No More Learning

Formula of Oath. —" If I am now telling a lie
I am no longer an honourable man, and every one
may say so to my face. " I recommend this for-
mula in place of the present judicial oath and its
customary invocation to the Deity: it is stronger.
There is no reason why even religious men should
oppose it; for as soon as the customary oath no
longer serves, all the religious people will have to
turn to their catechism, which says, " Thou shalt
not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. "
153-
The Malcontent. —He is one of the brave old
warriors: angry with civilisation because he believes


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164 THE DAWN OF DAY.
that its object is to make all good things—honour,
rewards, and fair women — accessible even to
cowards.
154.
Consolation amid Perils. —The Greeks, in
the course of a life that was always surrounded by
great dangers and cataclysms, endeavoured to find
in meditation and knowledge a kind of security of
feeling, a last refugium. We, who live in a much
more secure state, have introduced danger into
meditation and knowledge, and it is in life itself
that we endeavour to find repose, a refuge from
danger.
Extinct Scepticism. —Hazardous enterprises
are rarer in modern times than in antiquity and in
the Middle Ages, probably because modern times
have no more belief in omens, oracles, stars, and
soothsayers. In other words, we have become in-
capable of believing in a future which is reserved
for us, as the ancients did, who—in contradistinc-
tion to ourselves-—were much less sceptical regard-
ing that which is to be than that which is.
156.
Evil through Exuberance. —" Oh, that we
should not feel too happy ! "—such was the secret
fear of the Greeks in their best age. That is why
they preached moderation to themselves. And we?


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THE DAWN OF DAY. 165
157-
The Worship of Natural Sounds. —What
signification can we find in the fact that our culture
is not only indulgent to the manifestations of grief,
such as tears, complaints, reproaches, and attitudes
of rage and humility, but even approves them and
reckons them among the most noble and essential
things? —while, on the other hand, the spirit of
ancient philosophy looked down upon them with
contempt, without admitting their necessity in any
way. Let us remember how Plato—who was by
no means one of the most inhuman of the phil-
osophers—speaks of the Philoctetus of the tragic
stage. Is it possible that our modern culture is
wanting in "philosophy "? or, in accordance with
the valuations of those old philosophers, do we per-
haps all form part of the " mob "?
158.
The Climate for Flattery. —In our day
flatterers should no longer be sought at the courts
of kings, since these have all acquired a taste for
militarism, which cannot tolerate flattery. But this
flower even now often grows in abundance in the
neighbourhood of bankers and artists.
159.
The Revivers. —Vain men value a fragment
of the past more highly from the moment when
they are able to revive it in their imagination
(especially if it is difficult to do so), they would


## p. 166 (#204) ############################################

t66 the dawn of day.
even like if possible to raise it from the dead. Since,
however, the number of vain people is always very
large, the danger presented by historical studies, if
an entire epoch devotes its attention to them, is by
no means small: too great an amount of strength
is then wasted on all sorts of imaginable resurrec-
tions. The entire movement of romanticism is
perhaps best understood from this point of view.
160.
Vain, Greedy, and not very Wise. —Your
desires are greater than your understanding, and
your vanity is even greater than your desires,—to
people of your type a great deal of Christian prac-
tice and a little Schopenhauerian theory may be
strongly recommended.
161.
Beauty corresponding to the Age. —If our
sculptors, painters, and musicians wish to catch the
significance of the age, they should represent beauty
as bloated, gigantic, and nervous: just as the
Greeks, under the influence of their morality of
moderation, saw and represented beauty in the
Apollo di Belvedere. We should, indeed, call him
ugly! But the pedantic " classicists " have deprived
us of all our honesty!
162.
The Irony of the Present Time. —At the
present day it is the habit of Europeans to treat all
matters of great importance with irony, because, as


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THE DAWN OF DAY. 167
the result of our activity in their service, we have no
time to take them seriously.
163.
Against Rousseau. —If it is true that there is
something contemptible about our civilisation, we
have two alternatives: of concluding with Rousseau
that, " This despicable civilisation is to blame for
our bad morality,"or to infer, contrary to Rousseau's
view, that " Our good morality is to blame for this
contemptible civilisation. Our social conceptions
of good and evil, weak and effeminate as they are,
and their enormous influence over both body and
soul, have had the effect of weakening all bodies
and souls and of crushing all unprejudiced, inde-
pendent, and self-reliant men, the real pillars of a
strong civilisation: wherever we still find the evil
morality to-day, we see the last crumbling ruins of
these pillars. " Thus let paradox be opposed by
paradox! It is quite impossible for the truth to
lie with both sides: and can we say, indeed, that it
lies, with either? Decide for yourself.
164.
Perhaps Premature. —It would seem at the
present time that, under many different and mis-
leading names, and often with a great want of
clearness, those who do not feel themselves attached
to morals and to established laws are taking the
first initial steps to organise themselves, and thus
to create a right for themselves; whilst hitherto,


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168 THE DAWN OF DAY.
as criminals, free-thinkers, immoral men and mis-
creants, they have lived beyond the pale of the law,
under the bane of outlawry and bad conscience,
corrupted and corrupting. On the whole, we should
consider this as right and proper, although it
may result in insecurity for the coming century
and compel every one to bear arms. —There is
thereby a counterforce which continually reminds
us that there is no exclusively moral-making
morality, and that a morality which asserts itself
to the exclusion of all other morality destroys too
much sound strength and is too dearly bought by
mankind. The non-conventional and deviating
people, who are so often productive and inventive,
must no longer be sacrificed: it must never again
be considered as a disgrace to depart from morality
either in actions or thought; many new experiments
must be made upon life and society, and the world
must be relieved from a huge weight of bad con-
science. These general aims must be recognised
and encouraged by all those upright people who
are seeking truth.
165.
A Morality which does not bore one. —
The principal moral commandments which a nation
permits its teachers to emphasise again and again
stand in relation to its chief defects, and that is why
it does not find them tiresome. The Greeks, who
so often failed to employ moderation, coolness, fair-
mindedness, and rationality in general, turned a
willing ear to the four Socratic virtues,—they stood


## p. 169 (#207) ############################################

THE DAWN OF DAY. 169
in such need of them, and yet had so little talent
for them!
166.
At the Parting of the Ways. —Shame 1
You wish to form part of a system in which you
must be a wheel, fully and completely, or risk
being crushed by wheels! where it is understood
that each one will be that which his superiors make
of him! where the seeking for " connections" will
form part of one's natural duties! where no one
feels himself offended when he has his attention
drawn to some one with the remark, " He may be
useful to you some time"; where people do not feel
ashamed of paying a visit to ask for somebody's in-
tercession, and where they do not even suspect that
by such a voluntary submission to these morals,
they are once and for all stamped as the common
pottery of nature, which others can employ or break
up of their free will without feeling in any way
responsible for doing so,—just as if one were to
say, "People of my type will never be lacking,
therefore, do what you will with me! Do not
stand on ceremony! "
167.
Unconditional Homage. —When I think of
the most read German philosopher, the most
popular German musician, and the most distin-
guished German statesman, I cannot but acknow-
ledge that life is now rendered unusually arduous
for these Germans, this nation of unconditional


## p. 170 (#208) ############################################

170 THE DAWN OF DAY.
sentiments, and that, too, by their own great men.
We see three magnificent spectacles spread out be-
fore us: on each occasion there is a river rushing
along in the bed which it has made for itself, and
even so agitated that one thinks at times it intends
to flow uphill. And yet, however we might ad-
mire Schopenhauer, who would not, all things con-
sidered, like to have other opinions than his? Who
in all greater and smaller things would now share the
opinions of Richard Wagner, although there may
be truth in the view expressed by some one: viz.
that wherever Wagner gave or took offence some
problem lay hidden,—which, however, he did not
unearth for us. And, finally, how many are there
who would be willing and eager to agree with Bis-
marck, if only he could always agree with himself,
or were even to show some signs of doing so for the
future! It is true that it is by no means astonishing
to find statesmen without principles, but with domin-
ant instincts; a versatile mind, actuated by these
dominant and violent instincts, and hence without
principles—these qualities are looked upon as
reasonable and natural in a statesman. But, alas,
this has up to the present been so un-German; as
un-German as the fuss made about music and the
discord and bad temper excited around the person
of the musician; or as un-German as the new and
extraordinary position taken up by Schopenhauer:
he did not feel himself to be either above things or
on his knees before them—one or other of these
alternatives might still have been German—but
he assumed an attitude against things! How
incredible and disagreeable! to range one's self


## p. 171 (#209) ############################################

THE DAWN OF DAY. 171
with things and nevertheless be their adversary,
and finally the adversary of one's self,—what can
the unconditional admirer do with such an ex-
ample? And what, again, can he do with three
such examples who cannot keep the peace towards
one another! Here we see Schopenhauer as the
antagonist of Wagner's music, Wagner attacking
Bismarck's politics, and Bismarck attacking Wag-
nerism and Schopenhauerism. What remains for
us to do? Where shall we flee with our thirst for
wholesale hero-worship! Would it not be possible
to choose from the music of the musician a few
hundred bars of good music which appealed to the
heart, and which we should like to take to heart be-
cause they are inspired by the heart,—could we not
stand aside with this small piece of plunder, and
forget the rest? And could we not make a similar
compromise as regards the philosopher and the
statesman,—select, take to heart, and in particular
forget the rest?
Yes, if only forgetfulness were not so difficult!
There was once a very proud man who would
never on any account accept anything, good or
evil, from others,—from any one, indeed, but him-
self. When he wanted to forget, however, he could
not bestow this gift upon himself, and was three
times compelled to conjure up the spirits. They
came, listened to his desire, and said at last, " This
is the only thing it is not in our power to give! "
Could not the Germans take warning by this
experience of Manfred? Why, then, should the
spirits be conjured up? It is useless. We never
forget what we endeavour to forget. And how


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172 THE DAWN OF DAY.
great would be the "balance" which we should
have to forget if we wished henceforth to continue
wholesale admirers of these three great men! It
would therefore be far more advisable to profit by
the excellent opportunity offered us to try some-
thing new, i. e. to advance in the spirit of honesty
towards ourselves and become, instead of a nation
of credulous repetition and of bitter and blind ani-
mosity, a people of conditional assent and be-
nevolent opposition. We must come to learn in
the first place, however, that unconditional homage
to people is something rather ridiculous, that a
change of view on this point would not discredit
even Germans, and that there is a profound and
memorable saying: "Ce qui importe, ce ne sont
point Ies personnes: mais les choses. " This say-
ing is like the man who uttered it—great, honest,
simple, and silent,—just like Carnot, the soldier
and Republican. But may I at the present time
speak thus to Germans of a Frenchman, and a
Republican into the bargain? Perhaps not: per-
haps I must not even recall what Niebuhr in his
time dared to say to the Germans: that no one
had made such an impression of true greatness
upon him as Carnot.
168.
A MODEl. —What do I like about Thucydides,
and how does it come that I esteem him more
highly than Plato? He exhibits the most wide-
spread and artless pleasure in everything typical
in men and events, and finds that each type is


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THE DAWN OF DAY. 173
possessed of a certain quantity of good sense: it
is this good sense which he seeks to discover. He
likewise exhibits a larger amount of practical justice
than Plato; he never reviles or belittles those men
whom he dislikes or who have in any way injured
him in the course of his life. On the contrary:
while seeing only types, he introduces something
noble and additional into all things and persons;
for what could posterity, to which he dedicates his
work, do with things not typical! Thus this cul-
ture of the disinterested knowledge of the world
attains in him, the poet-thinker, a final marvellous
bloom,—this culture which has its poet in Sopho-
cles, its statesman in Pericles, its doctor in Hippo-
crates, and its natural philosopher in Democritus:
this culture which deserves to be called by the name
of its teachers, the Sophists, and which, unhappily,
from the moment of its baptism at once begins to
grow pale and incomprehensible to us,—for hence-
forward we suspect that this culture, which was
combated by Plato and all the Socratic schools,
must have been very immoral! The truth of this
matter is so complicated and entangled that we
feel unwilling to unravel it: so let the old error
{error veritate simplicior) run its old course.
169.
The Greek Genius Foreign to us. —Oriental
or modern, Asiatic or European: compared with
the ancient Greeks, everything is characterised by
enormity of size and by the revelling in great
masses as the expression of the sublime, whilst in


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172
THE DAWN OF DAY.
great would be the “balance” which we should
have to forget if we wished henceforth to continue
wholesale admirers of these three great men! It
would therefore be far more advisable to profit by
the excellent opportunity offered us to try some-
thing new, i. e. to advance in the spirit of honesty
towards ourselves and become, instead of a nation
of credulous repetition and of bitter and blind ani-
mosity, a people of conditional assent and be-
nevolent opposition. We must come to learn in
the first place, however, that unconditional homage
to people is something rather ridiculous, that a
change of view on this point would not discredit
even Germans, and that there is a profound and
memorable saying: “Ce qui importe, ce ne sont
point les personnes: mais les choses. ” This say-
ing is like the man who uttered it-great, honest,
simple, and silent,—just like Carnot, the soldier
and Republican. But may I at the present time
speak thus to Germans of a Frenchman, and a
Republican into the bargain ? Perhaps not: per-
haps I must not even recall what Niebuhr in his
time dared to say to the Germans: that no one
had made such an impression of true greatnes
upon him as Carnot.
16
Lucyd
im
1
A MODEL. —What do
and how does it come t
highly than Plato ? He
spread and artless pleas
in men and events, and
osty


## p. 173 (#213) ############################################

THE DAWN OF DAY.
173
possessed of a certain quantity of good sense: it
is this good sense which he seeks to discover. He
likewise exhibits a larger amount of practical justice
than Plato; he never reviles or belittles those men
whom he dislikes or who have in any way injured
him in the course of his life. On the contrary :
while seeing only types, he introduces something
noble and additional into all things and persons;
for what could posterity, to which he dedicates his
work, do with things not typical! Thus this cul-
ture of the disinterested knowledge of the world
attains in him, the poet-thinker, a final marvellous
bloom,—this culture which has its poet in Sopho-
cles, its statesman in Pericles, its doctor in Hippo-
crates, and its natural philosopher in Democritus :
this culture which deserves to be called by the name
of its teachers, the Sophists, and which, unhappily,
from the moment of its baptism at once begins to
grow pale and incomprehensible to us,—for hence-
forward we suspect that this culture, which was
combated by Plato and all the Socratic schools,
must have been very immoral! The truth of this
matter is so complicated and entangled that we
feel unwilling to unravel it: so let the old error
ror veritate simplicior) run its old course.

169.
IE GREEK GENIUS FOREIGN TO US. —Oriental
oder siatic or European : compared with
ісі eks, everything is characterised by
and by the revelling in great
ression of the sublime, whilst in


## p. 174 (#214) ############################################

174 THE DAWN OF DAY.
Paestum, Pompeii, and Athens we are astonished,
when contemplating Greek architecture, to see with
what small masses the Greeks were able to express
the sublime, and how they loved to express it thus.
In the same way, how simple were the Greeks in
the idea which they formed of themselves! How
far we surpass them in the knowledge of man!
Again, how full of labyrinths would our souls and
our conceptions of our souls appear in comparison
with theirs! If we had to venture upon an archi-
tecture after the style of our own souls—(we are
too cowardly for that! )—a labyrinth would have
to be our model. That music which is peculiar
to us, and which really expresses us, lets this be
clearly seen! (for in music men let themselves go,
because they think there is no one who can see
them hiding behind their music).
170.
Another Point of View. —How we babble
about the Greeks! What do we understand of
their art, the soul of which was the passion for
naked masculine beauty! It was only by starting
therefrom that they appreciated feminine beauty.
For the latter they had thus a perspective quite
different from ours. It was the same in regard to
their love for women: their worship was of a
different kind, and so also was their contempt.
171.
The Food of the Modern Man. —He has
learned to digest many things; nay, almost every-


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THE DAWN OF DAY. 175
thing; it is his ambition to do so. He would, how-
ever, be really of a higher order if he did not under-
stand this so well: homopamphagus is not the finest
type of the human race. We live between a past
which had a more wayward and deranged taste
than we, and a future which will possibly have a
more select taste,—we live too much midway.
172.
Tragedy and Music. —Men of essentially ^
warlike disposition, such, for example, as the
ancient Greeks in the time of ^Eschylus, are
difficult to rouse, and when pity once triumphs
over their hardness they are seized as by a kind
of giddiness or a " demoniacal power,"—they feel
themselves overpowered and thrilled by a religious
horror. After this they become sceptical about
their condition; but as long as they are in it they
enjoy the charm of being, as it were, outside them-
selves, and the delight of the marvellous mixed with
the bitterest gall of suffering: this is the proper
kind of drink for fighting men,—something rare,
dangerous, and bitter-sweet, which does not often
fall to one's lot.
Tragedy appeals to souls who feel pity in this
way, to those fierce and warlike souls which are
difficult to overcome, whether by fear or pity, but
which lose nothing by being softened from time to
time. Of what use, however, is tragedy to those
who are as open to the "sympathetic affections"
as the sails of a ship to the wind! When at the
time of Plato the Athenians had become more


## p. 176 (#216) ############################################

176 THE DAWN OF DAY.
softened and sensitive, oh, how far they were still
removed from the gushing emotions of the inhabit-
ants of our modern towns and villages! And yet
even then the philosophers were beginning to com-
plain of the injurious nature of tragedy. An epoch
full of danger such as that now beginning, in which
bravery and manliness are rising in value, will
perhaps again harden souls to such an extent that
they will once more stand in need of tragic poets:
but in the meantime these are somewhat super-
fluous, to put it mildly. For music, too, a better
age may be approaching (it will certainly be a more
evil age! ) when artists will have to make their
music appeal to strongly individual beings, beings
which will have become hard and which will be
dominated by the gloomy earnestness of their own
passion; but of what use is music to the little souls
of the present age which is fast passing away, souls
that are too unsteady, ill-developed, half-personal,
inquisitive, and covetous of everything?
173-
The Flatterers of Work. —In the glorifica-
tion of" work " and the never-ceasing talk about the
"blessing of labour," I see the same secret arriere-
pensee as I do in the praise bestowed on impersonal
acts of a general interest, viz. a fear of everything
individual. For at the sight of work—that is to
say, severe toil from morning till night—we have
the feeling that it is the best police, viz. that it
holds every one in check and effectively hinders the
development of reason, of greed, and of desire for


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THE DAWN OF DAY. 177
independence. For work uses up an extraordinary
proportion of nervous force, withdrawing it from
reflection, meditation, dreams, cares, love, and
hatred; it dangles unimportant aims before the
eyes of the worker and affords easy and regular
gratification.
Thus it happens that a society
where work is continually being performed will
enjoy greater security, and it is security which is
now venerated as the supreme deity. —And now,
horror of horrors! it is the "workman" himself
who has become dangerous; the whole world is
swarming with " dangerous individuals," and behind
them follows the danger of dangers—the in-
dividuum!
174.
The Moral Fashion of a Commercial
Community. —Behind the principle of the present
moral fashion: "Moral actions are actions per-
formed out of sympathy for others," I see the social
instinct of fear, which thus assumes an intellectual
disguise: this instinct sets forth as its supreme,
most important, and most immediate principle that
life shall be relieved of all the dangerous character-
istics which it possessed in former times, and that
every one must help with all his strength towards
the attainment of this end. It is for that reason
that only those actions which keep in view the
general security and the feeling of security of society
are called "good. " How little joy must men now
have in themselves when such a tyranny of fear
prescribes their supreme moral law, if they make
no objection when commanded to turn their eyes
M


## p. 178 (#218) ############################################

178 THE DAWN OF DAY.
from themselves and to look aside from themselves!
And yet at the same time they have lynx eyes for
all distress and suffering elsewhere! Are we not,
then, with this gigantic intention of ours of smooth-
ing down every sharp edge and corner in life, utilis-
ing the best means of turning mankind into sand!
Small, soft, round, infinite sand! Is that your
ideal, ye harbingers of the "sympathetic affec-
tions "? In the meantime even the question re-
mains unanswered whether we are of more use to
our neighbour in running immediately and con-
tinually to his help,—which for the most part can
only be done in a very superficial way, as other-
wise it would become a tyrannical meddling and
changing,—or by transforming ourselves into some-
thing which our neighbour can look upon with
pleasure,—something, for example, which may be
compared to a beautiful, quiet, and secluded garden,
protected by high walls against storms and the dust
of the roads, but likewise with a hospitable gate.
175-
Fundamental Basis of a Culture of
Traders. — We have now an opportunity of
watching the manifold growth of the culture of a
society of which commerce is the soul, just as
personal rivalry was the soul of culture among the
ancient Greeks, and war, conquest, and law among
the ancient Romans. The tradesman is able to
value everything without producing it, and to value
it according to the requirements of the consumer
rather than his own personal needs. "How many


## p. 179 (#219) ############################################

THE DAWN OF DAY. 179
and what class of people will consume this? " is
his question of questions. Hence, he instinctively
and incessantly employs this mode of valuation and
applies it to everything, including the productions
of art and science, and of thinkers, scholars, artists,
statesmen, nations, political parties, and even entire
ages: with respect to everything produced or
created he inquires into the supply and demand in
order to estimate for himself the value of a thing.
This, when once it has been made the principle of
an entire culture, worked out to its most minute
and subtle details, and imposed upon every kind
of will and knowledge, this is what you men of the
coming century will be proud of,—if the prophets
of the commercial classes are right in putting that
century into your possession! But I have little be-
lief in these prophets. Credat Judceus Apella—to
speak with Horace.
176.
The Criticism of our Ancestors. —Why
should we now endure the truth, even about the
most recent past? Because there is now always a
new generation which feels itself in contradiction
to the past and enjoys in this criticism the first-
fruits of its sense of power. In former times the
new generation, on the contrary, wished to base
itself on the old and began to feel conscious of its
power, not only in accepting the opinions of its
ancestors but, if possible, taking them even more
seriously. To criticise ancestral authority was in
former times a vice; but at the present time our
idealists begin by making it their starting-point.


## p. 180 (#220) ############################################

i8o THE DAWN OF DAY.
i/7-
To learn Solitude. —O ye poor fellows in
the great centres of the world's politics, ye young
and talented men, who, urged on by ambition, think
it your duty to propound your opinion of every
event of the day,—for something is always happen-
ing,—who, by thus making a noise and raising
a cloud of dust, mistake yourselves for the rolling
chariot of history; who, because ye always listen,
always suit the moment when ye can put in your
word or two, thereby lose all real productiveness.
Whatever may be your desire to accomplish great
deeds, the deep silence of pregnancy never comes
to you! The event of the day sweeps you along
like straws before the wind whilst ye lie under the
illusion that ye are chasing the event,—poor fel-
lows! If a man wishes to act the hero on the
stage he must not think of forming part of the
chorus; he should not even know how the chorus
is made up.
178.
Daily Wear and Tear. —These young men
are lacking neither in character, nor talent, nor zeal,
but they have never had sufficient time to choose
their own path; they have, on the contrary, been
habituated from the most tender age to have their
path pointed out to them. At the time when
they were ripe enough to be sent into the "desert,"
something else was done with them. They were
turned to account, estranged from themselves, and


## p. 181 (#221) ############################################

THE DAWN OF DAY. i8i
brought up in such a way that they became ac-
customed to be worn out by their daily toil. This
was imposed on them as a duty, and now they
cannot do without it; they would not wish it to be
otherwise. The only thing that cannot be refused
to these poor beasts of burden is their " holidays"
—such is the name they give to this ideal of leisure
in an overworked century; "holidays," in which
they may for once be idle, idiotic, and childish to
their heart's content.
179.
As little State as possible ! —All political
and economic matters are not of such great value
that they ought to be dealt with by the most
talented minds: such a waste of intellect is at
bottom worse than any state of distress. These
matters are, and ever will be, the province of smaller
minds, and others than the smaller minds should
not be at the service of this workshop: it would be
better to let the machinery work itself to pieces
again! But as matters stand at the present time,
when not only do all people believe that they must
know all about it day by day, but wish likewise
to be always busy about it, and in so doing neglect
their own work, it is a great and ridiculous mis-
take. The price that has to be paid for the " public
safety " is far too high, and, what is maddest of all,
we effect the very opposite of " public safety," a
fact which our own dear century has undertaken
to prove, as if this had never been proved before!
To make society secure against thieves and fire, and
to render it thoroughly fit for all kinds of trade and


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182 THE DAWN OF DAY.
traffic, and to transform the State in a good and
evil sense into a kind of Providence—these aims
are low, mediocre, and not by any means indis-
pensable; and we should not seek to attain them
by the aid of the highest means and instruments
which exist—means which we should reserve pre-
cisely for our highest and rarest aims! Our epoch',
however much it may babble about economy, is a
spendthrift: it wastes intellect, the most precious
thing of all.
180.
Wars. —The great wars of our own day are the
outcome of historical study.
181.
Governing. —Some people govern because of
their passion for governing; others in order that
they may not be governed,—the latter choose it as
the lesser of two evils.
182.
Rough and Ready Consistency. —Peoplesay
of a man with great respect, " He is a character"—
that is, when he exhibits a rough and ready con-
sistency, when it is evident even to the dullest eye.
But, whenever a more subtle and profound intellect
sets itself up and shows consistency in a higher
manner, the spectators deny the existence of any
character. That is why cunning statesmen usually
act their comedy under the cloak of a kind of rough
and ready consistency.


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THE DAWN OF DAY. 183
I83.
The Old and the Young. —" There is some-
thingimmoral about Parliaments,"—so many people
still think,—" for in them views even against the
Government may be expressed. "—" We should
always adopt that view of a subject which our
gracious Lord commands,"—this is the eleventh
commandment in many an honest old head, especi-
ally in Northern Germany. We laugh at it as an
out-of-date fashion, but in former times it was the
moral law itself. Perhaps we shall again some day
laugh at that which is now considered as moral by
a generation brought up under a parliamentary
regime, namely, the policy of placing one's party
before one's own wisdom, and of answering every
question concerning the public welfare in such a
way as to fill the sails of the party with a favour-
able gust of wind. "We must take that view of a
subject which the position of our party calls for"
—such would be the canon. In the service of such
morals we may now behold every kind of sacrifice,
even martyrdom and conquest over one's self.
184.
The State as a Production of Anarchists.
—In countries inhabited by tractable men there
are always a few backsliders and intractable
people. For the present the latter have joined the
Socialists more than any other party. If it should
happen that these people once come to have the
making of the laws, they may be relied upon to


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184 THE DAWN OF DAY.
impose iron chains upon themselves, and to practise
a dreadful discipline,—they know themselves! and
they will endure these harsh laws with the know-
ledge that they themselves have imposed them—
the feeling of power and of this particular power
will be too recent among them and too attractive
for them not to suffer anything for its sake.
185.
Beggars. —Beggars ought to be suppressed;
because we get angry both when we help them and
when we do not.
186.
BUSINESS Men. —Your business is your greatest
prejudice, it binds you to your locality, your society
and your tastes. Diligent in business but lazy in
thought, satisfied with your paltriness and with
the cloak of duty concealing this contentment:
thus you live, and thus you like your children to
be.
187.
A Possible Future. —Is it impossible for us
to imagine a social state in which the criminal will
publicly denounce himself and dictate his own
punishment, in the proud feeling that he is thus
honouring the law which he himself has made, that
he is exercising his power, the power of a lawmaker,
in thus punishing himself? He may offend for
once, but by his own voluntary punishment he
raises himself above his offence, and not only ex-
piates it by his frankness, greatness, and calmness.


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THE DAWN OF DAY. 185
but adds to it a public benefit. —Such would be
the criminal of a possible future, a criminal who
would, it is true, presuppose a future legislation
based upon this fundamental idea: "I yield in
great things as well as in small only to the law
which I myself have made. " How many experi-
ments must yet be made! How many futures
have yet to dawn upon mankind!
188.
Stimulants and Food. —Nations are deceived
so often because they are always looking for a
deceiver, i. e. a stimulating wine for their senses.
When they can only have this wine they are
glad to put up even with inferior bread. Intoxica-
tion is to them more than nutriment—this is the
bait with which they always let themselves be
caught! What, to them, are men chosen from
among themselves—although they may be the
most expert specialists—as compared with the
brilliant conquerors, or ancient and magnificent
princely houses! In order that he may inspire
them with faith, the demagogue must at least ex-
hibit to them a prospect of conquest and splendour.
People will always obey, and even do more than
obey, provided that they can become intoxicated
in doing so. We may not even offer them repose
and pleasure without this laurel crown and its
maddening influence.
This vulgar taste which ascribes greater im-
portance to intoxication than nutrition did not by
any means originate in the lower ranks of the


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186 THE DAWN OF DAY.
population: it was, on the contrary, transplanted
there, and on this backward soil it grows in great
abundance, whilst its real origin must be sought
amongst the highest intellects, where it flourished
for thousands of years. The people is the last
virgin soil upon which this brilliant weed can grow.
Well, then, is it really to the people that we should
entrust politics in order that they may thereby
have their daily intoxication?
189.
High Politics. —Whatever may be the in-
fluence in high politics of utilitarianism and the
vanity of individuals and nations, the sharpest spur
which urges them onwards is their need for the
feeling of power—a need which rises not only in
the souls of princes and rulers, but also gushes forth
from time to time from inexhaustible sources in the
people. The time comes again and again when the
masses are ready to stake their lives and their
fortunes, their consciences and their virtue, in order
that they may secure that highest of all enjoyments
and rule as a victorious, tyrannical, and arbitrary
nation over other nations (or at all events think that
they do).
On occasions such as these, feelings of pro-
digality, sacrifice, hope, confidence, extraordinary
audacity, and enthusiasm will burst forth so
abundantly that a sovereign who is ambitious or
far-sighted will be able to seize the opportunity for
making war, counting upon the good conscience of
his people to hide his injustice. Great conquerors


## p. 187 (#227) ############################################

THE DAWN OF DAY. 187
have always given utterance to the pathetic lan-
guage of virtue; they have always been surrounded
by crowds of people who felt themselves, as it were,
in a state of exaltation and would listen to none
but the most elevated oratory. The strange mad-
ness of moral judgments! When man experi-
ences the sensation of power he feels and calls
himself good; and at exactly the same time the
others who have to endure his power call him
evil! —Hesiod, in his fable of the epochs of man,
has twice in succession depicted the same epoch,
that of the heroes of Homer, and has thus made two
epochs out of one: to those who lived under the
terrible iron heel of those adventurous despots, or
had heard their ancestors speak of them, the epoch
appeared to be evil; but the descendants of those
chivalric races worshipped it as the"good old times,"
and as an almost ideally blissful age. The poet
could thus not help doing what he did,—his audience
probably included the descendants of both races.
190.
Former German Culture. — When the
Germans began to interest other European nations,
which is not so very long ago, it was owing to a
culture which they no longer possess to-day, and
which they have indeed shaken off with a blind
ardour, as if it had been some disease; and yet they
have not been able to replace it by anything better
than political and national lunacy. They have in
this way succeeded in becoming even more inter-
esting to other nations than they were formerly


## p. 188 (#228) ############################################

188 THE DAWN OF DAY.
through their culture: and may that satisfy them!
It is nevertheless undeniable that this German
culture has fooled Europeans, and that it did not
deserve the interest shown in it, and much less the
imitation and emulation displayed by other nations
in trying to rival it.
Let us look back for a moment upon Schiller,
Wilhelm von Humboldt, Schleiermacher, Hegel,
and Schelling; let us read their correspondence and
mingle for a time with the large circle of their
followers: what have they in common, what
characteristics have they, that fill us, as we are now,
partly with a feeling of nausea and partly with pitiful
and touching emotions? First and foremost, the
passion for appearing at all costs to be morally
exalted, and then the desire for giving utterance
to brilliant, feeble, and inconsequential remarks,
together with their fixed purpose of looking upon
everything (characters, passions, times, customs) as
beautiful—" beautiful," alas, in accordance with a
bad and vague taste, which nevertheless pretended
to be of Hellenic origin. We behold in these people
a weak,good-natured,and glistening idealism,which,
above all, wished to exhibit noble attitudes and noble
voices, something at once presumptuous and in-
offensive, and animated by a cordial aversion to
"cold " or " dry " reality—as also to anatomy, com-
plete passions, and every kind of philosophical con-
tinence and scepticism, but especially towards the
knowledge of nature in so far as it was impossible
to use it as religious symbolism.
Goethe, in his own characteristic fashion, ob-
served from afar these movements of German


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THE DAWN OF DAY. 189
culture: placing himself beyond their influence,
gently remonstrating, silent, more and more con-
firmed in his own better course. A little later, and
Schopenhauer also was an observer of these move-
ments—a great deal of the world and devilry of the
world had again been revealed to him, and he
spoke of it both roughly and enthusiastically, for
there is a certain beauty in this devilry! And what
was it, then, that really seduced the foreigners and
prevented them from viewing this movement as
did Goethe and Schopenhauer, or, better, from ig-
noring it altogether? It was that faint lustre, that
inexplicable starlight which formed a mysterious
halo around this culture. The foreigners said to
themselves: "This is all very very remote from us;
our sight, hearing, understanding, enjoyment, and
powers of valuations are lost here, but in spite of
that there may be some stars! There may be
something in it! Is it possible that the Germans
have quietly discovered some corner of heaven and
settled there? We must try to come nearer to
these Germans. " So they did begin to come nearer
to the Germans, while not so very long afterwards
the Germans put themselves to some trouble to get
rid of this starlight halo: they knew only too well
that they had not been in heaven, but only in a
cloud!
191.
Better Men. —They tell me that our art is
meant for the men of the present day, these greedy,
unsatisfied, undisciplined, disgusted, and harassed
spirits, and that it exhibits to them a picture of


## p. 189 (#230) ############################################

188
THE DAWN OF DAY.
through their culture: and may that satisfy them!
It is nevertheless undeniable that this German
culture has fooled Europeans, and that it did not
deserve the interest shown in it, and much less the
imitation and emulation displayed by other nations
in trying to rival it.
Let us look back for a moment upon Schiller,
Wilhelm von Humboldt, Schleiermacher, Hegel,
and Schelling; let us read their correspondence and
mingle for a time with the large circle of their
followers: what have they in common, what
characteristics have they, that fill us, as we are now,
partly with a feeling of nausea and partly with pitiful
and touching emotions? First and foremost, the
passion for appearing at all costs to be morally
exalted, and then the desire for giving utterance
to brilliant, feeble, and inconsequential remarks,
together with their fixed purpose of looking upon
everything (characters, passions, times, customs) as
beautiful—“ beautiful,” alas, in accordance with a
bad and vague taste, which nevertheless pretended
to be of Hellenic origin. We behold in these people
a weak, good-natured, and glistening idealism, which,
above all, wished to exhibit noble attitudes and noble
voices, something at once presumptuous and in-
offensive, and animated by a cordial aversion to
“cold” or “ dry” reality-as also to anatomy, com-
plete passions, and every kind of philosophical con-
tinence and scepticism, but especially towards the
knowledge of nature in so far as it was impossible
to use it as religious symbolism.
Goethe, in his own characteristic fashion, ob-
served from afar these movements of German


## p. 189 (#231) ############################################

THE DAWN OF DAY.
189
culture: placing himself beyond their influence,
gently remonstrating, silent, more and more con-
firmed in his own better course. A little later, and
Schopenhauer also was an observer of these move-
ments—a great deal of the world and devilry of the
world had again been revealed to him, and he
spoke of it both roughly and enthusiastically, for
there is a certain beauty in this devilry! And what
was it, then, that really seduced the foreigners and
prevented them from viewing this movement as
did Goethe and Schopenhauer, or, better, from ig-
noring it altogether? It was that faint lustre, that
inexplicable starlight which formed a mysterious
halo around this culture. The foreigners said to
themselves : “This is all very very remote from us;
our sight, hearing, understanding, enjoyment, and
powers of valuations are lost here, but in spite of
that there may be some stars! There may be
something in it! Is it possible that the Germans
have quietly discovered some corner of heaven and
settled there? We must try to come nearer to
these Germans. ” So they did begin to come nearer
to the Germans, while not so very long afterwards
the Germans put themselves to some trouble to get
rid of this starlight halo: they knew only too well
that they had not been in heaven, but only in a
cloud!
191.
BETTER MEN. —They tell me that our art is
meant for the men of the present day, these greedy,
unsatisfied, undisciplined, disgusted, and harassed
spirits, and that it exhibits to them a picture of


## p. 190 (#232) ############################################

I90 THE DAWN OF DAY.
happiness, exaltation, and unworldliness beside that
of their own brutality, so that for once they may for-
get and breathe freely; nay, perhaps find that they
may derive some encouragement towards flight and
conversion from that oblivion. Poor artists, with
such a public as this; half of whose thoughts re-
quire the attention of a priest, and the other half
the attention of an alienist! How much happier
was Corneille—" Our great Corneille! " as Madame
de SeVigne" exclaimed, with the accent of a woman
in the presence of a whole man,—how far superior
was his audience, which he could please with
pictures of chivalric virtues, strict duty, generous
devotion, and heroic self-denial! How differently
did he and they love existence, not as coming from
blind and confused "will," which we curse because
we cannot destroy it; but loving existence as a
place, so to speak, where greatness joined with
humanity is possible, and where even the greatest
restraint of form, such as submission to the caprice
of priests and princes, could not suppress either the
pride, chivalric feeling, the grace or the intellect of
individuals, but could, on the contrary, be felt as a
charm and incentive,as a welcome contrast to innate
self-glorification and distinction and the inherited
power of volition and passion.
192.
The Desire for Perfect Opponents. —It
cannot be denied that the French have been the
most Christian nation in the world, not because the
devotion of masses in France has been greater than


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THE DAWN OF DAY. 19I
elsewhere, but because those Christian ideals which
are most difficult to realise have become incar-
nated here instead of merely remaining fancies,
intentions, or imperfect beginnings. Take Pascal,
for example, the greatest of all Christians in his
combination of ardour, intellect, and honesty, and
consider what elements had to be combined in his
case! Take F^nelon, the most perfect and at-
tractive embodiment of ecclesiastical culture in all
its power: a sublime golden mean of whom a
historian would be tempted to prove the impossi-
bility, whilst in reality he was merely the perfection
of something exceedingly difficult and improbable.
Take Madame de Guyon among her companions,
the French Quietists: and everything that the
eloquence and ardour of the Apostle Paul has en-
deavoured to divine with regard to the Christian's
state of semi-divinity, this most sublime, loving,
silent, and ecstatic state is seen verified in her, with-
out, however, that Jewish obtrusiveness that Paul
showed towards God—due in the case of Madame
de Guyon to the real old French artlessness in
words and gestures, artlessness at once womanly,
subtle, and distinguished. Consider, again, the
founder of the Trappists—the last person who
really took seriously the ascetic ideal of Christi-
anity, not because he was an exception among
Frenchmen, but because he was a true Frenchman:
for up to our own day his gloomy organisation has
not been able to acclimatise itself and to prosper,
except among Frenchmen; and it has followed
them into Alsace and Algeria.
Let us not forget the Huguenots, either: that


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192 THE DAWN OF DAY.
combination of a martial and industrial spirit, re-
fined manners and Christian severity, has never
been more beautifully exhibited. And it was at
Port Royal that the great Christian erudition beheld
its last era of prosperity; and in France more than
anywhere else great men know how to prosper.
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.