They write and write (quite
maddening
me)
Their "sapient" twaddle airy,
As if 'twere primum scribere,
Deinde philosophari.
Their "sapient" twaddle airy,
As if 'twere primum scribere,
Deinde philosophari.
Nietzsche - v10 - The Joyful Wisdom
Per-
haps truth is a woman who has reasons for not
* An allusion to Schiller's poem: "The Veiled Image of
Sais. "—Tr.
## p. 10 (#28) ##############################################
8 THE JOYFUL WISDOM
X, is too great in those more spiritual and more
spiritualised men, not to spread itself again and
again like a clear glow over all the trouble of the
problematic, over all the danger of uncertainty,
and even over the jealousy of the lover. We know
a new happiness. . . .
4-
Finally, (that the most essential may not remain
unsaid), one comes back out of such abysses, out
of such severe sickness, and out of the sickness of
strong suspicion—new-born, with the skin cast;
more sensitive, more wicked, with a finer taste for
joy, with a more delicate tongue for all good
things, with a merrier disposition, with a second
and more dangerous innocence in joy; more
childish at the same time, and a hundred times
more refined than ever before. Oh, how re-
pugnant to us now is pleasure, coarse, dull, drab
pleasure, as the pleasure-seekers, our "cultured"
classes, our rich and ruling classes, usually under-
stand it! How malignantly we now listen to the
great holiday-hubbub with which "cultured people"
and city-men at present allow themselves to be
forced to "spiritual enjoyment" by art, books, and
music, with the help of spirituous liquors! How
the theatrical cry of passion now pains our ear, how
strange to our taste has all the romantic riot and
sensuous bustle which the cultured populace love
become (together with their aspirations after the
exalted, the elevated, and the intricate)! No, if
we convalescents need an art at all, it is another
art—a mocking, light, volatile, divinely serene,
## p. 11 (#29) ##############################################
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION 9
divinely ingenious art, which blazes up like a clear
flame, into a cloudless heaven! Above all, an art
for artists, only for artists! We at last know
better what is first of all necessary for it—namely,
cheerfulness, every kind of cheerfulness, my friends!
also as artists :—I should like to prove it. We now
know something too well, we men of knowledge:
oh, how well we are now learning to forget and not
know, as artists! And as to our future, we are not
likely to be found again in the tracks of those
Egyptian youths who at night make the temples
unsafe, embrace statues, and would fain unveil,
uncover, and put in clear light, everything which
for good reasons is kept concealed. * No, we have
got disgusted with this bad taste, this will to truth,
to "truth at all costs," this youthful madness in
the love of truth: we are now too experienced, too
serious, too joyful, too singed, too profound for
that. . . . We no longer believe that truth remains
truth when the veil is withdrawn from it: we have
lived long enough to believe this. At present we
regard it as a matter of propriety not to be anxious
either to see everything naked, or to be present at
everything,or to understand and "know" everything.
"Is it true that the good God is everywhere
present? " asked a little girl of her mother: "1
think th. -it is indecent" :—a hint to philosophers!
One should have more reverence for the shame-
facedness with which nature has concealed herself
behind enigmas and motley uncertainties. Per-
haps truth is a woman who has reasons for not
* An allusion to Schiller's poem: "The Veiled Image of
Sais. "—Tr.
## p. 11 (#30) ##############################################
IO THE JOYFUL WISDOM
showing her reasons? Perhaps her name is Baubo,
to speak in Greek? . . . Oh, those Greeks! They
knew how to live: for that purpose it is necessary to
keep bravely to the surface, the fold and the skin;
to worship appearance, to believe in forms, tones,
and words, in the whole Olympus of appearance!
Those Greeks were superficial—from profundity!
And are we not coming back precisely to this
point, we dare-devils of the spirit, who have scaled
the highest and most dangerous peak of contem-
porary thought, and have looked around us from
it, have looked down from it? Are we not precisely
in this respect—Greeks? Worshippers of forms,
of tones, and of words? And precisely on that
account—artists?
Ruta, near Genoa
Autumn, 1886.
## p. 11 (#31) ##############################################
JEST, RUSE AND REVENGE.
A PRELUDE IN RHYME.
## p. 12 (#32) ##############################################
## p. 13 (#33) ##############################################
I.
Invitation.
Venture, comrades, I implore you,
On the fare I set before you,
You will like it more to-morrow,
Better still the following day:
If yet more you're then requiring,
Old success I'll find inspiring,
And fresh courage thence will borrow
Novel dainties to display.
2.
My Good Luck.
Weary of Seeking had I grown,
So taught myself the way to Find:
Back by the storm I once was blown,
But follow now, where drives the wind.
3-
Undismayed.
Where you're standing, dig, dig out:
Down below's the Well:
Let them that walk in darkness shout:
"Down below—there's Hell I"
## p. 14 (#34) ##############################################
THE JOYFUL WISDOM
4.
Dialogue.
A. Was I ill? and is it ended ?
Pray, by what physician tended ?
I recall no pain endured !
B. Now I know your trouble's ended :
He that can forget, is cured.
To the Virtuous.
Let our virtues be easy and nimble-footed in
motion,
Like unto Homer's verse ought they to come and
to go.
Worldly Wisdom.
Stay not on level plain,
Climb not the mount too high,
But half-way up remain-
The world you'll best descry!
Vademecum— Vadetecum.
Attracted by my style and talk
You'd follow, in my footsteps walk?
Follow yourself unswervingly,
So-careful ! shall you follow me.
## p. 15 (#35) ##############################################
JEST, RUSE AND REVENGE
15
8.
The Third Sloughing.
My skin bursts, breaks for fresh rebirth,
And new desires come thronging :
Much I've devoured, yet for more earth
The serpent in ine's longing.
'Twixt stone and grass I crawl once more,
Hungry, by crooked ways,
To eat the food I ate before,
Earth-fare all serpents praise !
9.
My Roses.
My luck's good—I'd make yours fairer,
(Good luck ever needs a sharer),
Will you stop and pluck my roses ?
Oft mid rocks and thorns you'll linger,
Hide and stoop, suck bleeding finger-
Will you stop and pluck my roses ?
For my good luck's a trifle vicious,
Fond of teasing, tricks malicious-
Will you stop and pluck my roses ?
10.
The Scorner.
Many drops I waste and spill,
So my scornful mood you curse :
Who to brim his cup doth fill,
Many drops must waste and spill-
Yet he thinks the wine no worse.
## p. 16 (#36) ##############################################
l6 THE JOYFUL WISDOM
II.
The Proverb Speaks.
Harsh and gentle, fine and mean,
Quite rare and common, dirty and clean,
The fools' and the sages' go-between:
All this I will be, this have been,
Dove and serpent and swine, I ween!
12.
To a Lover of Light.
That eye and sense be not fordone
E'en in the shade pursue the sun!
13-
For Dancers.
Smoothest ice,
A paradise
To him who is a dancer nice.
14.
The Brave Man.
A feud that knows not flaw nor break,
Rather then patched-up friendship, take.
15-
Rust.
Rust's needed: keenness will not satisfy!
"He is too young! " the rabble loves to cry.
16.
Excelsior.
"How shall I reach the top? " No time
For thus reflecting! Start to climb!
## p. 17 (#37) ##############################################
JEST, RUSE AND REVENGE 17
17-
The Man of Power Speaks.
Ask never! Cease that whining, pray!
Take without asking, take alway!
18.
Narrow Souls.
Narrow souls hate I like the devil,
Souls wherein grows nor good nor evil.
19-
Accidentally a Seducer* .
He shot an empty word
Into the empty blue;
But on the way it met
A woman whom it slew.
20.
For Consideration.
A twofold pain is easier far to bear
Than one: so now to suffer wilt thou dare?
21.
Against Pride.
Brother, to puff thyself up ne'er be quick:
For burst thou shalt be by a tiny prick!
22.
Man and Woman.
"The woman seize, who to thy heart appeals! "
Man's motto: woman seizes not, but steals.
* Translated by Miss M. D. Petre.
## p. 18 (#38) ##############################################
18 THE JOYFUL WISDOM
23-
Interpretation.
If I explain my wisdom, surely
Tis but entangled more securely,
I can't expound myself aright:
But he that's boldly up and doing,
His own unaided course pursuing,
Upon my image casts more light!
24.
A Cure for Pessimism.
Those old capricious fancies, friend!
You say your palate naught can please,
I hear you bluster, spit and wheeze,
My love, my patience soon will end!
Pluck up your courage, follow me—
Here's a fat toad I Now then, don't blink,
Swallow it whole, nor pause to think!
From your dyspepsia you'll be free!
25.
A Request.
Many men's minds I know full well,
Yet what mine own is, cannot tell.
I cannot see—my eye's too near—
And falsely to myself appear.
'Twould be to me a benefit
Far from myself if I could sit,
Less distant than my enemy,
## p. 19 (#39) ##############################################
JEST, RUSE AND REVENGE
19
And yet my nearest friend's too nigh-
'Twixt him and me, just in the middle !
What do I ask for? Guess my riddle !
26.
My Cruelty.
I must ascend an hundred stairs,
I must ascend: the herd declares
I'm cruel: “Are we made of stone? ”
I must ascend an hundred stairs :
All men the part of stair disown.
27.
The Wanderer.
“No longer path! Abyss and silence chilling ! ”
Thy fault! To leave the path thou wast too
willing!
Now comes the test! Keep cool-_eyes bright and
clear!
Thou'rt lost for sure, if thou permittest-fear.
28.
Encouragement for Beginners.
See the infant, helpless creeping-
Swine around it grunt swine-talk-
Weeping always, naught but weeping,
Will it ever learn to walk ?
Never fear! Just wait, I swear it
Soon to dance will be inclined,
And this babe, when two legs bear it,
Standing on its head you'll find.
## p. 20 (#40) ##############################################
THE JOYFUL WISDOM
29.
Planet Egoism.
Did I not turn, a rolling cask,
Ever about myself, I ask,
How could I without burning run
Close on the track of the hot sun ?
30.
The Neighbour.
Too nigh, my friend my joy doth mar,
I'd have him high above and far,
Or how can he become my star?
31.
The Disguised Saint.
Lest we for thy bliss should slay thee,
In devil's wiles thou dost array thee,
Devil's wit and devil's dress.
But in vain! Thy looks betray thee
And proclaim thy holiness.
32.
The Slave.
d. He stands and listens: whence his pain ?
What smote his ears? Some far refrain ?
Why is his heart with anguish torn ?
A Like all that fetters once have worn,
He always hears the clinking-chain!
## p. 21 (#41) ##############################################
JEST, RUSE AND REVENGE 21
33-
The Lone One.
I hate to follow and I hate to lead.
Obedience? no! and ruling? no, indeed!
Wouldst fearful be in others' sight?
Then e'en thyself thou must affright:
The people but the Terror's guidance heed.
I hate to guide myself, I hate the fray.
Like the wild beasts I'll wander far afield.
In Error's pleasing toils I'll roam
Awhile, then lure myself back home,
Back home, and—to my self-seduction yield.
34-
Seneca et hoc Genus omne.
They write and write (quite maddening me)
Their "sapient" twaddle airy,
As if 'twere primum scribere,
Deinde philosophari.
35-
Ice.
Yes! I manufacture ice:
Ice may help you to digest:
If you had much to digest,
How you would enjoy my ice!
36.
Youthful Writings.
My wisdom's A and final O
Was then the sound that smote mine ear.
## p. 22 (#42) ##############################################
22 THE JOYFUL WISDOM
Yet now it rings no longer so,
My youth's eternal Ah! and Oh!
Is now the only sound I hear. *
37-
Foresight.
In yonder region travelling, take good care!
An hast thou wit, then be thou doubly ware!
They'll smile and lure thee; then thy limbs they'll
tear:
Fanatics' country this where wits are rare!
38.
The Pious One Speaks.
God loves us, for he made us, sent us here! —
"Man hath made God! " ye subtle ones reply.
His handiwork he must hold dear,
And what he made shall he deny?
There sounds the devil's halting hoof, I fear.
39-
In Summer.
In sweat of face, so runs the screed,
We e'er must eat our bread,
Yet wise physicians if we heed
"Eat naught in sweat," 'tis said.
The dog-star's blinking: what's his need?
What tells his blazing sign?
In sweat of face (so runs his screed)
We're meant to drink our wine!
* A and O, suggestive of Ah ! and Oh! refer of course to
Alpha and Omega, the first and last letters of the Greek
alphabet. —Tr.
## p. 23 (#43) ##############################################
JEST, RUSE AND REVENGE 23
40.
Without Envy.
His look bewrays no envy: and ye laud him?
He cares not, asks not if your throng applaud him!
He has the eagle's eye for distance far,
He sees you not, he sees but star on star!
41.
Heraclitism.
Brethren, war's the origin
Of happiness on earth:
Powder-smoke and battle-din
Witness friendship's birth!
Friendship means three things, you know,—
Kinship in luckless plight,
Equality before the foe
Freedom—in death's sight!
42.
Maxim of the Over-refined.
"Rather on your toes stand high
Than crawl upon all fours,
Rather through the keyhole spy
Than through open doors! "
43-
Exhortation.
Renown you're quite resolved to earn?
My thought about it
Is this: you need not fame, must learn
To do without it!
## p. 24 (#44) ##############################################
24 THE JOYFUL WISDOM
44-
Thorough.
I an inquirer? No, that's not my calling
Only / weigh a lot—I'm such a lump! —
And through the waters I keep falling, falling,
Till on the ocean's deepest bed I bump.
45-
The Immortals.
"To-day is meet for me, I come to-day,"
Such is the speech of men foredoomed to stay.
"Thou art too soon," they cry, " thou art too late,"
What care the Immortals what the rabble say?
46.
Verdicts of the Weary.
The weary shun the glaring sun, afraid,
And only care for trees to gain the shade.
47-
Descent.
"He sinks, he falls," your scornful looks portend:
The truth is, to your level he'll descend.
His Too Much Joy is turned to weariness,
His Too Much Light will in your darkness end.
48.
Nature Silenced*
Around my neck, on chain of hair,
The timepiece hangs—a sign of care.
• Translated by Miss M. U. I'etre
## p. 25 (#45) ##############################################
JEST, RUSE AND REVENGE 25
For me the starry course is o'er,
No sun and shadow as before,
No cockcrow summons at the door,
For nature tells the time no more!
Too many clocks her voice have drowned,
And droning law has dulled her sound.
49-
The Sage Speaks.
Strange to the crowd, yet useful to the crowd,
I still pursue my path, now sun, now cloud,
But always pass above the crowd!
50.
He lost his Head. . . .
She now has wit—how did it come her way?
A man through her his reason lost, they say.
His head, though wise ere to this pastime lent,
Straight to the devil—no, to woman went!
51.
A Pious Wish.
"Oh, might all keys be lost! 'Twere better so
And in all keyholes might the pick-lock go! "
Who thus reflects ye may as—picklock know.
52.
Foot Writing.
I write not with the hand alone,
My foot would write, my foot that capers,
Firm, free and bold, it's marching on
Now through the fields, now through the papers.
## p. 25 (#46) ##############################################
24 THE JOYFUL WISDOM
44
Thorough.
I an inquirer? No, that's not my calling
Only / weigh a lot—I'm such a lump ! —
And through the waters I keep falling, falling,
Till on the ocean's deepest bed I bump.
45-
The Immortals.
"To-day is meet for me, I come to-day,"
Such is the speech of men foredoomed to stay.
"Thou art too soon," they cry, " thou art too late,"
What care the Immortals what the rabble say?
46.
Verdicts of the Weary.
The weary shun the glaring sun, afraid,
And only care for trees to gain the shade.
47-
Descent.
"He sinks, he falls," your scornful looks portend:
The truth is, to your level he'll descend.
His Too Much Joy is turned to weariness,
His Too Much Light will in your darkness end.
Nature Silenced*
Around my neck, on chain of hair,
The timepiece hangs—a sign of care.
* Translated by Miss M. D. Petre.
## p. 25 (#47) ##############################################
JEST, RUSE AND REVENGE 25
For me the starry course is o'er, •
No sun and shadow as before, v
No cockcrow summons at the door,
For nature tells the time no more!
Too many clocks her voice have drowned,
And droning law has dulled her sound.
49.
The Sage Speaks.
Strange to the crowd, yet useful to the crowd,
I still pursue my path, now sun, now cloud,
But always pass above the crowd!
50.
He lost his Head. . . .
She now has wit—how did it come her way?
A man through her his reason lost, they say.
His head, though wise ere to this pastime lent,
Straight to the devil—no, to woman went!
Si-
A Pious Wish.
"Oh, might all keys be lost! 'Twere better so
And in all keyholes might the pick-lock go! "
Who thus reflects ye may as—picklock know.
52.
Foot Writing.
I write not with the hand alone,
My foot would write, my foot that capers,
Firm, free and bold, it's marching on
Now through the fields, now through the papers.
## p. 26 (#48) ##############################################
26 THE JOYFUL WISDOM
S3-
"Human, Ail-too-Human" . . .
Shy, gloomy, when your looks are backward
thrust,
Trusting the future where yourself you trust,
Are you an eagle, mid the nobler fowl,
Or are you like Minerva's darling owl?
54-
To my Reader.
Good teeth and a digestion good
I wish you—these you need, be sure!
And, certes, if my book you've stood,
Me with good humour you'll endure.
55-
The Realistic Painter.
"To nature true, complete! " so he begins.
Who complete Nature to his canvas wins?
Her tiniest fragment's endless, no constraint
Can know: he paints just what his fancy pins:
What does his fancy pin? What he can paint!
56.
Poets' Vanity.
Glue, only glue to me dispense,
The wood I'll find myself, don't fear!
To give four senseless verses sense—
That's an achievement I revere!
## p. 27 (#49) ##############################################
JEST, RUSE AND REVENGE 27
57-
Taste in Choosing.
If to choose my niche precise
Freedom I could win from fate,
I'd be in midst of Paradise—
Or, sooner still—before the gate!
58.
The Crooked Nose.
Wide blow your nostrils, and across
The land your nose holds haughty sway:
So you, unhorned rhinoceros,
Proud mannikin, fall forward aye!
The one trait with the other goes:
A straight pride and a crooked nose.
59-
The Pen is Scratching. . . .
The pen is scratching: hang the pen!
To scratching I'm condemned to sink!
I grasp the inkstand fiercely then
And write in floods of flowing ink.
How broad, how full the stream's career!
What luck my labours doth requite!
'Tis true, the writing's none too clear—
What then? Who reads the stuff I write?
60.
Loftier Spirits.
This man's climbing up—let us praise him—
But that other we love
From aloft doth eternally move,
So above even praise let us raise him,
He comes from above!
## p. 28 (#50) ##############################################
28
THE JOYFUL WISDOM
61.
The Sceptic Speaks.
Your life is half-way o'er ;
The clock-hand moves; your soul is thrilled with
fear,
It roamed to distant shore
And sought and found not, yet you—linger here!
Your life is half-way o'er ;
That hour by hour was pain and error sheer :
Why stay? What seek you more?
“That's what I'm seeking-reasons why I'm here! ”
62.
Ecce Homo.
Yes, I know where I'm related,
Like the flame, unquenched, unsated,
I consume myself and glow :
All's turned to light I lay my hand on,
All to coal that I abandon,
Yes, I am a flame, I know !
63.
Star Morality. *
Foredoomed to spaces vast and far,
What matters darkness to the star?
Roll calmly on, let time go by,
Let sorrows pass thee-nations die !
Compassion would but dim the light
That distant worlds will gladly sight.
To thee one law-be pure and bright!
* Translated by Miss M. D. Petre.
## p. 29 (#51) ##############################################
BOOK FIRST
## p. 30 (#52) ##############################################
n
## p. 31 (#53) ##############################################
The Teachers of the Object of Existence. —Whether
I look with a good or an evil eye upon men, I find
them always at one problem, each and all of them:
to do that which conduces to the conservation of
the human species. And certainly not out of any
sentiment of love for this species, but simply
because nothing in them is older, stronger, more
inexorable, and more unconquerable than that
instinct,—because it is precisely the essence of our
race and herd. Although we are accustomed
readily enough, with our usual short-sightedness,
to separate our neighbours precisely into useful
and hurtful, into good and evil men, yet when we
make a general calculation, and on longer reflection
on the whole question, we become distrustful
of this defining and separating, and finally
leave it alone. Even the most hurtful man
is still perhaps, in respect to the conservation
of the race, the most useful of all; for he conserves
in himself, or by his effect on others, impulses
without which mankind might long ago have lan-
guished or decayed. Hatred, delight in mischief,
rapacity and ambition, and whatever else is called
evil—belong to the marvellous economy of the
conservation of the race; to be sure a costly, lavish,
## p. 32 (#54) ##############################################
32 THE JOYFUL WISDOM, I
and on the whole very foolish economy:—which
has, however, hitherto preserved our race, as is
demonstrated to us. I no longer know, my dear
fellow-man and neighbour, if thou canst at all live to
the disadvantage of the race, and therefore, "un-
reasonably" and "badly"; that which could have
injured the race has perhaps died out many
millenniums ago, and now belongs to the things
which are no longer possible even to God. Indulge
thy best or thy worst desires, and above all, go to
wreck ! —in either case thou art still probably the
furtherer and benefactor of mankind in some way
or other, and in that respect thou mayest have
thy panegyrists—and similarly thy mockers! But
thou wilt never find him who would be quite
qualified to mock at thee, the individual, at thy
best, who could bring home to thy conscience its
limitless, buzzing and croaking wretchedness so
as to be in accord with truth! To laugh at
oneself as one would have to laugh in order to
laugh out of the veriest truth,—to do this the best
have not hitherto had enough of the sense of truth,
and the most endowed have had far too little
genius! There is perhaps still a future even for
laughter! When the maxim, "The race is all,
the individual is nothing,"—has incorporated itself
in humanity, and when access stands open to
every one at all times to this ultimate emancipa-
tion and irresponsibility. —Perhaps then laughter
will have united with wisdom, perhaps then there
will be only "joyful wisdom.
haps truth is a woman who has reasons for not
* An allusion to Schiller's poem: "The Veiled Image of
Sais. "—Tr.
## p. 10 (#28) ##############################################
8 THE JOYFUL WISDOM
X, is too great in those more spiritual and more
spiritualised men, not to spread itself again and
again like a clear glow over all the trouble of the
problematic, over all the danger of uncertainty,
and even over the jealousy of the lover. We know
a new happiness. . . .
4-
Finally, (that the most essential may not remain
unsaid), one comes back out of such abysses, out
of such severe sickness, and out of the sickness of
strong suspicion—new-born, with the skin cast;
more sensitive, more wicked, with a finer taste for
joy, with a more delicate tongue for all good
things, with a merrier disposition, with a second
and more dangerous innocence in joy; more
childish at the same time, and a hundred times
more refined than ever before. Oh, how re-
pugnant to us now is pleasure, coarse, dull, drab
pleasure, as the pleasure-seekers, our "cultured"
classes, our rich and ruling classes, usually under-
stand it! How malignantly we now listen to the
great holiday-hubbub with which "cultured people"
and city-men at present allow themselves to be
forced to "spiritual enjoyment" by art, books, and
music, with the help of spirituous liquors! How
the theatrical cry of passion now pains our ear, how
strange to our taste has all the romantic riot and
sensuous bustle which the cultured populace love
become (together with their aspirations after the
exalted, the elevated, and the intricate)! No, if
we convalescents need an art at all, it is another
art—a mocking, light, volatile, divinely serene,
## p. 11 (#29) ##############################################
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION 9
divinely ingenious art, which blazes up like a clear
flame, into a cloudless heaven! Above all, an art
for artists, only for artists! We at last know
better what is first of all necessary for it—namely,
cheerfulness, every kind of cheerfulness, my friends!
also as artists :—I should like to prove it. We now
know something too well, we men of knowledge:
oh, how well we are now learning to forget and not
know, as artists! And as to our future, we are not
likely to be found again in the tracks of those
Egyptian youths who at night make the temples
unsafe, embrace statues, and would fain unveil,
uncover, and put in clear light, everything which
for good reasons is kept concealed. * No, we have
got disgusted with this bad taste, this will to truth,
to "truth at all costs," this youthful madness in
the love of truth: we are now too experienced, too
serious, too joyful, too singed, too profound for
that. . . . We no longer believe that truth remains
truth when the veil is withdrawn from it: we have
lived long enough to believe this. At present we
regard it as a matter of propriety not to be anxious
either to see everything naked, or to be present at
everything,or to understand and "know" everything.
"Is it true that the good God is everywhere
present? " asked a little girl of her mother: "1
think th. -it is indecent" :—a hint to philosophers!
One should have more reverence for the shame-
facedness with which nature has concealed herself
behind enigmas and motley uncertainties. Per-
haps truth is a woman who has reasons for not
* An allusion to Schiller's poem: "The Veiled Image of
Sais. "—Tr.
## p. 11 (#30) ##############################################
IO THE JOYFUL WISDOM
showing her reasons? Perhaps her name is Baubo,
to speak in Greek? . . . Oh, those Greeks! They
knew how to live: for that purpose it is necessary to
keep bravely to the surface, the fold and the skin;
to worship appearance, to believe in forms, tones,
and words, in the whole Olympus of appearance!
Those Greeks were superficial—from profundity!
And are we not coming back precisely to this
point, we dare-devils of the spirit, who have scaled
the highest and most dangerous peak of contem-
porary thought, and have looked around us from
it, have looked down from it? Are we not precisely
in this respect—Greeks? Worshippers of forms,
of tones, and of words? And precisely on that
account—artists?
Ruta, near Genoa
Autumn, 1886.
## p. 11 (#31) ##############################################
JEST, RUSE AND REVENGE.
A PRELUDE IN RHYME.
## p. 12 (#32) ##############################################
## p. 13 (#33) ##############################################
I.
Invitation.
Venture, comrades, I implore you,
On the fare I set before you,
You will like it more to-morrow,
Better still the following day:
If yet more you're then requiring,
Old success I'll find inspiring,
And fresh courage thence will borrow
Novel dainties to display.
2.
My Good Luck.
Weary of Seeking had I grown,
So taught myself the way to Find:
Back by the storm I once was blown,
But follow now, where drives the wind.
3-
Undismayed.
Where you're standing, dig, dig out:
Down below's the Well:
Let them that walk in darkness shout:
"Down below—there's Hell I"
## p. 14 (#34) ##############################################
THE JOYFUL WISDOM
4.
Dialogue.
A. Was I ill? and is it ended ?
Pray, by what physician tended ?
I recall no pain endured !
B. Now I know your trouble's ended :
He that can forget, is cured.
To the Virtuous.
Let our virtues be easy and nimble-footed in
motion,
Like unto Homer's verse ought they to come and
to go.
Worldly Wisdom.
Stay not on level plain,
Climb not the mount too high,
But half-way up remain-
The world you'll best descry!
Vademecum— Vadetecum.
Attracted by my style and talk
You'd follow, in my footsteps walk?
Follow yourself unswervingly,
So-careful ! shall you follow me.
## p. 15 (#35) ##############################################
JEST, RUSE AND REVENGE
15
8.
The Third Sloughing.
My skin bursts, breaks for fresh rebirth,
And new desires come thronging :
Much I've devoured, yet for more earth
The serpent in ine's longing.
'Twixt stone and grass I crawl once more,
Hungry, by crooked ways,
To eat the food I ate before,
Earth-fare all serpents praise !
9.
My Roses.
My luck's good—I'd make yours fairer,
(Good luck ever needs a sharer),
Will you stop and pluck my roses ?
Oft mid rocks and thorns you'll linger,
Hide and stoop, suck bleeding finger-
Will you stop and pluck my roses ?
For my good luck's a trifle vicious,
Fond of teasing, tricks malicious-
Will you stop and pluck my roses ?
10.
The Scorner.
Many drops I waste and spill,
So my scornful mood you curse :
Who to brim his cup doth fill,
Many drops must waste and spill-
Yet he thinks the wine no worse.
## p. 16 (#36) ##############################################
l6 THE JOYFUL WISDOM
II.
The Proverb Speaks.
Harsh and gentle, fine and mean,
Quite rare and common, dirty and clean,
The fools' and the sages' go-between:
All this I will be, this have been,
Dove and serpent and swine, I ween!
12.
To a Lover of Light.
That eye and sense be not fordone
E'en in the shade pursue the sun!
13-
For Dancers.
Smoothest ice,
A paradise
To him who is a dancer nice.
14.
The Brave Man.
A feud that knows not flaw nor break,
Rather then patched-up friendship, take.
15-
Rust.
Rust's needed: keenness will not satisfy!
"He is too young! " the rabble loves to cry.
16.
Excelsior.
"How shall I reach the top? " No time
For thus reflecting! Start to climb!
## p. 17 (#37) ##############################################
JEST, RUSE AND REVENGE 17
17-
The Man of Power Speaks.
Ask never! Cease that whining, pray!
Take without asking, take alway!
18.
Narrow Souls.
Narrow souls hate I like the devil,
Souls wherein grows nor good nor evil.
19-
Accidentally a Seducer* .
He shot an empty word
Into the empty blue;
But on the way it met
A woman whom it slew.
20.
For Consideration.
A twofold pain is easier far to bear
Than one: so now to suffer wilt thou dare?
21.
Against Pride.
Brother, to puff thyself up ne'er be quick:
For burst thou shalt be by a tiny prick!
22.
Man and Woman.
"The woman seize, who to thy heart appeals! "
Man's motto: woman seizes not, but steals.
* Translated by Miss M. D. Petre.
## p. 18 (#38) ##############################################
18 THE JOYFUL WISDOM
23-
Interpretation.
If I explain my wisdom, surely
Tis but entangled more securely,
I can't expound myself aright:
But he that's boldly up and doing,
His own unaided course pursuing,
Upon my image casts more light!
24.
A Cure for Pessimism.
Those old capricious fancies, friend!
You say your palate naught can please,
I hear you bluster, spit and wheeze,
My love, my patience soon will end!
Pluck up your courage, follow me—
Here's a fat toad I Now then, don't blink,
Swallow it whole, nor pause to think!
From your dyspepsia you'll be free!
25.
A Request.
Many men's minds I know full well,
Yet what mine own is, cannot tell.
I cannot see—my eye's too near—
And falsely to myself appear.
'Twould be to me a benefit
Far from myself if I could sit,
Less distant than my enemy,
## p. 19 (#39) ##############################################
JEST, RUSE AND REVENGE
19
And yet my nearest friend's too nigh-
'Twixt him and me, just in the middle !
What do I ask for? Guess my riddle !
26.
My Cruelty.
I must ascend an hundred stairs,
I must ascend: the herd declares
I'm cruel: “Are we made of stone? ”
I must ascend an hundred stairs :
All men the part of stair disown.
27.
The Wanderer.
“No longer path! Abyss and silence chilling ! ”
Thy fault! To leave the path thou wast too
willing!
Now comes the test! Keep cool-_eyes bright and
clear!
Thou'rt lost for sure, if thou permittest-fear.
28.
Encouragement for Beginners.
See the infant, helpless creeping-
Swine around it grunt swine-talk-
Weeping always, naught but weeping,
Will it ever learn to walk ?
Never fear! Just wait, I swear it
Soon to dance will be inclined,
And this babe, when two legs bear it,
Standing on its head you'll find.
## p. 20 (#40) ##############################################
THE JOYFUL WISDOM
29.
Planet Egoism.
Did I not turn, a rolling cask,
Ever about myself, I ask,
How could I without burning run
Close on the track of the hot sun ?
30.
The Neighbour.
Too nigh, my friend my joy doth mar,
I'd have him high above and far,
Or how can he become my star?
31.
The Disguised Saint.
Lest we for thy bliss should slay thee,
In devil's wiles thou dost array thee,
Devil's wit and devil's dress.
But in vain! Thy looks betray thee
And proclaim thy holiness.
32.
The Slave.
d. He stands and listens: whence his pain ?
What smote his ears? Some far refrain ?
Why is his heart with anguish torn ?
A Like all that fetters once have worn,
He always hears the clinking-chain!
## p. 21 (#41) ##############################################
JEST, RUSE AND REVENGE 21
33-
The Lone One.
I hate to follow and I hate to lead.
Obedience? no! and ruling? no, indeed!
Wouldst fearful be in others' sight?
Then e'en thyself thou must affright:
The people but the Terror's guidance heed.
I hate to guide myself, I hate the fray.
Like the wild beasts I'll wander far afield.
In Error's pleasing toils I'll roam
Awhile, then lure myself back home,
Back home, and—to my self-seduction yield.
34-
Seneca et hoc Genus omne.
They write and write (quite maddening me)
Their "sapient" twaddle airy,
As if 'twere primum scribere,
Deinde philosophari.
35-
Ice.
Yes! I manufacture ice:
Ice may help you to digest:
If you had much to digest,
How you would enjoy my ice!
36.
Youthful Writings.
My wisdom's A and final O
Was then the sound that smote mine ear.
## p. 22 (#42) ##############################################
22 THE JOYFUL WISDOM
Yet now it rings no longer so,
My youth's eternal Ah! and Oh!
Is now the only sound I hear. *
37-
Foresight.
In yonder region travelling, take good care!
An hast thou wit, then be thou doubly ware!
They'll smile and lure thee; then thy limbs they'll
tear:
Fanatics' country this where wits are rare!
38.
The Pious One Speaks.
God loves us, for he made us, sent us here! —
"Man hath made God! " ye subtle ones reply.
His handiwork he must hold dear,
And what he made shall he deny?
There sounds the devil's halting hoof, I fear.
39-
In Summer.
In sweat of face, so runs the screed,
We e'er must eat our bread,
Yet wise physicians if we heed
"Eat naught in sweat," 'tis said.
The dog-star's blinking: what's his need?
What tells his blazing sign?
In sweat of face (so runs his screed)
We're meant to drink our wine!
* A and O, suggestive of Ah ! and Oh! refer of course to
Alpha and Omega, the first and last letters of the Greek
alphabet. —Tr.
## p. 23 (#43) ##############################################
JEST, RUSE AND REVENGE 23
40.
Without Envy.
His look bewrays no envy: and ye laud him?
He cares not, asks not if your throng applaud him!
He has the eagle's eye for distance far,
He sees you not, he sees but star on star!
41.
Heraclitism.
Brethren, war's the origin
Of happiness on earth:
Powder-smoke and battle-din
Witness friendship's birth!
Friendship means three things, you know,—
Kinship in luckless plight,
Equality before the foe
Freedom—in death's sight!
42.
Maxim of the Over-refined.
"Rather on your toes stand high
Than crawl upon all fours,
Rather through the keyhole spy
Than through open doors! "
43-
Exhortation.
Renown you're quite resolved to earn?
My thought about it
Is this: you need not fame, must learn
To do without it!
## p. 24 (#44) ##############################################
24 THE JOYFUL WISDOM
44-
Thorough.
I an inquirer? No, that's not my calling
Only / weigh a lot—I'm such a lump! —
And through the waters I keep falling, falling,
Till on the ocean's deepest bed I bump.
45-
The Immortals.
"To-day is meet for me, I come to-day,"
Such is the speech of men foredoomed to stay.
"Thou art too soon," they cry, " thou art too late,"
What care the Immortals what the rabble say?
46.
Verdicts of the Weary.
The weary shun the glaring sun, afraid,
And only care for trees to gain the shade.
47-
Descent.
"He sinks, he falls," your scornful looks portend:
The truth is, to your level he'll descend.
His Too Much Joy is turned to weariness,
His Too Much Light will in your darkness end.
48.
Nature Silenced*
Around my neck, on chain of hair,
The timepiece hangs—a sign of care.
• Translated by Miss M. U. I'etre
## p. 25 (#45) ##############################################
JEST, RUSE AND REVENGE 25
For me the starry course is o'er,
No sun and shadow as before,
No cockcrow summons at the door,
For nature tells the time no more!
Too many clocks her voice have drowned,
And droning law has dulled her sound.
49-
The Sage Speaks.
Strange to the crowd, yet useful to the crowd,
I still pursue my path, now sun, now cloud,
But always pass above the crowd!
50.
He lost his Head. . . .
She now has wit—how did it come her way?
A man through her his reason lost, they say.
His head, though wise ere to this pastime lent,
Straight to the devil—no, to woman went!
51.
A Pious Wish.
"Oh, might all keys be lost! 'Twere better so
And in all keyholes might the pick-lock go! "
Who thus reflects ye may as—picklock know.
52.
Foot Writing.
I write not with the hand alone,
My foot would write, my foot that capers,
Firm, free and bold, it's marching on
Now through the fields, now through the papers.
## p. 25 (#46) ##############################################
24 THE JOYFUL WISDOM
44
Thorough.
I an inquirer? No, that's not my calling
Only / weigh a lot—I'm such a lump ! —
And through the waters I keep falling, falling,
Till on the ocean's deepest bed I bump.
45-
The Immortals.
"To-day is meet for me, I come to-day,"
Such is the speech of men foredoomed to stay.
"Thou art too soon," they cry, " thou art too late,"
What care the Immortals what the rabble say?
46.
Verdicts of the Weary.
The weary shun the glaring sun, afraid,
And only care for trees to gain the shade.
47-
Descent.
"He sinks, he falls," your scornful looks portend:
The truth is, to your level he'll descend.
His Too Much Joy is turned to weariness,
His Too Much Light will in your darkness end.
Nature Silenced*
Around my neck, on chain of hair,
The timepiece hangs—a sign of care.
* Translated by Miss M. D. Petre.
## p. 25 (#47) ##############################################
JEST, RUSE AND REVENGE 25
For me the starry course is o'er, •
No sun and shadow as before, v
No cockcrow summons at the door,
For nature tells the time no more!
Too many clocks her voice have drowned,
And droning law has dulled her sound.
49.
The Sage Speaks.
Strange to the crowd, yet useful to the crowd,
I still pursue my path, now sun, now cloud,
But always pass above the crowd!
50.
He lost his Head. . . .
She now has wit—how did it come her way?
A man through her his reason lost, they say.
His head, though wise ere to this pastime lent,
Straight to the devil—no, to woman went!
Si-
A Pious Wish.
"Oh, might all keys be lost! 'Twere better so
And in all keyholes might the pick-lock go! "
Who thus reflects ye may as—picklock know.
52.
Foot Writing.
I write not with the hand alone,
My foot would write, my foot that capers,
Firm, free and bold, it's marching on
Now through the fields, now through the papers.
## p. 26 (#48) ##############################################
26 THE JOYFUL WISDOM
S3-
"Human, Ail-too-Human" . . .
Shy, gloomy, when your looks are backward
thrust,
Trusting the future where yourself you trust,
Are you an eagle, mid the nobler fowl,
Or are you like Minerva's darling owl?
54-
To my Reader.
Good teeth and a digestion good
I wish you—these you need, be sure!
And, certes, if my book you've stood,
Me with good humour you'll endure.
55-
The Realistic Painter.
"To nature true, complete! " so he begins.
Who complete Nature to his canvas wins?
Her tiniest fragment's endless, no constraint
Can know: he paints just what his fancy pins:
What does his fancy pin? What he can paint!
56.
Poets' Vanity.
Glue, only glue to me dispense,
The wood I'll find myself, don't fear!
To give four senseless verses sense—
That's an achievement I revere!
## p. 27 (#49) ##############################################
JEST, RUSE AND REVENGE 27
57-
Taste in Choosing.
If to choose my niche precise
Freedom I could win from fate,
I'd be in midst of Paradise—
Or, sooner still—before the gate!
58.
The Crooked Nose.
Wide blow your nostrils, and across
The land your nose holds haughty sway:
So you, unhorned rhinoceros,
Proud mannikin, fall forward aye!
The one trait with the other goes:
A straight pride and a crooked nose.
59-
The Pen is Scratching. . . .
The pen is scratching: hang the pen!
To scratching I'm condemned to sink!
I grasp the inkstand fiercely then
And write in floods of flowing ink.
How broad, how full the stream's career!
What luck my labours doth requite!
'Tis true, the writing's none too clear—
What then? Who reads the stuff I write?
60.
Loftier Spirits.
This man's climbing up—let us praise him—
But that other we love
From aloft doth eternally move,
So above even praise let us raise him,
He comes from above!
## p. 28 (#50) ##############################################
28
THE JOYFUL WISDOM
61.
The Sceptic Speaks.
Your life is half-way o'er ;
The clock-hand moves; your soul is thrilled with
fear,
It roamed to distant shore
And sought and found not, yet you—linger here!
Your life is half-way o'er ;
That hour by hour was pain and error sheer :
Why stay? What seek you more?
“That's what I'm seeking-reasons why I'm here! ”
62.
Ecce Homo.
Yes, I know where I'm related,
Like the flame, unquenched, unsated,
I consume myself and glow :
All's turned to light I lay my hand on,
All to coal that I abandon,
Yes, I am a flame, I know !
63.
Star Morality. *
Foredoomed to spaces vast and far,
What matters darkness to the star?
Roll calmly on, let time go by,
Let sorrows pass thee-nations die !
Compassion would but dim the light
That distant worlds will gladly sight.
To thee one law-be pure and bright!
* Translated by Miss M. D. Petre.
## p. 29 (#51) ##############################################
BOOK FIRST
## p. 30 (#52) ##############################################
n
## p. 31 (#53) ##############################################
The Teachers of the Object of Existence. —Whether
I look with a good or an evil eye upon men, I find
them always at one problem, each and all of them:
to do that which conduces to the conservation of
the human species. And certainly not out of any
sentiment of love for this species, but simply
because nothing in them is older, stronger, more
inexorable, and more unconquerable than that
instinct,—because it is precisely the essence of our
race and herd. Although we are accustomed
readily enough, with our usual short-sightedness,
to separate our neighbours precisely into useful
and hurtful, into good and evil men, yet when we
make a general calculation, and on longer reflection
on the whole question, we become distrustful
of this defining and separating, and finally
leave it alone. Even the most hurtful man
is still perhaps, in respect to the conservation
of the race, the most useful of all; for he conserves
in himself, or by his effect on others, impulses
without which mankind might long ago have lan-
guished or decayed. Hatred, delight in mischief,
rapacity and ambition, and whatever else is called
evil—belong to the marvellous economy of the
conservation of the race; to be sure a costly, lavish,
## p. 32 (#54) ##############################################
32 THE JOYFUL WISDOM, I
and on the whole very foolish economy:—which
has, however, hitherto preserved our race, as is
demonstrated to us. I no longer know, my dear
fellow-man and neighbour, if thou canst at all live to
the disadvantage of the race, and therefore, "un-
reasonably" and "badly"; that which could have
injured the race has perhaps died out many
millenniums ago, and now belongs to the things
which are no longer possible even to God. Indulge
thy best or thy worst desires, and above all, go to
wreck ! —in either case thou art still probably the
furtherer and benefactor of mankind in some way
or other, and in that respect thou mayest have
thy panegyrists—and similarly thy mockers! But
thou wilt never find him who would be quite
qualified to mock at thee, the individual, at thy
best, who could bring home to thy conscience its
limitless, buzzing and croaking wretchedness so
as to be in accord with truth! To laugh at
oneself as one would have to laugh in order to
laugh out of the veriest truth,—to do this the best
have not hitherto had enough of the sense of truth,
and the most endowed have had far too little
genius! There is perhaps still a future even for
laughter! When the maxim, "The race is all,
the individual is nothing,"—has incorporated itself
in humanity, and when access stands open to
every one at all times to this ultimate emancipa-
tion and irresponsibility. —Perhaps then laughter
will have united with wisdom, perhaps then there
will be only "joyful wisdom.
