kaì
kúvtepov
ärlo tot' érins .
Nietzsche - v09 - The Dawn of Day
Though not at all superficial, a great Frenchman
has always his apparent superficiality;—he has, so
to speak, a natural skin for his real contents and
depth,—while, on the other hand, the depth of a
great German is generally, as it were, closed up in an
ugly-shaped box, like an elixir, which, by means of a
hard and curious covering, endeavours to preserve
itself from the light of day and the touch of thought-
less hands. And now let us endeavour to find out
why a people like the French, so prolific in perfect
types of Christians, likewise necessarily brought
forth the perfect contrary types, those of unchristian
free-thought! The French free-thinker, in his own
inward being, had to fight against truly great men,
and not, like the free-thinkers of other nations,
merely against dogmas and sublime abortions.
193-
Esprit and Morals. —The German, who
possesses the secret of knowing how to be tedious
in spite of wit, knowledge, and feeling, and who has
habituated himself to consider tediousness as moral,
is in dread in the presence of French esprit lest it
should tear out the eyes of morality—but a dread
mingled with "fascination," like that experienced
by the little bird in the presence of the rattlesnake.
## p. 193 (#235) ############################################
THE DAWN OF DAY. 193
Amongst all the celebrated Germans none possessed
more esprit than Hegel, but he also had that great
German dread of itwhich brought about his peculiar
and defective style. For the nature of this style
resembles a kernel, which is wrapped up so many
times in an outer covering that it can scarcely peep
through, now and then glancing forth bashfully and
inquisitively, like "young women peeping through
their veils," to use the words of that old woman-
hater, vEschylus. This kernel, however, is a witty
though often impertinent joke on intellectual sub-
jects, a subtle and daring combination of words,
such as is necessary in a society of thinkers as
gilding for a scientific pill—but, enveloped as it is
in an almost impenetrable cover, it exhibits itself
as the most abstruse science, and likewise as the
worst possible moral tediousness. Here the Ger-
mans had a permissible form of esprit and they
revelled in it with such boundless delight that
even Schopenhauer's unusually fine understanding
could not grasp it—during the whole of his life he
thundered against the spectacle that the Germans
offered to him, but he could never explain it.
194.
Vanity of the Teachers of Morals. —The
relatively small success which teachers of morals
have met with may be explained by the fact that
they wanted too much at once, i. e. they were too
ambitious and too fond of laying down preceots
for everybody. In other words, they were beating
the air and making speeches to animals in order to
N
## p. 194 (#236) ############################################
194 THE DAWN OF DAY.
turn them into men; what wonder, then, that the
animals thought this tedious! We should rather
choose limited circles and endeavour to find and
promote morals for them: for instance, we should
make speeches to wolves with the object of turning
them into dogs; but, above all, the greatest success
will remain for the man who does not seek to
educate either everybody or certain limited circles,
but only one single individual, and who cannot be
turned to the right or left from his straight purpose.
The last century was superior to ours precisely
because it possessed so many individually educated
men, as well as educators in the same proportion,
who had made this their life's task, and who with
this task were dignified not only in their own eyes
but in those of all the remaining " good society. "
195-
The so-called Classical Education. —
Alas! we discover that our life is consecrated to
knowledge and that we should throw it away, nay,
that we should even have to throw it away if this
consecration did not protect us from ourselves: we
repeat this couplet, and not without deep emotion:
Thee, Fate, I follow, though I fain would not,
And yet I must, with many a sigh and groan!
And then, in looking backwards over the course of
our lives, we discover that there is one thing that
cannot be restored to us: the wasted period of our
youth, when our teachers did not utilise these ardent
and eager years to lead us to the knowledge of
things, but merely to this so-called " classical edu-
S
## p. 195 (#237) ############################################
THE DAWN OF DAY. 195
cation "! Only think of this wasted youth, when
we were inoculated clumsily and painfully with an
imperfect knowledge of the Greeks and Romans as
well as of their languages, contrary to the highest
principle of all culture, which holds that we should
not give food except to those who hunger for it!
Think of that period of our lives when we had
mathematics and physics forced down our throats,
instead of being first of all made acquainted with
the despair of ignorance, instead of having our little
daily life, our activities, and everything occurring
in our houses, our workshops, in the sky, and in
nature, split up into thousands of problems, pain-
ful, humiliating and irritating problems—and thus
having our curiosity made acquainted with the
fact that we first of all require a mathematical and
mechanical knowledge before we can be allowed
to rejoice in the absolute logic of this knowledge!
If we had only been imbued with reverence for
those branches of science, if we had only been made
to tremble with emotion—were it only for once—
at the struggles, the defeats, and the renewed
combats of those great men, of the martyrdom
which is the history of pure science! But, on the
contrary, we were allowed to develop a certain con-
tempt for those sciences in favour of historical
training, formal education * and "classicism. "
And we allowed ourselves to be so easily de-
* " Formal education" is the name given in Germany to
those branches of learning which tend to develop the logical
faculties, as opposed to "material" education which deals
with the acquisition of facts and all kinds of " useful" know-
ledge. —Tr.
## p. 196 (#238) ############################################
196 THE DAWN OF DAY.
ceived! Formal education! Might we not have
pointed to the best teachers at our high schools and
asked laughingly, " Where then do they keep their
formal education? and, if it is wanting in them,
how can they teach it? " And classicism! Did
we get any of that instruction which the ancients
used to impart to their youth? Did we learn to
speak or to write like them? Did we ceaselessly
exercise ourselves in that duel of speech, dialectic?
Did we learn to move as beautifully and proudly
as they did, and to excel as they did in wrestling,
throwing, and boxing? Did we learn anything of
that practical asceticism of all the Greek philo-
sophers? Did we receive any training in a single
ancient virtue, and in the way in which the ancients
were trained in it? Was not all meditation upon
morals wanting in our education ? —And how much
more the only possible criticism on the subject of
morality, those courageous and earnest attempts to
live according to this or that morality! Did our
teachers ever stir up a feeling in us which the ancients
valued more highly than moderns? Did they in the
spirit of the ancients indicate to us the divisions of
the day and of life, and those aims by which the lives
of the ancients were guided? Did we learn the
ancient languages as we now learn the modern ones,
viz. that we might speak them fluently and well?
Nowhere can we find a real proficiency or any new
faculty as the result of those toilsome years!
only the knowledge of what men had learnt and
were able to do in past ages!
And what knowledge! Nothing becomes clearer
to me year by year than the fact that the entire
## p. 197 (#239) ############################################
THE DAWN OF DAY. 197
Greek and ancient mode oflife, however simple and
evident it must seem to our eyes, is in truth very
difficult to understand, and even scarcely accessible,
and that the customary ease with which we babble
about the ancients is either giddy levity or the old
hereditary conceit of our thoughtlessness. We are
deceived by words and ideas which appear to re-
semble our own, but behind them there is always
concealed a feeling which must be strange, incom-
prehensible, or painful to our modern conceptions.
And these are realms in which boys are allowed
to roam about! Enough : we roamed about them
in our childhood, and there we became seized with
an almost ineradicable antipathy for all antiquity,
the antipathy arising from an intimacy which
was apparently too great! For so great is the
conceit of our classical teachers, who would almost
make it appear that they had gained full control
over the ancients, that they pass on this conceit to
their pupils, together with the suspicion that such
a possession is of little use for making people happy,
but is good enough for honest, foolish old book-
worms. "Let them brood over their treasure: it is
well worthy of them ! "—It is with this unexpressed
thought that we completed our classical education.
It can't be changed now—for us, at all events!
But let us not think of ourselves alone!
196.
The most personal Questions of Truth.
—What am I really doing, and what do I mean by
doing it? That is the question of truth which is
not taught under our present system of education,
## p. 198 (#240) ############################################
I98 THE DAWN OF DAY.
and consequently not asked, because there is no
time for it. On the other hand,we have always time
and inclination for talking nonsense with children,
rather than telling them the truth; for flattering
women who will later on be mothers, rather than
telling them the truth; and for speaking with young
men about their future and their pleasures, rather
than about the truth!
But what, after all, are seventy years! —Time
passes, and they soon come to an end ; it matters as
little to us as it does to the wave to know how and
whither it is rolling! No, it might even be wisdom
not to know it.
"Agreed; but it shows a want of pride not even
to inquire into the matter; our culture does not
tend to make people proud. "
"So much the better! "
"Is it really? "
197.
Enmity of the Germans towards En-
lightenment. —Let us consider the contributions
which in the first half of this century the Germans
made to general culture by their intellectual work.
In the first place, let us take the German philo-
sophers : they went back to the first and oldest stage
of speculation, for they were content with con-
ceptions instead of explanations, like the thinkers
of dreamy epochs—a pre-scientific type of philo-
sophy was thus revived by them. Secondly, we
have the German historians and romanticists: their
efforts on the whole aimed at restoring to the place
of honour certain old and primitive sentiments,
## p. 199 (#241) ############################################
THE DAWN OF DAY. 199
especially Christianity, the "soul of the people," folk-
lore, folk-speech, medievalism, Oriental asceticism,
and Hinduism. In the third place, there are the
natural philosophers who fought against the spirit
of Newton and Voltaire, and, like Goethe and
Schopenhauer, endeavoured to re-establish the idea
of a deified or diabolised nature, and of its absolute
ethical and symbolical meaning. The main general
tendency of the Germans was directed against
enlightenment and against those social revolutions
which were stupidly mistaken for the consequences
of enlightenment: the piety towards everything that
existed tried to become piety towards everything
that had ever existed, only in order that heart and
mind might be permitted to fill themselves and
gush forth again, thus leaving no space for future
and novel aims. The cult of feeling took the place
of the cult of reason, and the German musicians, as
the best exponents of all that is invisible, enthusi-
astic, legendary, and passionate, showed themselves
more successful in building up the new temple than
all the other artists in words and thoughts.
If, in considering these details, we have taken into
account the fact that many good things were said
and investigated, and that many things have since
then been more fairly judged than on any previous
occasion, there yet remains to be said of the whole
that it was a general danger, and one by no means
small, to set knowledge altogether below feeling
under the appearance of an entire and definitive ac-
quaintance with the past—and, to use that expres-
sion of Kant, who thus defined his own particular
task—" To make way again for belief by fixing the
## p. 200 (#242) ############################################
200 THE DAWN OF DAY.
limits of knowledge. " Let us once more breathe
freely, the hour of this danger is past! And yet,
strange to say, the very spirits which these Germans
conjured up with such eloquence have at length be-
come the most dangerous for the intentions of those
who did conjure them up: history, thecomprehension
of origin and development, sympathy with the past,
the new passion for feeling and knowledge, after
they had been for a long time at the service of this
obscure exalted and retrograde spirit, have once
more assumed another nature, and are now soaring
with outstretched wings above the heads of those
who once upon a time conjured them forth, as new
and stronger genii of that very enlightenment to
combat which they had been resuscitated. It is this
enlightenment which we have now to carry forward,
—caring nothing for the fact that there has been
and still is "a great revolution," and again a great
"reaction " against it: these are but playful crests
of foam when compared with the truly great current
on which we float, and want to float.
198.
Assigning Prestige to one's Country. —
It is the men of culture who determine the rank
of their country, and they are characterised by an
innumerable number of great inward experiences,
which they have digested and can now value
justly. In France and Italy this fell to the lot of
the nobility; in Germany, where up to now the
nobility has been, as a rule, composed of men who
had not much intellect to boast about (perhaps this
## p. 201 (#243) ############################################
THE DAWN OF DAY.
201
will soon cease to be the case), it was the task of the
priests, the school teachers and their descendants.
199.
WE ARE NOBLER. --Fidelity, generosity, con-
cern for one's good reputation: these three qualities,
combined in one sentiment, we call noble, dis-
tinguished, aristocratic; and in this respect we excel
the Greeks. We do not wish to give this up at
any cost under the pretext that the ancient objects
of these virtues have rightly fallen in esteem, but
we wish cautiously to substitute new objects for
these most precious and hereditary impulses. To
understand why the sentiments of the noblest
Greeks must be considered as inferior and scarcely
respectable in the present age, where we are still
under the influence of the chivalric and feudal
nobility, we must recall the words of consolation to
which Ulysses gave utterance in the midst of the
most humiliating situations, “ Bear with it, my dear
heart, bear with it! Thou hast borne with many
more swinish things * than these! ” As an instance
of this mythical example, consider also the tale of
that Athenian officer, who, when threatened with
a stick by another officer in the presence of the
entire general staff, shook off his disgrace with the
words, “Strike, but listen to me. ” (This was
Themistocles, that ingenious Ulysses of the classical
* The reference is to the Odyssey, xx. 18: “TéThadi on,
kpadin. kai kúvtepov aklo tor' érins . . . " etc. Kúvtepos, from
kúwv, "a dog,” lit. more dog-like, i. e. shameless, horrible,
audacious. —TR.
## p. (#244) ################################################
200
THE DAWN OF DAY.
limits of knowledge. " Let us once more breathe
freely, the hour of this danger is past! And yet,
strange to say, the very spirits which these Germans
conjured up with such eloquence have at length be-
come the most dangerous for the intentions of those
who did conjure them up: history, thecomprehension
of origin and development, sympathy with the past,
the new passion for feeling and knowledge, after
they had been for a long time at the service of this
obscure exalted and retrograde spirit, have once
more assumed another nature, and are now soaring
with outstretched wings above the heads of those
who once upon a time conjured them forth, as new
and stronger genii of that very enlightenment to
combat which they had been resuscitated. It is this
enlightenment which we have now to carry forward,
-caring nothing for the fact that there has been
and still is a great revolution," and again a great
“ reaction " against it: these are but playful crests
of foam when compared with the truly great current
on which we float, and want to float.
198.
ASSIGNING PRESTIGE TO ONE'S COUNTRY. -
It is the men of culture who determine the rank
of their country, and they are characterised by an
innumerable number of great inward experiences,
which they have digested and can now value
justly. In France and Italy this fell to the lot of
the nobility ; in Germany, where up to now the
nobility has been, as a rule, composed of men who
had not much intellect to boast about (perhaps this
## p. 199 (#245) ############################################
THE DAWN OF DAY.
201
will soon cease to be the case), it was the task of the
priests, the school teachers and their descendants.
199.
WE ARE NOBLER. -—Fidelity, generosity, con-
cern for one's good reputation: these three qualities,
combined in one sentiment, we call noble, dis-
tinguished, aristocratic; and in this respect we excel
the Greeks. We do not wish to give this up at
any cost under the pretext that the ancient objects
of these virtues have rightly fallen in esteem, but
we wish cautiously to substitute new objects for
these most precious and hereditary impulses. To
understand why the sentiments of the noblest
Greeks must be considered as inferior and scarcely
respectable in the present age, where we are still
under the influence of the chivalric and feudal
nobility, we must recall the words of consolation to
which Ulysses gave utterance in the midst of the
most humiliating situations, “ Bear with it, my dear
heart, bear with it! Thou hast borne with many
more swinish things * than these! ” As an instance
of this mythical example, consider also the tale of
that Athenian officer, who, when threatened with
a stick by another officer in the presence of the
entire general staff, shook off his disgrace with the
words, “Strike, but listen to me. " (This was
Themistocles, that ingenious Ulysses of the classical
* The reference is to the Odyssey, xx. 18 : “ Térdadi sń,
kpadin. kaì kúvtepov aklo nor' érins . . . " etc. Kúvtepos, from
kúwv, "a dog," lit. more dog-like, i. e. shameless, horrible,
audacious. -TR.
## p. 200 (#246) ############################################
200
THE DAWN OF DAY.
limits of knowledge. " Let us once more breathe
freely, the hour of this danger is past! And yet,
strange to say, the very spirits which these Germans
conjured up with such eloquence have at length be-
come the most dangerous for the intentions of those
who did conjure them up: history, thecomprehension
of origin and development, sympathy with the past,
the new passion for feeling and knowledge, after
they had been for a long time at the service of this
obscure exalted and retrograde spirit, have once
more assumed another nature, and are now soaring
with outstretched wings above the heads of those
who once upon a time conjured them forth, as new
and stronger genii of that very enlightenment to
combat which they had been resuscitated. It is this
enlightenment which we have now to carry forward,
-caring nothing for the fact that there has been
and still is “a great revolution," and again a great
"reaction" against it: these are but playful crests
of foam when compared with the truly great current
on which we float, and want to float.
198.
ASSIGNING PRESTIGE TO ONE'S COUNTRY. -
It is the men of culture who determine the rank
of their country, and they are characterised by an
innumerable number of great inward experiences,
which they have digested and can now value
justly. In France and Italy this fell to the lot of
the nobility; in Germany, where up to now the
nobility has been, as a rule, composed of men who
had not much intellect to boast about (perhaps this
## p. 201 (#247) ############################################
THE DAWN OF DAY.
201
will soon cease to be the case), it was the task of the
priests, the school teachers and their descendants.
199.
WE ARE NOBLER. --Fidelity, generosity, con-
cern for one's good reputation: these three qualities,
combined in one sentiment, we call noble, dis-
tinguished, aristocratic; and in this respect we excel
the Greeks. We do not wish to give this up at
any cost under the pretext that the ancient objects
of these virtues have rightly fallen in esteem, but
we wish cautiously to substitute new objects for
these most precious and hereditary impulses. To
understand why the sentiments of the noblest
Greeks must be considered as inferior and scarcely
respectable in the present age, where we are still
under the influence of the chivalric and feudal
nobility, we must recall the words of consolation to
which Ulysses gave utterance in the midst of the
most humiliating situations, “ Bear with it, my dear
heart, bear with it! Thou hast borne with many
more swinish things * than these! ” As an instance
of this mythical example, consider also the tale of
that Athenian officer, who, when threatened with
a stick by another officer in the presence of the
entire general staff, shook off his disgrace with the
words,“ Strike, but listen to me. ” (This was
Themistocles, that ingenious Ulysses of the classical
* The reference is to the Odyssey, xx. 18: “Tétlaði on,
kpadin. kaì kúvtepov allo mot' érins . . . " etc. Kúvtepos, from
kuwv, "a dog," lit. more dog-like, i. e. shameless, horrible,
audacious. —TR.
## p. (#248) ################################################
200
THE DAWN OF DAY.
limits of knowledge. " Let us once more breathe
freely, the hour of this danger is past! And yet,
strange to say, the very spirits which these Germans
conjured up with such eloquence have at length be-
come the most dangerous for the intentions of those
who did conjure them up: history, thecomprehension
of origin and development, sympathy with the past,
the new passion for feeling and knowledge, after
they had been for a long time at the service of this
obscure exalted and retrograde spirit, have once
more assumed another nature, and are now soaring
with outstretched wings above the heads of those
who once upon a time conjured them forth, as new
and stronger genii of that very enlightenment to
combat which they had been resuscitated. It is this
enlightenment which we have now to carry forward,
-caring nothing for the fact that there has been
and still is “a great revolution,” and again a great
"reaction " against it: these are but playful crests
of foam when compared with the truly great current
on which we float, and want to float.
198.
ASSIGNING PRESTIGE TO ONE'S COUNTRY. -
It is the men of culture who determine the rank
of their country, and they are characterised by an
innumerable number of great inward experiences,
which they have digested and can now value
justly. In France and Italy this fell to the lot of
the nobility ; in Germany, where up to now the
nobility has been, as a rule, composed of men who
had not much intellect to boast about (perhaps this
## p. 199 (#249) ############################################
THE DAWN OF DAY.
201
will soon cease to be the case), it was the task of the
priests, the school teachers and their descendants.
199.
WE ARE NOBLER. -—Fidelity, generosity, con-
cern for one's good reputation: these three qualities,
combined in one sentiment, we call noble, dis-
tinguished, aristocratic; and in this respect we excel
the Greeks. We do not wish to give this up at
any cost under the pretext that the ancient objects
of these virtues have rightly fallen in esteem, but
we wish cautiously to substitute new objects for
these most precious and hereditary impulses. To
understand why the sentiments of the noblest
Greeks must be considered as inferior and scarcely
respectable in the present age, where we are still
under the influence of the chivalric and feudal
nobility, we must recall the words of consolation to
which Ulysses gave utterance in the midst of the
most humiliating situations, “ Bear with it, my dear
heart, bear with it! Thou hast borne with many
more swinish things * than these! ” As an instance
of this mythical example, consider also the tale of
that Athenian officer, who, when threatened with
a stick by another officer in the presence of the
entire general staff, shook off his disgrace with the
words,“ Strike, but listen to me. ” (This was
Themistocles, that ingenious Ulysses of the classical
* The reference is to the Odyssey, xx. 18: “Tétladı on,
kpaðin.
kaì kúvtepov ärlo tot' érins . . . " etc. Kúvtepos, from
kuwv, “a dog," lit. more dog-like, i. e. shameless, horrible,
audacious. —TR.
## p. 200 (#250) ############################################
200
THE DAWN OF DAY.
limits of knowledge. " Let us once more breathe
freely, the hour of this danger is past! And yet,
strange to say, the very spirits which these Germans
conjured up with such eloquence have at length be-
come the most dangerous for the intentions of those
who did conjure them up: history, thecomprehension
of origin and development, sympathy with the past,
the new passion for feeling and knowledge, after
they had been for a long time at the service of this
obscure exalted and retrograde spirit, have once
more assumed another nature, and are now soaring
with outstretched wings above the heads of those
who once upon a time conjured them forth, as new
and stronger genii of that very enlightenment to
combat which they had been resuscitated. It is this
enlightenment which we have now to carry forward,
-caring nothing for the fact that there has been
and still is “a great revolution," and again a great
"reaction " against it: these are but playful crests
of foam when compared with the truly great current
on which we float, and want to float.
198.
ASSIGNING PRESTIGE TO ONE'S COUNTRY. -
It is the men of culture who determine the rank
of their country, and they are characterised by an
innumerable number of great inward experiences,
which they have digested and can now value
justly. In France and Italy this fell to the lot of
the nobility; in Germany, where up to now the
nobility has been, as a rule, composed of men who
had not much intellect to boast about (perhaps this
## p. 201 (#251) ############################################
THE DAWN OF DAY.
201
will soon cease to be the case), it was the task of the
priests, the school teachers and their descendants.
199.
WE ARE NOBLER. --Fidelity, generosity, con-
cern for one's good reputation: these three qualities,
combined in one sentiment, we call noble, dis-
tinguished, aristocratic; and in this respect we excel
the Greeks. We do not wish to give this up at
any cost under the pretext that the ancient objects
of these virtues have rightly fallen in esteem, but
we wish cautiously to substitute new objects for
these most precious and hereditary impulses. To
understand why the sentiments of the noblest
Greeks must be considered as inferior and scarcely
respectable in the present age, where we are still
under the influence of the chivalric and feudal
nobility, we must recall the words of consolation to
which Ulysses gave utterance in the midst of the
most humiliating situations, “ Bear with it, my dear
heart, bear with it! Thou hast borne with many
more swinish things * than these! ” As an instance
of this mythical example, consider also the tale of
that Athenian officer, who, when threatened with
a stick by another officer in the presence of the
entire general staff, shook off his disgrace with the
words,“ Strike, but listen to me. ” (This was
Themistocles, that ingenious Ulysses of the classical
* The reference is to the Odyssey, xx. 18: “Tétlad, on,
kpadin. kaì kúvtepov allo tot érins . . . " etc. Kúvtepos, from
kuwv, “a dog," lit. more dog-like, i. e. shameless, horrible,
audacious. —TR.
## p. (#252) ################################################
200
THE DAWN OF DAY.
limits of knowledge. " Let us once more breathe
freely, the hour of this danger is past! And yet,
strange to say, the very spirits which these Germans
conjured up with such eloquence have at length be-
come the most dangerous for the intentions of those
who did conjure them up: history, thecomprehension
of origin and development, sympathy with the past,
the new passion for feeling and knowledge, after
they had been for a long time at the service of this
obscure exalted and retrograde spirit, have once
more assumed another nature, and are now soaring
with outstretched wings above the heads of those
who once upon a time conjured them forth, as new
and stronger genii of that very enlightenment to
combat which they had been resuscitated. It is this
enlightenment which we have now to carry forward,
-caring nothing for the fact that there has been
and still is “a great revolution,” and again a great
“ reaction " against it: these are but playful crests
of foam when compared with the truly great current
on which we float, and want to float.
198.
ASSIGNING PRESTIGE TO ONE'S COUNTRY. -
It is the men of culture who determine the rank
of their country, and they are characterised by an
innumerable number of great inward experiences,
which they have digested and can now value
justly. In France and Italy this fell to the lot of
the nobility ; in Germany, where up to now the
nobility has been, as a rule, composed of men who
had not much intellect to boast about (perhaps this
## p. 199 (#253) ############################################
THE DAWN OF DAY.
201
will soon cease to be the case), it was the task of the
priests, the school teachers and their descendants.
199.
WE ARE NOBLER. -—Fidelity, generosity, con-
cern for one's good reputation: these three qualities,
combined in one sentiment, we call noble, dis-
tinguished, aristocratic; and in this respect we excel
the Greeks. We do not wish to give this up at
any cost under the pretext that the ancient objects
of these virtues have rightly fallen in esteem, but
we wish cautiously to substitute new objects for
these most precious and hereditary impulses. To
understand why the sentiments of the noblest
Greeks must be considered as inferior and scarcely
respectable in the present age, where we are still
under the influence of the chivalric and feudal
nobility, we must recall the words of consolation to
which Ulysses gave utterance in the midst of the
most humiliating situations, “ Bear with it, my dear
heart, bear with it! Thou hast borne with many
more swinish things * than these! ” As an instance
of this mythical example, consider also the tale of
that Athenian officer, who, when threatened with
a stick by another officer in the presence of the
entire general staff, shook off his disgrace with the
words, “ Strike, but listen to me. ” (This was
Themistocles, that ingenious Ulysses of the classical
* The reference is to the Odyssey, xx. 18: “Térdadı on,
kpadin. kaì kúvtepov allo tot' &tams . . . " etc. Kúvtepos, from
kuwv, “a dog," lit. more dog-like, i. e. shameless, horrible,
audacious. —TR.
## p. 200 (#254) ############################################
200
THE DAWN OF DAY.
limits of knowledge. " Let us once more breathe
freely, the hour of this danger is past! And yet,
strange to say, the very spirits which these Germans
conjured up with such eloquence have at length be-
come the most dangerous for the intentions of those
who did conjure them up: history, thecomprehension
of origin and development, sympathy with the past,
the new passion for feeling and knowledge, after
they had been for a long time at the service of this
obscure exalted and retrograde spirit, have once
more assumed another nature, and are now soaring
with outstretched wings above the heads of those
who once upon a time conjured them forth, as new
and stronger genii of that very enlightenment to
combat which they had been resuscitated. It is this
enlightenment which we have now to carry forward,
-caring nothing for the fact that there has been
and still is “a great revolution,” and again a great
“ reaction " against it: these are but playful crests
of foam when compared with the truly great current
on which we float, and want to float.
198.
ASSIGNING PRESTIGE TO ONE'S COUNTRY. -
It is the men of culture who determine the rank
of their country, and they are characterised by an
innumerable number of great inward experiences,
which they have digested and can now value
justly. In France and Italy this fell to the lot of
the nobility ; in Germany, where up to now the
nobility has been, as a rule, composed of men who
had not much intellect to boast about (perhaps this
## p. 201 (#255) ############################################
THE DAWN OF DAY. 201
will soon cease to be the case), it was the task of the
priests, the school teachers and their descendants.
199.
We ARE Nobler. —Fidelity, generosity, con-
cern for one's good reputation: these three qualities,
combined in one sentiment, we call noble, dis-
tinguished, aristocratic ; and in this respect we excel
the Greeks. We do not wish to give this up at
any cost under the pretext that the ancient objects
of these virtues have rightly fallen in esteem, but
we wish cautiously to substitute new objects for
these most precious and hereditary impulses. To
understand why the sentiments of the noblest
Greeks must be considered as inferior and scarcely
respectable in the present age, where we are still
under the influence of the chivalric and feudal
nobility, we must recall the words of consolation to
which Ulysses gave utterance in the midst of the
most humiliating situations, " Bear with it, my dear
heart, bear with it! Thou hast borne with many
more swinish things * than these! " As an instance
of this mythical example, consider also the tale of
that Athenian officer, who, when threatened with
a stick by another officer in the presence of the
entire general staff, shook off his disgrace with the
words, "Strike, but listen to me. " (This was
Themistocles, that ingenious Ulysses of the classical
* The reference is to the Odyssey, xx. 18: "TtrXatfi 5>j,
K/moirj■ Kai KVVTfpov SKKo ■nor ? rA)js . . . " etc. Kvvi-fpor, from
«cu«o! >, "a dog," lit. more dog-like, i. e. shameless, horrible,
audacious. —Tr.
## p. (#256) ################################################
200
THE DAWN OF DAY.
limits of knowledge. " Let us once more breathe
freely, the hour of this danger is past! And yet,
strange to say, the very spirits which these Germans
conjured up with such eloquence have at length be-
come the most dangerous for the intentions of those
who did conjure them up: history, thecomprehension
of origin and development, sympathy with the past,
the new passion for feeling and knowledge, after
they had been for a long time at the service of this
obscure exalted and retrograde spirit, have once
more assumed another nature, and are now soaring
with outstretched wings above the heads of those
who once upon a time conjured them forth, as new
and stronger genii of that very enlightenment to
combat which they had been resuscitated. It is this
enlightenment which we have now to carry forward,
-caring nothing for the fact that there has been
and still is “a great revolution,” and again a great
“ reaction " against it: these are but playful crests
of foam when compared with the truly great current
on which we float, and want to float.
198.
ASSIGNING PRESTIGE TO ONE'S COUNTRY. -
It is the men of culture who determine the rank
of their country, and they are characterised by an
innumerable number of great inward experiences,
which they have digested and can now value
justly. In France and Italy this fell to the lot of
the nobility; in Germany, where up to now the
nobility has been, as a rule, composed of men who
had not much intellect to boast about (perhaps this
## p. 197 (#257) ############################################
THE DAWN OF DAY.
201
will soon cease to be the case), it was the task of the
priests, the school teachers and their descendants.
199.
WE ARE NOBLER. --Fidelity, generosity, con-
cern for one's good reputation: these three qualities,
combined in one sentiment, we call noble, dis-
tinguished, aristocratic; and in this respect we excel
the Greeks. We do not wish to give this up at
any cost under the pretext that the ancient objects
of these virtues have rightly fallen in esteem, but
we wish cautiously to substitute new objects for
these most precious and hereditary impulses. To
understand why the sentiments of the noblest
Greeks must be considered as inferior and scarcely
respectable in the present age, where we are still
under the influence of the chivalric and feudal
nobility, we must recall the words of consolation to
which Ulysses gave utterance in the midst of the
most humiliating situations, “ Bear with it, my dear
heart, bear with it! Thou hast borne with many
more swinish things * than these! ” As an instance
of this mythical example, consider also the tale of
that Athenian officer, who, when threatened with
a stick by another officer in the presence of the
entire general staff, shook off his disgrace with the
words,“ Strike, but listen to me. ” (This was
Themistocles, that ingenious Ulysses of the classical
* The reference is to the Odyssey, xx. 18: “Térdabi on,
kpadin. Kai kúvtepov ärlo tot'étans . . . " etc. Kúvtepos, from
kúwv, “a dog," lit. more dog-like, i. e. shameless, horrible,
audacious. —TR.
## p. 198 (#258) ############################################
200
THE DAWN OF DAY.
limits of knowledge. " Let us once more breathe
freely, the hour of this danger is past! And yet,
strange to say, the very spirits which these Germans
conjured up with such eloquence have at length be-
come the most dangerous for the intentions of those
who did conjure them up: history, thecomprehension
of origin and development, sympathy with the past,
the new passion for feeling and knowledge, after
they had been for a long time at the service of this
obscure exalted and retrograde spirit, have once
more assumed another nature, and are now soaring
with outstretched wings above the heads of those
who once upon a time conjured them forth, as new
and stronger genii of that very enlightenment to
combat which they had been resuscitated. It is this
enlightenment which we have now to carry forward,
-caring nothing for the fact that there has been
and still is “a great revolution,” and again a great
“ reaction " against it: these are but playful crests
of foam when compared with the truly great current
on which we float, and want to float.
198.
ASSIGNING PRESTIGE TO ONE'S COUNTRY. -
It is the men of culture who determine the rank
of their country, and they are characterised by an
innumerable number of great inward experiences,
which they have digested and can now value
justly. In France and Italy this fell to the lot of
the nobility ; in Germany, where up to now the
nobility has been, as a rule, composed of men who
had not much intellect to boast about (perhaps this
## p. 199 (#259) ############################################
THE DAWN OF DAY.
201
will soon cease to be the case), it was the task of the
priests, the school teachers and their descendants.
199.
WE ARE NOBLER. --Fidelity, generosity, con-
cern for one's good reputation: these three qualities,
combined in one sentiment, we call noble, dis-
tinguished, aristocratic; and in this respect we excel
the Greeks. We do not wish to give this up at
any cost under the pretext that the ancient objects
of these virtues have rightly fallen in esteem, but
we wish cautiously to substitute new objects for
these most precious and hereditary impulses. To
understand why the sentiments of the noblest
Greeks must be considered as inferior and scarcely
respectable in the present age, where we are still
under the influence of the chivalric and feudal
nobility, we must recall the words of consolation to
which Ulysses gave utterance in the midst of the
most humiliating situations, “ Bear with it, my dear
heart, bear with it! Thou hast borne with many
more swinish things * than these! ” As an instance
of this mythical example, consider also the tale of
that Athenian officer, who, when threatened with
a stick by another officer in the presence of the
entire general staff, shook off his disgrace with the
words, “ Strike, but listen to me. ” (This was
Themistocles, that ingenious Ulysses of the classical
* The reference is to the Odyssey, xx. 18: “Térdadi sń,
kpadin. kai kúvtepov ärlo tor' érins . . . " etc. Kúvtepos, from
kuwv, "a dog," lit. more dog-like, i. e. shameless, horrible,
audacious. —TR.
## p. 200 (#260) ############################################
200
THE DAWN OF DAY.
limits of knowledge. " Let us once more breathe
freely, the hour of this danger is past! And yet,
strange to say, the very spirits which these Germans
conjured up with such eloquence have at length be-
come the most dangerous for the intentions of those
who did conjure them up: history, the comprehension
of origin and development, sympathy with the past,
the new passion for feeling and knowledge, after
they had been for a long time at the service of this
obscure exalted and retrograde spirit, have once
more assumed another nature, and are now soaring
with outstretched wings above the heads of those
who once upon a time conjured them forth, as new
and stronger genii of that very enlightenment to
combat which they had been resuscitated. It is this
enlightenment which we have now to carry forward,
-caring nothing for the fact that there has been
and still is “a great revolution,” and again a great
“ reaction " against it: these are but playful crests
of foam when compared with the truly great current
on which we float, and want to float.
198.
ASSIGNING PRESTIGE TO ONE'S COUNTRY. -
It is the men of culture who determine the rank
of their country, and they are characterised by an
innumerable number of great inward experiences,
which they have digested and can now value
justly. In France and Italy this fell to the lot of
the nobility; in Germany, where up to now the
nobility has been, as a rule, composed of men who
had not much intellect to boast about (perhaps this
## p. 201 (#261) ############################################
THE DAWN OF DAY.
201
will soon cease to be the case), it was the task of the
priests, the school teachers and their descendants.
199.
WE ARE NOBLER. --Fidelity, generosity, con-
cern for one's good reputation: these three qualities,
combined in one sentiment, we call noble, dis-
tinguished, aristocratic; and in this respect we excel
the Greeks. We do not wish to give this up at
any cost under the pretext that the ancient objects
of these virtues have rightly fallen in esteem, but
we wish cautiously to substitute new objects for
these most precious and hereditary impulses. To
understand why the sentiments of the noblest
Greeks must be considered as inferior and scarcely
respectable in the present age, where we are still
under the influence of the chivalric and feudal
nobility, we must recall the words of consolation to
which Ulysses gave utterance in the midst of the
most humiliating situations, “ Bear with it, my dear
heart, bear with it! Thou hast borne with many
more swinish things * than these! ” As an instance
of this mythical example, consider also the tale of
that Athenian officer, who, when threatened with
a stick by another officer in the presence of the
entire general staff, shook off his disgrace with the
words,“ Strike, but listen to me. ” (This was
Themistocles, that ingenious Ulysses of the classical
* The reference is to the Odyssey, xx. 18 : “Térda, on,
kpaðin. Kai Kúvtepov állo hot'étans . . . " etc. Kúvtepos, from
kuwv, “a dog," lit. more dog-like, i. e. shameless, horrible,
audacious. -TR.
## p. 202 (#262) ############################################
202 THE DAWN OF DAY.
epoch, who was just the man at the moment of
disgrace to address to his " dear heart" that verse
of comfort and affliction. )
The Greeks were far from making light of life
and death because of an insult, as we, influenced
by a hereditary spirit of chivalric adventurousness
and self-devotion, are in the habit of doing; or
from looking for opportunities of honourably risking
life and death, as in duels; or from valuing the
preservation of an unstained name (honour) more
than the acquirement of an evil reputation, when the
latter was compatible with glory and the feeling of
power; or from remaining faithful to the prejudices
and the articles of faith of a caste, when these could
prevent them from becoming tyrants. For this is
the ignoble secret of the good Greek aristocrat: out
of sheer jealousy he treats every one of the members
of his caste as beingon an equal footing with himself,
but he is ready at every moment to springlike a tiger
on his prey—despotism. What matterlies,murders,
treason, or the betrayal of his native city to him!
Justice was an extremely difficult matter for people
of this kind to understand—nay, justice was almost
something incredible. "The just man " was to the
Greeks what "the saint" was to the Christians.
When Socrates, however, laid down the axiom,
"The most virtuous man is the happiest," they could
not trust their ears; they thought they had heard
a madman speaking. For, as a picture of the
happiest man, every nobleman had in his mind the
cheeky audacity and devilry of the tyrant who
sacrifices everything and every one to his own
exuberance and pleasure. Among people whose
## p.
