Reading Help Beyond good and evil
has induced and still induces among the nations of Europe, owing `
` also to the short-sighted and hasty-handed politicians, who with `
` the help of this craze, are at present in power, and do not `
` suspect to what extent the disintegrating policy they pursue must `
` necessarily be only an interlude policy--owing to all this and `
` much else that is altogether unmentionable at present, the most `
` unmistakable signs that EUROPE WISHES TO BE ONE, are now `
` overlooked, or arbitrarily and falsely misinterpreted. With all `
` the more profound and large-minded men of this century, the real `
` general tendency of the mysterious labour of their souls was to `
` prepare the way for that new SYNTHESIS, and tentatively to `
` anticipate the European of the future; only in their simulations, `
` or in their weaker moments, in old age perhaps, did they belong `
` to the "fatherlands"--they only rested from themselves when they `
` became "patriots." I think of such men as Napoleon, Goethe, `
` Beethoven, Stendhal, Heinrich Heine, Schopenhauer: it must not be `
` taken amiss if I also count Richard Wagner among them, about whom `
` one must not let oneself be deceived by his own misunderstandings `
` (geniuses like him have seldom the right to understand `
` themselves), still less, of course, by the unseemly noise with `
` which he is now resisted and opposed in France: the fact remains, `
` nevertheless, that Richard Wagner and the LATER FRENCH `
` ROMANTICISM of the forties, are most closely and intimately `
` related to one another. They are akin, fundamentally akin, in all `
` the heights and depths of their requirements; it is Europe, the `
` ONE Europe, whose soul presses urgently and longingly, outwards `
` and upwards, in their multifarious and boisterous art--whither? `
` into a new light? towards a new sun? But who would attempt to `
` express accurately what all these masters of new modes of speech `
` could not express distinctly? It is certain that the same storm `
` and stress tormented them, that they SOUGHT in the same manner, `
` these last great seekers! All of them steeped in literature to `
` their eyes and ears--the first artists of universal literary `
` culture--for the most part even themselves writers, poets, `
` intermediaries and blenders of the arts and the senses (Wagner, `
` as musician is reckoned among painters, as poet among musicians, `
` as artist generally among actors); all of them fanatics for `
` EXPRESSION "at any cost"--I specially mention Delacroix, the `
` nearest related to Wagner; all of them great discoverers in the `
` realm of the sublime, also of the loathsome and dreadful, still `
` greater discoverers in effect, in display, in the art of the `
` show-shop; all of them talented far beyond their genius, out and `
` out VIRTUOSI, with mysterious accesses to all that seduces, `
` allures, constrains, and upsets; born enemies of logic and of the `
` straight line, hankering after the strange, the exotic, the `
` monstrous, the crooked, and the self-contradictory; as men, `
` Tantaluses of the will, plebeian parvenus, who knew themselves to `
` be incapable of a noble TEMPO or of a LENTO in life and action-- `
` think of Balzac, for instance,--unrestrained workers, almost `
` destroying themselves by work; antinomians and rebels in manners, `
` ambitious and insatiable, without equilibrium and enjoyment; all `
` of them finally shattering and sinking down at the Christian `
` cross (and with right and reason, for who of them would have been `
` sufficiently profound and sufficiently original for an ANTI- `
` CHRISTIAN philosophy?);--on the whole, a boldly daring, `
` splendidly overbearing, high-flying, and aloft-up-dragging class `
` of higher men, who had first to teach their century-and it is the `
` century of the MASSES--the conception "higher man." . . . Let the `
` German friends of Richard Wagner advise together as to whether `
` there is anything purely German in the Wagnerian art, or whether `
` its distinction does not consist precisely in coming from SUPER- `
` GERMAN sources and impulses: in which connection it may not be `
` underrated how indispensable Paris was to the development of his `
` type, which the strength of his instincts made him long to visit `
` at the most decisive time--and how the whole style of his `
` proceedings, of his self-apostolate, could only perfect itself in `
` sight of the French socialistic original. On a more subtle `
` comparison it will perhaps be found, to the honour of Richard `
` Wagner's German nature, that he has acted in everything with more `
` strength, daring, severity, and elevation than a nineteenth- `
` century Frenchman could have done--owing to the circumstance that `
` we Germans are as yet nearer to barbarism than the French;-- `
` perhaps even the most remarkable creation of Richard Wagner is `
` not only at present, but for ever inaccessible, incomprehensible, `
` and inimitable to the whole latter-day Latin race: the figure of `
` Siegfried, that VERY FREE man, who is probably far too free, too `
` hard, too cheerful, too healthy, too ANTI-CATHOLIC for the taste `
` of old and mellow civilized nations. He may even have been a sin `
` against Romanticism, this anti-Latin Siegfried: well, Wagner `
` atoned amply for this sin in his old sad days, when--anticipating `
` a taste which has meanwhile passed into politics--he began, with `
` the religious vehemence peculiar to him, to preach, at least, THE `
` WAY TO ROME, if not to walk therein.--That these last words may `
` not be misunderstood, I will call to my aid a few powerful `
` rhymes, which will even betray to less delicate ears what I mean `
` --what I mean COUNTER TO the "last Wagner" and his Parsifal music:-- `
` `
` --Is this our mode?--From German heart came this vexed ululating? `
` From German body, this self-lacerating? Is ours this priestly `
` hand-dilation, This incense-fuming exaltation? Is ours this `
` faltering, falling, shambling, This quite uncertain ding-dong- `
` dangling? This sly nun-ogling, Ave-hour-bell ringing, This wholly `
` false enraptured heaven-o'erspringing?--Is this our mode?--Think `
` well!--ye still wait for admission--For what ye hear is ROME-- `
` ROME'S FAITH BY INTUITION! `
` `
` `
` CHAPTER IX `
` `
` WHAT IS NOBLE? `
` `
` `
` 257. EVERY elevation of the type "man," has hitherto been the `
` work of an aristocratic society and so it will always be--a `
` society believing in a long scale of gradations of rank and `
` differences of worth among human beings, and requiring slavery in `
` some form or other. Without the PATHOS OF DISTANCE, such as grows `
` out of the incarnated difference of classes, out of the constant `
` out-looking and down-looking of the ruling caste on subordinates `
` and instruments, and out of their equally constant practice of `
` obeying and commanding, of keeping down and keeping at a `
` distance--that other more mysterious pathos could never have `
` arisen, the longing for an ever new widening of distance within `
` the soul itself, the formation of ever higher, rarer, further, `
` more extended, more comprehensive states, in short, just the `
` elevation of the type "man," the continued "self-surmounting of `
` man," to use a moral formula in a supermoral sense. To be sure, `
` one must not resign oneself to any humanitarian illusions about `
` the history of the origin of an aristocratic society (that is to `
` say, of the preliminary condition for the elevation of the type `
` "man"): the truth is hard. Let us acknowledge unprejudicedly how `
` every higher civilization hitherto has ORIGINATED! Men with a `
` still natural nature, barbarians in every terrible sense of the `
` word, men of prey, still in possession of unbroken strength of `
` will and desire for power, threw themselves upon weaker, more `
` moral, more peaceful races (perhaps trading or cattle-rearing `
` communities), or upon old mellow civilizations in which the final `
` vital force was flickering out in brilliant fireworks of wit and `
` depravity. At the commencement, the noble caste was always the `
` barbarian caste: their superiority did not consist first of all `
` in their physical, but in their psychical power--they were more `
` COMPLETE men (which at every point also implies the same as "more `
` complete beasts"). `
` `
` 258. Corruption--as the indication that anarchy threatens to `
` break out among the instincts, and that the foundation of the `
` emotions, called "life," is convulsed--is something radically `
` different according to the organization in which it manifests `
` itself. When, for instance, an aristocracy like that of France at `
` the beginning of the Revolution, flung away its privileges with `
` sublime disgust and sacrificed itself to an excess of its moral `
` sentiments, it was corruption:--it was really only the closing `
` act of the corruption which had existed for centuries, by virtue `
` of which that aristocracy had abdicated step by step its lordly `
` prerogatives and lowered itself to a FUNCTION of royalty (in the `
` end even to its decoration and parade-dress). The essential `
` thing, however, in a good and healthy aristocracy is that it `
` should not regard itself as a function either of the kingship or `
` the commonwealth, but as the SIGNIFICANCE and highest `
` justification thereof--that it should therefore accept with a `
` good conscience the sacrifice of a legion of individuals, who, `
` FOR ITS SAKE, must be suppressed and reduced to imperfect men, to `
` slaves and instruments. Its fundamental belief must be precisely `
` that society is NOT allowed to exist for its own sake, but only `
` as a foundation and scaffolding, by means of which a select class `
` of beings may be able to elevate themselves to their higher `
` duties, and in general to a higher EXISTENCE: like those sun- `
` seeking climbing plants in Java--they are called Sipo Matador,-- `
` which encircle an oak so long and so often with their arms, until `
` at last, high above it, but supported by it, they can unfold `
` their tops in the open light, and exhibit their happiness. `
` `
` 259. To refrain mutually from injury, from violence, from `
` exploitation, and put one's will on a par with that of others: `
` this may result in a certain rough sense in good conduct among `
` individuals when the necessary conditions are given (namely, the `
` actual similarity of the individuals in amount of force and `
` degree of worth, and their co-relation within one organization). `
` As soon, however, as one wished to take this principle more `
` generally, and if possible even as the FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF `
` SOCIETY, it would immediately disclose what it really is--namely, `
` a Will to the DENIAL of life, a principle of dissolution and `
` decay. Here one must think profoundly to the very basis and `
` resist all sentimental weakness: life itself is ESSENTIALLY `
` appropriation, injury, conquest of the strange and weak, `
` suppression, severity, obtrusion of peculiar forms, `
` incorporation, and at the least, putting it mildest, `
` exploitation;--but why should one for ever use precisely these `
` words on which for ages a disparaging purpose has been stamped? `
` Even the organization within which, as was previously supposed, `
` the individuals treat each other as equal--it takes place in `
` every healthy aristocracy--must itself, if it be a living and not `
` a dying organization, do all that towards other bodies, which the `
` individuals within it refrain from doing to each other it will `
` have to be the incarnated Will to Power, it will endeavour to `
` grow, to gain ground, attract to itself and acquire ascendancy-- `
` not owing to any morality or immorality, but because it LIVES, `
` and because life IS precisely Will to Power. On no point, `
` however, is the ordinary consciousness of Europeans more `
` unwilling to be corrected than on this matter, people now rave `
` everywhere, even under the guise of science, about coming `
` conditions of society in which "the exploiting character" is to `
` be absent--that sounds to my ears as if they promised to invent a `
` mode of life which should refrain from all organic functions. `
` "Exploitation" does not belong to a depraved, or imperfect and `
` primitive society it belongs to the nature of the living being as `
` a primary organic function, it is a consequence of the intrinsic `
` Will to Power, which is precisely the Will to Life--Granting that `
` as a theory this is a novelty--as a reality it is the FUNDAMENTAL `
` FACT of all history let us be so far honest towards ourselves! `
` `
`
` also to the short-sighted and hasty-handed politicians, who with `
` the help of this craze, are at present in power, and do not `
` suspect to what extent the disintegrating policy they pursue must `
` necessarily be only an interlude policy--owing to all this and `
` much else that is altogether unmentionable at present, the most `
` unmistakable signs that EUROPE WISHES TO BE ONE, are now `
` overlooked, or arbitrarily and falsely misinterpreted. With all `
` the more profound and large-minded men of this century, the real `
` general tendency of the mysterious labour of their souls was to `
` prepare the way for that new SYNTHESIS, and tentatively to `
` anticipate the European of the future; only in their simulations, `
` or in their weaker moments, in old age perhaps, did they belong `
` to the "fatherlands"--they only rested from themselves when they `
` became "patriots." I think of such men as Napoleon, Goethe, `
` Beethoven, Stendhal, Heinrich Heine, Schopenhauer: it must not be `
` taken amiss if I also count Richard Wagner among them, about whom `
` one must not let oneself be deceived by his own misunderstandings `
` (geniuses like him have seldom the right to understand `
` themselves), still less, of course, by the unseemly noise with `
` which he is now resisted and opposed in France: the fact remains, `
` nevertheless, that Richard Wagner and the LATER FRENCH `
` ROMANTICISM of the forties, are most closely and intimately `
` related to one another. They are akin, fundamentally akin, in all `
` the heights and depths of their requirements; it is Europe, the `
` ONE Europe, whose soul presses urgently and longingly, outwards `
` and upwards, in their multifarious and boisterous art--whither? `
` into a new light? towards a new sun? But who would attempt to `
` express accurately what all these masters of new modes of speech `
` could not express distinctly? It is certain that the same storm `
` and stress tormented them, that they SOUGHT in the same manner, `
` these last great seekers! All of them steeped in literature to `
` their eyes and ears--the first artists of universal literary `
` culture--for the most part even themselves writers, poets, `
` intermediaries and blenders of the arts and the senses (Wagner, `
` as musician is reckoned among painters, as poet among musicians, `
` as artist generally among actors); all of them fanatics for `
` EXPRESSION "at any cost"--I specially mention Delacroix, the `
` nearest related to Wagner; all of them great discoverers in the `
` realm of the sublime, also of the loathsome and dreadful, still `
` greater discoverers in effect, in display, in the art of the `
` show-shop; all of them talented far beyond their genius, out and `
` out VIRTUOSI, with mysterious accesses to all that seduces, `
` allures, constrains, and upsets; born enemies of logic and of the `
` straight line, hankering after the strange, the exotic, the `
` monstrous, the crooked, and the self-contradictory; as men, `
` Tantaluses of the will, plebeian parvenus, who knew themselves to `
` be incapable of a noble TEMPO or of a LENTO in life and action-- `
` think of Balzac, for instance,--unrestrained workers, almost `
` destroying themselves by work; antinomians and rebels in manners, `
` ambitious and insatiable, without equilibrium and enjoyment; all `
` of them finally shattering and sinking down at the Christian `
` cross (and with right and reason, for who of them would have been `
` sufficiently profound and sufficiently original for an ANTI- `
` CHRISTIAN philosophy?);--on the whole, a boldly daring, `
` splendidly overbearing, high-flying, and aloft-up-dragging class `
` of higher men, who had first to teach their century-and it is the `
` century of the MASSES--the conception "higher man." . . . Let the `
` German friends of Richard Wagner advise together as to whether `
` there is anything purely German in the Wagnerian art, or whether `
` its distinction does not consist precisely in coming from SUPER- `
` GERMAN sources and impulses: in which connection it may not be `
` underrated how indispensable Paris was to the development of his `
` type, which the strength of his instincts made him long to visit `
` at the most decisive time--and how the whole style of his `
` proceedings, of his self-apostolate, could only perfect itself in `
` sight of the French socialistic original. On a more subtle `
` comparison it will perhaps be found, to the honour of Richard `
` Wagner's German nature, that he has acted in everything with more `
` strength, daring, severity, and elevation than a nineteenth- `
` century Frenchman could have done--owing to the circumstance that `
` we Germans are as yet nearer to barbarism than the French;-- `
` perhaps even the most remarkable creation of Richard Wagner is `
` not only at present, but for ever inaccessible, incomprehensible, `
` and inimitable to the whole latter-day Latin race: the figure of `
` Siegfried, that VERY FREE man, who is probably far too free, too `
` hard, too cheerful, too healthy, too ANTI-CATHOLIC for the taste `
` of old and mellow civilized nations. He may even have been a sin `
` against Romanticism, this anti-Latin Siegfried: well, Wagner `
` atoned amply for this sin in his old sad days, when--anticipating `
` a taste which has meanwhile passed into politics--he began, with `
` the religious vehemence peculiar to him, to preach, at least, THE `
` WAY TO ROME, if not to walk therein.--That these last words may `
` not be misunderstood, I will call to my aid a few powerful `
` rhymes, which will even betray to less delicate ears what I mean `
` --what I mean COUNTER TO the "last Wagner" and his Parsifal music:-- `
` `
` --Is this our mode?--From German heart came this vexed ululating? `
` From German body, this self-lacerating? Is ours this priestly `
` hand-dilation, This incense-fuming exaltation? Is ours this `
` faltering, falling, shambling, This quite uncertain ding-dong- `
` dangling? This sly nun-ogling, Ave-hour-bell ringing, This wholly `
` false enraptured heaven-o'erspringing?--Is this our mode?--Think `
` well!--ye still wait for admission--For what ye hear is ROME-- `
` ROME'S FAITH BY INTUITION! `
` `
` `
` CHAPTER IX `
` `
` WHAT IS NOBLE? `
` `
` `
` 257. EVERY elevation of the type "man," has hitherto been the `
` work of an aristocratic society and so it will always be--a `
` society believing in a long scale of gradations of rank and `
` differences of worth among human beings, and requiring slavery in `
` some form or other. Without the PATHOS OF DISTANCE, such as grows `
` out of the incarnated difference of classes, out of the constant `
` out-looking and down-looking of the ruling caste on subordinates `
` and instruments, and out of their equally constant practice of `
` obeying and commanding, of keeping down and keeping at a `
` distance--that other more mysterious pathos could never have `
` arisen, the longing for an ever new widening of distance within `
` the soul itself, the formation of ever higher, rarer, further, `
` more extended, more comprehensive states, in short, just the `
` elevation of the type "man," the continued "self-surmounting of `
` man," to use a moral formula in a supermoral sense. To be sure, `
` one must not resign oneself to any humanitarian illusions about `
` the history of the origin of an aristocratic society (that is to `
` say, of the preliminary condition for the elevation of the type `
` "man"): the truth is hard. Let us acknowledge unprejudicedly how `
` every higher civilization hitherto has ORIGINATED! Men with a `
` still natural nature, barbarians in every terrible sense of the `
` word, men of prey, still in possession of unbroken strength of `
` will and desire for power, threw themselves upon weaker, more `
` moral, more peaceful races (perhaps trading or cattle-rearing `
` communities), or upon old mellow civilizations in which the final `
` vital force was flickering out in brilliant fireworks of wit and `
` depravity. At the commencement, the noble caste was always the `
` barbarian caste: their superiority did not consist first of all `
` in their physical, but in their psychical power--they were more `
` COMPLETE men (which at every point also implies the same as "more `
` complete beasts"). `
` `
` 258. Corruption--as the indication that anarchy threatens to `
` break out among the instincts, and that the foundation of the `
` emotions, called "life," is convulsed--is something radically `
` different according to the organization in which it manifests `
` itself. When, for instance, an aristocracy like that of France at `
` the beginning of the Revolution, flung away its privileges with `
` sublime disgust and sacrificed itself to an excess of its moral `
` sentiments, it was corruption:--it was really only the closing `
` act of the corruption which had existed for centuries, by virtue `
` of which that aristocracy had abdicated step by step its lordly `
` prerogatives and lowered itself to a FUNCTION of royalty (in the `
` end even to its decoration and parade-dress). The essential `
` thing, however, in a good and healthy aristocracy is that it `
` should not regard itself as a function either of the kingship or `
` the commonwealth, but as the SIGNIFICANCE and highest `
` justification thereof--that it should therefore accept with a `
` good conscience the sacrifice of a legion of individuals, who, `
` FOR ITS SAKE, must be suppressed and reduced to imperfect men, to `
` slaves and instruments. Its fundamental belief must be precisely `
` that society is NOT allowed to exist for its own sake, but only `
` as a foundation and scaffolding, by means of which a select class `
` of beings may be able to elevate themselves to their higher `
` duties, and in general to a higher EXISTENCE: like those sun- `
` seeking climbing plants in Java--they are called Sipo Matador,-- `
` which encircle an oak so long and so often with their arms, until `
` at last, high above it, but supported by it, they can unfold `
` their tops in the open light, and exhibit their happiness. `
` `
` 259. To refrain mutually from injury, from violence, from `
` exploitation, and put one's will on a par with that of others: `
` this may result in a certain rough sense in good conduct among `
` individuals when the necessary conditions are given (namely, the `
` actual similarity of the individuals in amount of force and `
` degree of worth, and their co-relation within one organization). `
` As soon, however, as one wished to take this principle more `
` generally, and if possible even as the FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF `
` SOCIETY, it would immediately disclose what it really is--namely, `
` a Will to the DENIAL of life, a principle of dissolution and `
` decay. Here one must think profoundly to the very basis and `
` resist all sentimental weakness: life itself is ESSENTIALLY `
` appropriation, injury, conquest of the strange and weak, `
` suppression, severity, obtrusion of peculiar forms, `
` incorporation, and at the least, putting it mildest, `
` exploitation;--but why should one for ever use precisely these `
` words on which for ages a disparaging purpose has been stamped? `
` Even the organization within which, as was previously supposed, `
` the individuals treat each other as equal--it takes place in `
` every healthy aristocracy--must itself, if it be a living and not `
` a dying organization, do all that towards other bodies, which the `
` individuals within it refrain from doing to each other it will `
` have to be the incarnated Will to Power, it will endeavour to `
` grow, to gain ground, attract to itself and acquire ascendancy-- `
` not owing to any morality or immorality, but because it LIVES, `
` and because life IS precisely Will to Power. On no point, `
` however, is the ordinary consciousness of Europeans more `
` unwilling to be corrected than on this matter, people now rave `
` everywhere, even under the guise of science, about coming `
` conditions of society in which "the exploiting character" is to `
` be absent--that sounds to my ears as if they promised to invent a `
` mode of life which should refrain from all organic functions. `
` "Exploitation" does not belong to a depraved, or imperfect and `
` primitive society it belongs to the nature of the living being as `
` a primary organic function, it is a consequence of the intrinsic `
` Will to Power, which is precisely the Will to Life--Granting that `
` as a theory this is a novelty--as a reality it is the FUNDAMENTAL `
` FACT of all history let us be so far honest towards ourselves! `
` `
`