2 the good and the evil he shakes   

from off him1 sage that  he is2 his     
kingdom suffers no more from any act2   
good and evil1 he  goes beyond them     
both4--,an absolutely ,indian           
conception1 as much  ,brahmanist as     
,buddhist4 ,neither in the ,indian nor  
in the ,christian  doctrine is this     
,redemption regarded as attainable by   
means of  virtue and moral improvement1 
however high they may place the value of
  the hypnotic efficiency of virtue3    
keep clear on this point--indeed  it    
simply corresponds with the facts4 ,the 
fact that they remained  true on this   
point is perhaps to be regarded as the  
best specimen  of realism in the three  
great religions1 absolutely soaked as   
they  are with morality1 with this one  
exception4 ,for those who know1  there  
is no duty4 ,redemption is not attained 
by the acquisition of  virtues2 for     
redemption consists in being one with   
,brahman1 who is  incapable of acquiring
 any perfection2 and equally little does
 it  consist in the giving up of faults1

 for the ,brahman1 unity with whom  is  
what constitutes redemption1 is         
eternally pure 7these passages  are from
 the ,commentaries of the ,cankara1     
quoted from the first real  ,european   
expert of the ,indian philosophy1 my    
friend ,paul ,deussen74  ,we wish1      
therefore1 to pay honour to the idea of 
redemption in  the great religions1 but 
it is somewhat hard to remain serious in
  view of the appreciation meted out to 
the deep sleep by these  exhausted      
pessimists who are too tired even to    
dream--to the deep  sleep considered1   
that is1 as already a fusing into       
,brahman1 as the  attainment of the unio
 mystica with ,god4 ,when he has        
completely gone  to sleep1 says on this 
point the oldest and most venerable     
script1  and come to perfect rest1 so   
that he sees no more any vision1 then1  
oh dear one1 is he united with ,being1  
he has entered into his own             
self--encircled by the ,self with its   
absolute knowledge1 he has no  more any 

consciousness of that which is without  
or of that which is  within4 ,day and   
night cross not these bridges1 nor age1 
nor death1  nor suffering1 nor good     
deeds1 nor evil deeds4 ,in deep sleep1  
say  similarly the believers in this    
deepest of the three great religions1   
does the soul lift itself from out this 
body of ours1 enters the  supreme light 
and stands out therein in its true      
shape3 therein is it  the supreme spirit
 itself1 which travels about1 while it  
jests and  plays and enjoys itself1     
whether with women1 or chariots1 or     
friends2  there do its thoughts turn no 
more back to this appanage of a body1   
to which the 'prana' 7the vital breath7 
is harnessed like a beast of  burden to 
the cart4 ,none the less we will take   
care to realise 7as  we did when        
discussing redemption7 that in spite of 
all its pomps  of ,oriental extravagance
 this simply expresses the same         
criticism on  life as did the clear1    
cold1 ,greekly cold1 but yet suffering  

,epicurus4  ,the hypnotic sensation of  
nothingness1 the peace of deepest sleep1
  ansthesia in short--that is what      
passes with the sufferers and the       
absolutely depressed for1 forsooth1     
their supreme good1 their value  of     
values2 that is what bmust_/b be        
treasured by them as something          
positive1 be felt by them as the essence
 of the ,positive 7according  to the    
same logic of the feelings1 nothingness 
is in all pessimistic  religions called 
,god74      #ah4    ,such a hypnotic    
deadening of sensibility and            
susceptibility to pain1  which          
presupposes somewhat rare powers1       
especially courage1 contempt  of        
opinion1 intellectual stoicism1 is less 
frequent than another  and certainly    
easier training which is tried against  
states of  depression4 ,i mean          
mechanical activity4 ,it is indisputable
 that a  suffering existence can be     
thereby considerably alleviated4 ,this  
fact  is called to-day by the somewhat  

ignoble title of the ,blessing of  work4
 ,the alleviation consists in the       
attention of the sufferer being         
absolutely diverted from suffering1 in  
the incessant monopoly of the           
consciousness by action1 so that        
consequently there is little room left  
for suffering--for narrow is it1 this   
chamber of human consciousness6         
,mechanical activity and its            
corollaries1 such as absolute           
regularity1  punctilious unreasoning    
obedience1 the chronic routine of life1 
the  complete occupation of time1 a     
certain liberty to be impersonal1 nay1 a
  training in impersonality1            
self-forgetfulness1 incuria sui--with   
what thoroughness and expert subtlety   
have all these methods been  exploited  
by the ascetic priest in his war with   
pain6    ,when he has to tackle         
sufferers of the lower orders1 slaves1  
or  prisoners 7or women1 who for the    
most part are a compound of             
labour-slave and prisoner71 all he has  

to do is to juggle a little  with the   
names1 and to rechristen1 so as to make 
them see henceforth  a benefit1 a       
comparative happiness1 in objects which 
they hated--the  slave's discontent with
 his lot was at any rate not invented by
 the  priests4 ,an even more popular    
means of fighting depression is the     
ordaining of a little joy1 which is     
easily accessible and can be made  into 
a rule2 this medication is frequently   
used in conjunction with  the former    
ones4 ,the most frequent form in which  
joy is prescribed  as a cure is the joy 
in producing joy 7such as doing good1   
giving  presents1 alleviating1 helping1 
exhorting1 comforting1 praising1        
treating with distinction72 together    
with the prescription of love  your     
neighbour4 ,the ascetic priest          
prescribes1 though in the most  cautious
 doses1 what is practically a           
stimulation of the strongest  and most  
life-assertive impulse--the ,will for   
,power4 ,the happiness  involved in the 

smallest superiority which is the       
concomitant of all  benefiting1 helping1
 extolling1 making one's self useful1 is
 the most  ample consolation1 of which1 
if they are well-advised1 physiological 
distortions avail themselves3 in other  
cases they hurt each other1 and         
naturally in obedience to the same      
radical instinct4 ,an investigation  of 
the origin of ,christianity in the      
,roman world shows that  co-operative   
unions for poverty1 sickness1 and burial
 sprang up in the  lowest stratum of    
contemporary society1 amid which the    
chief antidote  against depression1 the 
little joy experienced in mutual        
benefits1  was deliberately fostered4   
,perchance this was then a novelty1 a   
real  discovery8 ,this conjuring up of  
the will for co-operation1 for family   
organisation1 for communal life1 for    
,cnacula necessarily brought  the ,will 
for ,power1 which had been already      
infinitesimally stimulated1  to a new   
and much fuller manifestation4 ,the herd

 organisation is a  genuine advance and 
triumph in the fight with depression4   
,with the  growth of the community there
 matures even to individuals a new      
interest1 which often enough takes him  
out of the more personal  element in his
 discontent1 his aversion to himself1   
the despectus  sui of ,geulincx4 ,all   
sick and diseased people strive         
instinctively  after a                  
herd-organisation1 out of a desire to   
shake off their sense of  oppressive    
discomfort and weakness2 the ascetic    
priest divines this  instinct and       
promotes it2 wherever a herd exists it  
is the instinct  of weakness which has  
wished for the herd1 and the cleverness 
of the  priests which has organised it1 
for1 mark this3 by an equally natural   
necessity the strong strive as much for 
isolation as the weak for  union3 when  
the former bind themselves it is only   
with a view to an  aggressive joint     
action and joint satisfaction of their  
,will for ,power1  much against the     

wishes of their individual consciences2 
the latter1  on the contrary1 range     
themselves together with positive       
delight in  such a muster--their        
instincts are as much gratified thereby 
as the  instincts of the born master    
7that is1 the solitary beast-of-prey    
species of man7 are disturbed and       
wounded to the quick by organisation4   
,there is always lurking beneath every  
oligarchy--such is the  universal lesson
 of history--the desire for tyranny4    
,every oligarchy  is continually        
quivering with the tension of the effort
 required by  each individual to keep   
mastering this desire4 7,such1 e4g41 was
  the ,greek2 ,plato shows it in a      
hundred places1 ,plato1 who knew his    
contemporaries--and himself47      #ai4 
,the methods employed by the ascetic    
priest1 which we have already  learnt to
 know--stifling of all vitality1        
mechanical energy1 the  little joy1 and 
especially the method of love your      
neighbour  herd-organisation1 the       

awaking of the communal consciousness of
 power1  to such a pitch that the       
individual's disgust with himself       
becomes  eclipsed by his delight in the 
thriving of the community--these are1   
according to modern standards1 the      
innocent methods employed in  the fight 
with depression2 let us turn now to the 
more interesting  topic of the guilty   
methods4 ,the guilty methods spell one  
thing3  to produce emotional            
excess--which is used as the most       
efficacious  ansthetic against their    
depressing state of protracted pain2    
this  is why priestly ingenuity has     
proved quite inexhaustible in thinking  
out this one question3 ,by what means   
can you produce an emotional  excess8   
,this sounds harsh3 it is manifest that 
it would sound nicer  and would grate on
 one's ears less1 if ,i were to say1    
forsooth3 ,the  ascetic priest made use 
at all times of the enthusiasm contained
 in all  strong emotions4 ,but what is  
the good of still soothing the delicate 

ears of our modern effeminates8 ,what is
 the good on our side of  budging one   
single inch before their verbal         
,pecksniffianism4 ,for us  psychologists
 to do that would be at once practical  
,pecksniffianism1  apart from the fact  
of its nauseating us4 ,the good taste   
7others  might say1 the righteousness7  
of a psychologist nowadays consists1 if 
at all1 in combating the shamefully     
moralised language with which all       
modern judgments on men and things are  
smeared4 ,for1 do not deceive  yourself3
 what constitutes the chief             
characteristic of modern souls and  of  
modern books is not the lying1 but the  
innocence which is part  and parcel of  
their intellectual dishonesty4 ,the     
inevitable running up  against this     
innocence everywhere constitutes the    
most distasteful  feature of the        
somewhat dangerous business which a     
modern psychologist  has to undertake3  
it is a part of our great danger--it is 
a road which  perhaps leads us straight 

to the great nausea--,i know quite well 
the  purpose which all modern books will
 and can serve 7granted that they  last1
 which ,i am not afraid of1 and granted 
equally that there is to  be at some    
future day a generation with a more     
rigid1 more severe1  and healthier      
taste7--the function which all modernity
 generally  will serve with posterity3  
that of an emetic1--and this by reason  
of  its moral sugariness and falsity1   
its ingrained feminism1 which it is     
pleased to call ,idealism1 and at any   
rate believes to be idealism4  ,our     
cultured men of to-day1 our good men1 do
 not lie--that is true2  but it does not
 redound to their honour6 ,the real lie1
 the genuine1  determined1 honest lie   
7on whose value you can listen to       
,plato7 would  prove too tough and      
strong an article for them by a long    
way2 it would  be asking them to do what
 people have been forbidden to ask them 
to do1  to open their eyes to their own 
selves1 and to learn to distinguish     

between true and false in their own     
selves4 ,the dishonest lie alone  suits 
them3 everything which feels a good man 
is perfectly incapable of  any other    
attitude to anything than that of a     
dishonourable liar1 an  absolute liar1  
but none the less an innocent liar1 a   
blue-eyed liar1 a  virtuous liar4 ,these
 good men1 they are all now tainted with
 morality  through and through1 and as  
far as honour is concerned they are     
disgraced and corrupted for all         
eternity4 ,which of them could stand a  
further truth about man8 or1 put more   
tangibly1 which of them could  put up   
with a true biography8 ,one or two      
instances3 ,lord ,byron composed  a most
 personal autobiography1 but ,thomas    
,moore was too good for it2  he burnt   
his friend's papers4 ,dr4 ,gwinner1     
,schopenhauer's executor1 is  said to   
have done the same2 for ,schopenhauer as
 well wrote much about  himself1 and    
perhaps also against himself3 7 74 ,the 
virtuous  ,american ,thayer1            

,beethoven's biographer1 suddenly       
stopped his work3 he  had come to a     
certain point in that honourable and    
simple life1 and  could stand it no     
longer4 ,moral3 ,what sensible man      
nowadays writes one  honest word about  
himself8 ,he must already belong to the 
,order of ,holy  ,foolhardiness4 ,we are
 promised an autobiography of ,richard  
,wagner2 who  doubts but that it would  
be a clever autobiography8 ,think1      
forsooth1  of the grotesque horror which
 the ,catholic priest ,janssen aroused  
in  ,germany with his inconceivably     
square and harmless pictures of the     
,german ,reformation2 what wouldn't     
people do if some real psychologist     
were to tell us about a genuine ,luther1
 tell us1 not with the moralist         
simplicity of a country priest or the   
sweet and cautious modesty of a         
,protestant historian1 but say with the 
fearlessness of a ,taine1 that  springs 
from force of character and not from a  
prudent toleration of  force4 7,the     

,germans1 by the bye1 have already      
produced the classic  specimen of this  
toleration--they may well be allowed to 
reckon him as  one of their own1 in     
,leopold ,ranke1 that born classical    
advocate of  every causa fortior1 that  
cleverest of all the clever             
opportunists47      #bj4    ,but you    
will soon understand me4--,putting it   
shortly1 there is reason  enough1 is    
there not1 for us psychologists nowadays
 never getting from  a certain mistrust 
of out own selves8 ,probably even we    
ourselves are  still too good for our   
work1 probably1 whatever contempt we    
feel  for this popular craze for        
morality1 we ourselves are perhaps none 
the less its victims1 prey1 and slaves2 
probably it infects even us4  ,of what  
was that diplomat warning us1 when he   
said to his colleagues3  ,let us        
especially mistrust our first impulses1 
gentlemen6 they are  almost always good8
 ,so should nowadays every psychologist 
talk to  his colleagues4 ,and thus we   

get back to our problem1 which in point 
of fact does require from us a certain  
severity1 a certain mistrust  especially
 against first impulses4 ,the ascetic   
ideal in the service  of projected      
emotional excess3--he who remembers the 
previous essay  will already partially  
anticipate the essential meaning        
compressed  into these above ten words4 
,the thorough unswitching of the human  
soul1 the plunging of it into terror1   
frost1 ardour1 rapture1 so as  to free  
it1 as through some lightning shock1    
from all the smallness  and pettiness of
 unhappiness1 depression1 and           
discomfort3 what ways  lead to this     
goal8 ,and which of these ways does so  
most safely8444  ,at bottom all great   
emotions have this power1 provided that 
they find  a sudden outlet--emotions    
such as rage1 fear1 lust1 revenge1 hope1
  triumph1 despair1 cruelty2 and1 in    
sooth1 the ascetic priest has had  no   
scruples in taking into his service the 
whole pack of hounds that  rage in the  

human kennel1 unleashing now these and  
now those1 with the  same constant      
object of waking man out of his         
protracted melancholy1  of chasing away1
 at any rate for a time1 his dull pain1 
his shrinking  misery1 but always under 
the sanction of a religious             
interpretation  and justification4 ,this
 emotional excess has subsequently to be
 paid  for1 this is self-evident--it    
makes the ill more ill--and therefore   
this kind of remedy for pain is         
according to modern standards a  guilty 
kind4    ,the dictates of fairness1     
however1 require that we should all the 
more emphasise the fact that this remedy
 is applied with a good  conscience1    
that the ascetic priest has prescribed  
it in the most  implicit belief in its  
utility and indispensability2--often    
enough  almost collapsing in the        
presence of the pain which he           
created2--that  we should similarly     
emphasise the fact that the violent     
physiological  revenges of such         

excesses1 even perhaps the mental       
disturbances1 are  not absolutely       
inconsistent with the general tenor of  
this kind of  remedy2 this remedy1      
which1 as we have shown previously1 is  
not for  the purpose of healing         
diseases1 but of fighting the           
unhappiness of  that depression1 the    
alleviation and deadening of which was  
its object4  ,the object was            
consequently achieved4 ,the keynote by  
which the ascetic  priest was enabled to
 get every kind of agonising and        
ecstatic music  to play on the fibres of
 the human soul--was1 as every one      
knows1 the  exploitation of the feeling 
of guilt4 ,i have already indicated in  
the previous essay the origin of this   
feeling--as a piece of animal           
psychology and nothing else3 we were    
thus confronted with the  feeling of    
guilt1 in its crude state1 as it were4  
,it was first in  the hands of the      
priest1 real artist that he was in the  
feeling of  guilt1 that it took         

shape--oh1 what a shape6 ,sin--for that 
is the  name of the new priestly version
 of the animal bad-conscience 7the      
inverted cruelty7--has up to the present
 been the greatest event in the  history
 of the diseased soul3 in sin we find   
the most perilous and  fatal masterpiece
 of religious interpretation4 ,imagine  
man1 suffering  from himself1 some way  
or other but at any rate                
physiologically1  perhaps like an animal
 shut up in a cage1 not clear as to the 
why and  the wherefore6 imagine him in  
his desire for reasons--reasons bring   
relief--in his desire again for         
remedies1 narcotics at last1 consulting 
one1 who knows even the occult--and see1
 lo and behold1 he gets a hint  from his
 wizard1 the ascetic priest1 his first  
hint on the cause of  his trouble3 he   
must search for it in himself1 in his   
guiltiness1 in  a piece of the past1 he 
must understand his very suffering as a 
state  of punishment4 ,he has heard1 he 
has understood1 has the unfortunate3  he

 is now in the plight of a hen round    
which a line has been drawn4 ,he  never 
gets out of the circle of lines4 ,the   
sick man has been turned  into the      
sinner--and now for a few thousand years
 we never get away  from the sight of   
this new invalid1 of a sinner--shall we 
ever get  away from it8--wherever we    
just look1 everywhere the hypnotic gaze 
of  the sinner always moving in one     
direction 7in the direction of guilt1   
the only cause of suffering72 everywhere
 the evil conscience1 this  greuliche   
thier1#d to use ,luther's language2     
everywhere rumination  over the past1 a 
distorted view of action1 the gaze of   
the green-eyed  monster turned on all   
action2 everywhere the wilful           
misunderstanding  of suffering1 its     
transvaluation into feelings of guilt1  
fear of  retribution2 everywhere the    
scourge1 the hairy shirt1 the starving  
body1 contrition2 everywhere the sinner 
breaking himself on the ghastly  wheel  
of a restless and morbidly eager        

conscience2 everywhere mute  pain1      
extreme fear1 the agony of a tortured   
heart1 the spasms of an  unknown        
happiness1 the shriek for redemption4   
,in point of fact1  thanks to this      
system of procedure1 the old depression1
 dullness1  and fatigue were absolutely 
conquered1 life itself became very      
interesting again1 awake1 eternally     
awake1 sleepless1 glowing1 burnt  away1 
exhausted and yet not tired--such was   
the figure cut by man1  the sinner1 who 
was initiated into these mysteries4     
,this grand old  wizard of an ascetic   
priest fighting with depression--he had 
clearly  triumphed1 his kingdom had     
come3 men no longer grumbled at pain1   
men  panted after pain3 ,more pain6     
,more pain6 ,so for centuries on end    
shrieked the demand of his acolytes and 
initiates4 ,every emotional  excess     
which hurt2 everything which broke1     
overthrew1 crushed1  transported1       
ravished2 the mystery of                
torture-chambers1 the ingenuity  of hell

 itself--all this was now discovered1   
divined1 exploited1 all  this was at the
 service of the wizard1 all this served 
to promote the  triumph of his ideal1   
the ascetic ideal4 ,my kingdom is not of
 this  world1 quoth he1 both at the     
beginning and at the end3 had he still  
the right to talk like that8--,goethe   
has maintained that there are only      
thirty-six tragic situations3 we would  
infer from that1 did we not know        
otherwise1 that ,goethe was no ascetic  
priest4 ,he--knows more4      #ba4      
,so far as all this kind of priestly    
medicine-mongering1 the guilty  kind1 is
 concerned1 every word of criticism is  
superfluous4 ,as for the  suggestion    
that emotional excess of the type1 which
 in these cases  the ascetic priest is  
fain to order to his sick patients      
7under the  most sacred euphemism1 as is
 obvious1 and equally impregnated with  
the sanctity of his purpose71 has ever  
really been of use to any sick  man1    
who1 forsooth1 would feel inclined to   

maintain a proposition of  that         
character8 ,at any rate1 some           
understanding should be come to as  to  
the expression be of use4 ,if you only  
wish to express that such a  system of  
treatment has reformed man1 ,i do not   
gainsay it3 ,i merely  add that reformed
 conveys to my mind as much as tamed1   
weakened1  discouraged1 refined1        
daintified1 emasculated 7and thus it    
means almost as much as injured74 ,but  
when you have to deal principally  with 
sick1 depressed1 and oppressed          
creatures1 such a system1 even  granted 
that it makes the ill better1 under any 
circumstances also  makes them more ill3
 ask the mad-doctors the invariable     
result of a  methodical application of  
penance-torture1 contrition1 and        
salvation  ecstasies4 ,similarly ask    
history4 ,in every body politic where   
the  ascetic priest has established this
 treatment of the sick1 disease has  on 
every occasion spread with sinister     
speed throughout its length  and        

breadth4 ,what was always the result8 ,a
 shattered nervous system1  in addition 
to the existing malady1 and this in the 
greatest as in the  smallest1 in the    
individuals as in masses4 ,we find1 in  
consequence of  the penance and         
redemption-training1 awful epileptic    
epidemics1 the  greatest known to       
history1 such as the ,st4 ,vitus and    
,st4 ,john dances  of the ,middle ,ages2
 we find1 as another phase of its       
after-effect1  frightful mutilations and
 chronic depressions1 by means of which 
the  temperament of a nation or a city  
7,geneva1 ,bale7 is turned once for  all
 into its opposite2--this training1     
again1 is responsible for  the          
witch-hysteria1 a phenomenon analogous  
to somnambulism 7eight  great epidemic  
outbursts of this only between #aefd and
 #afje72--we  find similarly in its     
train those delirious death-cravings of 
large  masses1 whose awful shriek1      
evviva la morte6 was heard over the     
whole of ,europe1 now interrupted by    

voluptuous variations and anon by  a    
rage for destruction1 just as the same  
emotional sequence with the  same       
intermittencies and sudden changes is   
now universally observed  in every case 
where the ascetic doctrine of sin scores
 once more a  great success 7religious  
neurosis appears as a manifestation of  
the  devil1 there is no doubt of it4    
,what is it8 ,quritur74 ,speaking       
generally1 the ascetic ideal and its    
sublime-moral cult1 this most           
ingenious1 reckless1 and perilous       
systematisation of all methods of       
emotional excess1 is writ large in a    
dreadful and unforgettable fashion  on  
the whole history of man1 and           
unfortunately not only on history4  ,i  
was scarcely able to put forward any    
other element which attacked  the health
 and race efficiency of ,europeans with 
more destructive  power than did this   
ideal2 it can be dubbed1without         
exaggeration1  the real fatality in the 
history of the health of the ,european  

man4  ,at the most you can merely draw a
 comparison with the specifically       
,german influence3 ,i mean the alcohol  
poisoning of ,europe1 which up  to the  
present has kept pace exactly with the  
political and racial  pre-dominance of  
the ,germans 7where they inoculated     
their blood1  there too did they        
inoculate their vice74 ,third in the    
series comes  syphilis--magno sed       
proximo intervallo4      #bb4    ,the   
ascetic priest has1 wherever he has     
obtained the mastery1 corrupted  the    
health of the soul1 he has consequently 
also corrupted taste in  artibus et     
litteris--he corrupts it still4         
,consequently8 ,i hope ,i  shall be     
granted this consequently 2 at any rate1
 ,i am not going to  prove it first4    
,one solitary indication1 it concerns   
the arch-book of  ,christian literature1
 their real model1 their book-in-itself4
 ,in the  very midst of the ,grco-,roman
 splendour1 which was also a splendour  
of books1 face to face with an ancient  

world of writings which had  not yet    
fallen into decay and ruin1 at a time   
when certain books were  still to be    
read1 to possess which we would give    
nowadays half our  literature in        
exchange1 at that time the simplicity   
and vanity of  ,christian agitators     
7they are generally called ,fathers of  
the ,church7  dared to declare3 ,we too 
have our classical literature1 we do not
  need that of the ,greeks--and         
meanwhile they proudly pointed to their 
books of legends1 their letters of      
apostles1 and their apologetic          
tractlets1 just in the same way that    
to-day the ,english ,salvation  ,army   
wages its fight against ,shakespeare and
 other heathens with  an analogous      
literature4 ,you already guess it1 ,i do
 not like the ,new  ,testament2 it      
almost upsets me that ,i stand so       
isolated in my taste  so far as concerns
 this valued1 this over-valued          
,scripture2 the taste  of two thousand  
years is against me2 but what boots it6 

,here ,i  stand6 ,i cannot help         
myself#e--;,i have the courage of my bad
 taste4  ,the ,old ,testament--yes1 that
 is something quite different1 all      
honour  to the ,old ,testament6 ,i find 
therein great men1 an heroic landscape1 
and one of the rarest phenomena in the  
world1 the incomparable navet  of the   
strong heart2 further still1 ,i find a  
people4 ,in the ,new1 on  the contrary1 
just a hostel of petty sects1 pure      
rococo of the soul1  twisting angles and
 fancy touches1 nothing but conventicle 
air1 not to  forget an occasional whiff 
of bucolic sweetness which appertains to
 the  epoch 7and the ,roman province7   
and is less ,jewish than ,hellenistic4  
,meekness and braggadocio cheek by jowl2
 an emotional garrulousness  that almost
 deafens2 passionate hysteria1 but no   
passion2 painful  pantomime2 here       
manifestly every one lacked good        
breeding4 ,how dare any  one make so    
much fuss about their little failings as
 do these pious  little fellows6 ,no one

 cares a straw about it--let alone ,god4
 ,finally  they actually wish to have   
the crown of eternal life1 do all these 
little provincials6 ,in return for what1
 in sooth8 ,for what end8 ,it is        
impossible to carry insolence any       
further4 ,an immortal ,peter6 who could 
stand him6 ,they have an ambition which 
makes one laugh3 the thing  dishes up   
cut and dried his most personal life1   
his melancholies1 and  common-or-garden 
troubles1 as though the ,universe itself
 were under  an obligation to bother    
itself about them1 for it never gets    
tired of  wrapping up ,god ,himself in  
the petty misery in which its troubles  
are  involved4 ,and how about the       
atrocious form of this chronic          
hobnobbing  with ,god8 ,this ,jewish1   
and not merely ,jewish1 slobbering and  
clawing  importunacy towards            
,god6--,there exist little despised     
heathen nations  in ,east ,asia1 from   
whom these first ,christians could have 
learnt  something worth learning1 a     

little tact in worshiping2 these nations
  do not allow themselves to say aloud  
the name of their ,god4 ,this seems  to 
me delicate enough1 it is certain that  
it is too delicate1 and  not only for   
primitive ,christians2 to take a        
contrast1 just recollect  ,luther1 the  
most eloquent and insolent peasant whom 
,germany has had1  think of the         
,lutherian tone1 in which he felt quite 
the most in his  element during his     
tte--ttes with ,god4 ,luther's          
opposition to the  medival saints of the
 ,church 7in particular1 against that   
devil's  hog1 the ,pope71 was1 there is 
no doubt1 at bottom the opposition of  a
 boor1 who was offended at the good     
etiquette of the ,church1 that          
worship-etiquette of the sacerdotal     
code1 which only admits to the  holy of 
holies the initiated and the silent1 and
 shuts the door against  the boors4     
,these definitely were not to be allowed
 a hearing in this  planet--but ,luther 
the peasant simply wished it otherwise2 

as it was1  it was not ,german enough   
for him4 ,he personally wished himself  
to talk  direct1 to talk personally1 to 
talk straight from the shoulder with    
his ,god4 ,well1 he's done it4 ,the     
ascetic ideal1 you will guess1 was at   
no time and in no place1 a school of    
good taste1 still less of good          
manners--at the best it was a school for
 sacerdotal manners3 that is1  it       
contains in itself something which was a
 deadly enemy to all good  manners4     
,lack of measure1 opposition to measure1
 it is itself a non  plus ultra4        
#bc4    ,the ascetic ideal has corrupted
 not only health and taste1 there are   
also third1 fourth1 fifth1 and sixth    
things which it has corrupted--,i  shall
 take care not to go through the        
catalogue 7when should ,i get to  the   
end874 ,i have here to expose not what  
this ideal effected2 but  rather only   
what it means1 on what it is based1 what
 lies lurking  behind it and under it1  
that of which it is the provisional     

expression1  an obscure expression      
bristling with queries and              
misunderstandings4  ,and with this      
object only in view ,i presumed not to  
spare my  readers a glance at the       
awfulness of its results1 a glance at   
its  fatal results2 ,i did this to      
prepare them for the final and most     
awful aspect presented to me by the     
question of the significance of  that   
ideal4 ,what is the significance of the 
power of that ideal1  the monstrousness 
of its power8 ,why is it given such an  
amount of  scope8 ,why is not a better  
resistance offered against it8 ,the     
ascetic  ideal expresses one will3 where
 is the opposition will1 in which an    
opposition ideal expresses itself8 ,the 
ascetic ideal has an aim--  this goal   
is1 putting it generally1 that all the  
other interests of  human life should1  
measured by its standard1 appear petty  
and narrow2  it explains epochs1        
nations1 men1 in reference to this one  
end2 it  forbids any other              

interpretation1 any other end2 it       
repudiates1 denies1  affirms1 confirms1 
only in the sense of its own            
interpretation 7and was  there ever a   
more thoroughly elaborated system of    
interpretation872  it subjects itself to
 no power1 rather does it believe in its
 own  precedence over every power--it   
believes that nothing powerful exists   
in the world that has not first got to  
receive from it a meaning1  a right to  
exist1 a value1 as being an instrument  
in its work1 a  way and means to its    
end1 to one end4 ,where is the          
counterpart of  this complete system of 
will1 end1 and interpretation8 ,why is  
the  counterpart lacking8 ,where is the 
other one aim8 ,but ,i am told it  is   
not lacking1 that not only has it fought
 a long and fortunate fight  with that  
ideal1 but that further it has already  
won the mastery over  that ideal in all 
essentials3 let our whole modern science
 attest  this--that modern science1     
which1 like the genuine                 

reality-philosophy  which it is1        
manifestly believes in itself alone1    
manifestly has the  courage to be       
itself1 the will to be itself1 and has  
got on well  enough without ,god1       
another world1 and negative virtues4    
,with all their noisy agitator-babble1  
however1 they effect nothing with  me2  
these trumpeters of reality are bad     
musicians1 their voices do  not come    
from the deeps with sufficient          
audibility1 they are not the  mouthpiece
 for the abyss of scientific            
knowledge--for to-day scientific        
knowledge is an abyss--the word science1
 in such trumpeter-mouths1  is a        
prostitution1 an abuse1 an impertinence4
 ,the truth is just the  opposite from  
what is maintained in the ascetic       
theory4 ,science has  to-day absolutely 
no belief in itself1 let alone in an    
ideal superior  to itself1 and wherever 
science still consists of passion1 love1
  ardour1 suffering1 it is not the      
opposition to that ascetic ideal1 but   

rather the incarnation of its latest and
 noblest form4 ,does that ring  strange8
 ,there are enough brave and decent     
working people1 even among  the learned 
men of to-day1 who like their little    
corner1 and who1 just  because they are 
pleased so to do1 become at times       
indecently loud with  their demand1 that
 people to-day should be quite content1 
especially  in science--for in science  
there is so much useful work to do4 ,i  
do  not deny it--there is nothing ,i    
should like less than to spoil the      
delight of these honest workers in their
 handiwork2 for ,i rejoice in  their    
work4 ,but the fact of science requiring
 hard work1 the fact of  its having     
contented workers1 is absolutely no     
proof of science as a  whole having     
to-day one end1 one will1 one ideal1 one
 passion for a  great faith2 the        
contrary1 as ,i have said1 is the case4 
,when science  is not the latest        
manifestation of the ascetic ideal--but 
these are  cases of such rarity1        

selectness1 and exquisiteness1 as to    
preclude the  general judgment being    
affected thereby--science is a          
hiding-place  for every kind of         
cowardice1 disbelief1 remorse1 despectio
 sui1 bad  conscience--it is the very   
anxiety that springs from having no     
ideal1  the suffering from the lack of a
 great love1 the discontent with an     
enforced moderation4 ,oh1 what does all 
science not cover to-day8 ,how  much1 at
 any rate1 does it not try to cover8    
,the diligence of our best  scholars1   
their senseless industry1 their burning 
the candle of their  brain at both      
ends--their very mastery in their       
handiwork--how often is  the real       
meaning of all that to prevent          
themselves continuing to see a  certain 
thing8 ,science as a self-ansthetic3 do 
you know that8 ,you  wound them--every  
one who consorts with scholars          
experiences this--you  wound them       
sometimes to the quick through just a   
harmless word2 when  you think you are  

paying them a compliment you embitter   
them beyond all  bounds1 simply because 
you didn't have the finesse to infer the
 real  kind of customers you had to     
tackle1 the sufferer kind 7who won't own
  up even to themselves what they really
 are71 the dazed and unconscious  kind  
who have only one fear--coming to       
consciousness4      #bd4    ,and now    
look at the other side1 at those rare   
cases1 of which ,i spoke1  the most     
supreme idealists to be found nowadays  
among philosophers and  scholars4 ,have 
we1 perchance1 found in them the        
sought-for opponents  of the ascetic    
ideal1 its anti-idealists8 ,in fact1    
they believe  themselves to be such1    
these unbelievers 7for they are all of  
them  that73 it seems that this idea is 
their last remnant of faith1 the idea   
of being opponents of this ideal1 so    
earnest are they on this subject1  so   
passionate in word and gesture2--but    
does it follow that what  they believe  
must necessarily be true8 ,we knowers   

have grown by  degrees suspicious of all
 kinds of believers1 our suspicion has  
step by  step habituated us to draw just
 the opposite conclusions to what people
  have drawn before2 that is to say1    
wherever the strength of a belief  is   
particularly prominent to draw the      
conclusion of the difficulty of  proving
 what is believed1 the conclusion of its
 actual improbability4  ,we do not again
 deny that faith produces salvation3 for
 that very  reason we do deny that faith
 proves anything1--a strong faith1 which
  produces happiness1 causes suspicion  
of the object of that faith1 it  does   
not establish its truth1 it does        
establish a certain probability         
of--illusion4 ,what is now the position 
in these cases8 ,these  solitaries and  
deniers of to-day2 these fanatics in one
 thing1 in their  claim to intellectual 
cleanness2 these hard1 stern1 continent1
 heroic  spirits1 who constitute the    
glory of our time2 all these pale       
atheists1  anti-,christians1            

immoralists1 ,nihilists2 these sceptics1
 ephectics1  and hectics of the         
intellect 7in a certain sense they are  
the  latter1 both collectively and      
individually72 these supreme idealists  
of knowledge1 in whom alone nowadays the
 intellectual conscience  dwells and is 
alive--in point of fact they believe    
themselves as far  away as possible from
 the ascetic ideal1 do these free1 very 
free  spirits3 and yet1 if ,i may reveal
 what they themselves cannot see--for   
they stand too near themselves3 this    
ideal is simply their ideal1  they      
represent it nowadays and perhaps no one
 else1 they themselves  are its most    
spiritualised product1 its most advanced
 picket of  skirmishers and scouts1 its 
most insidious delicate and elusive form
  of seduction4--,if ,i am in any way a 
reader of riddles1 then ,i will  be one 
with this sentence3 for some time past  
there have been no  free spirits2 for   
they still believe in truth4 ,when the  
,christian  ,crusaders in the ,east came

 into collision with that invincible    
order  of assassins1 that order of free 
spirits par excellence1 whose  lowest   
grade lives in a state of discipline    
such as no order of monks  has ever     
attained1 then in some way or other they
 managed to get an  inkling of that     
symbol and tally-word1 that was reserved
 for the  highest grade alone as their  
secretum1 ,nothing is true1 everything  
is allowed1--in sooth1 that was freedom 
of thought1 thereby was  taking leave of
 the very belief in truth4 ,has indeed  
any ,european1  any ,christian          
freethinker1 ever yet wandered into this
 proposition  and its labyrinthine      
consequences8 ,does he know from        
experience the  ,minotauros of this     
den4--,i doubt it--nay1 ,i know         
otherwise4 ,nothing  is more really     
alien to these mono-fanatics1 these     
so-called  free spirits1 than freedom   
and unfettering in that sense2 in no    
respect are they more closely tied1 the 
absolute fanaticism of their  belief in 

truth is unparalleled4 ,i know all this 
perhaps too much from  experience at    
close quarters--that dignified          
philosophic abstinence  to which a      
belief like that binds its adherents1   
that stoicism of  the intellect1 which  
eventually vetoes negation as rigidly as
 it does  affirmation1 that wish for    
standing still in front of the actual1  
the factum brutum1 that fatalism in     
petits faits 7ce petit  faitalism1 as ,i
 call it71 in which ,french ,science now
 attempts a kind  of moral superiority  
over ,german1 this renunciation of      
interpretation  generally 7that is1 of  
forcing1 doctoring1 abridging1 omitting1
  suppressing1 inventing1 falsifying1   
and all the other essential  attributes 
of interpretation7--all this1 considered
 broadly1 expresses  the asceticism of  
virtue1 quite as efficiently as does any
 repudiation  of the senses 7it is at   
bottom only a modus of that             
repudiation47  ,but what forces it into 
that unqualified will for truth is the  

faith  in the ascetic ideal itself1 even
 though it take the form of its         
unconscious imperatives1--make no       
mistake about it1 it is the faith1  ,i  
repeat1 in a metaphysical value1 an     
intrinsic value of truth1  of a         
character which is only warranted and   
guaranteed in this ideal  7it stands and
 falls with that ideal74 ,judged        
strictly1 there does  not exist a       
science without its hypotheses1 the     
thought of such a  science is           
inconceivable1 illogical3 a philosophy1 
a faith1 must always  exist first to    
enable science to gain thereby a        
direction1 a meaning1  a limit and      
method1 a right to existence4 7,he who  
holds a contrary  opinion on the        
subject--he1 for example1 who takes it  
upon himself to  establish philosophy   
upon a strictly scientific basis--has   
first got  to turn up-side-down not only
 philosophy but also truth itself--the  
gravest insult which could possibly be  
offered to two such respectable         

females67 ,yes1 there is no doubt about 
it--and here ,i quote my ,joyful        
,wisdom1 cp4 ,book ,v4 ,aph4 #cdd3 ,the 
man who is truthful in that  daring and 
extreme fashion1 which is the           
presupposition of the faith  in science1
 asserts thereby a different world from 
that of life1  nature1 and history2 and 
in so far as he asserts the existence of
 that  different world1 come1 must he   
not similarly repudiate its counterpart1
  this world1 our world8 ,the belief on 
which our faith in science is  based has
 remained to this day a metaphysical    
belief--even we knowers  of to-day1 we  
godless foes of metaphysics1 we too take
 our fire from  that conflagration which
 was kindled by a thousand-year-old     
faith1  from that ,christian belief1    
which was also ,plato's belief1 the     
belief  that ,god is truth1 that truth  
is divine4444 ,but what if this belief  
becomes more and more incredible1 what  
if nothing proves itself to  be divine1 
unless it be error1 blindness1          

lies--what if ,god1 ,himself  proved    
,himself to be our oldest lie8--,it is  
necessary to stop at  this point and to 
consider the situation carefully4       
,science itself now  needs a            
justification 7which is not for a minute
 to say that there  is such a           
justification74 ,turn in this context to
 the most ancient and  the most modern  
philosophers3 they all fail to realise  
the extent of  the need of a            
justification on the part of the ,will  
for ,truth--here  is a gap in every     
philosophy--what is it caused by8       
,because up to the  present the ascetic 
ideal dominated all philosophy1 because 
,truth was  fixed as ,being1 as ,god1 as
 the ,supreme ,court of ,appeal1 because
 ,truth  was not allowed to be a        
problem4 ,do you understand this        
allowed8  ,from the minute that the     
belief in the ,god of the ascetic ideal 
is  repudiated1 there exists a new      
problem3 the problem of the value of    
truth4 ,the ,will for ,truth needed a   

critique--let us define by these  words 
our own task---the value of truth is    
tentatively to be called  in            
question4444 7,if this seems too        
laconically expressed1 ,i recommend  the
 reader to peruse again that passage    
from the ,joyful ,wisdom which  bears   
the title1 ,how far we also are still   
pious1 ,aph4 #cdd1 and best  of all the 
whole fifth book of that work1 as well  
as the ,preface to  ,the ,dawn of ,day47
      #be4    ,no6 ,you can't get round 
me with science1 when ,i search for the 
natural  antagonists of the ascetic     
ideal1 when ,i put the question3 ,where 
is the opposed will in which the        
opponent ideal expresses itself8        
,science is not1 by a long way1         
independent enough to fulfil this       
function2 in every department science   
needs an ideal value1 a power  which    
creates values1 and in whose service it 
can believe in itself  --science itself 
never creates values4 ,its relation to  
the ascetic  ideal is not in itself     

antagonistic2 speaking roughly1 it      
rather  represents the progressive force
 in the inner evolution of that ideal4  
,tested more exactly1 its opposition and
 antagonism are concerned not  with the 
ideal itself1 but only with that ideal's
 outworks1 its outer  garb1 its         
masquerade1 with its temporary          
hardening1 stiffening1 and              
dogmatising--it makes the life in the   
ideal free once more1 while it          
repudiates its superficial elements4    
,these two phenomena1 science and  the  
ascetic ideal1 both rest on the same    
basis--,i have already made  this       
clear--the basis1 ,i say1 oft the same  
over-appreciation of truth  7more       
accurately the same belief in the       
impossibility of valuing and  of        
criticising truth71 and consequently    
they are necessarily allies1  so that1  
in the event of their being attacked1   
they must always be  attacked and called
 into question together4 ,a valuation of
 the ascetic  ideal inevitably entails a

 valuation of science as well2 lose no  
time  in seeing this clearly1 and be    
sharp to catch it6 7,art1 ,i am speaking
  provisionally1 for ,i will treat it on
 some other occasion in greater         
detail1--art1 ,i repeat1 in which lying 
is sanctified and the will for          
deception has good conscience on its    
side1 is much more fundamentally        
opposed to the ascetic ideal than is    
science3 ,plato's instinct felt         
this--,plato1 the greatest enemy of art 
which ,europe has produced up  to the   
present4 ,plato versus ,homer1 that is  
the complete1 the true  antagonism--on  
the one side1 the whole-hearted         
transcendental1 the  great defamer of   
life2 on the other1 its involuntary     
panegyrist1 the  golden nature4 ,an     
artistic subservience to the service of 
the ascetic  ideal is consequently the  
most absolute artistic corruption that  
there can be1 though unfortunately it is
 one of the most frequent  phases1 for  
nothing is more corruptible than an     

artist47 ,considered  physiologically1  
moreover1 science rests on the same1    
basis as  does the ascetic ideal3 a     
certain impoverishment of life is the   
presupposition of the latter as of the  
former--add1 frigidity of the  emotions1
 slackening of the tempo1 the           
substitution of dialectic for  instinct1
 seriousness impressed on mien and      
gesture 7seriousness1  that most        
unmistakable sign of strenuous          
metabolism1 of struggling1  toiling     
life74 ,consider the periods in a nation
 in which the learned  man comes into   
prominence2 they are the periods of     
exhaustion1 often  of sunset1 of        
decay--the effervescing strength1 the   
confidence in  life1 the confidence in  
the future are no more4 ,the            
preponderance of  the mandarins never   
signifies any good1 any more than does  
the advent  of democracy1 or arbitration
 instead of war1 equal rights for women1
  the religion of pity1 and all the     
other symptoms of declining life4       

7,science handled as a problem6 what is 
the meaning of science8--upon  this     
point the ,preface to the ,birth of     
,tragedy47 ,no6 this modern             
science--mark you this well--is at times
 the best ally for the  ascetic ideal1  
and for the very reason that it is the  
ally which is  most unconscious1 most   
automatic1 most secret1 and most        
subterranean6  ,they have been playing  
into each other's hands up to the       
present1 have  these poor in spirit and 
the scientific opponents of that ideal  
7take  care1 by the bye1 not to think   
that these opponents are the antithesis 
of this ideal1 that they are the rich in
 spirit--that they are not2  ,i have    
called them the hectic in spirit74 ,as  
for these celebrated  victories of      
science2 there is no doubt that they are
 victories--but  victories over what8   
,there was not for a single minute any  
victory  among their list over the      
ascetic ideal1 rather was it made       
stronger1  that is to say1 more elusive1

 more abstract1 more insidious1 from    
the fact that a wall1 an outwork1 that  
had got built on to the main  fortress  
and disfigured its appearance1 should   
from time to time be  ruthlessly        
destroyed and broken down by science4   
,does any one seriously  suggest that   
the downfall of the theological         
astronomy signified the  downfall of    
that ideal8--,has1 perchance1 man grown 
less in need of a  transcendental       
solution of his riddle of existence1    
because since that  time this existence 
has become more random1 casual1 and     
superfluous in  the visible order of the
 universe8 ,has there not been since the
 time  of ,copernicus an unbroken       
progress in the self-belittling of man  
and  his will for belittling himself8   
,alas1 his belief in his dignity1 his   
uniquenesses irreplaceableness in the   
scheme of existence1 is gone--he  has   
become animal1 literal1 unqualified1 and
 unmitigated animal1 he  who in his     
earlier belief was almost ,god 7child of

 ,god1 demi-,god74  ,since ,copernicus  
man seems to have fallen on to a steep  
plane--he rolls  faster and faster away 
from the centre--whither8 into          
nothingness8  into the thrilling        
sensation of his own nothingness--,well6
 this  would be the straight way--to the
 old ideal8--,all science 7and by no    
means only astronomy1 with regard to the
 humiliating and deteriorating  effect  
of which ,kant has made a remarkable    
confession1 it annihilates  my own      
importance71 all science1 natural as    
much as unnatural--by  unnatural ,i mean
 the self-critique of reason--nowadays  
sets out to  talk man out of his present
 opinion of himself1 as though that     
opinion  had been nothing but a bizarre 
piece of conceit2 you might go so far   
as to say that science finds its        
peculiar pride1 its peculiar bitter     
form of stoical ataraxia1 in preserving 
man's contempt of himself1  that state  
which it took so much trouble to bring  
about1 as man's final  and most serious 

claim to self-appreciation 7rightly so1 
in point  of fact1 for he who despises  
is always one who has not forgotten  how
 to appreciate74 ,but does all this     
involve any real effort to  counteract  
the ascetic ideal8 ,is it really        
seriously suggested that  ,kant's       
victory over the theological dogmatism  
about ,god1 ,soul1  ,freedom1           
,immortality1 has damaged that ideal in 
any way 7as the  theologians have       
imagined to be the case for a long time 
past78--  ,and in this connection it    
does not concern us for a single minute1
  if ,kant himself intended any such    
consummation4 ,it is certain that  from 
the time of ,kant every type of         
transcendentalist is playing a  winning 
game--they are emancipated from the     
theologians2 what luck6--he  has        
revealed to them that secret art1 by    
which they can now pursue  their heart's
 desire on their own responsibility1 and
 with all the  respectability of        
science4 ,similarly1 who can grumble at 

the agnostics1  reverers1 as they are1  
of the unknown and the absolute mystery1
 if they  now worship their very query  
as ,god8 7,xaver ,doudan talks somewhere
  of the ravages which l'habitude       
d'admirer l'inintelligible au lieu  de  
rester tout simplement dans l'inconnu   
has produced--the ancients1  he thinks1 
must have been exempt from those        
ravages47 ,supposing that  everything1  
known to man1 fails to satisfy his      
desires1 and on the  contrary           
contradicts and horrifies them1 what a  
divine way out of all  this to be able  
to look for the responsibility1 not in  
the desiring  but in knowing6--,there is
 no knowledge4 ,consequently--there is  
a ,god2 what a novel elegantia          
syllogismi6 what a triumph for the      
ascetic ideal6      #bf4    ,or1        
perchance1 does the whole of modern     
history show in its demeanour  greater  
confidence in life1 greater confidence  
in its ideals8 ,its  loftiest pretension
 is now to be a mirror2 it repudiates   

all  teleology2 it will have no more    
proving2 it disdains to play the  judge1
 and thereby shows its good taste--it   
asserts as little as it  denies1 it     
fixes1 it describes4 ,all this is to a  
high degree ascetic1  but at the same   
time it is to a much greater degree     
nihilistic2 make  no mistake about this6
 ,you see in the historian a gloomy1    
hard1 but  determined gaze1--an eye that
 looks out as an isolated ,north ,pole  
explorer looks out 7perhaps so as not to
 look within1 so as not to look         
back87--there is snow--here is life     
silenced1 the last crows which  caw here
 are called whither8 ,vanity1           
,nada--here nothing more  flourishes and
 grows1 at the most the metapolitics of 
,st4 ,petersburg  and the pity of       
,tolstoi4 ,but as for that other school 
of historians1  a perhaps still more    
modern school1 a voluptuous and         
lascivious  school which ogles life and 
the ascetic ideal with equal fervour1   
which uses the word artist as a glove1  

and has nowadays established  a corner  
for itself1 in all the praise given to  
contemplation2 oh1  what a thirst do    
these sweet intellectuals excite even   
for ascetics  and winter landscapes6    
,nay6 ,the devil take these             
contemplative folk6  ,how much liefer   
would ,i wander with those historical   
,nihilists through  the gloomiest1 grey1
 cold mist6--nay1 ,i shall not mind     
listening  7supposing ,i have to choose7
 to one who is completely unhistorical  
and anti-historical 7a man1 like ,dhring
 for instance1 over whose  periods a    
hitherto shy and unavowed species of    
beautiful souls has  grown intoxicated  
in contemporary ,germany1 the species   
anarchistica  within the educated       
proletariate74 ,the contemplative are a 
hundred  times worse--,i never knew     
anything which produced such intense    
nausea as one of those objective        
chairs1#f one of those scented          
mannikins-about-town of history1 a thing
 half-priest1 half-satyr 7,renan        

parfum71 which betrays by the high1     
shrill falsetto of his applause  what he
 lacks and where he lacks it1 who       
betrays where in this case  the ,fates  
have plied their ghastly shears1 alas6  
in too surgeon-like  a fashion6 ,this is
 distasteful to me1 and irritates my    
patience2 let  him keep patient at such 
sights who has nothing to lose          
thereby1--such  a sight enrages me1 such
 spectators embitter me against the     
play1  even more than does the play     
itself 7history itself1 you understand72
  ,anacreontic moods imperceptibly come 
over me4 ,this ,nature1 who gave  to the
 steer its horn1 to the lion its  1 for 
what purpose  did ,nature give me my    
foot8--,to kick1 by ,st4 ,anacreon1 and 
not merely  to run away6 ,to trample on 
all the worm-eaten chairs1 the cowardly 
contemplators1 the lascivious eunuchs of
 history1 the flirters with  ascetic    
ideals1 the righteous hypocrites of     
impotence6 ,all reverence  on my part to
 the ascetic ideal1 in so far as it is  

honourable6 ,so  long as it believes in 
itself and plays no pranks on us6 ,but  
,i like  not all these coquettish bugs  
who have an insatiate ambition to smell 
of the infinite1 until eventually the   
infinite smells of bugs2 ,i like  not   
the whited sepulchres with their stagey 
reproduction of life2  ,i like not the  
tired and the used up who wrap          
themselves in wisdom  and look          
objective2 ,i like not the agitators    
dressed up as heroes1  who hide their   
dummy-heads behind the stalking-horse of
 an ideal2 ,i  like not the ambitious   
artists who would fain play the ascetic 
and  the priest1 and are at bottom      
nothing but tragic clowns2 ,i like not1 
again1 these newest speculators in      
idealism1 the ,anti-,semites1 who       
nowadays roll their eyes in the patent  
,christian-,aryan-man-of-honour         
fashion1 and by an abuse of moralist    
attitudes and agitation dodges1 so      
cheap as to exhaust any patience1 strive
 to excite all the blockhead  elements  

in the populace 7the invariable success 
of every kind of  intellectual          
charlatanism in present-day ,germany    
hangs together with  the almost         
indisputable and already quite palpable 
desolation of the  ,german mind1 whose  
cause ,i look for in a too exclusive    
diet1 of papers1  politics1 beer1 and   
,wagnerian music1 not forgetting the    
condition  precedent of this diet1 the  
national exclusiveness and vanity1 the  
strong but narrow principle1 ,germany1  
,germany above everything1#g  and       
finally the paralysis agitans of modern 
ideas74 ,europe  nowadays is1 above all1
 wealthy and ingenious in means of      
excitement2  it apparently has no more  
crying necessity than stimulantia and   
alcohol4 ,hence the enormous            
counterfeiting of ideals1 those most    
fiery  spirits of the mind2 hence too   
the repulsive1 evil-smelling1 perjured1 
pseudo-alcoholic air everywhere4 ,i     
should like to know how many cargoes  of
 imitation idealism1 of hero-costumes   

and high falutin' clap-trap1  how many  
casks of sweetened pity liqueur 7,firm3 
la religion de la  souffrance71 how many
 crutches of righteous indignation for  
the help  of these flat-footed          
intellects1 how many comedians of the   
,christian  moral ideal would need      
to-day to be exported from ,europe1 to  
enable  its air to smell pure again4 ,it
 is obvious that1 in regard to this     
over-production1 a new trade possibility
 lies open2 it is obvious  that there is
 a new business to be done in little    
ideal idols and  obedient               
idealists--don't pass over this tip6    
,who has sufficient  courage8 ,we have  
in our hands the possibility of         
idealising the whole  earth4 ,but what  
am ,i talking about courage8 we only    
need one thing  here--a hand1 a free1 a 
very free hand4      #bg4    ,enough6   
enough6 let us leave these curiosities  
and complexities of  the modern spirit1 
which excite as much laughter as        
disgust4 ,our  problem can certainly do 

without them1 the problem of meaning of 
the ascetic ideal--what has it got to do
 with yesterday or to-day8  those things
 shall be handled by me more thoroughly 
and severely in  another connection     
7under the title ,a ,contribution to the
 ,history of  ,european ,nihilism1 ,i   
refer for this to a work which ,i am    
preparing3  ,the ,will to ,power1 an    
,attempt at a ,transvaluation of ,all   
,values74  ,the only reason why ,i come 
to allude to it here is this3 the       
ascetic  ideal has at times1 even in the
 most intellectual sphere1 only one     
real kind of enemies and damagers3 these
 are the comedians of this  ideal--for  
they awake mistrust4 ,everywhere        
otherwise1 where the mind  is at work   
seriously1 powerfully1 and without      
counterfeiting1 it  dispenses altogether
 now with an ideal 7the popular         
expression for this  abstinence is      
,atheism7--with the exception of the    
will for truth4  ,but this will1 this   
remnant of an ideal1 is1 if you will    

believe me1  that ideal itself in its   
severest and cleverest formulation1     
esoteric  through and through1 stripped 
of all outworks1 and consequently not so
  much its remnant as its kernel4       
,unqualified honest atheism 7and its    
air only do we breathe1 we1 the most    
intellectual men of this age7 is  not   
opposed to that ideal1 to the extent    
that it appears to be2 it is  rather one
 of the final phases of its evolution1  
one of its syllogisms  and pieces of    
inherent logic--it is the awe-inspiring 
catastrophe of  a two-thousand-year     
training in truth1 which finally forbids
 itself  the lie of the belief in ,god4 
7,the same course of development in     
,india--quite independently1 and        
consequently of some demonstrative      
value--the same ideal driving to the    
same conclusion the decisive point      
reached five hundred years before the   
,european era1 or more precisely  at the
 time of ,buddha--it started in the     
,sankhyam philosophy1 and then  this was

 popularised through ,buddha1 and made  
into a religion47    ,what1 ,i put the  
question with all strictness1 has really
 triumphed  over the ,christian ,god8   
,the answer stands in my ,joyful        
,wisdom1 ,aph4  #ceg3 the ,christian    
morality itself1 the idea of truth1     
taken as it was  with increasing        
seriousness1 the confessor-subtlety of  
the ,christian  conscience translated   
and sublimated into the scientific      
conscience  into intellectual cleanness 
at any price4 ,regarding ,nature as     
though  it were a proof of the goodness 
and guardianship of ,god2 interpreting  
history in honour of a divine reason1 as
 a constant proof of a moral  order of  
the world and a moral teleology2        
explaining our own personal             
experiences1 as pious men have for long 
enough explained them1 as  though every 
arrangement1 every nod1 every single    
thing were invented  and sent out of    
love for the salvation of the soul2 all 
this is now  done away with1 all this   

has the conscience against it1 and is   
regarded by every subtler conscience as 
disreputable1 dishonourable1  as lying1 
feminism1 weakness1 cowardice--by means 
of this severity1  if by means of       
anything at all1 are we1 in sooth1 good 
,europeans  and heirs of ,europe's      
longest and bravest self-mastery44 44   
,all  great things go to ruin by reason 
of themselves1 by reason of an act  of  
self-dissolution3 so wills the law of   
life1 the law of necessary  self-mastery
 even in the essence of life--ever is   
the law-giver  finally exposed to the   
cry1 patere legem quam ipse tulisti2 in 
thus wise did ,christianity go to ruin  
as a dogma1 through its own  morality2  
in thus wise must ,christianity go again
 to ruin to-day as  a morality--we are  
standing on the threshold of this event4
 ,after  ,christian truthfulness has    
drawn one conclusion after the other1 it
  finally draws its strongest           
conclusion1 its conclusion against      
itself2 this1 however1 happens1 when it 

puts the question1 what is  the meaning 
of every will for truth8 ,and here again
 do ,i touch on my  problem1 on our     
problem1 my unknown friends 7for as yet 
,i know of no  friends73 what sense has 
our whole being1 if it does not mean    
that in  our own selves that will for   
truth has come to its own consciousness 
as a problem8---,by reason of this      
attainment of self-consciousness  on the
 part of the will for truth1 morality   
from henceforward--there  is no doubt   
about it--goes to pieces3 this is that  
great hundred-act  play that is reserved
 for the next two centuries of ,europe1 
the most  terrible1 the most mysterious1
 and perhaps also the most hopeful of   
all  plays4      #bh4    ,if you except 
the ascetic ideal1 man1 the animal man  
had no meaning4  ,his existence on earth
 contained no end2 ,what is the purpose 
of man  at all8 was a question without  
an answer2 the will for man and the     
world was lacking2 behind every great   
human destiny rang as a refrain  a still

 greater ,vanity6 ,the ascetic ideal    
simply means this3 that  something was  
lacking1 that a tremendous void         
encircled man--he did  not know how to  
justify himself1 to explain himself1 to 
affirm himself1  he suffered from the   
problem of his own meaning4 ,he suffered
 also in  other ways1 he was in the main
 a diseased animal2 but his problem  was
 not suffering itself1 but the lack of  
an answer to that crying  question1 ,to 
what purpose do we suffer8 ,man1 the    
bravest animal  and the one most inured 
to suffering1 does not repudiate        
suffering in  itself3 he wills it1 he   
even seeks it out1 provided that he is  
shown  a meaning for it1 a purpose of   
suffering4 ,not suffering1 but the      
senselessness of suffering was the curse
 which till then lay spread  over       
humanity--and the ascetic ideal gave it 
a meaning6 ,it was up  till then the    
only meaning2 but any meaning is better 
than no meaning2  the ascetic ideal was 
in that connection the faute de mieux   

par  excellence that existed at that    
time4 ,in that ideal suffering found  an
 explanation2 the tremendous gap seemed 
filled2 the door to all  suicidal       
,nihilism was closed4 ,the              
explanation--there is no doubt about    
it--brought in its train new suffering1 
deeper1 more penetrating1 more          
venomous1 gnawing more brutally into    
life3 it brought all suffering  under   
the perspective of guilt2 but in spite  
of all that--man was  saved thereby1 he 
had a meaning1 and from henceforth was  
no more  like a leaf in the wind1 a     
shuttle-cock of chance1 of nonsense1 he 
could now will something--absolutely    
immaterial to what end1 to what         
purpose1 with what means he wished3 the 
will itself was saved4 ,it  is          
absolutely impossible to disguise what  
in point of fact is made  clear by every
 complete will that has taken its       
direction from the  ascetic ideal3 this 
hate of the human1 and even more of the 
animal1  and more still of the material1

 this horror of the senses1 of reason   
itself1 this fear of happiness and      
beauty1 this desire to get right  away  
from all illusion1 change1 growth1      
death1 wishing and even  desiring--all  
this means--let us have the courage to  
grasp it--a will  for ,nothingness1 a   
will opposed to life1 a repudiation of  
the most  fundamental conditions of     
life1 but it is and remains a will6--and
  to say at the end that which ,i said  
at the beginning--man will wish         
,nothingness rather than not wish at    
all4        #a ,an allusion to the      
celebrated monologue in ,william ,tell4 
#b ,mistress ,sly4--,tr4    #c ,in the  
,german text ,heiland4 ,this has the    
double meaning of  healer and           
saviour4--,h4 ,b4 ,s4    #d ,horrible   
beast4    #e ,here ,i stand6 ,i cannot  
help myself4 ,god help me6 ,amen--were  
,luther's words before the ,reichstag at
 ,worms4--,h4 ,b4 ,s4    #f ,e4g4       
,lectureships4    #g ,an allusion to the
 well-known patriotic song4--,h4 ,b4 ,s4

          ,,peoples ,,and ,,countries4  
,translated by ,j4 ,m4 ,,kennedy4       
,the following twenty-seven fragments   
were intended by ,nietzsche to  form a  
supplement to ,chapter ,,viii4 of       
,beyond ,good and ,evil1 dealing  with  
,peoples and ,countries4      #a4       
,the ,europeans now imagine themselves  
as representing1 in the main1 the       
highest types of men on earth4      #b4 
,a characteristic of ,europeans3        
inconsistency between word and deed2    
the ,oriental is true to himself in     
daily life4 ,how the ,european has      
established colonies is explained by his
 nature1 which resembles that  of a     
beast of prey4    ,this inconsistency is
 explained by the fact that             
,christianity has  abandoned the class  
from which it sprang4    ,this is the   
difference between us and the ,hellenes3
 their morals grew  up among the        
governing castes4 ,thucydides' morals   
are the same as those  that exploded    
everywhere with ,plato4    ,attempts    

towards honesty at the ,renaissance1 for
 example3 always for  the benefit of the
 arts4 ,michael ,angelo's conception of 
,god as the  ,tyrant of the ,world was  
an honest one4      #c4    ,i rate      
,michael ,angelo higher than ,raphael1  
because1 through all the  ,christian    
clouds and prejudices of his time1 he   
saw the ideal of a  culture nobler than 
the ,christo-,raphaelian3 whilst        
,raphael truly  and modestly glorified  
only the values handed down to him1 and 
did  not carry within himself any       
inquiring1 yearning instincts4 ,michael 
,angelo1 on the other hand1 saw and felt
 the problem of the law-giver of  new   
values3 the problem of the conqueror    
made perfect1 who first had  to subdue  
the hero within himself1 the man exalted
 to his highest  pedestal1 master even  
of his pity1 who mercilessly shatters   
and  annihilates everything that does   
not bear his own stamp1 shining in      
,olympian divinity4 ,michael ,angelo was
 naturally only at certain moments  so  

high and so far beyond his age and      
,christian ,europe3 for the most  part  
he adopted a condescending attitude     
towards the eternal feminine  in        
,christianity2 it would seem1 indeed1   
that in the end he broke down  before   
her1 and gave up the ideal of his most  
inspired hours4 ,it was  an ideal which 
only a man in the strongest and highest 
vigour of life  could bear2 but not a   
man advanced in years6 ,indeed1 he would
 have had  to demolish ,christianity    
with his ideal6 ,but he was not thinker 
and  philosopher enough for that        
,perhaps ,leonardo da ,vinci alone of   
those  artists had a really             
super-,christian outlook4 ,he knows the 
,east1 the  land of dawn1 within himself
 as well as without himself4 ,there is  
something super-,european and silent in 
him3 a characteristic of every  one who 
has seen too wide a circle of things    
good and bad4      #d4    ,how much we  
have learnt and learnt anew in fifty    
years6 ,the whole  ,romantic ,school    

with its belief in the people is        
refuted6 ,no ,homeric  poetry as popular
 poetry6 ,no deification of the great   
powers of  ,nature6 ,no deduction from  
language-relationship to                
race-relationship6  ,no intellectual    
contemplations of the supernatural6 ,no 
truth  enshrouded in religion6    ,the  
problem of truthfulness is quite a new  
one4 ,i am astonished4 ,from  this      
standpoint we regard such natures as    
,bismarck as culpable out of            
carelessness1 such as ,richard ,wagner  
out of want of modesty2 we would        
condemn ,plato for his pia fraus1 ,kant 
for the derivation of his  ,categorical 
,imperative1 his own belief certainly   
not having come to him  from this       
source4    ,finally1 even doubt turns   
against itself3 doubt in doubt4 ,and the
  question as to the value of           
truthfulness and its extent lies there4 
#e4    ,what ,i observe with pleasure in
 the ,german is his ,mephistophelian    
nature2 but1 to tell the truth1 one must

 have a higher conception of            
,mephistopheles than ,goethe had1 who   
found it necessary to diminish  his     
,mephistopheles in order to magnify his 
inner ,faust4 ,the true  ,german        
,mephistopheles is much more dangerous1 
bold1 wicked1 and  cunning1 and         
consequently more open-hearted3 remember
 the nature  of ,frederick the ,great1  
or of that much greater ,frederick1 the 
,hohenstaufen1 ,frederick ,,ii4    ,the 
real ,german ,mephistopheles crosses the
 ,alps1 and believes that  everything   
there belongs to him4 ,then he recovers 
himself1 like  ,winckelmann1 like       
,mozart4 ,he looks upon ,faust and      
,hamlet as  caricatures1 invented to be 
laughed at1 and upon ,luther also4      
,goethe  had his good ,german moments1  
when he laughed inwardly at all these   
things4 ,but then he fell back again    
into his cloudy moods4      #f4         
,perhaps the ,germans have only grown up
 in a wrong climate6 ,there is          
something in them that might be         

,hellenic6--something that is awakened  
when they are brought into touch with   
the ,south--,winckelmann1 ,goethe1      
,mozart4 ,we should not forget1 however1
 that we are still young4 ,luther  is   
still our last event2 our last book is  
still the ,bible4 ,the ,germans  have   
never yet moralised4 ,also1 the very    
food of the ,germans was  their doom3   
its consequence1 ,philistinism4      #g4
    ,the ,germans are a dangerous       
people3 they are experts at inventing   
intoxicants4 ,gothic1 rococo 7according 
to ,semper71 the historical sense  and  
exoticism1 ,hegel1 ,richard             
,wagner--,leibniz1 too 7dangerous at the
  present day7--7they even idealised the
 serving soul as the virtue of  scholars
 and soldiers1 also as the simple mind74
 ,the ,germans may well  be the most    
composite people on earth4    ,the      
people of the ,middle1 the inventors of 
porcelain1 and of a kind  of ,chinese   
breed of ,privy ,councillor4      #h4   
,the smallness and baseness of the      

,german soul were not and are not       
consequences of the system of small     
states2 for it is well known that  the  
inhabitants of much smaller states were 
proud and independent3  and it is not a 
large state per se that makes souls     
freer and more  manly4 ,the man whose   
soul obeys the slavish command3 ,thou   
shalt and  must kneel6 in whose body    
there is an involuntary bowing and      
scraping  to titles1 orders1 gracious   
glances from above--well1 such a man  in
 an ,empire will only bow all the more  
deeply and lick the dust  more fervently
 in the presence of the greater         
sovereign than in the  presence of the  
lesser3 this cannot be doubted4 ,we can 
still see in the  lower classes of      
,italians that aristocratic             
self-sufficiency2 manly  discipline and 
self-confidence still form a part of the
 long history  of their country3 these  
are virtues which once manifested       
themselves  before their eyes4 ,a poor  
,venetian gondolier makes a far better  

figure  than a ,privy ,councillor from  
,berlin1 and is even a better man in the
  end--any one can see this4 ,just ask  
the women4      #i4    ,most artists1   
even some of the greatest 7including the
 historians7 have  up to the present    
belonged to the serving classes 7whether
 they serve  people of high position or 
princes or women or the masses71 not to 
speak of their dependence upon the      
,church and upon moral law4 ,thus       
,rubens portrayed the nobility of his   
age2 but only according to their  vague 
conception of taste1 not according to   
his own measure of beauty  on the whole1
 therefore1 against his own taste4 ,van 
,dyck was nobler in  this respect3 who  
in all those whom he painted added a    
certain amount  of what he himself most 
highly valued3 he did not descend from  
himself1  but rather lifted up others to
 himself when he rendered4    ,the      
slavish humility of the artist to his   
public 7as ,sebastian ,bach has         
testified in undying and outrageous     

words in the dedication of his ,high    
,mass7 is perhaps more difficult to     
perceive in music2 but it is all the    
more deeply engrained4 ,a hearing would 
be refused me if ,i endeavoured  to     
impart my views on this subject4 ,chopin
 possesses distinction1 like  ,van      
,dyck4 ,the disposition of ,beethoven is
 that of a proud peasant2  of ,haydn1   
that of a proud servant4 ,mendelssohn1  
too1 possesses  distinction--like       
,goethe1 in the most natural way in the 
world4      #aj4    ,we could at any    
time have counted on the fingers of one 
hand those  ,german learned men who     
possessed wit3 the remainder have       
understanding1  and a few of them1      
happily1 that famous childlike character
  which divines4444 ,it is our          
privilege3 with this divination ,german 
science has discovered some things which
 we can hardly conceive of1 and  which1 
after all1 do not exist1 perhaps4 ,it is
 only the ,jews among the  ,germans who 
do not divine like them4      #aa4      

,as ,frenchmen reflect the politeness   
and esprit of ,french society1  so do   
,germans reflect something of the deep1 
pensive earnestness of  their mystics   
and musicians1 and also of their silly  
childishness4 ,the  ,italian exhibits a 
great deal of republican distinction and
 art1 and  can show himself to be noble 
and proud without vanity4      #ab4     
,a larger number of the higher and      
better-endowed men will1 ,i hope1 have  
in the end so much self-restraint as to 
be able to get rid of their bad  taste  
for affectation and sentimental         
darkness1 and to turn against  ,richard 
,wagner as much as against              
,schopenhauer4 ,these two ,germans are  
leading us to ruin2 they flatter our    
dangerous qualities4 ,a stronger  future
 is prepared for us in ,goethe1         
,beethoven1 and ,bismarck than in  these
 racial aberrations4 ,we have had no    
philosophers yet4      #ac4    ,the     
peasant is the commonest type of        
noblesse1 for he is dependent upon      

himself most of all4 ,peasant blood is  
still the best blood in ,germany  --for 
example1 ,luther1 ,niebuhr1 ,bismarck4  
,bismarck a ,slav4 ,let any one look    
upon the face of ,germans4 ,everything  
that had manly1 exuberant blood in it   
went abroad4 ,over the smug  populace   
remaining1 the slave-souled people1     
there came an improvement  from abroad1 
especially by a mixture of ,slavonic    
blood4    ,the ,brandenburg nobility and
 the ,prussian nobility in general 7and 
the  peasant of certain ,north ,german  
districts71 comprise at present the     
most manly natures in ,germany4    ,that
 the manliest men shall rule3 this is   
only the natural order of  things4      
#ad4    ,the future of ,german culture  
rests with the sons of the ,prussian    
officers4      #ae4    ,there has always
 been a want of wit in ,germany1 and    
mediocre heads  attain there to the     
highest honours1 because even they are  
rare4 ,what  is most highly prized is   
diligence and perseverance and a certain

  cold-blooded1 critical outlook1 and1  
for the sake of such qualities1  ,german
 scholarship and the ,german military   
system have become paramount  in        
,europe4      #af4    ,parliaments may  
be very useful to a strong and versatile
 statesman3  he has something there to  
rely upon 7every such thing must1       
however1  be able to resist67--upon     
which he can throw a great deal of      
responsibility4 ,on the whole1 however1 
,i could wish that the counting  mania  
and the superstitious belief in         
majorities were not established  in     
,germany1 as with the ,latin races1 and 
that one could finally invent  something
 new even in politics6 ,it is senseless 
and dangerous to let  the custom of     
universal suffrage--which is still but a
 short time under  cultivation1 and     
could easily be uprooted--take a deeper 
root3 whilst1  of course1 its           
introduction was merely an expedient to 
steer clear of  temporary difficulties4 
#ag4    ,can any one interest himself in

 this ,german ,empire8 ,where is the new
  thought8 ,is it only a new combination
 of power8 ,all the worse1 if it  does  
not know its own mind4 ,peace and       
laisser aller are not types of  politics
 for which ,i have any respect4 ,ruling1
 and helping the highest  thoughts to   
victory--the only things that can make  
me interested in  ,germany4 ,england's  
small-mindedness is the great danger now
 on earth4  ,i observe more inclination 
towards greatness in the feelings of the
  ,russian ,nihilists than in those of  
the ,english ,utilitarians4 ,we require 
an intergrowth of the ,german and ,slav 
races1 and we require1 too1 the         
cleverest financiers1 the ,jews1 for us 
to become masters of the world4    7a7  
,the sense of reality4    7b7 ,a        
giving-up of the ,english principle of  
the people's right of  representation4  
,we require the representation of the   
great interests4    7c7 ,we require an  
unconditional union with ,russia1       
together with a  mutual plan of action  

which shall not permit any ,english     
schemata to  obtain the mastery in      
,russia4 ,no ,american future6    7d7 ,a
 national system of politics is         
untenable1 and embarrassment by         
,christian views is a very great evil4  
,in ,europe all sensible people are     
sceptics1 whether they say so or not4   
#ah4    ,i see over and beyond all these
 national wars1 new empires1 and        
whatever else lies in the foreground4   
,what ,i am concerned with--for ,i  see 
it preparing itself slowly and          
hesitatingly--is the ,united ,europe4   
,it was the only real work1 the one     
impulse in the souls1 of all the        
broad-minded and deep-thinking men of   
this century--this preparation  of a new
 synthesis1 and the tentative effort to 
anticipate the future  of the ,european4
 ,only in their weaker moments1 or when 
they grew  old1 did they fall back again
 into the national narrowness of the    
,fatherlanders--then they were once more
 patriots4 ,i am thinking  of men like  

,napoleon1 ,heinrich ,heine1 ,goethe1   
,beethoven1 ,stendhal1  ,schopenhauer4  
,perhaps ,richard ,wagner likewise      
belongs to their number1  concerning    
whom1 as a successful type of ,german   
obscurity1 nothing can  be said without 
some such perhaps4    ,but to the help  
of such minds as feel the need of a new 
unity there  comes a great explanatory  
economic fact3 the small ,states of     
,europe--,i  refer to all our present   
kingdoms and empires--will in a short   
time  become economically untenable1    
owing to the mad1 uncontrolled struggle 
for the possession of local and         
international trade4 ,money is even  now
 compelling ,european nations to        
amalgamate into one ,power4 ,in  order1 
however1 that ,europe may enter into the
 battle for the mastery  of the world   
with good prospects of victory 7it is   
easy to perceive  against whom this     
battle will be waged71 she must probably
 come to  an understanding with         
,england4 ,the ,english colonies are    

needed for  this struggle1 just as much 
as modern ,germany1 to play her new rle 
of  broker and middleman1 requires the  
colonial possessions of ,holland4  ,for 
no one any longer believes that ,england
 alone is strong enough to  continue to 
act her old part for fifty years more2  
the impossibility  of shutting out      
homines novi from the government will   
ruin her1 and  her continual change of  
political parties is a fatal obstacle to
 the  carrying out of any tasks which   
require to be spread out over a long    
period of time4 ,a man must to-day be a 
soldier first and foremost that  he may 
not afterwards lose his credit as a     
merchant4 ,enough2 here1  as in other   
matters1 the coming century will be     
found following in  the footsteps of    
,napoleon--the first man1 and the man of
 greatest  initiative and advanced      
views1 of modern times4 ,for the tasks  
of the  next century1 the methods of    
popular representation and parliaments  
are  the most inappropriate imaginable4 

#ai4    ,the condition of ,europe in the
 next century will once again lead to   
the  breeding of manly virtues1 because 
men will live in continual danger4      
,universal military service is already  
the curious antidote which we  possess  
for the effeminacy of democratic ideas1 
and it has grown up out  of the struggle
 of the nations4 7,nation--men who speak
 one language  and read the same        
newspapers4 ,these men now call         
themselves nations1  and would far too  
readily trace their descent from the    
same source and  through the same       
history2 which1 however1 even with the  
assistance of  the most malignant lying 
in the past1 they have not succeeded in 
doing47      #bj4    ,what quagmires and
 mendacity must there be about if it is 
possible1  in the modern ,european      
hotch-potch1 to raise questions of race6
 7,it  being premised that the origin of
 such writers is not in ,horneo and     
,borneo47      #ba4    ,maxim3 ,to      
associate with no man who takes any part

 in the mendacious  race swindle4       
#bb4    ,with the freedom of travel now 
existing1 groups of men of the same     
kindred can join together and establish 
communal habits and customs4  ,the      
overcoming of nations4      #bc4    ,to 
make ,europe a centre of culture1       
national stupidities should not  make us
 blind to the fact that in the higher   
regions there is already a  continuous  
reciprocal dependence4 ,france and      
,german philosophy4 ,richard  ,wagner   
and ,paris 7#ahcj-ej74 ,goethe and      
,greece4 ,all things are impelled       
towards1 a synthesis of the ,european   
past in the highest types of mind4      
#bd4    ,mankind has still much before  
it--how1 generally speaking1 could  the 
ideal be taken from the past8 ,perhaps  
merely in relation to the  present1     
which latter is possibly a lower region4
      #be4    ,this is our distrust1    
which recurs again and again2 our care1 
which  never lets us sleep2 our         
question1 which no one listens to or    

wishes  to listen to2 our ,sphinx1 near 
which there is more than one precipice3 
we believe that the men of present-day  
,europe are deceived in regard  to the  
things which we love best1 and a        
pitiless demon 7no1 not  pitiless1 only 
indifferent and puerile7--plays with our
 hearts and  their enthusiasm1 as it may
 perhaps have already played with       
everything  that lived and loved2 ,i    
believe that everything which we        
,europeans  of to-day are in the habit  
of admiring as the values of all these  
respected things called humanity1       
mankind1 sympathy1 pity1 may  be of some
 value as the debilitation and          
moderating of certain powerful  and     
dangerous primitive impulses4           
,nevertheless1 in the long run all      
these things are nothing else than the  
belittlement of the entire type  man1   
his mediocrisation1 if in such a        
desperate situation ,i may make  use of 
such a desperate expression4 ,i think   
that the commedia umana for  an         

epicurean spectator-god must consist in 
this3 that the ,europeans1 by  virtue of
 their growing morality1 believe in all 
their innocence and  vanity that they   
are rising higher and higher1 whereas   
the truth is  that they are sinking     
lower and lower--i4e4 through the       
cultivation of  all the virtues which   
are useful to a herd1 and through the   
repression  of the other and contrary   
virtues which give rise to a new1       
higher1  stronger1 masterful race of    
men--the first-named virtues merely     
develop  the herd-animal in man and     
stabilitate the animal man1 for until   
now  man has been the animal as yet     
unstabilitated4      #bf4    ,genius and
 ,epoch4--,heroism is no form of        
selfishness1 for one is  shipwrecked by 
it4444 ,the direction of power is often 
conditioned by  the state of the period 
in which the great man happens to be    
born2 and  this fact brings about the   
superstition that he is the expression  
of  his time4 ,but this same power could

 be applied in several different  ways2 
and between him and his time there is   
always this difference3  that public    
opinion always worships the herd        
instinct1--i4e4 the  instinct of the    
weak1--while he1 the strong man1 rights 
for strong  ideals4      #bg4    ,the   
fate now overhanging ,europe is simply  
this3 that it is exactly  her strongest 
sons that come rarely and late to the   
spring-time of  their existence2 that1  
as a rule1 when they are already in     
their early  youth they perish1         
saddened1 disgusted1 darkened in mind1  
just because  they have already1 with   
the entire passion of their strength1   
drained  to the dregs the cup of        
disillusionment1 which in our days means
 the  cup of knowledge1 and they would  
not have been the strongest had  they   
not also been the most disillusionised4 
,for that is the test of  their         
power--they must first of all rise out  
of the illness of their  epoch to reach 
their own health4 ,a late spring-time is

 their mark of  distinction2 also1 let  
us add1 late merriment1 late folly1 the 
late  exuberance of joy6 ,for this is   
the danger of to-day3 everything that we
  loved when we were young has betrayed 
us4 ,our last love--the love which      
makes us acknowledge her1 our love for  
,truth--let us take care that  she1 too1
 does not betray us6