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if not the actual tyrant; the masterful; overpowering man of



prey。  We confess our inferiority and grovel before him。  We



quail under his glance; and are at the same time proud of owning



so dangerous a lord。  Such instinctive and submissive



hero…worship must have been indispensable in primeval tribal



life。  In the endless wars of those times; leaders were



absolutely needed for the tribe's survival。  If there were any



tribes who owned no leaders; they can have left no issue to



narrate their doom。  The leaders always had good consciences; for



conscience in them coalesced with will; and those who looked on



their face were as much smitten with wonder at their freedom from



inner restraint as with awe at the energy of their outward



performances。







Compared with these beaked and taloned graspers of the world;



saints are herbivorous animals; tame and harmless barn…yard



poultry。  There are saints whose beard you may; if you ever care



to; pull with impunity。  Such a man excites no thrills of wonder



veiled in terror; his conscience is full of scruples and returns;



he stuns us neither by his inward freedom nor his outward power;



and unless he found within us an altogether different faculty of



admiration to appeal to; we should pass him by with contempt。







In point of fact; he does appeal to a different faculty。



Reenacted in human nature is the fable of the wind; the sun; and



the traveler。  The sexes embody the discrepancy。  The woman loves



the man the more admiringly the stormier he shows himself; and



the world deifies its rulers the more for being willful and



unaccountable。  But the woman in turn subjugates the man by the



mystery of gentleness in beauty; and the saint has always charmed



the world by something similar。  Mankind is susceptible and



suggestible in opposite directions; and the rivalry of influences



is unsleeping。  The saintly and the worldly ideal pursue their



feud in literature as much as in real life。







For Nietzsche the saint represents little but sneakingness and



slavishness。  He is the sophisticated invalid; the degenerate par



excellence; the man of insufficient vitality。  His prevalence



would put the human type in danger。







〃The sick are the greatest danger for the well。  The weaker; not



the stronger; are the strong's undoing。  It is not FEAR of our



fellow…man; which we should wish to see diminished; for fear



rouses those who are strong to become terrible in turn



themselves; and preserves the hard…earned and successful type of



humanity。 What is to be dreaded by us more than any other doom is



not fear; but rather the great disgust; not fear; but rather the



great pitydisgust and pity for our human fellows。 。 。 。  The



MORBID are our greatest perilnot the 'bad' men; not the



predatory beings。  Those born wrong; the miscarried; the broken



they it is; the WEAKEST who are undermining the vitality of the



race; poisoning our trust in life; and putting humanity in



question。 Every look of them is a sigh'Would I were something



other!  I am sick and tired of what I am。'  In this swamp…soil of



self…contempt; every poisonous weed flourishes; and all so small;



so secret; so dishonest; and so sweetly rotten。  Here swarm the



worms of sensitiveness and resentment; here the air smells odious



with secrecy; with what is not to be acknowledged; here is woven



endlessly the net of the meanest of conspiracies; the conspiracy



of those who suffer against those who succeed and are victorious;



here the very aspect of the victorious is hatedas if health;



success; strength; pride; and the sense of power were in



themselves things vicious; for which one ought eventually to make



bitter expiation。  Oh; how these people would themselves like to



inflict the expiation; how they thirst to be the hangmen!  And



all the while their duplicity never confesses their hatred to



be hatred。〃'222'







'222' Zur Genealogie der Moral; Dritte Abhandlung; Section 14。  I



have abridged; and in one place transposed; a sentence。















Poor Nietzsche's antipathy is itself sickly enough; but we all



know what he means; and he expresses well the clash between the



two Ideals。  The carnivorous…minded 〃strong man;〃 the adult male



and cannibal; can see nothing but mouldiness and morbidness in



the saint's gentleness and self…severity; and regards him with



pure loathing。  The whole feud revolves essentially upon two



pivots:  Shall the seen world or the unseen world be our chief



sphere of adaptation?  and must our means of adaptation in this



seen world be aggressiveness or non…resistance?







The debate is serious。  In some sense and to some degree both



worlds must be acknowledged and taken account of; and in the seen



world both aggressiveness and non…resistance are needful。  It is



a question of emphasis; of more or less。  Is the saint's type or



the strong…man's type the more ideal?







It has often been supposed; and even now; I think; it is supposed



by most persons; that there can be one intrinsically ideal type



of human character。  A certain kind of man; it is imagined; must



be the best man absolutely and apart from the utility of his



function; apart from economical considerations。  The saint's



type; and the knight's or gentleman's type; have always been



rival claimants of this absolute ideality; and in the ideal of



military religious orders both types were in a manner blended。 



According to the empirical philosophy; however; all ideals are



matters of relation。  It would be absurd; for example; to ask for



a definition of 〃the ideal horse;〃 so long as dragging drays and



running races; bearing children; and jogging about with



tradesmen's packages all remain as indispensable differentiations



of equine function。  You may take what you call a general



all…round animal as a compromise; but he will be inferior to any



horse of a more specialized type; in some one particular



direction。 We must not forget this now when; in discussing



saintliness; we ask if it be an ideal type of manhood。  We must



test it by its economical relations。







I think that the method which Mr。 Spencer uses in his Data of



Ethics will help to fix our opinion。  Ideality in conduct is



altogether a matter of adaptation。  A society where all were



invariably aggressive would destroy itself by inner friction; and



in a society where some are aggressive; others must be



non…resistant; if there is to be any kind of order。 This is the



present constitution of society; and to the mixture we owe many



of our blessings。  But the aggressive members of society are



always tending to become bullies; robbers; and swindlers; and no



one believes that such a state of things as we now live in is the



millennium。  It is meanwhile quite possible to conceive an



imaginary society in which there should be no aggressiveness; but



only sympathy and fairnessany small community of true friends



now realizes such a society。  Abstractly considered; such a



society on a large scale would be the millennium; for every good



thing might be realized there with no expense of friction。  To



such a millennial society the saint would be entirely adapted。 



His peaceful modes of appeal would be efficacious over his



companions; and there would be no one extant to take advantage of



his non…resistance。  The saint is therefore abstractly a higher



type of man than the 〃strong man;〃 because he is adapted to the



highest society conceivable; whether that society ever be



concretely possible or not。  The strong man would immediately



tend by his presence to make that society deteriorate。  It would



become inferior in everything save in a certain kind of bellicose



excitement; dear to men as they now are。







But if we turn from the abstract question to the actual



situation; we find that the individual saint may be well or ill



adapted; according to particular circumstances。  There is; in



short; no absoluteness in the excellence of sainthood。  It must



be confessed that as far as this world goes; anyone who makes an



out…and…out saint of himself does so at his peril。  If he is not



a large enough man; he may appear more insignificant and



contemptible; for all his saintship; than if he had remained a



worldling。'223'  Accordingly religion has seldom been so



radically taken in our Western world that the devotee could not



mix it with some worldly temper。 It has always found good men who



could follow most of its imp
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