No More Learning

Thou lovest she-asses and fresh figs, thou art no food-despiser. A
thistle tickleth thy heart when thou chancest to be hungry. There is the
wisdom of a God therein.

--The ass, however, here brayed YE-A.




LXXVIII. THE ASS-FESTIVAL.

1.

At this place in the litany, however, Zarathustra could no longer
control himself; he himself cried out YE-A, louder even than the ass,
and sprang into the midst of his maddened guests. "Whatever are you
about, ye grown-up children? " he exclaimed, pulling up the praying ones
from the ground. "Alas, if any one else, except Zarathustra, had seen
you:

Every one would think you the worst blasphemers, or the very foolishest
old women, with your new belief!

And thou thyself, thou old pope, how is it in accordance with thee, to
adore an ass in such a manner as God? "--

"O Zarathustra," answered the pope, "forgive me, but in divine matters
I am more enlightened even than thou. And it is right that it should be
so.

Better to adore God so, in this form, than in no form at all! Think over
this saying, mine exalted friend: thou wilt readily divine that in such
a saying there is wisdom.

He who said 'God is a Spirit'--made the greatest stride and slide
hitherto made on earth towards unbelief: such a dictum is not easily
amended again on earth!

Mine old heart leapeth and boundeth because there is still something
to adore on earth. Forgive it, O Zarathustra, to an old, pious
pontiff-heart! --"

--"And thou," said Zarathustra to the wanderer and shadow, "thou callest
and thinkest thyself a free spirit? And thou here practisest such
idolatry and hierolatry?

Worse verily, doest thou here than with thy bad brown girls, thou bad,
new believer! "

"It is sad enough," answered the wanderer and shadow, "thou art right:
but how can I help it! The old God liveth again, O Zarathustra, thou
mayst say what thou wilt.

The ugliest man is to blame for it all: he hath reawakened him. And
if he say that he once killed him, with Gods DEATH is always just a
prejudice. "

--"And thou," said Zarathustra, "thou bad old magician, what didst thou
do! Who ought to believe any longer in thee in this free age, when THOU
believest in such divine donkeyism?

It was a stupid thing that thou didst; how couldst thou, a shrewd man,
do such a stupid thing! "

"O Zarathustra," answered the shrewd magician, "thou art right, it was a
stupid thing,--it was also repugnant to me. "

--"And thou even," said Zarathustra to the spiritually conscientious
one, "consider, and put thy finger to thy nose! Doth nothing go against
thy conscience here? Is thy spirit not too cleanly for this praying and
the fumes of those devotees? "

"There is something therein," said the spiritually conscientious one,
and put his finger to his nose, "there is something in this spectacle
which even doeth good to my conscience.

Perhaps I dare not believe in God: certain it is however, that God
seemeth to me most worthy of belief in this form.

God is said to be eternal, according to the testimony of the most pious:
he who hath so much time taketh his time. As slow and as stupid as
possible: THEREBY can such a one nevertheless go very far.

And he who hath too much spirit might well become infatuated with
stupidity and folly. Think of thyself, O Zarathustra!

Thou thyself--verily! even thou couldst well become an ass through
superabundance of wisdom.

Doth not the true sage willingly walk on the crookedest paths? The
evidence teacheth it, O Zarathustra,--THINE OWN evidence! "

--"And thou thyself, finally," said Zarathustra, and turned towards the
ugliest man, who still lay on the ground stretching up his arm to the
ass (for he gave it wine to drink). "Say, thou nondescript, what hast
thou been about!

Thou seemest to me transformed, thine eyes glow, the mantle of the
sublime covereth thine ugliness: WHAT didst thou do?

Is it then true what they say, that thou hast again awakened him? And
why? Was he not for good reasons killed and made away with?

Thou thyself seemest to me awakened: what didst thou do? why didst THOU
turn round? Why didst THOU get converted? Speak, thou nondescript! "

"O Zarathustra," answered the ugliest man, "thou art a rogue!

Whether HE yet liveth, or again liveth, or is thoroughly dead--which of
us both knoweth that best? I ask thee.

One thing however do I know,--from thyself did I learn it once, O
Zarathustra: he who wanteth to kill most thoroughly, LAUGHETH.

'Not by wrath but by laughter doth one kill'--thus spakest thou once,
O Zarathustra, thou hidden one, thou destroyer without wrath, thou
dangerous saint,--thou art a rogue! "

2.

Then, however, did it come to pass that Zarathustra, astonished at such
merely roguish answers, jumped back to the door of his cave, and turning
towards all his guests, cried out with a strong voice:

"O ye wags, all of you, ye buffoons! Why do ye dissemble and disguise
yourselves before me!

How the hearts of all of you convulsed with delight and wickedness,
because ye had at last become again like little children--namely,
pious,--

--Because ye at last did again as children do--namely, prayed, folded
your hands and said 'good God'!

But now leave, I pray you, THIS nursery, mine own cave, where to-day
all childishness is carried on. Cool down, here outside, your hot
child-wantonness and heart-tumult!

To be sure: except ye become as little children ye shall not enter into
THAT kingdom of heaven. " (And Zarathustra pointed aloft with his hands. )

"But we do not at all want to enter into the kingdom of heaven: we have
become men,--SO WE WANT THE KINGDOM OF EARTH. "

3.

And once more began Zarathustra to speak. "O my new friends," said he,--
"ye strange ones, ye higher men, how well do ye now please me,--

--Since ye have again become joyful! Ye have, verily, all blossomed
forth: it seemeth to me that for such flowers as you, NEW FESTIVALS are
required.

--A little valiant nonsense, some divine service and ass-festival, some
old joyful Zarathustra fool, some blusterer to blow your souls bright.

Forget not this night and this ass-festival, ye higher men! THAT did ye
devise when with me, that do I take as a good omen,--such things only
the convalescents devise!

And should ye celebrate it again, this ass-festival, do it from love to
yourselves, do it also from love to me! And in remembrance of me! "

Thus spake Zarathustra.




LXXIX. THE DRUNKEN SONG.

1.

Meanwhile one after another had gone out into the open air, and into the
cool, thoughtful night; Zarathustra himself, however, led the ugliest
man by the hand, that he might show him his night-world, and the great
round moon, and the silvery water-falls near his cave. There they at
last stood still beside one another; all of them old people, but with
comforted, brave hearts, and astonished in themselves that it was so
well with them on earth; the mystery of the night, however, came nigher
and nigher to their hearts. And anew Zarathustra thought to himself:
"Oh, how well do they now please me, these higher men! "--but he did not
say it aloud, for he respected their happiness and their silence. --

Then, however, there happened that which in this astonishing long day
was most astonishing: the ugliest man began once more and for the last
time to gurgle and snort, and when he had at length found expression,
behold! there sprang a question plump and plain out of his mouth, a
good, deep, clear question, which moved the hearts of all who listened
to him.

"My friends, all of you," said the ugliest man, "what think ye? For the
sake of this day--_I_ am for the first time content to have lived mine
entire life.

And that I testify so much is still not enough for me. It is worth while
living on the earth: one day, one festival with Zarathustra, hath taught
me to love the earth.

'Was THAT--life? ' will I say unto death. 'Well! Once more! '

My friends, what think ye? Will ye not, like me, say unto death: 'Was
THAT--life? For the sake of Zarathustra, well! Once more! '"--

Thus spake the ugliest man; it was not, however, far from midnight.
And what took place then, think ye? As soon as the higher men heard his
question, they became all at once conscious of their transformation and
convalescence, and of him who was the cause thereof: then did they rush
up to Zarathustra, thanking, honouring, caressing him, and kissing his
hands, each in his own peculiar way; so that some laughed and some wept.
The old soothsayer, however, danced with delight; and though he was
then, as some narrators suppose, full of sweet wine, he was certainly
still fuller of sweet life, and had renounced all weariness. There are
even those who narrate that the ass then danced: for not in vain had the
ugliest man previously given it wine to drink. That may be the case, or
it may be otherwise; and if in truth the ass did not dance that evening,
there nevertheless happened then greater and rarer wonders than
the dancing of an ass would have been. In short, as the proverb of
Zarathustra saith: "What doth it matter! "

2.

When, however, this took place with the ugliest man, Zarathustra stood
there like one drunken: his glance dulled, his tongue faltered and his
feet staggered. And who could divine what thoughts then passed through
Zarathustra's soul? Apparently, however, his spirit retreated and fled
in advance and was in remote distances, and as it were "wandering on
high mountain-ridges," as it standeth written, "'twixt two seas,

--Wandering 'twixt the past and the future as a heavy cloud. " Gradually,
however, while the higher men held him in their arms, he came back to
himself a little, and resisted with his hands the crowd of the honouring
and caring ones; but he did not speak. All at once, however, he turned
his head quickly, for he seemed to hear something: then laid he his
finger on his mouth and said: "COME! "

And immediately it became still and mysterious round about; from
the depth however there came up slowly the sound of a clock-bell.
Zarathustra listened thereto, like the higher men; then, however, laid
he his finger on his mouth the second time, and said again: "COME! COME!
IT IS GETTING ON TO MIDNIGHT! "--and his voice had changed. But still
he had not moved from the spot. Then it became yet stiller and more
mysterious, and everything hearkened, even the ass, and Zarathustra's
noble animals, the eagle and the serpent,--likewise the cave of
Zarathustra and the big cool moon, and the night itself. Zarathustra,
however, laid his hand upon his mouth for the third time, and said:

COME! COME! COME! LET US NOW WANDER! IT IS THE HOUR: LET US WANDER INTO
THE NIGHT!

3.

Ye higher men, it is getting on to midnight: then will I say something
into your ears, as that old clock-bell saith it into mine ear,--

--As mysteriously, as frightfully, and as cordially as that midnight
clock-bell speaketh it to me, which hath experienced more than one man:

--Which hath already counted the smarting throbbings of your fathers'
hearts--ah! ah! how it sigheth! how it laugheth in its dream! the old,
deep, deep midnight!

Hush! Hush! Then is there many a thing heard which may not be heard
by day; now however, in the cool air, when even all the tumult of your
hearts hath become still,--

--Now doth it speak, now is it heard, now doth it steal into
overwakeful, nocturnal souls: ah! ah! how the midnight sigheth! how it
laugheth in its dream!

--Hearest thou not how it mysteriously, frightfully, and cordially
speaketh unto THEE, the old deep, deep midnight?

O MAN, TAKE HEED!

4.

Woe to me! Whither hath time gone? Have I not sunk into deep wells? The
world sleepeth--

Ah! Ah! The dog howleth, the moon shineth. Rather will I die, rather
will I die, than say unto you what my midnight-heart now thinketh.

Already have I died. It is all over. Spider, why spinnest thou around
me? Wilt thou have blood? Ah! Ah! The dew falleth, the hour cometh--

--The hour in which I frost and freeze, which asketh and asketh and
asketh: "Who hath sufficient courage for it?

--Who is to be master of the world? Who is going to say: THUS shall ye
flow, ye great and small streams! "

--The hour approacheth: O man, thou higher man, take heed! this talk is
for fine ears, for thine ears--WHAT SAITH DEEP MIDNIGHT'S VOICE INDEED?

5.

It carrieth me away, my soul danceth. Day's-work! Day's-work! Who is to
be master of the world?

The moon is cool, the wind is still. Ah! Ah! Have ye already flown high
enough? Ye have danced: a leg, nevertheless, is not a wing.

Ye good dancers, now is all delight over: wine hath become lees, every
cup hath become brittle, the sepulchres mutter.

Ye have not flown high enough: now do the sepulchres mutter: "Free the
dead! Why is it so long night? Doth not the moon make us drunken? "

Ye higher men, free the sepulchres, awaken the corpses! Ah, why doth the
worm still burrow? There approacheth, there approacheth, the hour,--

--There boometh the clock-bell, there thrilleth still the heart, there
burroweth still the wood-worm, the heart-worm. Ah! Ah! THE WORLD IS
DEEP!

6.

Sweet lyre! Sweet lyre! I love thy tone, thy drunken, ranunculine
tone! --how long, how far hath come unto me thy tone, from the distance,
from the ponds of love!

Thou old clock-bell, thou sweet lyre! Every pain hath torn thy heart,
father-pain, fathers'-pain, forefathers'-pain; thy speech hath become
ripe,--

--Ripe like the golden autumn and the afternoon, like mine anchorite
heart--now sayest thou: The world itself hath become ripe, the grape
turneth brown,

--Now doth it wish to die, to die of happiness. Ye higher men, do ye not
feel it? There welleth up mysteriously an odour,

--A perfume and odour of eternity, a rosy-blessed, brown,
gold-wine-odour of old happiness,

--Of drunken midnight-death happiness, which singeth: the world is deep,
AND DEEPER THAN THE DAY COULD READ!

7.

Leave me alone! Leave me alone! I am too pure for thee. Touch me not!
Hath not my world just now become perfect?

My skin is too pure for thy hands. Leave me alone, thou dull, doltish,
stupid day! Is not the midnight brighter?

The purest are to be masters of the world, the least known, the
strongest, the midnight-souls, who are brighter and deeper than any day.

O day, thou gropest for me? Thou feelest for my happiness? For thee am I
rich, lonesome, a treasure-pit, a gold chamber?

O world, thou wantest ME? Am I worldly for thee?
Am I spiritual for
thee? Am I divine for thee? But day and world, ye are too coarse,--

--Have cleverer hands, grasp after deeper happiness, after deeper
unhappiness, grasp after some God; grasp not after me:

--Mine unhappiness, my happiness is deep, thou strange day, but yet am I
no God, no God's-hell: DEEP IS ITS WOE.

8.

God's woe is deeper, thou strange world! Grasp at God's woe, not at me!
What am I! A drunken sweet lyre,--

--A midnight-lyre, a bell-frog, which no one understandeth, but which
MUST speak before deaf ones, ye higher men! For ye do not understand me!

Gone! Gone! O youth! O noontide! O afternoon! Now have come evening and
night and midnight,--the dog howleth, the wind:

--Is the wind not a dog? It whineth, it barketh, it howleth. Ah! Ah!
how she sigheth! how she laugheth, how she wheezeth and panteth, the
midnight!

How she just now speaketh soberly, this drunken poetess! hath she
perhaps overdrunk her drunkenness? hath she become overawake? doth she
ruminate?

--Her woe doth she ruminate over, in a dream, the old, deep
midnight--and still more her joy. For joy, although woe be deep, JOY IS
DEEPER STILL THAN GRIEF CAN BE.

9.

Thou grape-vine! Why dost thou praise me? Have I not cut thee! I am
cruel, thou bleedest--: what meaneth thy praise of my drunken cruelty?

"Whatever hath become perfect, everything mature--wanteth to die! " so
sayest thou. Blessed, blessed be the vintner's knife! But everything
immature wanteth to live: alas!

Woe saith: "Hence! Go! Away, thou woe! " But everything that suffereth
wanteth to live, that it may become mature and lively and longing,

--Longing for the further, the higher, the brighter. "I want heirs,"
so saith everything that suffereth, "I want children, I do not want
MYSELF,"--

Joy, however, doth not want heirs, it doth not want children,--joy
wanteth itself, it wanteth eternity, it wanteth recurrence, it wanteth
everything eternally-like-itself.

Woe saith: "Break, bleed, thou heart! Wander, thou leg! Thou wing, fly!
Onward! upward! thou pain! " Well! Cheer up! O mine old heart: WOE SAITH:
"HENCE! GO! "

10.

Ye higher men, what think ye? Am I a soothsayer? Or a dreamer? Or a
drunkard? Or a dream-reader? Or a midnight-bell?

Or a drop of dew? Or a fume and fragrance of eternity? Hear ye it not?
Smell ye it not? Just now hath my world become perfect, midnight is also
mid-day,--

Pain is also a joy, curse is also a blessing, night is also a sun,--go
away! or ye will learn that a sage is also a fool.

Said ye ever Yea to one joy? O my friends, then said ye Yea also unto
ALL woe. All things are enlinked, enlaced and enamoured,--

--Wanted ye ever once to come twice; said ye ever: "Thou pleasest me,
happiness! Instant! Moment! " then wanted ye ALL to come back again!

--All anew, all eternal, all enlinked, enlaced and enamoured, Oh, then
did ye LOVE the world,--

--Ye eternal ones, ye love it eternally and for all time: and also unto
woe do ye say: Hence! Go! but come back! FOR JOYS ALL WANT--ETERNITY!

11.

All joy wanteth the eternity of all things, it wanteth honey, it
wanteth lees, it wanteth drunken midnight, it wanteth graves, it wanteth
grave-tears' consolation, it wanteth gilded evening-red--

--WHAT doth not joy want! it is thirstier, heartier, hungrier, more
frightful, more mysterious, than all woe: it wanteth ITSELF, it biteth
into ITSELF, the ring's will writheth in it,--

--It wanteth love, it wanteth hate, it is over-rich, it bestoweth, it
throweth away, it beggeth for some one to take from it, it thanketh the
taker, it would fain be hated,--

--So rich is joy that it thirsteth for woe, for hell, for hate, for
shame, for the lame, for the WORLD,--for this world, Oh, ye know it
indeed!

Ye higher men, for you doth it long, this joy, this irrepressible,
blessed joy--for your woe, ye failures! For failures, longeth all
eternal joy.

For joys all want themselves, therefore do they also want grief! O
happiness, O pain! Oh break, thou heart! Ye higher men, do learn it,
that joys want eternity.

--Joys want the eternity of ALL things, they WANT DEEP, PROFOUND
ETERNITY!

12.

Have ye now learned my song? Have ye divined what it would say? Well!
Cheer up! Ye higher men, sing now my roundelay!

Sing now yourselves the song, the name of which is "Once more," the
signification of which is "Unto all eternity! "--sing, ye higher men,
Zarathustra's roundelay!

O man! Take heed!
What saith deep midnight's voice indeed?
"I slept my sleep--,
"From deepest dream I've woke, and plead:--
"The world is deep,
"And deeper than the day could read.
"Deep is its woe--,
"Joy--deeper still than grief can be:
"Woe saith: Hence! Go!
"But joys all want eternity-,
"-Want deep, profound eternity! "




LXXX. THE SIGN.

In the morning, however, after this night, Zarathustra jumped up from
his couch, and, having girded his loins, he came out of his cave glowing
and strong, like a morning sun coming out of gloomy mountains.

"Thou great star," spake he, as he had spoken once before, "thou deep
eye of happiness, what would be all thy happiness if thou hadst not
THOSE for whom thou shinest!

And if they remained in their chambers whilst thou art already awake,
and comest and bestowest and distributest, how would thy proud modesty
upbraid for it!

Well! they still sleep, these higher men, whilst _I_ am awake: THEY are
not my proper companions! Not for them do I wait here in my mountains.

At my work I want to be, at my day: but they understand not what are the
signs of my morning, my step--is not for them the awakening-call.

They still sleep in my cave; their dream still drinketh at my drunken
songs. The audient ear for ME--the OBEDIENT ear, is yet lacking in their
limbs. "

--This had Zarathustra spoken to his heart when the sun arose: then
looked he inquiringly aloft, for he heard above him the sharp call of
his eagle. "Well! " called he upwards, "thus is it pleasing and proper to
me. Mine animals are awake, for I am awake.

Mine eagle is awake, and like me honoureth the sun. With eagle-talons
doth it grasp at the new light. Ye are my proper animals; I love you.

But still do I lack my proper men! "--

Thus spake Zarathustra; then, however, it happened that all on a sudden
he became aware that he was flocked around and fluttered around, as if
by innumerable birds,--the whizzing of so many wings, however, and the
crowding around his head was so great that he shut his eyes. And verily,
there came down upon him as it were a cloud, like a cloud of arrows
which poureth upon a new enemy. But behold, here it was a cloud of love,
and showered upon a new friend.

"What happeneth unto me? " thought Zarathustra in his astonished heart,
and slowly seated himself on the big stone which lay close to the exit
from his cave. But while he grasped about with his hands, around him,
above him and below him, and repelled the tender birds, behold, there
then happened to him something still stranger: for he grasped thereby
unawares into a mass of thick, warm, shaggy hair; at the same time,
however, there sounded before him a roar,--a long, soft lion-roar.

"THE SIGN COMETH," said Zarathustra, and a change came over his heart.
And in truth, when it turned clear before him, there lay a yellow,
powerful animal at his feet, resting its head on his knee,--unwilling to
leave him out of love, and doing like a dog which again findeth its old
master. The doves, however, were no less eager with their love than the
lion; and whenever a dove whisked over its nose, the lion shook its head
and wondered and laughed.

When all this went on Zarathustra spake only a word: "MY CHILDREN ARE
NIGH, MY CHILDREN"--, then he became quite mute. His heart, however,
was loosed, and from his eyes there dropped down tears and fell upon
his hands. And he took no further notice of anything, but sat there
motionless, without repelling the animals further. Then flew the doves
to and fro, and perched on his shoulder, and caressed his white hair,
and did not tire of their tenderness and joyousness. The strong lion,
however, licked always the tears that fell on Zarathustra's hands, and
roared and growled shyly. Thus did these animals do. --

All this went on for a long time, or a short time: for properly
speaking, there is NO time on earth for such things--. Meanwhile,
however, the higher men had awakened in Zarathustra's cave, and
marshalled themselves for a procession to go to meet Zarathustra, and
give him their morning greeting: for they had found when they awakened
that he no longer tarried with them. When, however, they reached the
door of the cave and the noise of their steps had preceded them, the
lion started violently; it turned away all at once from Zarathustra, and
roaring wildly, sprang towards the cave. The higher men, however, when
they heard the lion roaring, cried all aloud as with one voice, fled
back and vanished in an instant.

Zarathustra himself, however, stunned and strange, rose from his seat,
looked around him, stood there astonished, inquired of his heart,
bethought himself, and remained alone. "What did I hear? " said he at
last, slowly, "what happened unto me just now? "

But soon there came to him his recollection, and he took in at a glance
all that had taken place between yesterday and to-day. "Here is indeed
the stone," said he, and stroked his beard, "on IT sat I yester-morn;
and here came the soothsayer unto me, and here heard I first the cry
which I heard just now, the great cry of distress.

O ye higher men, YOUR distress was it that the old soothsayer foretold
to me yester-morn,--

--Unto your distress did he want to seduce and tempt me: 'O
Zarathustra,' said he to me, 'I come to seduce thee to thy last sin. '

To my last sin? " cried Zarathustra, and laughed angrily at his own
words: "WHAT hath been reserved for me as my last sin? "

--And once more Zarathustra became absorbed in himself, and sat down
again on the big stone and meditated. Suddenly he sprang up,--

"FELLOW-SUFFERING! FELLOW-SUFFERING WITH THE HIGHER MEN! " he cried out,
and his countenance changed into brass. "Well! THAT--hath had its time!

My suffering and my fellow-suffering--what matter about them! Do I then
strive after HAPPINESS? I strive after my WORK!

Well! The lion hath come, my children are nigh, Zarathustra hath grown
ripe, mine hour hath come:--

This is MY morning, MY day beginneth: ARISE NOW, ARISE, THOU GREAT
NOONTIDE! "--

Thus spake Zarathustra and left his cave, glowing and strong, like a
morning sun coming out of gloomy mountains.




APPENDIX.

NOTES ON "THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA" BY ANTHONY M. LUDOVICI.

I have had some opportunities of studying the conditions under which
Nietzsche is read in Germany, France, and England, and I have found
that, in each of these countries, students of his philosophy, as if
actuated by precisely similar motives and desires, and misled by the
same mistaken tactics on the part of most publishers, all proceed in the
same happy-go-lucky style when "taking him up. " They have had it said to
them that he wrote without any system, and they very naturally conclude
that it does not matter in the least whether they begin with his first,
third, or last book, provided they can obtain a few vague ideas as to
what his leading and most sensational principles were.

Now, it is clear that the book with the most mysterious, startling, or
suggestive title, will always stand the best chance of being purchased
by those who have no other criteria to guide them in their choice
than the aspect of a title-page; and this explains why "Thus Spake
Zarathustra" is almost always the first and often the only one of
Nietzsche's books that falls into the hands of the uninitiated.

The title suggests all kinds of mysteries; a glance at the
chapter-headings quickly confirms the suspicions already aroused,
and the sub-title: "A Book for All and None", generally succeeds in
dissipating the last doubts the prospective purchaser may entertain
concerning his fitness for the book or its fitness for him. And what
happens?

"Thus Spake Zarathustra" is taken home; the reader, who perchance may
know no more concerning Nietzsche than a magazine article has told him,
tries to read it and, understanding less than half he reads, probably
never gets further than the second or third part,--and then only to feel
convinced that Nietzsche himself was "rather hazy" as to what he was
talking about. Such chapters as "The Child with the Mirror", "In the
Happy Isles", "The Grave-Song," "Immaculate Perception," "The Stillest
Hour", "The Seven Seals", and many others, are almost utterly devoid of
meaning to all those who do not know something of Nietzsche's life, his
aims and his friendships.

As a matter of fact, "Thus Spake Zarathustra", though it is
unquestionably Nietzsche's opus magnum, is by no means the first of
Nietzsche's works that the beginner ought to undertake to read. The
author himself refers to it as the deepest work ever offered to the
German public, and elsewhere speaks of his other writings as being
necessary for the understanding of it. But when it is remembered that
in Zarathustra we not only have the history of his most intimate
experiences, friendships, feuds, disappointments, triumphs and the like,
but that the very form in which they are narrated is one which tends
rather to obscure than to throw light upon them, the difficulties which
meet the reader who starts quite unprepared will be seen to be really
formidable.

Zarathustra, then,--this shadowy, allegorical personality, speaking in
allegories and parables, and at times not even refraining from relating
his own dreams--is a figure we can understand but very imperfectly if we
have no knowledge of his creator and counterpart, Friedrich Nietzsche;
and it were therefore well, previous to our study of the more abstruse
parts of this book, if we were to turn to some authoritative book on
Nietzsche's life and works and to read all that is there said on the
subject. Those who can read German will find an excellent guide, in this
respect, in Frau Foerster-Nietzsche's exhaustive and highly interesting
biography of her brother: "Das Leben Friedrich Nietzsche's" (published
by Naumann); while the works of Deussen, Raoul Richter, and Baroness
Isabelle von Unger-Sternberg, will be found to throw useful and
necessary light upon many questions which it would be difficult for a
sister to touch upon.

In regard to the actual philosophical views expounded in this work,
there is an excellent way of clearing up any difficulties they may
present, and that is by an appeal to Nietzsche's other works. Again and
again, of course, he will be found to express himself so clearly that
all reference to his other writings may be dispensed with; but where
this is not the case, the advice he himself gives is after all the best
to be followed here, viz. :--to regard such works as: "Joyful Science",
"Beyond Good and Evil", "The Genealogy of Morals", "The Twilight of
the Idols", "The Antichrist", "The Will to Power", etc. , etc. , as the
necessary preparation for "Thus Spake Zarathustra".

These directions, though they are by no means simple to carry out, seem
at least to possess the quality of definiteness and straightforwardness.
"Follow them and all will be clear," I seem to imply. But I regret to
say that this is not really the case. For my experience tells me that
even after the above directions have been followed with the greatest
possible zeal, the student will still halt in perplexity before certain
passages in the book before us, and wonder what they mean. Now, it is
with the view of giving a little additional help to all those who find
themselves in this position that I proceed to put forth my own personal
interpretation of the more abstruse passages in this work.

In offering this little commentary to the Nietzsche student, I should
like it to be understood that I make no claim as to its infallibility or
indispensability. It represents but an attempt on my part--a very feeble
one perhaps--to give the reader what little help I can in surmounting
difficulties which a long study of Nietzsche's life and works has
enabled me, partially I hope, to overcome.

. . .

Perhaps it would be as well to start out with a broad and rapid sketch
of Nietzsche as a writer on Morals, Evolution, and Sociology, so that
the reader may be prepared to pick out for himself, so to speak, all
passages in this work bearing in any way upon Nietzsche's views in those
three important branches of knowledge.

(A. ) Nietzsche and Morality.

In morality, Nietzsche starts out by adopting the position of the
relativist. He says there are no absolute values "good" and "evil";
these are mere means adopted by all in order to acquire power to
maintain their place in the world, or to become supreme. It is the
lion's good to devour an antelope. It is the dead-leaf butterfly's
good to tell a foe a falsehood. For when the dead-leaf butterfly is in
danger, it clings to the side of a twig, and what it says to its foe is
practically this: "I am not a butterfly, I am a dead leaf, and can be
of no use to thee. " This is a lie which is good to the butterfly, for
it preserves it. In nature every species of organic being instinctively
adopts and practises those acts which most conduce to the prevalence
or supremacy of its kind. Once the most favourable order of conduct is
found, proved efficient and established, it becomes the ruling morality
of the species that adopts it and bears them along to victory. All
species must not and cannot value alike, for what is the lion's good is
the antelope's evil and vice versa.

Concepts of good and evil are therefore, in their origin, merely a means
to an end, they are expedients for acquiring power.

Applying this principle to mankind, Nietzsche attacked Christian
moral values. He declared them to be, like all other morals, merely
an expedient for protecting a certain type of man.