74.
A contribution to the characterisation of "_Modernity._"--Exaggerated
development of intermediate forms; the decay of types; the break-up of
tradition, schools; the predominance of the instincts (philosophically
prepared: the unconscious has the greater value) after the appearance
of the _enfeeblement of will power_ and of the will to an end _and_ to
the means thereto.
75.
A capable artisan or scholar cuts a good figure if he have his pride
in his art, and looks pleasantly and contentedly upon life. On the
other hand, there is no sight more wretched than that of a cobbler or
a schoolmaster who, with the air of a martyr, gives one to understand
that he was really born for something better. There is nothing better
than what is good! and that is: to have a certain kind of capacity and
to use it. This is _virtù_ in the Italian style of the Renaissance.
Nowadays, when the state has a nonsensically oversized belly, in all
fields and branches of work there are "representatives" over and above
the real workman: for instance, in addition to the scholars, there
are the journalists; in addition to the suffering masses, there is a
crowd of jabbering and bragging ne'er-do-wells who "represent" that
suffering--not to speak of the professional politicians who, though
quite satisfied with their lot, stand up in Parliament and, with
strong lungs, "represent" grievances. Our modern life is extremely
_expensive,_ thanks to the host of middlemen that infest it; whereas
in the city of antiquity, and in many a city of Spain and Italy
to-day, where there is an echo of the ancient spirit, the man himself
comes forward and will have nothing to do with a representative or an
intermediary in the modern style--except perhaps to kick him hence!
76.
The pre-eminence of the _merchant_ and the _middleman,_ even in the
most intellectual spheres: the journalist, the "representative," the
historian (as an intermediary between the past and the present), the
exotic and cosmopolitan, the middleman between natural science and
philosophy, the semi-theologians.
77.
The men I have regarded with the most loathing, heretofore, are the
parasites of intellect: they are to be found everywhere, already, in
our modern Europe, and as a matter of fact their conscience is as light
as it possibly can be. They may be a little turbid, and savour somewhat
of Pessimism, but in the main they are voracious, dirty, dirtying,
stealthy, insinuating, light-fingered gentry, scabby--and as innocent
as all small sinners and microbes are. They live at the expense of
those who have intellect and who distribute it liberally: they know
that it is peculiar to the rich mind to live in a disinterested
fashion, without taking too much petty thought for the morrow, and
to distribute its wealth prodigally. For intellect is a bad domestic
economist, and pays no heed whatever to the fact that everything lives
on it and devours it.
78.