And it
squatted
on a stone in front of
me.
me.
Nietzsche - v11 - Thus Spake Zarathustra
—THE STILLEST HOUR.
177
am I? I await the worthier one ; I am not worthy
even to succumb by it. ”
Then was there again spoken unto me without
voice: “What matter about thyself? Thou art not
yet humble enough for me. Humility hath the
hardest skin. ”—
And I answered: “What hath not the skin of
my humility endured! At the foot of my height
do I dwell : how high are my summits, no one hath
yet told me. But well do I know my valleys. ”
Then was there again spoken unto me without
voice: “O Zarathustra, he who hath to remove
mountains removeth also valleys and plains. ”—
And I answered : “As yet hath my word not
removed mountains, and what I have spoken hath
not reached man. I went, indeed, unto men, but
not yet have I attained unto them. ”
Then was there again spoken unto me without
voice: “What knowest thou thereof! The dew
falleth on the grass when the night is most
silent. ”-
And I answered : “ They mocked me when I
found and walked in mine own path; and certainly
did my feet then tremble.
And thus did they speak unto me: Thou for-
gottest the path before, now dost thou also forget
how to walk ! ”
Then was there again spoken unto me without
voice: “What matter about their mockery! Thou
art one who hast unlearned to obey: now shalt
thou command !
Knowest thou not who is most needed by all ?
He who commandeth great things.
## p. 178 (#264) ############################################
178 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, II.
To execute great things is difficult: but the
more difficult task is to command great things.
This is thy most unpardonable obstinacy: thou
hast the power, and thou wilt not rule. "—
And I answered: "I lack the lion's voice for
all commanding. "
Then was there again spoken unto me as a
whispering: "It is the stillest words which bring
the storm. Thoughts that come with doves' foot-
steps guide the world.
O Zarathustra, thou shalt go as a shadow of that
which is to come: thus wilt thou command, and
in commanding go foremost. "—
And I answered: "I am ashamed. "
Then was there again spoken unto me without
voice: "Thou must yet become a child, and be
without shame.
The pride of youth is still upon thee; late hast
thou become young: but he who would become a
child must surmount even his youth. "—
And I considered a long while, and trembled.
At last, however, did I say what I had said at first:
"I will not. "
Then did a laughing take place all around me.
Alas, how that laughing lacerated my bowels and
cut into my heart!
And there was spoken unto me for the last time:
"O Zarathustra, thy fruits are ripe, but thou art not
ripe for thy fruits!
So must thou go again into solitude: for thou
shalt yet become mellow. "—
And again was there a laughing, and it fled:
then did it become still around me, as with a
## p. 179 (#265) ############################################
XLIV. —THE STILLEST HOUR. 179
double stillness. I lay, however, on the ground,
and the sweat flowed from my limbs.
—Now have ye heard all, and why I have to
return into my solitude. Nothing have I kept
hidden from you, my friends.
But even this have ye heard from me, who is
still the most reserved of men—and will be so!
Ah, my friends! I should have something more
to say unto you! I should have something more
to give unto you! Why do I not give it? Am I
then a niggard ? —
When, however, Zarathustra had spoken these
words, the violence of his pain, and a sense of the
nearness of his departure from his friends came
over him, so that he wept aloud; and no one knew
how to console him. In the night, however, he
went away alone, and left his friends.
## p. 180 (#266) ############################################
## p. 181 (#267) ############################################
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA
THIRD PART
"Ye look aloft when ye long
for exaltation, and I look down-
ward because I am exalted.
"Who among you can at the
same time laugh and be exalted?
"He who climbeth on the
highest mountains, laugheth at
all tragic plays ana tragic
realities. " — Zarathustra, I. ,
"Reading and Writing" (p. 44).
## p. 182 (#268) ############################################
]
## p. 183 (#269) ############################################
XLV. —THE WANDERER.
THEN, when it was about midnight, Zarathustra
went his way over the ridge of the isle, that he
might arrive early in the morning at the other
coast; because there he meant to embark. For
there was a good roadstead there, in which foreign
ships also liked to anchor: those ships took many
people with them, who wished to cross over from
the Happy Isles. So when Zarathustra thus as-
cended the mountain, he thought on the way of
his many solitary wanderings from youth onwards,
and how many mountains and ridges and summits
he had already climbed.
I am a wanderer and mountain-climber, said he
to his heart, I love not the plains, and it seemeth
I cannot long sit still.
And whatever may still overtake me as fate
and experience—a wandering will be therein, and
a mountain-climbing: in the end one experienceth
only oneself.
The time is now past when accidents could
befall me; and what could now fall to my lot which
would not already be mine own!
It returneth only, it cometh home to me at last
—mine own Self, and such of it as hath been long
abroad, and scattered among things and accidents.
And one thing more do I know: I stand now
## p. 184 (#270) ############################################
184
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
before my last summit, and before that which hath
been longest reserved for me. Ah, my hardest
path must I ascend! Ah, I have begun my lone-
somest wandering!
He, however, who is of my nature doth not avoid
such an hour: the hour that saith unto him: Now
only dost thou go the way to thy greatness !
Summit and abyss — these are now comprised
together!
Thou goest the way to thy greatness : now hath
it become thy last refuge, what was hitherto thy
last danger!
Thou goest the way to thy greatness : it must
now be thy best courage that there is no longer
any path behind thee!
Thou goest the way to thy greatness : here shall
no one steal after thee! Thy foot itself hath effaced
the path behind thee, and over it standeth written :
Impossibility.
And if all ladders henceforth fail thee, then must
thou learn to mount upon thine own head : how
couldst thou mount upward otherwise ?
Upon thine own head, and beyond thine own
heart! Now must the gentlest in thee become
the hardest.
He who hath always much-indulged himself,
sickeneth at last by his much-indulgence. Praises
on what maketh hardy! I do not praise the land
where butter and honey-flow !
To learn to look away from oneself, is necessary
in order to see many things :—this hardiness is
needed by every mountain-climber.
He, however, who is obtrusive with his eyes as a
## p. 185 (#271) ############################################
XLV. —THE WANDERER. 185
discerner, how can he ever see more of anything
than its foreground!
But thou, O Zarathustra, wouldst view the ground
of everything, and its background: thus must thou
mount even above thyself—up, upwards, until thou
hast even thy stars under thee!
Yea! To look down upon myself, and even upon
my stars: that only would I call my summit, that
hath remained for me as my last summit! —
Thus spake Zarathustra to himself while ascend-
ing, comforting his heart with harsh maxims: for
he was sore at heart as he had never been before.
And when he had reached the top of the mountain-
ridge, behold, there lay the other sea spread out
before him: and he stood still and was long silent.
The night, however, was cold at this height, and
clear and starry.
I recognise my destiny, said he at last, sadly.
Well! I am ready. Now hath my last lonesome-
ness begun.
Ah, this sombre, sad sea, below me! Ah, this
sombre nocturnal vexation! Ah, fate and sea!
To you must I now go down!
Before my highest mountain do I stand, and
before my longest wandering: therefore must I
first go deeper down than I ever ascended:
—Deeper down into pain than I ever ascended,
even into its darkest flood! So willeth my fate.
Well! I am ready.
Whence come the highest mountains? so did I
once ask. Then did I learn that they come out
of the sea.
## p. 186 (#272) ############################################
186
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
That testimony is inscribed on their stones, and
on the walls of their summits. Out of the deepest
must the highest come to its height. -
Thus spake Zarathustra on the ridge of the
mountain where it was cold: when, however, he
came into the vicinity of the sea, and at last stood
alone amongst the cliffs, then had he become weary
on his way, and eagerer than ever before.
Everything as yet sleepeth, said he; even the
sea sleepeth. Drowsily and strangely doth its eye
gaze upon me.
But it breatheth warmly-I feel it. And I feel
also that it dreameth. It tosseth about dreamily
on hard pillows.
Hark! Hark! How it groaneth with evil
recollections ! Or evil expectations ?
Ah, I am sad along with thee, thou dusky
monster, and angry with myself even for thy sake.
Ah, that my hand hath not strength enough!
Gladly, indeed, would I free thee from evil
dreams! -
And while Zarathustra thus spake, he laughed
at himself with melancholy and bitterness. What!
Zarathustra, said he, wilt thou even sing consolation
to the sea ?
Ah, thou amiable fool, Zarathustra, thou too-
blindly confiding one! But thus hast thou ever
been: ever hast thou approached confidently all
that is terrible.
Every monster wouldst thou caress. A whiff of
warm breath, a little soft tuft on its paw—; and
immediately wert thou ready to love and lure it.
## p. 187 (#273) ############################################
XLV. —THE WANDERER. 187
Love is the danger of the lonesomest one, love to
anything, if it only live! Laughable, verily, is my
folly and my modesty in love! —
Thus spake Zarathustra, and laughed thereby a
second time. Then, however, he thought of his
abandoned friends—and as if he had done them a
wrong with his thoughts, he upbraided himself
because of his thoughts. And forthwith it came
to pass that the laugher wept—with anger and
longing wept Zarathustra bitterly.
XLVI. —THE VISION AND THE ENIGMA.
1.
When it got abroad among the sailors that
Zarathustra was on board the ship—for a man who
came from the Happy Isles had gone on board
along with him,—there was great curiosity and
expectation. But Zarathustra kept silent for two
days, and was cold and deaf with sadness; so that
he neither answered looks nor questions. On the
evening of the second day, however, he again
opened his ears, though he still kept silent: for
there were many curious and dangerous things
to be heard on board the ship, which came from
afar, and was to go still further. Zarathustra, how-
ever, was fond of all those who make distant
voyages, and dislike to live without danger. And
behold! when listening, his own tongue was at last
loosened, and the ice of his heart broke. Then
did he begin to speak thus:
To you, the daring venturers and adventurers,
## p. 188 (#274) ############################################
188
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
enjoy nerous gulljike to
and whoever hath embarked with cunning sails
upon frightful seas,-
To you the enigma-intoxicated, the twilight-
enjoyers, whose souls are allured by flutes to every
treacherous gulf :
-For ye dislike to grope at a thread with
cowardly hand; and where ye can divine, there do
ye hate to calculate-
To you only do I tell the enigma that I saw-
the vision of the lonesomest one. —
Gloomily walked I lately in corpse-coloured twi-
light-gloomily and sternly, with compressed lips.
Not only one sun had set for me.
A path which ascended daringly among boulders,
an evil, lonesome path, which neither herb nor shrub
any longer cheered, a mountain-path, crunched
under the daring of my foot.
Mutely marching over the scornful clinking of
pebbles, trampling the stone that let it slip: thus
did my foot force its way upwards.
Upwards :-in spite of the spirit that drew it
downwards, towards the abyss, the spirit of gravity,
my devil and arch-enemy.
Upwards :-although it sat upon me, half-dwarf,
half-mole; paralysed, paralysing ; dripping lead in
mine ear, and thoughts like drops of lead into my
brain.
"O Zarathustra,” it whispered scornfully, syllable
by syllable, “thou stone of wisdom! Thou threwest
thyself high, but every thrown stone must-fall!
O Zarathustra, thou stone of wisdom, thou sling-
stone, thou star-destroyer! Thyself threwest thou
so high,but every thrown stone-must fall!
## p. 189 (#275) ############################################
XLVI. —THE VISION AND THE ENIGMA. 189
Condemned of thyself, and to thine own stoning :
O Zarathustra, far indeed threwest thou thy stone-
but upon thyself will it recoil ! ”
Then was the dwarf silent; and it lasted long.
The silence, however, oppressed me; and to be thus
in pairs, one is verily lonesomer than when alone!
I ascended, I ascended, I dreamt, I thought,—but
everything oppressed me. A sick one did I re-
semble, whom bad torture wearieth, and a worse
dream reawakeneth out of his first sleep. -
But there is something in me which I call
courage: it hath hitherto slain for me every dejec-
tion. This courage at last bade me stand still and
say: "Dwarf! Thou! Or I! ”-
For courage is the best slayer,—courage which
attacketh : for in every attack there is sound of
triumph.
Man, however, is the most courageous animal :
thereby hath he overcome every animal. With
sound of triumph hath he overcome every pain ;
human pain, however, is the sorest pain.
Courage slayeth also giddiness at abysses: and
where doth man not stand at abysses! Is not
seeing itself-seeing abysses ?
Courage is the best slayer : courage slayeth also
fellow-suffering. Fellow-suffering, however, is the
deepest abyss : as deeply as man looketh into life,
so deeply also doth he look into suffering.
Courage, however, is the best slayer, courage
which attacketh: it slayeth even death itself; for
it saith : “ Was that life? Well! Once more ! ”
In such speech, however, there is much sound of
triumph. He who hath ears to hear, let him hear. -
## p. 190 (#276) ############################################
190 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III
2.
"Halt, dwarf! " said I. "Either I—or thou! I,
however, am the stronger of the two—: thou
knowest not mine abysmal thought! It—couldst
thou not endure! "
Then happened that which made me lighter: for
the dwarf sprang from my shoulder, the prying
sprite!
And it squatted on a stone in front of
me. There was however a gateway just where we
halted.
"Look at this gateway! Dwarf! " I continued,
"it hath two faces. Two roads come together
here: these hath no one yet gone to the end of.
This long lane backwards: it continueth for an
eternity. And that long lane forward—that is
another eternity.
They are antithetical to one another, these roads;
they directly abut on one another:—and it is here,
at this gateway, that they come together. The
name of the gateway is inscribed above: 'This
Moment. '
But should one follow them further—and ever
further and further on, thinkest thou, dwarf, that
these roads would be eternally antithetical ? "—
"Everything straight lieth," murmured the dwarf,
contemptuously. "All truth is crooked ; time itself
is a circle. "
"Thou spirit of gravity! " said I wrathfully, " do
not take it too lightly! Or I shall let thee squat
where thou squattest, Haltfoot,—and I carried thee
high! "
"Observe," continued I, "This Moment! From
## p. 191 (#277) ############################################
XLVI. —THE VISION AND THE ENIGMA. 191
the gateway, This Moment, there runneth a long
eternal lane backwards: behind us lieth an eternity.
Must not whatever can run its course of all
things, have already run along that lane? Must
not whatever can happen of all things have already
happened, resulted, and gone by?
And if everything have already existed, what
thinkest thou, dwarf, of This Moment? Must not
this gateway also—have already existed?
And are not all things closely bound together in
such wise that This Moment draweth all coming
things after it? Consequently itself also?
For whatever can run its course of all things, also
in this long lane outward—must it once more run ! —
And this slow spider which creepeth in the
moonlight, and this moonlight itself, and thou and
I in this gateway whispering together, whispering
of eternal things—must we not all have already
existed?
—And must we not return and run in that
other lane out before us, that long weird lane—
must we not eternally return ? "—
Thus did I speak, and always more softly: for I
was afraid of mine own thoughts, and arrear-
thoughts. Then, suddenly did I hear a dog howl
near me.
Had I ever heard a dog howl thus? My thoughts
ran back. Yes! When I was a child, in my most
distant childhood:
—Then did I hear a dog howl thus. And saw
it also, with hair bristling, its head upwards,
trembling in the stilliest midnight, when even dogs
believe in ghosts:
## p. 192 (#278) ############################################
192
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
-So that it excited my commiseration. For just
then went the full moon, silent as death, over the
house; just then did it stand still, a glowing globe
-at rest on the flat roof, as if on some one's
property :-
Thereby had the dog been terrified : for dogs
believe in thieves and ghosts. And when I again
heard such howling, then did it excite my com-
miseration once more.
Where was now the dwarf? And the gateway?
And the spider? And all the whispering ? Had
I dreamt? Had I awakened? 'Twixt rugged
rocks did I suddenly stand alone, dreary in the
dreariest moonlight.
But there lay a man! And there! The dog
leaping, bristling, whining—now did it see me
coming—then did it howl again, then did it cry :-
had I ever heard a dog cry so for help?
And verily, what I saw, the like had I never seen.
A young shepherd did I see, writhing, choking,
quivering, with distorted countenance, and with a
heavy black serpent hanging out of his mouth.
Had I ever seen so much loathing and pale horror
on one countenance ? He had perhaps gone to
sleep? Then had the serpent crawled into his
throat-there had it bitten itself fast.
My hand pulled at the serpent, and pulled :—in
vain! I failed to pull the serpent out of his
throat. Then there cried out of me: “Bite! Bite!
Its head off! Bite! ”—so cried it out of me;
my horror, my hatred, my loathing, my pity, all
my good and my bad cried with one voice out
of me. -
## p. 193 (#279) ############################################
XLVI. —THE VISION AND THE ENIGMA. 193
Ye daring ones around me! Ye venturers and
adventurers, and whoever of you hath embarked
with cunning sails on unexplored seas! Ye
enigma-enjoyers !
Solve unto me the enigma that I then beheld,
interpret unto me the vision of the lonesomest one !
For it was a vision and a foresight :—what did
I then behold in parable? And who is it that
must come some day?
Who is the shepherd into whose throat the
serpent thus crawled? Who is the man into whose
throat all the heaviest and blackest will thus crawl?
- The shepherd however bit as my cry had
admonished him; he bit with a strong bite! Far
away did he spit the head of the serpent—; and
sprang up. -
No longer shepherd, no longer man— a trans-
figured being, a light-surrounded being, that
laughed! Never on earth laughed a man as he
laughed !
O my brethren, I heard a laughter which was h
no human laughter,--and now gnaweth a thirst
at me, a longing that is never allayed.
My longing for that laughter gnaweth at me:
oh, how can I still endure to live! And how could
I endure to die at present ! -
Thus spake Zarathustra.
XLVII. -INVOLUNTARY BLISS.
With such enigmas and bitterness in his heart
did Zarathustra sail o'er the sea. When, however,
## p. 194 (#280) ############################################
194 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
he was four day-journeys from the Happy Isles
and from his friends, then had he surmounted all
his pain—: triumphantly and with firm foot did he
again accept his fate. And then talked Zarathustra
in this wise to his exulting conscience:
Alone am I again, and like to be so, alone
with the pure heaven, and the open sea; and again
is the afternoon around me.
On an afternoon did I find my friends for the
first time; on an afternoon, also, did I find them a
second time :—at the hour when all light becometh
stiller.
For whatever happiness is still on its way 'twixt
heaven and earth, now seeketh for lodging a
luminous soul: with happiness hath all light now
become stiller.
O afternoon of my life! Once did my happi-
ness also descend to the valley that it might seek
a lodging: then did it find those open hospitable
souls.
O afternoon of my life! What did I not sur-
render that I might have one thing: this living
plantation of my thoughts, and this dawn of my
highest hope!
Companions did the creating one once seek, and
children of his hope: and lo, it turned out that he
could not find them, except he himself should first
create them.
Thus am I in the midst of my work, to my
children going, and from them returning: for the
sake of his children must Zarathustra perfect
himself.
## p. 195 (#281) ############################################
XLVII. -INVOLUNTARY BLISS.
195
For in one's heart one loveth only one's child
and one's work; and where there is great love to
oneself, then is it the sign of pregnancy: so have I
found it.
Still are my children verdant in their first spring,
standing nigh one another, and shaken in common
by the winds, the trees of my garden and of my
best soil.
And verily, where such trees stand beside one
another, there are Happy Isles !
But one day will I take them up, and put each
by itself alone : that it may learn lonesomeness
and defiance and prudence.
Gnarled and crooked and with flexible hardness
shall it then stand by the sea, a living lighthouse
of unconquerable life.
Yonder where the storms rush down into the
sea, and the snout of the mountain drinketh water,
shall each on a time have his day and night
watches, for his testing and recognition.
Recognised and tested shall each be, to see if he
be of my type and lineage :-if he be master of a
long will, silent even when he speaketh, and giving
in such wise that he taketh in giving :-
-So that he may one day become my com-
panion, a fellow-creator and fellow-enjoyer with
Zarathustra :-such a one as writeth my will on
my tables, for the fuller perfection of all things.
And for his sake and for those like him, must I
perfect myself: therefore do I now avoid my
happiness, and present myself to every misfortune-
for my final testing and recognition.
And verily, it were time that I went away; and
## p. 196 (#282) ############################################
196 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
the wanderer's shadow and the longest tedium and
the stillest hour—have all said unto me: "It is the
highest time! "
The word blew to me through the keyhole and
said "Come! " The door sprang subtlely open
unto me, and said " Go! "
But I lay enchained to my love for my children:
desire spread this snare for me—the desire for love
—that I should become the prey of my children,
and lose myself in them.
Desiring—that is now for me to have lost myself.
I possess you, my children! In this possessing shall
everything be assurance and nothing desire.
But brooding lay the sun of my love upon me,
in his own juice stewed Zarathustra,—then did
shadows and doubts fly past me.
For frost and winter I now longed: "Oh, that
frost and winter would again make me crack and
crunch! " sighed I:—then arose icy mist out of me.
My past burst its tomb, many pains buried alive
woke up—: fully slept had they merely, concealed
in corpse-clothes.
So called everything unto me in signs: "It is
time! " But I—heard not, until at last mine abyss
moved, and my thought bit me.
Ah, abysmal thought, which art my thought!
When shall I find strength to hear thee burrowing,
and no longer tremble?
To my very throat throbbeth my heart when I
hear thee burrowing! Thy muteness even is like
to strangle me, thou abysmal mute one!
As yet have I never ventured to call thee up;
it hath been enough that I—have carried thee
## p. 197 (#283) ############################################
XLVII. -INVOLUNTARY BLISS.
197
about with me! As yet have I not been strong
enough for my final lion-wantonness and play-
fulness.
Sufficiently formidable unto me hath thy weight
ever been : but one day shall I yet find the strength
and the lion's voice which will call thee up!
When I shall have surmounted myself therein,
then will I surmount myself also in that which is
greater; and a victory shall be the seal of my
perfection !
Meanwhile do I sail along on uncertain seas;
chance flattereth me, smooth-tongued chance; for-
ward and backward do I gaze-, still see I no end.
As yet hath the hour of my final struggle not
come to me-or doth it come to me perhaps just
now? Verily, with insidious beauty do sea and
life gaze upon me round about :
O afternoon of my life! O happiness before
eventide! O haven upon high seas! O peace in
uncertainty! How I distrust all of you !
Verily, distrustful am I of your insidious beauty !
Like the lover am I, who distrusteth too sleek
smiling.
As he pusheth the best-beloved before him-
tender even in severity, the jealous one“, so do I
push this blissful hour before me.
Away with thee, thou blissful hour! With thee
hath there come to me an involuntary bliss !
Ready for my severest pain do I here stand :-at
the wrong time hast thou come!
Away with thee, thou blissful hour! Rather
harbour there—with my children! Hasten! and
bless them before eventide with my happiness !
## p. 197 (#284) ############################################
196 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
the wanderer's shadow and the longest tedium and
the stillest hour—have all said unto me: "It is the
highest time! "
The word blew to me through the keyhole and
said "Come! " The door sprang subtlely open
unto me, and said " Go! "
But I lay enchained to my love for my children:
desire spread this snare for me—the desire for love
—that I should become the prey of my children,
and lose myself in them.
Desiring—that is now for me to have lost myself.
I possess you, my children! In this possessing shall
everything be assurance and nothing desire.
But brooding lay the sun of my love upon me,
in his own juice stewed Zarathustra,—then did
shadows and doubts fly past me.
For frost and winter I now longed: "Oh, that
frost and winter would again make me crack and
crunch ! " sighed I:—then arose icy mist out of me.
My past burst its tomb, many pains buried alive
woke up—: fully slept had they merely, concealed
in corpse-clothes.
So called everything unto me in signs: "It is
time! " But I—heard not, until at last mine abyss
moved, and my thought bit me.
Ah, abysmal thought, which art my thought!
When shall I find strength to hear thee burrowing,
and no longer tremble?
To my very throat throbbeth my heart when I
hear thee burrowing! Thy muteness even is like
to strangle me, thou abysmal mute one!
As yet have I never ventured to call thee uf>;
it hath been enough that I—have carried thee
1
## p. 197 (#285) ############################################
XLVII. —INVOLUNTARY BLISS. 197
about with me! As yet have I not been strong
enough for my final lion-wantonness and play-
fulness.
Sufficiently formidable unto me hath thy weight
ever been: but one day shall I yet find the strength
and the lion's voice which will call thee up!
When I shall have surmounted myself therein,
then will I surmount myself also in that which is
greater; and a victory shall be the seal of my
perfection ! —
Meanwhile do I sail along on uncertain seas;
chance flattereth me, smooth-tongued chance; for-
ward and backward do I gaze—, still see I no end.
As yet hath the hour of my final struggle not
come to me—or doth it come to me perhaps just
now? Verily, with insidious beauty do sea and
life gaze upon me round about:
O afternoon of my life! O happiness before
eventide! O haven upon high seas! O peace in
uncertainty! How I distrust all of you!
Verily, distrustful am I of your insidious beauty!
Like the lover am I, who distrusteth too sleek
smiling.
As he pusheth the best-beloved before him—
tender even in severity, the jealous one—, so do I
push this blissful hour before me.
Away with thee, thou blissful hour! With thee
hath there come to me an involuntary bliss!
Ready for my severest pain do I here stand:—at
the wrong time hast thou come!
Away with thee, thou blissful hour! Rather
harbour there—with my children! Hasten! and
bless them before eventide with my happiness!
## p. 198 (#286) ############################################
198
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
There, already approacheth eventide : the sun
sinketh. Away—my happiness !
Thus spake Zarathustra. And he waited for his
misfortune the whole night; but he waited in vain.
The night remained clear and calm, and happiness
itself came nigher and nigher unto him.
177
am I? I await the worthier one ; I am not worthy
even to succumb by it. ”
Then was there again spoken unto me without
voice: “What matter about thyself? Thou art not
yet humble enough for me. Humility hath the
hardest skin. ”—
And I answered: “What hath not the skin of
my humility endured! At the foot of my height
do I dwell : how high are my summits, no one hath
yet told me. But well do I know my valleys. ”
Then was there again spoken unto me without
voice: “O Zarathustra, he who hath to remove
mountains removeth also valleys and plains. ”—
And I answered : “As yet hath my word not
removed mountains, and what I have spoken hath
not reached man. I went, indeed, unto men, but
not yet have I attained unto them. ”
Then was there again spoken unto me without
voice: “What knowest thou thereof! The dew
falleth on the grass when the night is most
silent. ”-
And I answered : “ They mocked me when I
found and walked in mine own path; and certainly
did my feet then tremble.
And thus did they speak unto me: Thou for-
gottest the path before, now dost thou also forget
how to walk ! ”
Then was there again spoken unto me without
voice: “What matter about their mockery! Thou
art one who hast unlearned to obey: now shalt
thou command !
Knowest thou not who is most needed by all ?
He who commandeth great things.
## p. 178 (#264) ############################################
178 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, II.
To execute great things is difficult: but the
more difficult task is to command great things.
This is thy most unpardonable obstinacy: thou
hast the power, and thou wilt not rule. "—
And I answered: "I lack the lion's voice for
all commanding. "
Then was there again spoken unto me as a
whispering: "It is the stillest words which bring
the storm. Thoughts that come with doves' foot-
steps guide the world.
O Zarathustra, thou shalt go as a shadow of that
which is to come: thus wilt thou command, and
in commanding go foremost. "—
And I answered: "I am ashamed. "
Then was there again spoken unto me without
voice: "Thou must yet become a child, and be
without shame.
The pride of youth is still upon thee; late hast
thou become young: but he who would become a
child must surmount even his youth. "—
And I considered a long while, and trembled.
At last, however, did I say what I had said at first:
"I will not. "
Then did a laughing take place all around me.
Alas, how that laughing lacerated my bowels and
cut into my heart!
And there was spoken unto me for the last time:
"O Zarathustra, thy fruits are ripe, but thou art not
ripe for thy fruits!
So must thou go again into solitude: for thou
shalt yet become mellow. "—
And again was there a laughing, and it fled:
then did it become still around me, as with a
## p. 179 (#265) ############################################
XLIV. —THE STILLEST HOUR. 179
double stillness. I lay, however, on the ground,
and the sweat flowed from my limbs.
—Now have ye heard all, and why I have to
return into my solitude. Nothing have I kept
hidden from you, my friends.
But even this have ye heard from me, who is
still the most reserved of men—and will be so!
Ah, my friends! I should have something more
to say unto you! I should have something more
to give unto you! Why do I not give it? Am I
then a niggard ? —
When, however, Zarathustra had spoken these
words, the violence of his pain, and a sense of the
nearness of his departure from his friends came
over him, so that he wept aloud; and no one knew
how to console him. In the night, however, he
went away alone, and left his friends.
## p. 180 (#266) ############################################
## p. 181 (#267) ############################################
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA
THIRD PART
"Ye look aloft when ye long
for exaltation, and I look down-
ward because I am exalted.
"Who among you can at the
same time laugh and be exalted?
"He who climbeth on the
highest mountains, laugheth at
all tragic plays ana tragic
realities. " — Zarathustra, I. ,
"Reading and Writing" (p. 44).
## p. 182 (#268) ############################################
]
## p. 183 (#269) ############################################
XLV. —THE WANDERER.
THEN, when it was about midnight, Zarathustra
went his way over the ridge of the isle, that he
might arrive early in the morning at the other
coast; because there he meant to embark. For
there was a good roadstead there, in which foreign
ships also liked to anchor: those ships took many
people with them, who wished to cross over from
the Happy Isles. So when Zarathustra thus as-
cended the mountain, he thought on the way of
his many solitary wanderings from youth onwards,
and how many mountains and ridges and summits
he had already climbed.
I am a wanderer and mountain-climber, said he
to his heart, I love not the plains, and it seemeth
I cannot long sit still.
And whatever may still overtake me as fate
and experience—a wandering will be therein, and
a mountain-climbing: in the end one experienceth
only oneself.
The time is now past when accidents could
befall me; and what could now fall to my lot which
would not already be mine own!
It returneth only, it cometh home to me at last
—mine own Self, and such of it as hath been long
abroad, and scattered among things and accidents.
And one thing more do I know: I stand now
## p. 184 (#270) ############################################
184
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
before my last summit, and before that which hath
been longest reserved for me. Ah, my hardest
path must I ascend! Ah, I have begun my lone-
somest wandering!
He, however, who is of my nature doth not avoid
such an hour: the hour that saith unto him: Now
only dost thou go the way to thy greatness !
Summit and abyss — these are now comprised
together!
Thou goest the way to thy greatness : now hath
it become thy last refuge, what was hitherto thy
last danger!
Thou goest the way to thy greatness : it must
now be thy best courage that there is no longer
any path behind thee!
Thou goest the way to thy greatness : here shall
no one steal after thee! Thy foot itself hath effaced
the path behind thee, and over it standeth written :
Impossibility.
And if all ladders henceforth fail thee, then must
thou learn to mount upon thine own head : how
couldst thou mount upward otherwise ?
Upon thine own head, and beyond thine own
heart! Now must the gentlest in thee become
the hardest.
He who hath always much-indulged himself,
sickeneth at last by his much-indulgence. Praises
on what maketh hardy! I do not praise the land
where butter and honey-flow !
To learn to look away from oneself, is necessary
in order to see many things :—this hardiness is
needed by every mountain-climber.
He, however, who is obtrusive with his eyes as a
## p. 185 (#271) ############################################
XLV. —THE WANDERER. 185
discerner, how can he ever see more of anything
than its foreground!
But thou, O Zarathustra, wouldst view the ground
of everything, and its background: thus must thou
mount even above thyself—up, upwards, until thou
hast even thy stars under thee!
Yea! To look down upon myself, and even upon
my stars: that only would I call my summit, that
hath remained for me as my last summit! —
Thus spake Zarathustra to himself while ascend-
ing, comforting his heart with harsh maxims: for
he was sore at heart as he had never been before.
And when he had reached the top of the mountain-
ridge, behold, there lay the other sea spread out
before him: and he stood still and was long silent.
The night, however, was cold at this height, and
clear and starry.
I recognise my destiny, said he at last, sadly.
Well! I am ready. Now hath my last lonesome-
ness begun.
Ah, this sombre, sad sea, below me! Ah, this
sombre nocturnal vexation! Ah, fate and sea!
To you must I now go down!
Before my highest mountain do I stand, and
before my longest wandering: therefore must I
first go deeper down than I ever ascended:
—Deeper down into pain than I ever ascended,
even into its darkest flood! So willeth my fate.
Well! I am ready.
Whence come the highest mountains? so did I
once ask. Then did I learn that they come out
of the sea.
## p. 186 (#272) ############################################
186
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
That testimony is inscribed on their stones, and
on the walls of their summits. Out of the deepest
must the highest come to its height. -
Thus spake Zarathustra on the ridge of the
mountain where it was cold: when, however, he
came into the vicinity of the sea, and at last stood
alone amongst the cliffs, then had he become weary
on his way, and eagerer than ever before.
Everything as yet sleepeth, said he; even the
sea sleepeth. Drowsily and strangely doth its eye
gaze upon me.
But it breatheth warmly-I feel it. And I feel
also that it dreameth. It tosseth about dreamily
on hard pillows.
Hark! Hark! How it groaneth with evil
recollections ! Or evil expectations ?
Ah, I am sad along with thee, thou dusky
monster, and angry with myself even for thy sake.
Ah, that my hand hath not strength enough!
Gladly, indeed, would I free thee from evil
dreams! -
And while Zarathustra thus spake, he laughed
at himself with melancholy and bitterness. What!
Zarathustra, said he, wilt thou even sing consolation
to the sea ?
Ah, thou amiable fool, Zarathustra, thou too-
blindly confiding one! But thus hast thou ever
been: ever hast thou approached confidently all
that is terrible.
Every monster wouldst thou caress. A whiff of
warm breath, a little soft tuft on its paw—; and
immediately wert thou ready to love and lure it.
## p. 187 (#273) ############################################
XLV. —THE WANDERER. 187
Love is the danger of the lonesomest one, love to
anything, if it only live! Laughable, verily, is my
folly and my modesty in love! —
Thus spake Zarathustra, and laughed thereby a
second time. Then, however, he thought of his
abandoned friends—and as if he had done them a
wrong with his thoughts, he upbraided himself
because of his thoughts. And forthwith it came
to pass that the laugher wept—with anger and
longing wept Zarathustra bitterly.
XLVI. —THE VISION AND THE ENIGMA.
1.
When it got abroad among the sailors that
Zarathustra was on board the ship—for a man who
came from the Happy Isles had gone on board
along with him,—there was great curiosity and
expectation. But Zarathustra kept silent for two
days, and was cold and deaf with sadness; so that
he neither answered looks nor questions. On the
evening of the second day, however, he again
opened his ears, though he still kept silent: for
there were many curious and dangerous things
to be heard on board the ship, which came from
afar, and was to go still further. Zarathustra, how-
ever, was fond of all those who make distant
voyages, and dislike to live without danger. And
behold! when listening, his own tongue was at last
loosened, and the ice of his heart broke. Then
did he begin to speak thus:
To you, the daring venturers and adventurers,
## p. 188 (#274) ############################################
188
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
enjoy nerous gulljike to
and whoever hath embarked with cunning sails
upon frightful seas,-
To you the enigma-intoxicated, the twilight-
enjoyers, whose souls are allured by flutes to every
treacherous gulf :
-For ye dislike to grope at a thread with
cowardly hand; and where ye can divine, there do
ye hate to calculate-
To you only do I tell the enigma that I saw-
the vision of the lonesomest one. —
Gloomily walked I lately in corpse-coloured twi-
light-gloomily and sternly, with compressed lips.
Not only one sun had set for me.
A path which ascended daringly among boulders,
an evil, lonesome path, which neither herb nor shrub
any longer cheered, a mountain-path, crunched
under the daring of my foot.
Mutely marching over the scornful clinking of
pebbles, trampling the stone that let it slip: thus
did my foot force its way upwards.
Upwards :-in spite of the spirit that drew it
downwards, towards the abyss, the spirit of gravity,
my devil and arch-enemy.
Upwards :-although it sat upon me, half-dwarf,
half-mole; paralysed, paralysing ; dripping lead in
mine ear, and thoughts like drops of lead into my
brain.
"O Zarathustra,” it whispered scornfully, syllable
by syllable, “thou stone of wisdom! Thou threwest
thyself high, but every thrown stone must-fall!
O Zarathustra, thou stone of wisdom, thou sling-
stone, thou star-destroyer! Thyself threwest thou
so high,but every thrown stone-must fall!
## p. 189 (#275) ############################################
XLVI. —THE VISION AND THE ENIGMA. 189
Condemned of thyself, and to thine own stoning :
O Zarathustra, far indeed threwest thou thy stone-
but upon thyself will it recoil ! ”
Then was the dwarf silent; and it lasted long.
The silence, however, oppressed me; and to be thus
in pairs, one is verily lonesomer than when alone!
I ascended, I ascended, I dreamt, I thought,—but
everything oppressed me. A sick one did I re-
semble, whom bad torture wearieth, and a worse
dream reawakeneth out of his first sleep. -
But there is something in me which I call
courage: it hath hitherto slain for me every dejec-
tion. This courage at last bade me stand still and
say: "Dwarf! Thou! Or I! ”-
For courage is the best slayer,—courage which
attacketh : for in every attack there is sound of
triumph.
Man, however, is the most courageous animal :
thereby hath he overcome every animal. With
sound of triumph hath he overcome every pain ;
human pain, however, is the sorest pain.
Courage slayeth also giddiness at abysses: and
where doth man not stand at abysses! Is not
seeing itself-seeing abysses ?
Courage is the best slayer : courage slayeth also
fellow-suffering. Fellow-suffering, however, is the
deepest abyss : as deeply as man looketh into life,
so deeply also doth he look into suffering.
Courage, however, is the best slayer, courage
which attacketh: it slayeth even death itself; for
it saith : “ Was that life? Well! Once more ! ”
In such speech, however, there is much sound of
triumph. He who hath ears to hear, let him hear. -
## p. 190 (#276) ############################################
190 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III
2.
"Halt, dwarf! " said I. "Either I—or thou! I,
however, am the stronger of the two—: thou
knowest not mine abysmal thought! It—couldst
thou not endure! "
Then happened that which made me lighter: for
the dwarf sprang from my shoulder, the prying
sprite!
And it squatted on a stone in front of
me. There was however a gateway just where we
halted.
"Look at this gateway! Dwarf! " I continued,
"it hath two faces. Two roads come together
here: these hath no one yet gone to the end of.
This long lane backwards: it continueth for an
eternity. And that long lane forward—that is
another eternity.
They are antithetical to one another, these roads;
they directly abut on one another:—and it is here,
at this gateway, that they come together. The
name of the gateway is inscribed above: 'This
Moment. '
But should one follow them further—and ever
further and further on, thinkest thou, dwarf, that
these roads would be eternally antithetical ? "—
"Everything straight lieth," murmured the dwarf,
contemptuously. "All truth is crooked ; time itself
is a circle. "
"Thou spirit of gravity! " said I wrathfully, " do
not take it too lightly! Or I shall let thee squat
where thou squattest, Haltfoot,—and I carried thee
high! "
"Observe," continued I, "This Moment! From
## p. 191 (#277) ############################################
XLVI. —THE VISION AND THE ENIGMA. 191
the gateway, This Moment, there runneth a long
eternal lane backwards: behind us lieth an eternity.
Must not whatever can run its course of all
things, have already run along that lane? Must
not whatever can happen of all things have already
happened, resulted, and gone by?
And if everything have already existed, what
thinkest thou, dwarf, of This Moment? Must not
this gateway also—have already existed?
And are not all things closely bound together in
such wise that This Moment draweth all coming
things after it? Consequently itself also?
For whatever can run its course of all things, also
in this long lane outward—must it once more run ! —
And this slow spider which creepeth in the
moonlight, and this moonlight itself, and thou and
I in this gateway whispering together, whispering
of eternal things—must we not all have already
existed?
—And must we not return and run in that
other lane out before us, that long weird lane—
must we not eternally return ? "—
Thus did I speak, and always more softly: for I
was afraid of mine own thoughts, and arrear-
thoughts. Then, suddenly did I hear a dog howl
near me.
Had I ever heard a dog howl thus? My thoughts
ran back. Yes! When I was a child, in my most
distant childhood:
—Then did I hear a dog howl thus. And saw
it also, with hair bristling, its head upwards,
trembling in the stilliest midnight, when even dogs
believe in ghosts:
## p. 192 (#278) ############################################
192
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
-So that it excited my commiseration. For just
then went the full moon, silent as death, over the
house; just then did it stand still, a glowing globe
-at rest on the flat roof, as if on some one's
property :-
Thereby had the dog been terrified : for dogs
believe in thieves and ghosts. And when I again
heard such howling, then did it excite my com-
miseration once more.
Where was now the dwarf? And the gateway?
And the spider? And all the whispering ? Had
I dreamt? Had I awakened? 'Twixt rugged
rocks did I suddenly stand alone, dreary in the
dreariest moonlight.
But there lay a man! And there! The dog
leaping, bristling, whining—now did it see me
coming—then did it howl again, then did it cry :-
had I ever heard a dog cry so for help?
And verily, what I saw, the like had I never seen.
A young shepherd did I see, writhing, choking,
quivering, with distorted countenance, and with a
heavy black serpent hanging out of his mouth.
Had I ever seen so much loathing and pale horror
on one countenance ? He had perhaps gone to
sleep? Then had the serpent crawled into his
throat-there had it bitten itself fast.
My hand pulled at the serpent, and pulled :—in
vain! I failed to pull the serpent out of his
throat. Then there cried out of me: “Bite! Bite!
Its head off! Bite! ”—so cried it out of me;
my horror, my hatred, my loathing, my pity, all
my good and my bad cried with one voice out
of me. -
## p. 193 (#279) ############################################
XLVI. —THE VISION AND THE ENIGMA. 193
Ye daring ones around me! Ye venturers and
adventurers, and whoever of you hath embarked
with cunning sails on unexplored seas! Ye
enigma-enjoyers !
Solve unto me the enigma that I then beheld,
interpret unto me the vision of the lonesomest one !
For it was a vision and a foresight :—what did
I then behold in parable? And who is it that
must come some day?
Who is the shepherd into whose throat the
serpent thus crawled? Who is the man into whose
throat all the heaviest and blackest will thus crawl?
- The shepherd however bit as my cry had
admonished him; he bit with a strong bite! Far
away did he spit the head of the serpent—; and
sprang up. -
No longer shepherd, no longer man— a trans-
figured being, a light-surrounded being, that
laughed! Never on earth laughed a man as he
laughed !
O my brethren, I heard a laughter which was h
no human laughter,--and now gnaweth a thirst
at me, a longing that is never allayed.
My longing for that laughter gnaweth at me:
oh, how can I still endure to live! And how could
I endure to die at present ! -
Thus spake Zarathustra.
XLVII. -INVOLUNTARY BLISS.
With such enigmas and bitterness in his heart
did Zarathustra sail o'er the sea. When, however,
## p. 194 (#280) ############################################
194 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
he was four day-journeys from the Happy Isles
and from his friends, then had he surmounted all
his pain—: triumphantly and with firm foot did he
again accept his fate. And then talked Zarathustra
in this wise to his exulting conscience:
Alone am I again, and like to be so, alone
with the pure heaven, and the open sea; and again
is the afternoon around me.
On an afternoon did I find my friends for the
first time; on an afternoon, also, did I find them a
second time :—at the hour when all light becometh
stiller.
For whatever happiness is still on its way 'twixt
heaven and earth, now seeketh for lodging a
luminous soul: with happiness hath all light now
become stiller.
O afternoon of my life! Once did my happi-
ness also descend to the valley that it might seek
a lodging: then did it find those open hospitable
souls.
O afternoon of my life! What did I not sur-
render that I might have one thing: this living
plantation of my thoughts, and this dawn of my
highest hope!
Companions did the creating one once seek, and
children of his hope: and lo, it turned out that he
could not find them, except he himself should first
create them.
Thus am I in the midst of my work, to my
children going, and from them returning: for the
sake of his children must Zarathustra perfect
himself.
## p. 195 (#281) ############################################
XLVII. -INVOLUNTARY BLISS.
195
For in one's heart one loveth only one's child
and one's work; and where there is great love to
oneself, then is it the sign of pregnancy: so have I
found it.
Still are my children verdant in their first spring,
standing nigh one another, and shaken in common
by the winds, the trees of my garden and of my
best soil.
And verily, where such trees stand beside one
another, there are Happy Isles !
But one day will I take them up, and put each
by itself alone : that it may learn lonesomeness
and defiance and prudence.
Gnarled and crooked and with flexible hardness
shall it then stand by the sea, a living lighthouse
of unconquerable life.
Yonder where the storms rush down into the
sea, and the snout of the mountain drinketh water,
shall each on a time have his day and night
watches, for his testing and recognition.
Recognised and tested shall each be, to see if he
be of my type and lineage :-if he be master of a
long will, silent even when he speaketh, and giving
in such wise that he taketh in giving :-
-So that he may one day become my com-
panion, a fellow-creator and fellow-enjoyer with
Zarathustra :-such a one as writeth my will on
my tables, for the fuller perfection of all things.
And for his sake and for those like him, must I
perfect myself: therefore do I now avoid my
happiness, and present myself to every misfortune-
for my final testing and recognition.
And verily, it were time that I went away; and
## p. 196 (#282) ############################################
196 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
the wanderer's shadow and the longest tedium and
the stillest hour—have all said unto me: "It is the
highest time! "
The word blew to me through the keyhole and
said "Come! " The door sprang subtlely open
unto me, and said " Go! "
But I lay enchained to my love for my children:
desire spread this snare for me—the desire for love
—that I should become the prey of my children,
and lose myself in them.
Desiring—that is now for me to have lost myself.
I possess you, my children! In this possessing shall
everything be assurance and nothing desire.
But brooding lay the sun of my love upon me,
in his own juice stewed Zarathustra,—then did
shadows and doubts fly past me.
For frost and winter I now longed: "Oh, that
frost and winter would again make me crack and
crunch! " sighed I:—then arose icy mist out of me.
My past burst its tomb, many pains buried alive
woke up—: fully slept had they merely, concealed
in corpse-clothes.
So called everything unto me in signs: "It is
time! " But I—heard not, until at last mine abyss
moved, and my thought bit me.
Ah, abysmal thought, which art my thought!
When shall I find strength to hear thee burrowing,
and no longer tremble?
To my very throat throbbeth my heart when I
hear thee burrowing! Thy muteness even is like
to strangle me, thou abysmal mute one!
As yet have I never ventured to call thee up;
it hath been enough that I—have carried thee
## p. 197 (#283) ############################################
XLVII. -INVOLUNTARY BLISS.
197
about with me! As yet have I not been strong
enough for my final lion-wantonness and play-
fulness.
Sufficiently formidable unto me hath thy weight
ever been : but one day shall I yet find the strength
and the lion's voice which will call thee up!
When I shall have surmounted myself therein,
then will I surmount myself also in that which is
greater; and a victory shall be the seal of my
perfection !
Meanwhile do I sail along on uncertain seas;
chance flattereth me, smooth-tongued chance; for-
ward and backward do I gaze-, still see I no end.
As yet hath the hour of my final struggle not
come to me-or doth it come to me perhaps just
now? Verily, with insidious beauty do sea and
life gaze upon me round about :
O afternoon of my life! O happiness before
eventide! O haven upon high seas! O peace in
uncertainty! How I distrust all of you !
Verily, distrustful am I of your insidious beauty !
Like the lover am I, who distrusteth too sleek
smiling.
As he pusheth the best-beloved before him-
tender even in severity, the jealous one“, so do I
push this blissful hour before me.
Away with thee, thou blissful hour! With thee
hath there come to me an involuntary bliss !
Ready for my severest pain do I here stand :-at
the wrong time hast thou come!
Away with thee, thou blissful hour! Rather
harbour there—with my children! Hasten! and
bless them before eventide with my happiness !
## p. 197 (#284) ############################################
196 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
the wanderer's shadow and the longest tedium and
the stillest hour—have all said unto me: "It is the
highest time! "
The word blew to me through the keyhole and
said "Come! " The door sprang subtlely open
unto me, and said " Go! "
But I lay enchained to my love for my children:
desire spread this snare for me—the desire for love
—that I should become the prey of my children,
and lose myself in them.
Desiring—that is now for me to have lost myself.
I possess you, my children! In this possessing shall
everything be assurance and nothing desire.
But brooding lay the sun of my love upon me,
in his own juice stewed Zarathustra,—then did
shadows and doubts fly past me.
For frost and winter I now longed: "Oh, that
frost and winter would again make me crack and
crunch ! " sighed I:—then arose icy mist out of me.
My past burst its tomb, many pains buried alive
woke up—: fully slept had they merely, concealed
in corpse-clothes.
So called everything unto me in signs: "It is
time! " But I—heard not, until at last mine abyss
moved, and my thought bit me.
Ah, abysmal thought, which art my thought!
When shall I find strength to hear thee burrowing,
and no longer tremble?
To my very throat throbbeth my heart when I
hear thee burrowing! Thy muteness even is like
to strangle me, thou abysmal mute one!
As yet have I never ventured to call thee uf>;
it hath been enough that I—have carried thee
1
## p. 197 (#285) ############################################
XLVII. —INVOLUNTARY BLISS. 197
about with me! As yet have I not been strong
enough for my final lion-wantonness and play-
fulness.
Sufficiently formidable unto me hath thy weight
ever been: but one day shall I yet find the strength
and the lion's voice which will call thee up!
When I shall have surmounted myself therein,
then will I surmount myself also in that which is
greater; and a victory shall be the seal of my
perfection ! —
Meanwhile do I sail along on uncertain seas;
chance flattereth me, smooth-tongued chance; for-
ward and backward do I gaze—, still see I no end.
As yet hath the hour of my final struggle not
come to me—or doth it come to me perhaps just
now? Verily, with insidious beauty do sea and
life gaze upon me round about:
O afternoon of my life! O happiness before
eventide! O haven upon high seas! O peace in
uncertainty! How I distrust all of you!
Verily, distrustful am I of your insidious beauty!
Like the lover am I, who distrusteth too sleek
smiling.
As he pusheth the best-beloved before him—
tender even in severity, the jealous one—, so do I
push this blissful hour before me.
Away with thee, thou blissful hour! With thee
hath there come to me an involuntary bliss!
Ready for my severest pain do I here stand:—at
the wrong time hast thou come!
Away with thee, thou blissful hour! Rather
harbour there—with my children! Hasten! and
bless them before eventide with my happiness!
## p. 198 (#286) ############################################
198
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
There, already approacheth eventide : the sun
sinketh. Away—my happiness !
Thus spake Zarathustra. And he waited for his
misfortune the whole night; but he waited in vain.
The night remained clear and calm, and happiness
itself came nigher and nigher unto him.
