935.
_Type._ real goodness, nobility, greatness of soul, as the result of
vital wealth: which does not give in order to receive--and which has no
desire to _elevate_ itself by being good, _squandering_ is typical of
genuine goodness, vital _personal_ wealth is its prerequisite.
936.
_Aristocracy._--Gregarious ideals at present culminating in the highest
standard of value for society. It has been attempted to give them a
cosmic, yea, and even a metaphysical, value.--I defend _aristocracy_
against them.
Any society which would of itself preserve a feeling of respect
and _délicatesse_ in regard to freedom, must consider itself as an
exception, and have a force against it from which it distinguishes
itself, and upon which it looks down with hostility.
The more rights I surrender and the more I level myself down to others,
the more deeply do I sink into the average and ultimately into the
greatest number. The first condition which an aristocratic society
must have in order to maintain a high degree of freedom among its
members, is that extreme tension which arises from the presence of
the most _antagonistic_ instincts in all its units: from their will to
dominate....
If ye would fain do away with strong contrasts and differences of rank,
ye will also abolish, strong love, lofty attitudes of mind, and the
feeling of individuality.
***
Concerning the _actual_ psychology of societies based upon freedom and
equality.--What is it that tends to _diminish_ in such a society?
The will to be _responsible for ones self_ (the loss of this is a sign
of the decline of autonomy); the ability to defend and to attack, even
in spiritual matters; the power of command; the sense of reverence,
of subservience, the ability to be silent, _great passion,_ great
achievements, tragedy and cheerfulness.
937.
In 1814 Augustin Thierry read what Montlosier had said in his work, _De
la Monarchie française:_ he answered with a cry of indignation, and set
himself to his task. That emigrant had said:
"_Race d'affranchis, race d'esclaves arrachés de nos mains, peuple
tributaire, peuple nouveau, licence vous fut octroyée d'être libres,
et non pas à nous d'être nobles; pour nous tout est de droit, pour
vous tout est de grâce, nous ne sommes point de votre communauté; nous
sommes un tout par nous mêmes._"
938.
How constantly the aristocratic world shears and weakens itself ever
more and more! By means of its noble instincts it abandons its
privileges, and owing to its refined and excessive culture, it takes
an interest in the people, the weak, the poor, and the poetry of the
lowly, etc.
939.
There is such a thing as a noble and dangerous form of carelessness,
which allows of profound conclusions and insight: the carelessness
of the self-reliant and over-rich soul, which has never _troubled_
itself about friends, but which knows only hospitality and knows
how to practise it; whose heart and house are open to all who will
enter--beggar, cripple, or king. This is genuine sociability: he who is
capable of it has hundreds of "friends," but probably not one friend.
940.
The teaching μηδὲν ἄγαν applies to men with overflowing
strength,--not to the mediocre, ἐγκράτεια and ἄσκησις are only
steps to higher things. Above them stands "golden Nature."
_"Thou shalt"_--unconditional obedience in Stoics, in Christian and
Arabian Orders, in Kant's philosophy (it is immaterial whether this
obedience is shown to a superior or to a concept).
Higher than "Thou shalt" stands "I will" (the heroes); higher than "I
will" stands "I am" (the gods of the Greeks).
Barbarian gods express nothing of the pleasure of restraint,--they are
neither simple, nor light-hearted, nor moderate.
941.
The essence of our gardens and palaces (and to the same extent the
essence of all yearning after riches) is _the desire to rid the eye of
disorder and vulgarity, and to build a home for our soul's nobility._
The majority of people certainly believe that they will develop higher
natures when those beautiful and peaceful things have operated upon
them: hence the exodus to Italy, hence all travelling, etc., and all
reading and visits to theatres. _People want to be formed_--that is the
kernel of their labours for culture! But the strong, the mighty, would
themselves _have a hand in the forming, and would fain have nothing
strange about them_!
It is for this reason, too, that men go to open Nature, not to find
themselves, but to lose themselves and to forget themselves. The desire
"_to get away from one's self_" is proper to all weaklings, and to all
those who are discontented with themselves.
942.
The only nobility is that of birth and blood. (I do not refer here to
the prefix "Lord" and _L'almanac de Gotha_: this is a parenthesis for
donkeys.) Wherever people speak of the "aristocracy of intellect,"
reasons are generally not lacking for concealing something, it is
known to be a password among ambitious Jews. Intellect alone does
not ennoble; on the contrary, something is always needed _to ennoble
intellect._--What then is needed?--Blood.
943.
What is noble?
--External punctiliousness; because this punctiliousness hedges a man
about, keeps him at a distance, saves him from being confounded with
somebody else.
A frivolous appearance in word, clothing, and bearing, with which
stoical hardness and self-control protect themselves from all prying
inquisitiveness or curiosity.
--A slow step and a slow glance. There are not too many valuable things
on earth: and these come and wish to come of themselves to him who has
value. We are not quick to admire.
--We know how to bear poverty, want, and even illness.
--We avoid small honours owing to our mistrust of all who are
over-ready to praise: for the man who praises believes he understands
what he praises: but to understand--Balzac, that typical man of
ambition, betrayed the fact _comprendre c'est égaler._
--Our doubt concerning the communicativeness of our hearts goes very
deep; to us, loneliness is not a matter of choice, it is imposed upon
us.
--We are convinced that we only have duties to our equals, to others we
do as we think best: we know that justice is only to be expected among
equals (alas! this will not be realised for some time to come),
--We are ironical towards the "gifted"; we hold the belief that no
morality is possible without good birth.
--We always feel as if we were those who had to dispense honours: while
he is not found too frequently who would be worthy of honouring us.
--We are always disguised: the higher a man's nature the more is he
in need of remaining incognito. If there be a God, then out of sheer
decency He ought only to show Himself on earth in the form of a man.
--We are capable of _otium,_ of the unconditional conviction that
although a handicraft does not shame one in any sense, it certainly
reduces one's rank. However much we may respect "industry," and know
how to give it its due, we do not appreciate it in a bourgeois sense,
or after the manner of those insatiable and cackling artists who, like
hens, cackle and lay eggs, and cackle again.
--We protect artists and poets and any one who happens to be a master
in something; but as creatures of a higher order than those, who only
know how to do something, who are only "productive men," we do not
confound ourselves with them.
--We find joy in all _forms_ and ceremonies; we would fain foster
everything formal, and we are convinced that courtesy is one of the
greatest virtues; we feel suspicious of every kind of _laisser aller,_
including the freedom of the press and of thought; because, under such
conditions, the intellect grows easy-going and coarse, and stretches
its limbs.
--We take pleasure in women as in a perhaps daintier, more delicate,
and more ethereal kind of creature. What a treat it is to meet
creatures who have only dancing and nonsense and finery in their
minds! They have always been the delight of every tense and profound
male soul, whose life is burdened with heavy responsibilities.
--We take pleasure in princes and in priests, because in big things, as
in small, they actually uphold the belief in the difference of human
values, even in the estimation of the past, and at least symbolically.
--We are able to keep silence _i_ but we do not breathe a word of this
in the presence of listeners.
--We are able to endure long enmities: we lack the power of easy
reconciliations.
--We have a loathing of demagogism, of enlightenment, of amiability,
and plebeian familiarity.
--We collect precious things, the needs of higher and fastidious souls;
we wish to possess nothing in common. We want to have our own books,
our _own_ landscapes.
--We protest against evil and fine experiences, and take care not to
generalise too quickly. The individual case: how ironically we regard
it when it has the bad taste to put on the airs of a rule!
--We love that which is _naïf,_ and _naïf_ people, but as spectators
and higher creatures; we think Faust is just as simple as his Margaret.
--We have a low estimation of good people, because they are gregarious
animals: we know how often an invaluable golden drop of goodness
lies concealed beneath the most evil, the most malicious, and the
hardest exterior, and that this single grain outweighs all the mere
goody-goodiness of milk-and-watery souls.
--We don't regard a man of our kind as refuted by his vices, nor by his
tomfooleries. We are well aware that we are not recognised with ease,
and that we have every reason to make our foreground very prominent.
944.
_What is noble?_--The fact that one is constantly forced to be playing
a part. That one is constantly searching for situations in which one
is forced to put on airs. That one leaves happiness to the _greatest
number:_ the happiness which consists of inner peacefulness, of virtue,
of comfort, and of Anglo-angelic-back-parlour-smugness, _à la_ Spencer.
That one instinctively seeks for heavy responsibilities. That one knows
how to create enemies everywhere, at a pinch even in one's self. That
one contradicts the _greatest number,_ not in words at all, but by
continually behaving differently from them.
945.
Virtue (for instance, truthfulness) is _our_ most noble and most
dangerous luxury. We must not decline the disadvantages which it brings
in its train.
946.
We refuse to be _praised:_ we do what serves our purpose, what gives us
pleasure, or what we are obliged to do.
947.
What is chastity in a man? It means that his taste in sex has remained
noble; that _in eroticis_ he likes neither the brutal, the morbid, nor
the clever.
948.
The concept of honour is founded upon the belief in select society,
in knightly excellences, in the obligation of having continually to
play a part. In essentials it means that one does not take one's life
too seriously, that one adheres unconditionally to the most dignified
manners in one's dealings with everybody (at least in so far as they do
not belong to "us"); that one is neither familiar, nor good-natured,
nor hearty, nor modest, except _inter pares_; that one is _always
playing a part._
949.
The fact that one sets one's life, one's health, and one's honour
at stake, is the result of high spirits and of an overflowing and
spendthrift will: it is not the result of philanthropy, but of the fact
that every danger kindles our curiosity concerning the measure of our
strength, and provokes our courage.
950.
Eagles swoop down straight nobility of soul is best revealed by the
magnificent and proud foolishness with which it makes its _attacks._
951.
War should be made against all namby-pamby ideas of _nobility_!--A
certain modicum of brutality cannot be dispensed with: no more
than we can do without a certain approximation to criminality.
"Self-satisfaction" must _not_ be allowed; a man should look upon
himself with an adventurous spirit; he should experiment with himself
and run risks with himself--no beautiful soul-quackery should be
tolerated. I want to give _a more robust ideal_ a chance of prevailing.
952.
"Paradise is under the shadow of a swordsman"--this is also a symbol
and a test-word by which souls with noble and warrior-like origin
betray and discover themselves.
953.
_The two paths._--There comes a period when man has a surplus amount
of power at his disposal. Science aims at establishing the _slavery of
nature._
Then man acquires the _leisure_ in which to develop himself into
something new and more lofty. _A new aristocracy._ It is then that a
large number of virtues which are now _conditions of existence_ are
superseded.--Qualities which are no longer needed are on that account
lost. We no longer need virtues: _consequently_ we are losing them
(likewise the morality of "one thing is needful," of the salvation of
the soul, and of immortality: these were means wherewith to make man
capable of enormous self-tyranny, through the emotion of great fear!!!).
The different kinds of needs by means of whose discipline man is
formed: need teaches work, thought, and self-control.
***
_Physiological_ purification and strengthening. The new aristocracy is
in need of an opposing body which it may combat: it must be driven to
extremities in order to maintain itself.
_The two futures of mankind_: (1) the consequence of a levelling-down
to mediocrity, (2) conscious aloofness and self-development.
A doctrine which would cleave a _gulf:_ it maintains the _highest and
the lowest species_ (it destroys the intermediate).
The aristocracies, both spiritual and temporal, which have existed
hitherto prove nothing _against_ the necessity of a new aristocracy.