—Let us look each other in the face. We are Hyperboreans—we know well enough how remote our place is. “Neither by land nor by water will you find the road to the Hyperboreans”: even Pindar,[1] in his day, knew that much about us. Beyond the North, beyond the ice, beyond death—our life, our happiness.... We have discovered that happiness; we know the way; we got our knowledge of it from thousands of years in the labyrinth1. Who else has found it?—The man of today?—“I don’t know either the way out or the way in; I am whatever doesn’t know either the way out or the way in”—so sighs the man of today.... This is the sort of modernity that made us ill,—we sickened on lazy peace, cowardly compro mise, the whole virtuous3 dirtiness of the modern Yea and Nay4. This tolerance5 and largeur of the heart that “forgives” everything because it “understands” everything is a sirocco to us. Rather live amid the ice than among modern virtues6 and other such south-winds!... We were brave enough; we spared neither ourselves nor others; but we were a long time finding out where to direct our courage. We grew dismal9; they called us fatalists. Our fate—it was the fulness, the tension, the storing up of powers. We thirsted for the lightnings and great deeds; we kept as far as possible from the happiness of the weakling, from “resignation”... There was thunder in our air; nature, as we embodied10 it, became overcast—for we had not yet found the way. The formula of our happiness: a Yea, a Nay, a straight line, a goal....
[1]Cf. the tenth Pythian ode. See also the fourth book of Herodotus. The Hyperboreans were a mythical11 people beyond the Rhipaean mountains, in the far North. They enjoyed unbroken happiness and perpetual youth.
2.
What is evil?—Whatever springs from weakness.
What is happiness?—The feeling that power increases—that resistance is overcome.
Not contentment, but more power; not peace at any price, but war; not virtue7, but efficiency (virtue in the Renaissance14 sense, virtu, virtue free of moral acid).
The weak and the botched shall perish: first principle of our charity. And one should help them to it.
What is more harmful than any vice15?—Practical sympathy for the botched and the weak—Christianity....
3.
The problem that I set here is not what shall replace mankind in the order of living creatures (—man is an end—): but what type of man must be bred, must be willed, as being the most valuable, the most worthy17 of life, the most secure guarantee of the future.
This more valuable type has appeared often enough in the past: but always as a happy accident, as an exception, never as deliberately18 willed. Very often it has been precisely20 the most feared; hitherto it has been almost the terror of terrors;—and out of that terror the contrary type has been willed, cultivated and attained22: the domestic animal, the herd23 animal, the sick brute-man—the Christian16....
4.
Mankind surely does not represent an evolution toward a better or stronger or higher level, as progress is now understood. This “progress” is merely a modern idea, which is to say, a false idea. The European of today, in his essential worth, falls far below the European of the Renaissance; the process of evolution does not necessarily mean elevation25, enhancement, strengthening.
True enough, it succeeds in isolated26 and individual cases in various parts of the earth and under the most widely different cultures, and in these cases a higher type certainly manifests itself; something which, compared to mankind in the mass, appears as a sort of superman. Such happy strokes of high success have always been possible, and will remain possible, perhaps, for all time to come. Even whole races, tribes and nations may occasionally represent such lucky accidents.
5.
We should not deck out and embellish27 Christianity: it has waged a war to the death against this higher type of man, it has put all the deepest instincts of this type under its ban, it has developed its concept of evil, of the Evil One himself, out of these instincts—the strong man as the typical reprobate28, the “outcast among men.” Christianity has taken the part of all the weak, the low, the botched; it has made an ideal out of antagonism29 to all the self-preservative instincts of sound life; it has corrupted30 even the faculties32 of those natures that are intellectually most vigorous, by representing the highest intellectual values as sinful, as misleading, as full of temptation. The most lamentable33 example: the corruption34 of Pascal, who believed that his intellect had been destroyed by original sin, whereas it was actually destroyed by Christianity!—
6.
It is a painful and tragic35 spectacle that rises before me: I have drawn37 back the curtain from the rottenness of man. This word, in my mouth, is at least free from one suspicion: that it involves a moral accusation38 against humanity. It is used—and I wish to emphasize the fact again—without any moral significance: and this is so far true that the rottenness I speak of is most apparent to me precisely in those quarters where there has been most aspiration39, hitherto, toward “virtue” and “godliness.” As you probably surmise40, I understand rottenness in the sense of décadence: my argument is that all the values on which mankind now fixes its highest aspirations41 are décadence-values.
I call an animal, a species, an individual corrupt31, when it loses its instincts, when it chooses, when it prefers, what is injurious to it. A history of the “higher feelings,” the “ideals of humanity”—and it is possible that I’ll have to write it—would almost explain why man is so degenerate42. Life itself appears to me as an instinct for growth, for survival, for the accumulation of forces, for power: whenever the will to power fails there is disaster. My contention43 is that all the highest values of humanity have been emptied of this will—that the values of décadence, of nihilism, now prevail under the holiest names.
7.
Christianity is called the religion of pity.—Pity stands in opposition44 to all the tonic46 passions that augment13 the energy of the feeling of aliveness: it is a depressant. A man loses power when he pities. Through pity that drain upon strength which suffering works is multiplied a thousandfold. Suffering is made contagious47 by pity; under certain circumstances it may lead to a total sacrifice of life and living energy—a loss out of all proportion to the magnitude of the cause (—the case of the death of the Nazarene). This is the first view of it; there is, however, a still more important one. If one measures the effects of pity by the gravity of the reactions it sets up, its character as a menace to life appears in a much clearer light. Pity thwarts48 the whole law of evolution, which is the law of natural selection. It preserves whatever is ripe for destruction; it fights on the side of those disinherited and condemned50 by life; by maintaining life in so many of the botched of all kinds, it gives life itself a gloomy and dubious51 aspect. Mankind has ventured to call pity a virtue (—in every superior moral system it appears as a weakness—); going still further, it has been called the virtue, the source and foundation of all other virtues—but let us always bear in mind that this was from the standpoint of a philosophy that was nihilistic, and upon whose shield the denial of life was inscribed52. Schopenhauer was right in this: that by means of pity life is denied, and made worthy of denial—pity is the technic of nihilism. Let me repeat: this depressing and contagious instinct stands against all those instincts which work for the preservation53 and enhancement of life: in the r?le of protector of the miserable54, it is a prime agent in the promotion55 of décadence—pity persuades to extinction56.... Of course, one doesn’t say “extinction”: one says “the other world,” or “God,” or “the true life,” or Nirvana, salvation57, blessedness.... This innocent rhetoric58, from the realm of religious-ethical60 balderdash, appears a good deal less innocent when one reflects upon the tendency that it conceals61 beneath sublime62 words: the tendency to destroy life. Schopenhauer was hostile to life: that is why pity appeared to him as a virtue.... Aristotle, as every one knows, saw in pity a sickly and dangerous state of mind, the remedy for which was an occasional purgative63: he regarded tragedy as that purgative. The instinct of life should prompt us to seek some means of puncturing64 any such pathological and dangerous accumulation of pity as that appearing in Schopenhauer’s case (and also, alack, in that of our whole literary décadence, from St. Petersburg to Paris, from Tolstoi to Wagner), that it may burst and be discharged.... Nothing is more unhealthy, amid all our unhealthy modernism, than Christian pity. To be the doctors here, to be unmerciful here, to wield66 the knife here—all this is our business, all this is our sort of humanity, by this sign we are philosophers, we Hyperboreans!—
8.
It is necessary to say just whom we regard as our antagonists67: theologians and all who have any theological blood in their veins68—this is our whole philosophy.... One must have faced that menace at close hand, better still, one must have had experience of it directly and almost succumbed69 to it, to realize that it is not to be taken lightly (—the alleged70 free-thinking of our naturalists and physiologists72 seems to me to be a joke—they have no passion about such things; they have not suffered—). This poisoning goes a great deal further than most people think: I find the arrogant73 habit of the theologian among all who regard themselves as “idealists”—among all who, by virtue of a higher point of departure, claim a right to rise above reality, and to look upon it with suspicion.... The idealist, like the ecclesiastic74, carries all sorts of lofty concepts in his hand (—and not only in his hand!); he launches them with benevolent75 contempt against “understanding,” “the senses,” “honor,” “good living,” “science”; he sees such things as beneath him, as pernicious and seductive forces, on which “the soul” soars as a pure thing-in-itself—as if humility76, chastity, poverty, in a word, holiness, had not already done much more damage to life than all imaginable horrors and vices77.... The pure soul is a pure lie.... So long as the priest, that professional denier, calumniator78 and poisoner of life, is accepted as a higher variety of man, there can be no answer to the question, What is truth? Truth has already been stood on its head when the obvious attorney of mere24 emptiness is mistaken for its representative....
9.
Upon this theological instinct I make war: I find the tracks of it everywhere. Whoever has theological blood in his veins is shifty and dishonourable in all things. The pathetic thing that grows out of this condition is called faith: in other words, closing one’s eyes upon one’s self once for all, to avoid suffering the sight of incurable80 falsehood. People erect81 a concept of morality, of virtue, of holiness upon this false view of all things; they ground good conscience upon faulty vision; they argue that no other sort of vision has value any more, once they have made theirs sacrosanct82 with the names of “God,” “salvation” and “eternity83.” I unearth84 this theological instinct in all directions: it is the most widespread and the most subterranean85 form of falsehood to be found on earth. Whatever a theologian regards as true must be false: there you have almost a criterion of truth. His profound instinct of self-preservation stands against truth ever coming into honour in any way, or even getting stated. Wherever the in fluence of theologians is felt there is a transvaluation of values, and the concepts “true” and “false” are forced to change places: whatever is most damaging to life is there called “true,” and whatever exalts86 it, intensifies87 it, approves it, justifies88 it and makes it triumphant89 is there called “false.”... When theologians, working through the “consciences” of princes (or of peoples—), stretch out their hands for power, there is never any doubt as to the fundamental issue: the will to make an end, the nihilistic will exerts that power....
10.
Among Germans I am immediately understood when I say that theological blood is the ruin of philosophy. The Protestant pastor90 is the grandfather of German philosophy; Protestantism itself is its peccatum originale. Definition of Protestantism: hemiplegic paralysis91 of Christianity—and of reason.... One need only utter the words “Tübingen School” to get an understanding of what German philosophy is at bottom—a very artful form of theology.... The Suabians are the best liars92 in Germany; they lie innocently.... Why all the rejoicing over the appearance of Kant that went through the learned world of Germany, three-fourths of which is made up of the sons of preachers and teachers—why the German conviction still echoing, that with Kant came a change for the better? The theological instinct of German scholars made them see clearly just what had become possible again.... A backstairs leading to the old ideal stood open; the concept of the “true world,” the concept of morality as the essence of the world (—the two most vicious errors that ever existed!), were once more, thanks to a subtle and wily scepticism, if not actually demonstrable, then at least no longer refutable.... Reason, the prerogative94 of reason, does not go so far.... Out of reality there had been made “appearance”; an absolutely false world, that of being, had been turned into reality.... The success of Kant is merely a theological success; he was, like Luther and Leibnitz, but one more impediment to German integrity, already far from steady.—
11.
A word now against Kant as a moralist. A virtue must be our invention; it must spring out of our personal need and defence. In every other case it is a source of danger. That which does not belong to our life menaces it; a virtue which has its roots in mere respect for the concept of “virtue,” as Kant would have it, is pernicious. “Virtue,” “duty,” “good for its own sake,” goodness grounded upon impersonality95 or a notion of universal validity—these are all chimeras96, and in them one finds only an expression of the decay, the last collapse97 of life, the Chinese spirit of K?nigsberg. Quite the contrary is demanded by the most profound laws of self-preservation and of growth: to wit, that every man find his own virtue, his own categorical imperative99. A nation goes to pieces when it confounds its duty with the general concept of duty. Nothing works a more complete and penetrating100 disaster than every “impersonal” duty, every sacrifice before the Moloch of abstraction.—To think that no one has thought of Kant’s categorical imperative as dangerous to life!... The theological instinct alone took it under protection!—An action prompted by the life-instinct proves that it is a right action by the amount of pleasure that goes with it: and yet that Nihilist, with his bowels101 of Christian dogmatism, regarded pleasure as an objection.... What destroys a man more quickly than to work, think and feel without inner necessity, without any deep personal desire, without pleasure—as a mere automaton102 of duty? That is the recipe for décadence, and no less for idiocy103.... Kant became an idiot.—And such a man was the contemporary of Goethe! This calamitous104 spinner of cobwebs passed for the German philosopher—still passes today!... I forbid myself to say what I think of the Germans.... Didn’t Kant see in the French Revolution the transformation105 of the state from the inorganic106 form to the organic? Didn’t he ask himself if there was a single event that could be explained save on the assumption of a moral faculty107 in man, so that on the basis of it, “the tendency of mankind toward the good” could be explained, once and for all time? Kant’s answer: “That is revolution.” Instinct at fault in everything and anything, instinct as a revolt against nature, German décadence as a philosophy—that is Kant! —
12.
I put aside a few sceptics, the types of decency108 in the history of philosophy: the rest haven’t the slightest conception of intellectual integrity. They behave like women, all these great enthusiasts109 and prodigies—they regard “beautiful feelings” as arguments, the “heaving breast” as the bellows110 of divine inspiration, conviction as the criterion of truth. In the end, with “German” innocence111, Kant tried to give a scientific flavour to this form of corruption, this dearth112 of intellectual conscience, by calling it “practical reason.” He deliberately invented a variety of reasons for use on occasions when it was desirable not to trouble with reason—that is, when morality, when the sublime command “thou shalt,” was heard. When one recalls the fact that, among all peoples, the philosopher is no more than a development from the old type of priest, this inheritance from the priest, this fraud upon self, ceases to be remarkable113. When a man feels that he has a divine mission, say to lift up, to save or to liberate19 mankind—when a man feels the divine spark in his heart and believes that he is the mouthpiece of super natural imperatives—when such a mission inflames114 him, it is only natural that he should stand beyond all merely reasonable standards of judgment115. He feels that he is himself sanctified by this mission, that he is himself a type of a higher order!... What has a priest to do with philosophy! He stands far above it!—And hitherto the priest has ruled!—He has determined116 the meaning of “true” and “not true”!...
13.
Let us not underestimate this fact: that we ourselves, we free spirits, are already a “transvaluation of all values,” a visualized117 declaration of war and victory against all the old concepts of “true” and “not true.” The most valuable intuitions are the last to be attained; the most valuable of all are those which determine methods. All the methods, all the principles of the scientific spirit of today, were the targets for thousands of years of the most profound contempt; if a man inclined to them he was excluded from the society of “decent” people—he passed as “an enemy of God,” as a scoffer118 at the truth, as one “possessed119.” As a man of science, he belonged to the Chandala[2].... We have had the whole pathetic stupidity of mankind against us—their every notion of what the truth ought to be, of what the service of the truth ought to be—their every “thou shalt” was launched against us.... Our objectives, our methods, our quiet, cautious, distrustful manner—all appeared to them as absolutely discreditable and contemptible120.—Looking back, one may almost ask one’s self with reason if it was not actually an aesthetic121 sense that kept men blind so long: what they demanded of the truth was picturesque122 effectiveness, and of the learned a strong appeal to their senses. It was our modesty123 that stood out longest against their taste.... How well they guessed that, these turkey-cocks of God!
[2] The lowest of the Hindu castes.
14.
We have unlearned something. We have become more modest in every way. We no longer derive124 man from the “spirit,” from the “godhead”; we have dropped him back among the beasts. We regard him as the strongest of the beasts because he is the craftiest125; one of the re sults thereof is his intellectuality. On the other hand, we guard ourselves against a conceit126 which would assert itself even here: that man is the great second thought in the process of organic evolution. He is, in truth, anything but the crown of creation: beside him stand many other animals, all at similar stages of development.... And even when we say that we say a bit too much, for man, relatively127 speaking, is the most botched of all the animals and the sickliest, and he has wandered the most dangerously from his instincts—though for all that, to be sure, he remains128 the most interesting!—As regards the lower animals, it was Descartes who first had the really admirable daring to describe them as machina; the whole of our physiology129 is directed toward proving the truth of this doctrine130. Moreover, it is illogical to set man apart, as Descartes did: what we know of man today is limited precisely by the extent to which we have regarded him, too, as a machine. Formerly131 we accorded to man, as his inheritance from some higher order of beings, what was called “free will”; now we have taken even this will from him, for the term no longer describes anything that we can understand. The old word “will” now connotes only a sort of result, an individual reaction, that follows inevitably132 upon a series of partly discordant133 and partly harmonious134 stimuli—the will no longer “acts,” or “moves.”... Formerly it was thought that man’s consciousness, his “spirit,” offered evidence of his high origin, his divinity. That he might be perfected, he was advised, tortoise-like, to draw his senses in, to have no traffic with earthly things, to shuffle135 off his mortal coil—then only the important part of him, the “pure spirit,” would remain. Here again we have thought out the thing better: to us consciousness, or “the spirit,” appears as a symptom of a relative imperfection of the organism, as an experiment, a groping, a misunderstanding, as an affliction which uses up nervous force unnecessarily—we deny that anything can be done perfectly136 so long as it is done consciously. The “pure spirit” is a piece of pure stupidity: take away the nervous system and the senses, the so-called “mortal shell,” and the rest is miscalculation—that is all!...
15.
Under Christianity neither morality nor religion has any point of contact with actuality. It offers purely138 imaginary causes (“God,” “soul,” “ego98,” “spirit,” “free will”—or even “unfree”), and purely imaginary effects (“sin,” “salvation,” “grace,” “punishment,” “forgiveness of sins”). Intercourse139 between imaginary beings (“God,” “spirits,” “souls”); an imaginary natural history (anthropocentric; a total denial of the concept of natural causes); an imaginary psychology140 (misunderstandings of self, misinterpretations of agreeable or disagreeable general feelings—for example, of the states of the nervus sympathicus with the help of the sign-language of religio-ethical balderdash—, “repentance143,” “pangs of conscience,” “temptation by the devil,” “the presence of God”); an imaginary teleology144 (the “kingdom of God,” “the last judgment,” “eternal life”).—This purely fictitious145 world, greatly to its disadvantage, is to be differentiated146 from the world of dreams; the latter at least reflects reality, whereas the former falsifies it, cheapens it and denies it. Once the concept of “nature” had been opposed to the concept of “God,” the word “natural” necessarily took on the meaning of “abominable147”—the whole of that fictitious world has its sources in hatred148 of the natural (—the real!—), and is no more than evidence of a profound uneasiness in the presence of reality.... This explains everything. Who alone has any reason for living his way out of reality? The man who suffers under it. But to suffer from reality one must be a botched reality.... The preponderance of pains over pleasures is the cause of this fictitious morality and religion: but such a preponderance also supplies the formula for décadence....
16.
A criticism of the Christian concept of God leads inevitably to the same conclusion.—A nation that still believes in itself holds fast to its own god. In him it does honour to the conditions which enable it to survive, to its virtues—it projects its joy in itself, its feeling of power, into a being to whom one may offer thanks. He who is rich will give of his riches; a proud people need a god to whom they can make sacrifices.... Religion, within these limits, is a form of gratitude149. A man is grateful for his own existence: to that end he needs a god.—Such a god must be able to work both benefits and injuries; he must be able to play either friend or foe150—he is wondered at for the good he does as well as for the evil he does. But the castration, against all nature, of such a god, making him a god of goodness alone, would be contrary to human inclination151. Mankind has just as much need for an evil god as for a good god; it doesn’t have to thank mere tolerance and humanitarianism152 for its own existence.... What would be the value of a god who knew nothing of anger, revenge, envy, scorn, cunning, violence? who had perhaps never experienced the rapturous ardeurs of victory and of destruction? No one would understand such a god: why should any one want him?—True enough, when a nation is on the downward path, when it feels its belief in its own future, its hope of freedom slipping from it, when it begins to see submission153 as a first necessity and the virtues of submission as measures of self-preservation, then it must overhaul154 its god. He then becomes a hypocrite, timorous155 and demure156; he counsels “peace of soul,” hate-no-more, leniency157, “love” of friend and foe. He moralizes endlessly; he creeps into every private virtue; he becomes the god of every man; he becomes a private citizen, a cosmopolitan158.... Formerly he represented a people, the strength of a people, everything aggressive and thirsty for power in the soul of a people; now he is simply the good god.... The truth is that there is no other alternative for gods: either they are the will to power—in which case they are national gods—or incapacity for power—in which case they have to be good....
17.
Wherever the will to power begins to decline, in whatever form, there is always an accompanying decline physiologically160, a décadence. The divinity of this décadence, shorn of its masculine virtues and passions, is converted perforce into a god of the physiologically degraded, of the weak. Of course, they do not call themselves the weak; they call themselves “the good.”... No hint is needed to indicate the moments in history at which the dualistic fiction of a good and an evil god first became possible. The same instinct which prompts the inferior to reduce their own god to “goodness-in-itself” also prompts them to eliminate all good qualities from the god of their superiors; they make revenge on their masters by making a devil of the latter’s god.—The good god, and the devil like him—both are abortions161 of décadence.—How can we be so tolerant of the na?veté of Christian theologians as to join in their doctrine that the evolution of the concept of god from “the god of Israel,” the god of a people, to the Christian god, the essence of all goodness, is to be described as progress?—But even Renan does this. As if Renan had a right to be na?ve! The contrary actually stares one in the face. When everything necessary to ascending162 life; when all that is strong, courageous163, masterful and proud has been eliminated from the concept of a god; when he has sunk step by step to the level of a staff for the weary, a sheet-anchor for the drowning; when he becomes the poor man’s god, the sinner’s god, the invalid’s god par8 excellence164, and the attribute of “saviour165” or “redeemer” remains as the one essential attribute of divinity—just what is the significance of such a metamorphosis? what does such a reduction of the godhead imply?—To be sure, the “kingdom of God” has thus grown larger. Formerly he had only his own people, his “chosen” people. But since then he has gone wandering, like his people themselves, into foreign parts; he has given up settling down quietly anywhere; finally he has come to feel at home everywhere, and is the great cosmopolitan—until now he has the “great majority” on his side, and half the earth. But this god of the “great majority,” this democrat166 among gods, has not become a proud heathen god: on the contrary, he remains a Jew, he remains a god in a corner, a god of all the dark nooks and crevices167, of all the noisesome quarters of the world!... His earthly kingdom, now as always, is a kingdom of the underworld, a souterrain kingdom, a ghetto168 kingdom.... And he himself is so pale, so weak, so décadent.... Even the palest of the pale are able to master him—messieurs the metaphysicians, those albinos of the intellect. They spun169 their webs around him for so long that finally he was hypnotized, and began to spin himself, and became another metaphysician. Thereafter he resumed once more his old busi ness of spinning the world out of his inmost being sub specie Spinozae; thereafter he became ever thinner and paler—became the “ideal,” became “pure spirit,” became “the absolute,” became “the thing-in-itself.”... The collapse of a god: he became a “thing-in-itself.”
18.
The Christian concept of a god—the god as the patron of the sick, the god as a spinner of cobwebs, the god as a spirit—is one of the most corrupt concepts that has ever been set up in the world: it probably touches low-water mark in the ebbing170 evolution of the god-type. God degenerated171 into the contradiction of life. Instead of being its transfiguration and eternal Yea! In him war is declared on life, on nature, on the will to live! God becomes the formula for every slander172 upon the “here and now,” and for every lie about the “beyond”! In him nothingness is deified, and the will to nothingness is made holy!...
19.
The fact that the strong races of northern Europe did not repudiate173 this Christian god does little credit to their gift for religion—and not much more to their taste. They ought to have been able to make an end of such a moribund174 and worn-out product of the décadence. A curse lies upon them because they were not equal to it; they made illness, decrepitude175 and contradiction a part of their instincts—and since then they have not managed to create any more gods. Two thousand years have come and gone—and not a single new god! Instead, there still exists, and as if by some intrinsic right,—as if he were the ultimatum176 and maximum of the power to create gods, of the creator spiritus in mankind—this pitiful god of Christian monotono-theism! This hybrid177 image of decay, conjured178 up out of emptiness, contradiction and vain imagining, in which all the instincts of décadence, all the cowardices and wearinesses of the soul find their sanction!—
20.
In my condemnation180 of Christianity I surely hope I do no injustice181 to a related religion with an even larger number of believers: I allude182 to Buddhism183. Both are to be reckoned among the nihilistic religions—they are both décadence religions—but they are separated from each other in a very remarkable way. For the fact that he is able to compare them at all the critic of Christianity is indebted to the scholars of India.—Buddhism is a hundred times as realistic as Christianity—it is part of its living heritage that it is able to face problems objectively and coolly; it is the product of long centuries of philosophical184 speculation185. The concept, “god,” was already disposed of before it appeared. Buddhism is the only genuinely positive religion to be encountered in history, and this applies even to its epistemology (which is a strict phenomenalism). It does not speak of a “struggle with sin,” but, yielding to reality, of the “struggle with suffering.” Sharply differentiating187 itself from Christianity, it puts the self-deception188 that lies in moral concepts behind it; it is, in my phrase, beyond good and evil.—The two physiological159 facts upon which it grounds itself and upon which it bestows189 its chief attention are: first, an excessive sensitiveness to sensation, which manifests itself as a refined susceptibility to pain, and secondly190, an extraordinary spirituality, a too protracted191 concern with concepts and logical procedures, under the influence of which the instinct of personality has yielded to a notion of the “impersonal.” (—Both of these states will be familiar to a few of my readers, the objectivists, by experience, as they are to me). These physiological states produced a depression, and Buddha192 tried to combat it by hygienic measures. Against it he prescribed a life in the open, a life of travel; moderation in eating and a careful selection of foods; caution in the use of intoxicants; the same caution in arousing any of the passions that foster a bilious193 habit and heat the blood; finally, no worry, either on one’s own account or on account of others. He encourages ideas that make for either quiet contentment or good cheer—he finds means to combat ideas of other sorts. He understands good, the state of goodness, as something which promotes health. Prayer is not included, and neither is asceticism194. There is no categorical imperative nor any disciplines, even within the walls of a monastery195 (—it is always possible to leave—). These things would have been simply means of increasing the excessive sensitiveness above mentioned. For the same reason he does not advocate any conflict with unbelievers; his teaching is antagonistic196 to nothing so much as to revenge, aversion, ressentiment (—“enmity never brings an end to enmity”: the moving refrain of all Buddhism....) And in all this he was right, for it is precisely these passions which, in view of his main regiminal purpose, are unhealthful. The mental fatigue197 that he observes, already plainly displayed in too much “objectivity” (that is, in the individual’s loss of interest in himself, in loss of balance and of “egoism”), he combats by strong efforts to lead even the spiritual interests back to the ego. In Buddha’s teaching egoism is a duty. The “one thing needful,” the question “how can you be delivered from suffering,” regulates and determines the whole spiritual diet. (—Perhaps one will here recall that Athenian who also declared war upon pure “scientificality,” to wit, Socrates, who also elevated egoism to the estate of a morality).
21.
The things necessary to Buddhism are a very mild climate, customs of great gentleness and liberality, and no militarism; moreover, it must get its start among the higher and better edu cated classes. Cheerfulness, quiet and the absence of desire are the chief desiderata, and they are attained. Buddhism is not a religion in which perfection is merely an object of aspiration: perfection is actually normal.—
Under Christianity the instincts of the subjugated198 and the oppressed come to the fore36: it is only those who are at the bottom who seek their salvation in it. Here the prevailing199 pastime, the favourite remedy for boredom201 is the discussion of sin, self-criticism, the inquisition of conscience; here the emotion produced by power (called “God”) is pumped up (by prayer); here the highest good is regarded as unattainable, as a gift, as “grace.” Here, too, open dealing203 is lacking; concealment204 and the darkened room are Christian. Here body is despised and hygiene205 is denounced as sensual; the church even ranges itself against cleanliness (—the first Christian order after the banishment206 of the Moors207 closed the public baths, of which there were 270 in Cordova alone). Christian, too, is a certain cruelty toward one’s self and toward others; hatred of unbelievers; the will to persecute208. Sombre and disquieting209 ideas are in the foreground; the most esteemed210 states of mind, bearing the most respectable names, are epileptoid; the diet is so regulated as to engender211 morbid212 symptoms and over-stimulate the nerves. Christian, again, is all deadly enmity to the rulers of the earth, to the “aristocratic”—along with a sort of secret rivalry213 with them (—one resigns one’s “body” to them; one wants only one’s “soul”...). And Christian is all hatred of the intellect, of pride, of courage, of freedom, of intellectual libertinage214; Christian is all hatred of the senses, of joy in the senses, of joy in general....
22.
When Christianity departed from its native soil, that of the lowest orders, the underworld of the ancient world, and began seeking power among barbarian215 peoples, it no longer had to deal with exhausted216 men, but with men still inwardly savage217 and capable of self-torture—in brief, strong men, but bungled218 men. Here, unlike in the case of the Buddhists219, the cause of discontent with self, suffering through self, is not merely a general sensitiveness and susceptibility to pain, but, on the contrary, an inordinate220 thirst for inflicting221 pain on others, a tendency to obtain subjective222 satisfaction in hostile deeds and ideas. Christianity had to embrace barbaric concepts and valuations in order to obtain mastery over barbarians223: of such sort, for example, are the sacrifices of the first-born, the drinking of blood as a sacrament, the disdain224 of the intellect and of culture; torture in all its forms, whether bodily or not; the whole pomp of the cult21. Buddhism is a religion for peoples in a further state of development, for races that have become kind, gentle and over-spiritualized (—Europe is not yet ripe for it—): it is a summons that takes them back to peace and cheerfulness, to a careful rationing225 of the spirit, to a certain hardening of the body. Christianity aims at mastering beasts of prey226; its modus operandi is to make them ill—to make feeble is the Christian recipe for taming, for “civilizing.” Buddhism is a religion for the closing, over-wearied stages of civilization. Christianity appears before civilization has so much as begun—under certain circumstances it lays the very foundations thereof.
23.
Buddhism, I repeat, is a hundred times more austere227, more honest, more objective. It no longer has to justify228 its pains, its susceptibility to suffering, by interpreting these things in terms of sin—it simply says, as it simply thinks, “I suffer.” To the barbarian, however, suffering in itself is scarcely understandable: what he needs, first of all, is an explanation as to why he suffers. (His mere instinct prompts him to deny his suffering altogether, or to endure it in silence.) Here the word “devil” was a blessing229: man had to have an omnipotent230 and terrible enemy—there was no need to be ashamed of suffering at the hands of such an enemy.—
At the bottom of Christianity there are several subtleties231 that belong to the Orient. In the first place, it knows that it is of very little consequence whether a thing be true or not, so long as it is believed to be true. Truth and faith: here we have two wholly distinct worlds of ideas, almost two diametrically opposite worlds—the road to the one and the road to the other lie miles apart. To understand that fact thoroughly232—this is almost enough, in the Orient, to make one a sage233. The Brahmins knew it, Plato knew it, every student of the esoteric knows it. When, for example, a man gets any pleasure out of the notion that he has been saved from sin, it is not necessary for him to be actually sinful, but merely to feel sinful. But when faith is thus exalted234 above everything else, it necessarily follows that reason, knowledge and patient inquiry235 have to be discredited236: the road to the truth becomes a forbidden road.—Hope, in its stronger forms, is a great deal more powerful stimulans to life than any sort of realized joy can ever be. Man must be sustained in suffering by a hope so high that no conflict with actuality can dash it—so high, indeed, that no fulfilment can satisfy it: a hope reaching out beyond this world. (Precisely because of this power that hope has of making the suffering hold out, the Greeks regarded it as the evil of evils, as the most malign237 of evils; it remained behind at the source of all evil.)[3]—In order that love may be possible, God must become a person; in order that the lower instincts may take a hand in the matter God must be young. To satisfy the ardor238 of the woman a beautiful saint must appear on the scene, and to satisfy that of the men there must be a virgin239. These things are necessary if Christianity is to assume lordship over a soil on which some aphrodisiacal or Adonis cult has already established a notion as to what a cult ought to be. To insist upon chastity greatly strengthens the vehemence240 and subjectivity241 of the religious instinct—it makes the cult warmer, more enthusiastic, more soulful.—Love is the state in which man sees things most decidedly as they are not. The force of illusion reaches its highest here, and so does the capacity for sweetening, for transfiguring. When a man is in love he endures more than at any other time; he submits to anything. The problem was to devise a religion which would allow one to love: by this means the worst that life has to offer is overcome—it is scarcely even noticed.—So much for the three Christian virtues: faith, hope and charity: I call them the three Christian ingenuities243.—Buddhism is in too late a stage of development, too full of positivism, to be shrewd in any such way.—
[3] That is, in Pandora’s box.
24.
Here I barely touch upon the problem of the origin of Christianity. The first thing necessary to its solution is this: that Christianity is to be understood only by examining the soil from which it sprung—it is not a reaction against Jewish instincts; it is their inevitable244 product; it is simply one more step in the awe-inspiring logic65 of the Jews. In the words of the Saviour, “salvation is of the Jews.”[4]—The second thing to remember is this: that the psychological type of the Galilean is still to be recognized, but it was only in its most degenerate form (which is at once maimed and overladen with foreign features) that it could serve in the manner in which it has been used: as a type of the Saviour of mankind.—
[4] John iv, 22.
The Jews are the most remarkable people in the history of the world, for when they were confronted with the question, to be or not to be, they chose, with perfectly unearthly deliberation, to be at any price: this price involved a radical245 falsification of all nature, of all naturalness, of all reality, of the whole inner world, as well as of the outer. They put themselves against all those conditions under which, hitherto, a people had been able to live, or had even been permitted to live; out of themselves they evolved an idea which stood in direct opposition to natural conditions—one by one they distorted religion, civilization, morality, history and psychology until each became a contradiction of its natural significance. We meet with the same phenomenon later on, in an incalculably exaggerated form, but only as a copy: the Christian church, put beside the “people of God,” shows a complete lack of any claim to originality246. Precisely for this reason the Jews are the most fateful people in the history of the world: their influence has so falsified the reasoning of mankind in this matter that today the Christian can cherish anti-Semitism without realizing that it is no more than the final consequence of Judaism.
In my “Genealogy of Morals” I give the first psychological explanation of the concepts underlying247 those two antithetical things, a noble morality and a ressentiment morality, the second of which is a mere product of the denial of the former. The Judaeo-Christian moral system belongs to the second division, and in every detail. In order to be able to say Nay to everything representing an ascending evolution of life—that is, to well-being248, to power, to beauty, to self-approval—the instincts of ressentiment, here become downright genius, had to invent an other world in which the acceptance of life appeared as the most evil and abominable thing imaginable. Psychologically, the Jews are a people gifted with the very strongest vitality249, so much so that when they found themselves facing impossible conditions of life they chose voluntarily, and with a profound talent for self-preservation, the side of all those instincts which make for décadence—not as if mastered by them, but as if detecting in them a power by which “the world” could be defied. The Jews are the very opposite of décadents: they have simply been forced into appearing in that guise250, and with a degree of skill approaching the non plus ultra of histrionic genius they have managed to put themselves at the head of all décadent movements (—for example, the Christianity of Paul—), and so make of them something stronger than any party frankly251 saying Yes to life. To the sort of men who reach out for power under Judaism and Christianity,—that is to say, to the priestly class—décadence is no more than a means to an end. Men of this sort have a vital interest in making mankind sick, and in confusing the values of “good” and “bad,” “true” and “false” in a manner that is not only dangerous to life, but also slanders252 it.
25.
The history of Israel is invaluable253 as a typical history of an attempt to denaturize all natural values: I point to five facts which bear this out. Originally, and above all in the time of the monarchy254, Israel maintained the right attitude of things, which is to say, the natural attitude. Its Jahveh was an expression of its consciousness of power, its joy in itself, its hopes for itself: to him the Jews looked for victory and salvation and through him they expected nature to give them whatever was necessary to their existence—above all, rain. Jahveh is the god of Israel, and consequently the god of justice: this is the logic of every race that has power in its hands and a good conscience in the use of it. In the religious ceremonial of the Jews both aspects of this self-approval stand revealed. The nation is grateful for the high destiny that has enabled it to obtain dominion255; it is grateful for the benign256 procession of the seasons, and for the good fortune attending its herds257 and its crops.—This view of things remained an ideal for a long while, even after it had been robbed of validity by tragic blows: anarchy258 within and the Assyrian without. But the people still retained, as a projection259 of their highest yearnings, that vision of a king who was at once a gallant260 warrior261 and an upright judge—a vision best visualized in the typical prophet (i. e., critic and satirist262 of the moment), Isaiah.—But every hope remained unfulfilled. The old god no longer could do what he used to do. He ought to have been abandoned. But what actually happened? Simply this: the conception of him was changed—the conception of him was denaturized; this was the price that had to be paid for keeping him.—Jahveh, the god of “justice”—he is in accord with Israel no more, he no longer vizualizes the national egoism; he is now a god only conditionally263.... The public notion of this god now becomes merely a weapon in the hands of clerical agitators264, who interpret all happiness as a reward and all unhappiness as a punishment for obedience265 or disobedience to him, for “sin”: that most fraudulent of all imaginable interpretations141, whereby a “moral order of the world” is set up, and the fundamental concepts, “cause” and “effect,” are stood on their heads. Once natural causation has been swept out of the world by doctrines266 of reward and punishment some sort of un-natural causation becomes necessary: and all other varieties of the denial of nature follow it. A god who demands—in place of a god who helps, who gives counsel, who is at bottom merely a name for every happy inspiration of courage and self-reliance.... Morality is no longer a reflection of the conditions which make for the sound life and development of the people; it is no longer the primary life-instinct; instead it has become abstract and in opposition to life—a fundamental perversion267 of the fancy, an “evil eye” on all things. What is Jewish, what is Christian morality? Chance robbed of its innocence; unhappiness polluted with the idea of “sin”; well-being represented as a danger, as a “temptation”; a physiological disorder268 produced by the canker worm of conscience....
26.
The concept of god falsified; the concept of morality falsified;—but even here Jewish priest-craft did not stop. The whole history of Israel ceased to be of any value: out with it!—These priests accomplished269 that miracle of falsification of which a great part of the Bible is the documentary evidence; with a degree of contempt unparalleled, and in the face of all tradition and all historical reality, they translated the past of their people into religious terms, which is to say, they converted it into an idiotic270 mechanism271 of salvation, whereby all offences against Jahveh were punished and all devotion to him was rewarded. We would regard this act of historical falsification as something far more shameful272 if familiarity with the ecclesiastical interpretation142 of history for thousands of years had not blunted our inclinations273 for uprightness in historicis. And the philosophers support the church: the lie about a “moral order of the world” runs through the whole of philosophy, even the newest. What is the meaning of a “moral order of the world”? That there is a thing called the will of God which, once and for all time, determines what man ought to do and what he ought not to do; that the worth of a people, or of an individual thereof, is to be measured by the extent to which they or he obey this will of God; that the destinies of a people or of an individual are controlled by this will of God, which rewards or punishes according to the degree of obedience manifested.—In place of all that pitiable lie reality has this to say: the priest, a parasitical274 variety of man who can exist only at the cost of every sound view of life, takes the name of God in vain: he calls that state of human society in which he himself determines the value of all things “the kingdom of God”; he calls the means whereby that state of affairs is attained “the will of God”; with cold-blooded cynicism he estimates all peoples, all ages and all individuals by the extent of their subservience275 or opposition to the power of the priestly order. One observes him at work: under the hand of the Jewish priesthood the great age of Israel became an age of decline; the Exile, with its long series of misfortunes, was transformed into a punishment for that great age—during which priests had not yet come into existence. Out of the powerful and wholly free heroes of Israel’s history they fashioned, according to their changing needs, either wretched bigots and hypocrites or men entirely277 “godless.” They reduced every great event to the idiotic formula: “obedient or disobedient to God.”—They went a step further: the “will of God” (in other words some means necessary for preserving the power of the priests) had to be determined—and to this end they had to have a “revelation.” In plain English, a gigantic literary fraud had to be perpetrated, and “holy scriptures” had to be concocted—and so, with the utmost hierarchical pomp, and days of penance278 and much lamentation279 over the long days of “sin” now ended, they were duly published. The “will of God,” it appears, had long stood like a rock; the trouble was that mankind had neglected the “holy scriptures”.... But the “will of God” had already been revealed to Moses.... What happened? Simply this: the priest had formulated281, once and for all time and with the strictest meticulousness282, what tithes283 were to be paid to him, from the largest to the smallest (—not forgetting the most appetizing cuts of meat, for the priest is a great consumer of beefsteaks); in brief, he let it be known just what he wanted, what “the will of God” was.... From this time forward things were so arranged that the priest became indispensable everywhere; at all the great natural events of life, at birth, at marriage, in sickness, at death, not to say at the “sacrifice” (that is, at meal-times), the holy parasite285 put in his appearance, and proceeded to denaturize it—in his own phrase, to “sanctify” it.... For this should be noted286: that every natural habit, every natural institution (the state, the administration of justice, marriage, the care of the sick and of the poor), everything demanded by the life-instinct, in short, everything that has any value in itself, is reduced to absolute worthlessness and even made the reverse of valuable by the parasitism287 of priests (or, if you chose, by the “moral order of the world”). The fact requires a sanction—a power to grant values becomes necessary, and the only way it can create such values is by denying nature.... The priest depreciates288 and desecrates289 nature: it is only at this price that he can exist at all.—Disobedience to God, which actually means to the priest, to “the law,” now gets the name of “sin”; the means prescribed for “reconciliation with God” are, of course, precisely the means which bring one most effectively under the thumb of the priest; he alone can “save”.... Psychologically considered, “sins” are indispensable to every society organized on an ecclesiastical basis; they are the only reliable weapons of power; the priest lives upon sins; it is necessary to him that there be “sinning”.... Prime axiom: “God forgiveth him that repenteth”—in plain English, him that submitteth to the priest.
27.
Christianity sprang from a soil so corrupt that on it everything natural, every natural value, every reality was opposed by the deepest instincts of the ruling class—it grew up as a sort of war to the death upon reality, and as such it has never been surpassed. The “holy people,” who had adopted priestly values and priestly names for all things, and who, with a terrible logical consistency290, had rejected everything of the earth as “unholy,” “worldly,” “sinful”—this people put its instinct into a final for mula that was logical to the point of self-annihilation: as Christianity it actually denied even the last form of reality, the “holy people,” the “chosen people,” Jewish reality itself. The phenomenon is of the first order of importance: the small insurrectionary movement which took the name of Jesus of Nazareth is simply the Jewish instinct redivivus—in other words, it is the priestly instinct come to such a pass that it can no longer endure the priest as a fact; it is the discovery of a state of existence even more fantastic than any before it, of a vision of life even more unreal than that necessary to an ecclesiastical organization. Christianity actually denies the church....
I am unable to determine what was the target of the insurrection said to have been led (whether rightly or wrongly) by Jesus, if it was not the Jewish church—“church” being here used in exactly the same sense that the word has today. It was an insurrection against the “good and just,” against the “prophets of Israel,” against the whole hierarchy291 of society—not against corruption, but against caste, privilege, order, formalism. It was unbelief in “superior men,” a Nay flung at everything that priests and theologians stood for. But the hierarchy that was called into question, if only for an instant, by this movement was the structure of piles which, above everything, was necessary to the safety of the Jewish people in the midst of the “waters”—it represented their last possibility of survival; it was the final residuum of their independent political existence; an attack upon it was an attack upon the most profound national instinct, the most powerful national will to live, that has ever appeared on earth. This saintly anarchist293, who aroused the people of the abyss, the outcasts and “sinners,” the Chandala of Judaism, to rise in revolt against the established order of things—and in language which, if the Gospels are to be credited, would get him sent to Siberia today—this man was certainly a political criminal, at least in so far as it was possible to be one in so absurdly unpolitical a community. This is what brought him to the cross: the proof thereof is to be found in the inscription295 that was put upon the cross. He died for his own sins—there is not the slightest ground for believing, no matter how often it is asserted, that he died for the sins of others. —
28.
As to whether he himself was conscious of this contradiction—whether, in fact, this was the only contradiction he was cognizant of—that is quite another question. Here, for the first time, I touch upon the problem of the psychology of the Saviour.—I confess, to begin with, that there are very few books which offer me harder reading than the Gospels. My difficulties are quite different from those which enabled the learned curiosity of the German mind to achieve one of its most unforgettable triumphs. It is a long while since I, like all other young scholars, enjoyed with all the sapient296 laboriousness297 of a fastidious philologist298 the work of the incomparable Strauss.[5] At that time I was twenty years old: now I am too serious for that sort of thing. What do I care for the contradictions of “tradition”? How can any one call pious299 legends “traditions”? The histories of saints present the most dubious variety of literature in existence; to examine them by the scientific method, in the entire ab sence of corroborative300 documents, seems to me to condemn49 the whole inquiry from the start—it is simply learned idling....
[5] David Friedrich Strauss (1808-74), author of “Das Leben Jesu” (1835-6), a very famous work in its day. Nietzsche here refers to it.
29.
What concerns me is the psychological type of the Saviour. This type might be depicted301 in the Gospels, in however mutilated a form and however much overladen with extraneous302 characters—that is, in spite of the Gospels; just as the figure of Francis of Assisi shows itself in his legends in spite of his legends. It is not a question of mere truthful303 evidence as to what he did, what he said and how he actually died; the question is, whether his type is still conceivable, whether it has been handed down to us.—All the attempts that I know of to read the history of a “soul” in the Gospels seem to me to reveal only a lamentable psychological levity304. M. Renan, that mountebank305 in psychologicus, has contributed the two most unseemly notions to this business of explaining the type of Jesus: the notion of the genius and that of the hero (“héros”). But if there is anything essentially306 unevangelical, it is surely the concept of the hero. What the Gospels make instinctive307 is precisely the reverse of all heroic struggle, of all taste for conflict: the very incapacity for resistance is here converted into something moral: (“resist not evil!”—the most profound sentence in the Gospels, perhaps the true key to them), to wit, the blessedness of peace, of gentleness, the inability to be an enemy. What is the meaning of “glad tidings”?—The true life, the life eternal has been found—it is not merely promised, it is here, it is in you; it is the life that lies in love free from all retreats and exclusions309, from all keeping of distances. Every one is the child of God—Jesus claims nothing for himself alone—as the child of God each man is the equal of every other man.... Imagine making Jesus a hero!—And what a tremendous misunderstanding appears in the word “genius”! Our whole conception of the “spiritual,” the whole conception of our civilization, could have had no meaning in the world that Jesus lived in. In the strict sense of the physiologist71, a quite different word ought to be used here.... We all know that there is a morbid sensibility of the tactile310 nerves which causes those suffering from it to recoil311 from every touch, and from every effort to grasp a solid object. Brought to its logical conclusion, such a physiological habitus becomes an instinctive hatred of all reality, a flight into the “intangible,” into the “incomprehensible”; a distaste for all formulae, for all conceptions of time and space, for everything established—customs, institutions, the church—; a feeling of being at home in a world in which no sort of reality survives, a merely “inner” world, a “true” world, an “eternal” world.... “The Kingdom of God is within you”....
30.
The instinctive hatred of reality: the consequence of an extreme susceptibility to pain and irritation—so great that merely to be “touched” becomes unendurable, for every sensation is too profound.
The instinctive exclusion308 of all aversion, all hostility312, all bounds and distances in feeling: the consequence of an extreme susceptibility to pain and irritation—so great that it senses all resistance, all compulsion to resistance, as unbearable313 anguish314 (—that is to say, as harmful, as prohibited by the instinct of self-preservation), and regards blessedness (joy) as possible only when it is no longer necessary to offer resistance to anybody or anything, however evil or dangerous—love, as the only, as the ultimate possibility of life....
These are the two physiological realities upon and out of which the doctrine of salvation has sprung. I call them a sublime super-development of hedonism upon a thoroughly unsalubrious soil. What stands most closely related to them, though with a large admixture of Greek vitality and nerve-force, is epicureanism, the theory of salvation of paganism. Epicurus was a typical décadent: I was the first to recognize him.—The fear of pain, even of infinitely315 slight pain—the end of this can be nothing save a religion of love....
31.
I have already given my answer to the problem. The prerequisite316 to it is the assumption that the type of the Saviour has reached us only in a greatly distorted form. This distortion is very probable: there are many reasons why a type of that sort should not be handed down in a pure form, complete and free of additions. The milieu318 in which this strange figure moved must have left marks upon him, and more must have been imprinted319 by the history, the destiny, of the early Christian communities; the latter indeed, must have embellished320 the type retrospectively with characters which can be understood only as serving the purposes of war and of propaganda. That strange and sickly world into which the Gospels lead us—a world apparently321 out of a Russian novel, in which the scum of society, nervous maladies and “childish” idiocy keep a tryst—must, in any case, have coarsened the type: the first disciples323, in particular, must have been forced to translate an existence visible only in symbols and incomprehensibilities into their own crudity324, in order to understand it at all—in their sight the type could take on reality only after it had been recast in a familiar mould.... The prophet, the messiah, the future judge, the teacher of morals, the worker of wonders, John the Baptist—all these merely presented chances to misunderstand it.... Finally, let us not underrate the proprium of all great, and especially all sectarian veneration326: it tends to erase327 from the venerated328 objects all its original traits and idiosyncrasies, often so painfully strange—it does not even see them. It is greatly to be regretted that no Dostoyevsky lived in the neighbourhood of this most interesting décadent—I mean some one who would have felt the poignant329 charm of such a compound of the sublime, the morbid and the childish. In the last analysis, the type, as a type of the décadence, may actually have been peculiarly complex and contradictory330: such a possibility is not to be lost sight of. Nevertheless, the probabilities seem to be against it, for in that case tradition would have been particularly accurate and objective, whereas we have reasons for assuming the contrary. Meanwhile, there is a contradiction between the peaceful preacher of the mount, the sea-shore and the fields, who appears like a new Buddha on a soil very unlike India’s, and the aggressive fanatic331, the mortal enemy of theologians and ecclesiastics332, who stands glorified333 by Renan’s malice334 as “le grand ma?tre en ironie.” I myself haven’t any doubt that the greater part of this venom335 (and no less of esprit) got itself into the concept of the Master only as a result of the excited nature of Christian propaganda: we all know the unscrupulousness of sectarians when they set out to turn their leader into an apologia for themselves. When the early Christians336 had need of an adroit337, contentious338, pugnacious339 and maliciously340 subtle theologian to tackle other theologians, they created a “god” that met that need, just as they put into his mouth without hesitation341 certain ideas that were necessary to them but that were utterly342 at odds343 with the Gospels—“the second coming,” “the last judgment,” all sorts of expectations and promises, current at the time.—
32.
I can only repeat that I set myself against all efforts to intrude344 the fanatic into the figure of the Saviour: the very word impérieux, used by Renan, is alone enough to annul345 the type. What the “glad tidings” tell us is simply that there are no more contradictions; the kingdom of heaven belongs to children; the faith that is voiced here is no more an embattled faith—it is at hand, it has been from the beginning, it is a sort of recrudescent childishness of the spirit. The physiologists, at all events, are familiar with such a delayed and incomplete puberty in the living organism, the result of degeneration. A faith of this sort is not furious, it does not de nounce, it does not defend itself: it does not come with “the sword”—it does not realize how it will one day set man against man. It does not manifest itself either by miracles, or by rewards and promises, or by “scriptures”: it is itself, first and last, its own miracle, its own reward, its own promise, its own “kingdom of God.” This faith does not formulate280 itself—it simply lives, and so guards itself against formulae. To be sure, the accident of environment, of educational background gives prominence346 to concepts of a certain sort: in primitive347 Christianity one finds only concepts of a Judaeo-Semitic character (—that of eating and drinking at the last supper belongs to this category—an idea which, like everything else Jewish, has been badly mauled by the church). But let us be careful not to see in all this anything more than symbolical348 language, semantics[6] an opportunity to speak in parables349. It is only on the theory that no work is to be taken literally350 that this anti-realist is able to speak at all. Set down among Hindus he would have made use of the concepts of Sankhya,[7] and among Chinese he would have employed those of Lao-tse[8]—and in neither case would it have made any difference to him.—With a little freedom in the use of words, one might actually call Jesus a “free spirit”[9]—he cares nothing for what is established: the word killeth,[10] whatever is established killeth. The idea of “life” as an experience, as he alone conceives it, stands opposed to his mind to every sort of word, formula, law, belief and dogma. He speaks only of inner things: “life” or “truth” or “light” is his word for the innermost—in his sight everything else, the whole of reality, all nature, even language, has significance only as sign, as allegory.—Here it is of paramount351 importance to be led into no error by the temptations lying in Christian, or rather ecclesiastical prejudices: such a symbolism par excellence stands outside all religion, all notions of worship, all history, all natural science, all worldly experience, all knowledge, all politics, all psychology, all books, all art—his “wisdom” is precisely a pure ignorance[11] of all such things. He has never heard of culture; he doesn’t have to make war on it—he doesn’t even deny it.... The same thing may be said of the state, of the whole bourgeoise social order, of labour, of war—he has no ground for denying “the world,” for he knows nothing of the ecclesiastical concept of “the world”.... Denial is precisely the thing that is impossible to him.—In the same way he lacks argumentative capacity, and has no belief that an article of faith, a “truth,” may be established by proofs (—his proofs are inner “lights,” subjective sensations of happiness and self-approval, simple “proofs of power”—). Such a doctrine cannot contradict: it doesn’t know that other doctrines exist, or can exist, and is wholly incapable352 of imagining anything opposed to it.... If anything of the sort is ever encountered, it laments353 the “blindness” with sincere sympathy—for it alone has “light”—but it does not offer objections....
[6] The word Semiotik is in the text, but it is probable that Semantik is what Nietzsche had in mind.
[7] One of the six great systems of Hindu philosophy.
[9] Nietzsche’s name for one accepting his own philosophy.
[10] That is, the strict letter of the law—the chief target of Jesus’s early preaching.
[11] A reference to the “pure ignorance” (reine Thorheit) of Parsifal.
33.
In the whole psychology of the “Gospels” the concepts of guilt355 and punishment are lacking, and so is that of reward. “Sin,” which means anything that puts a distance between God and man, is abolished—this is precisely the “glad tidings.” Eternal bliss356 is not merely promised, nor is it bound up with conditions: it is conceived as the only reality—what remains consists merely of signs useful in speaking of it.
The results of such a point of view project themselves into a new way of life, the special evangelical way of life. It is not a “belief” that marks off the Christian; he is distinguished357 by a different mode of action; he acts differently. He offers no resistance, either by word or in his heart, to those who stand against him. He draws no distinction between strangers and countrymen, Jews and Gentiles (“neighbour,” of course, means fellow-believer, Jew). He is angry with no one, and he despises no one. He neither appeals to the courts of justice nor heeds358 their mandates359 (“Swear not at all”).[12] He never under any circumstances divorces his wife, even when he has proofs of her infidelity.—And under all of this is one principle; all of it arises from one instinct.—
[12] Matthew v, 34.
The life of the Saviour was simply a carrying out of this way of life—and so was his death.... He no longer needed any formula or ritual in his relations with God—not even prayer. He had rejected the whole of the Jewish doctrine of repentance and atonement; he knew that it was only by a way of life that one could feel one’s self “divine,” “blessed,” “evangelical,” a “child of God.” Not by “repentance,” not by “prayer and forgiveness” is the way to God: only the Gospel way leads to God—it is itself “God!”—What the Gospels abolished was the Judaism in the concepts of “sin,” “forgiveness of sin,” “faith,” “salvation through faith”—the whole ecclesiastical dogma of the Jews was denied by the “glad tidings.”
The deep instinct which prompts the Christian how to live so that he will feel that he is “in heaven” and is “immortal360,” despite many reasons for feeling that he is not “in heaven”: this is the only psychological reality in “salvation.”—A new way of life, not a new faith....
34.
If I understand anything at all about this great symbolist, it is this: that he regarded only subjective realities as realities, as “truths” —that he saw everything else, everything natural, temporal, spatial361 and historical, merely as signs, as materials for parables. The concept of “the Son of God” does not connote a concrete person in history, an isolated and definite individual, but an “eternal” fact, a psychological symbol set free from the concept of time. The same thing is true, and in the highest sense, of the God of this typical symbolist, of the “kingdom of God,” and of the “sonship of God.” Nothing could be more un-Christian than the crude ecclesiastical notions of God as a person, of a “kingdom of God” that is to come, of a “kingdom of heaven” beyond, and of a “son of God” as the second person of the Trinity. All this—if I may be forgiven the phrase—is like thrusting one’s fist into the eye (and what an eye!) of the Gospels: a disrespect for symbols amounting to world-historical cynicism.... But it is nevertheless obvious enough what is meant by the symbols “Father” and “Son”—not, of course, to every one—: the word “Son” expresses entrance into the feeling that there is a general transformation of all things (beatitude), and “Father” expresses that feeling itself—the sensation of eternity and of perfection.—I am ashamed to remind you of what the church has made of this symbolism: has it not set an Amphitryon story[13] at the threshold of the Christian “faith”? And a dogma of “immaculate conception” for good measure?... And thereby362 it has robbed conception of its immaculateness—
[13]Amphitryon was the son of Alcaeus, King of Tiryns. His wife was Alcmene. During his absence she was visited by Zeus, and bore Heracles.
The “kingdom of heaven” is a state of the heart—not something to come “beyond the world” or “after death.” The whole idea of natural death is absent from the Gospels: death is not a bridge, not a passing; it is absent because it belongs to a quite different, a merely apparent world, useful only as a symbol. The “hour of death” is not a Christian idea—“hours,” time, the physical life and its crises have no existence for the bearer of “glad tidings.”... The “kingdom of God” is not something that men wait for: it had no yesterday and no day after tomorrow, it is not going to come at a “millennium”—it is an experience of the heart, it is everywhere and it is nowhere....
35.
This “bearer of glad tidings” died as he lived and taught—not to “save mankind,” but to show mankind how to live. It was a way of life that he bequeathed to man: his demeanour before the judges, before the officers, before his accusers—his demeanour on the cross. He does not resist; he does not defend his rights; he makes no effort to ward2 off the most extreme penalty—more, he invites it.... And he prays, suffers and loves with those, in those, who do him evil.... Not to defend one’s self, not to show anger, not to lay blames.... On the contrary, to submit even to the Evil One—to love him....
36.
—We free spirits—we are the first to have the necessary prerequisite to understanding what nineteen centuries have misunderstood—that instinct and passion for integrity which makes war upon the “holy lie” even more than upon all other lies.... Mankind was unspeakably far from our benevolent and cautious neutrality, from that discipline of the spirit which alone makes possible the solution of such strange and subtle things: what men always sought, with shameless egoism, was their own advantage therein; they created the church out of denial of the Gospels....
Whoever sought for signs of an ironical363 divinity’s hand in the great drama of existence would find no small indication thereof in the stupendous question-mark that is called Christianity. That mankind should be on its knees before the very antithesis364 of what was the origin, the meaning and the law of the Gospels—that in the concept of the “church” the very things should be pronounced holy that the “bearer of glad tidings” regards as beneath him and behind him—it would be impossible to surpass this as a grand example of world-historical irony—
37.
—Our age is proud of its historical sense: how, then, could it delude365 itself into believing that the crude fable366 of the wonder-worker and Saviour constituted the beginnings of Christianity—and that everything spiritual and symbolical in it only came later? Quite to the contrary, the whole history of Christianity—from the death on the cross onward367—is the history of a progressively clumsier misunderstanding of an original symbolism. With every extension of Christianity among larger and ruder masses, even less capable of grasping the principles that gave birth to it, the need arose to make it more and more vulgar and barbarous—it absorbed the teachings and rites276 of all the subterranean cults368 of the imperium Romanum, and the absurdities369 engendered370 by all sorts of sickly reasoning. It was the fate of Christianity that its faith had to become as sickly, as low and as vulgar as the needs were sickly, low and vulgar to which it had to administer. A sickly barbarism finally lifts itself to power as the church—the church, that incarnation of deadly hostility to all honesty, to all loftiness of soul, to all discipline of the spirit, to all spontaneous and kindly371 humanity.—Christian values—noble values: it is only we, we free spirits, who have re-established this greatest of all antitheses372 in values!...
38.
—I cannot, at this place, avoid a sigh. There are days when I am visited by a feeling blacker than the blackest melancholy—contempt of man. Let me leave no doubt as to what I despise, whom I despise: it is the man of today, the man with whom I am unhappily contemporaneous. The man of today—I am suffocated373 by his foul374 breath!... Toward the past, like all who understand, I am full of tolerance, which is to say, generous self-control: with gloomy caution I pass through whole millenniums of this madhouse of a world, call it “Christianity,” “Christian faith” or the “Christian church,” as you will—I take care not to hold mankind responsible for its lunacies. But my feeling changes and breaks out irresistibly375 the moment I enter modern times, our times. Our age knows better.... What was formerly merely sickly now becomes indecent—it is indecent to be a Christian today. And here my disgust begins.—I look about me: not a word survives of what was once called “truth”; we can no longer bear to hear a priest pronounce the word. Even a man who makes the most modest pretensions376 to integrity must know that a theologian, a priest, a pope of today not only errs377 when he speaks, but actually lies—and that he no longer escapes blame for his lie through “innocence” or “ignorance.” The priest knows, as every one knows, that there is no longer any “God,” or any “sinner,” or any “Saviour”—that “free will” and the “moral order of the world” are lies—: serious reflection, the profound self-conquest of the spirit, allow no man to pretend that he does not know it.... All the ideas of the church are now recognized for what they are—as the worst counterfeits378 in existence, invented to debase nature and all natural values; the priest himself is seen as he actually is—as the most dangerous form of parasite, as the venomous spider of creation.... We know, our conscience now knows—just what the real value of all those sinister379 inventions of priest and church has been and what ends they have served, with their debasement of humanity to a state of self-pollution, the very sight of which excites loathing,—the concepts “the other world,” “the last judgment,” “the immortality380 of the soul,” the “soul” itself: they are all merely so many instruments of torture, systems of cruelty, whereby the priest becomes master and remains master.... Every one knows this, but nevertheless things remain as before. What has become of the last trace of decent feeling, of self-respect, when our statesmen, otherwise an unconventional class of men and thoroughly anti-Christian in their acts, now call themselves Christians and go to the communion-table?... A prince at the head of his armies, magnificent as the expression of the egoism and arrogance381 of his people—and yet acknowledging, without any shame, that he is a Christian!... Whom, then, does Christianity deny? what does it call “the world”? To be a soldier, to be a judge, to be a patriot382; to defend one’s self; to be careful of one’s honour; to desire one’s own advantage; to be proud ... every act of everyday, every instinct, every valuation that shows itself in a deed, is now anti-Christian: what a monster of falsehood the modern man must be to call himself nevertheless, and without shame, a Christian!—
39.
—I shall go back a bit, and tell you the authentic383 history of Christianity.—The very word “Christianity” is a misunderstanding—at bottom there was only one Christian, and he died on the cross. The “Gospels” died on the cross. What, from that moment onward, was called the “Gospels” was the very reverse of what he had lived: “bad tidings,” a Dysangelium.[14] It is an error amounting to nonsensicality to see in “faith,” and particularly in faith in salvation through Christ, the distinguishing mark of the Christian: only the Christian way of life, the life lived by him who died on the cross, is Christian.... To this day such a life is still possible, and for certain men even necessary: genuine, primitive Christianity will remain possible in all ages.... Not faith, but acts; above all, an avoidance of acts, a different state of being.... States of consciousness, faith of a sort, the acceptance, for example, of anything as true—as every psychologist knows, the value of these things is perfectly indifferent and fifth-rate compared to that of the instincts: strictly384 speaking, the whole concept of intellectual causality is false. To reduce being a Christian, the state of Christianity, to an acceptance of truth, to a mere phenomenon of consciousness, is to formulate the negation385 of Christianity. In fact, there are no Christians. The “Christian”—he who for two thousand years has passed as a Christian—is simply a psycho logical self-delusion386. Closely examined, it appears that, despite all his “faith,” he has been ruled only by his instincts—and what instincts!—In all ages—for example, in the case of Luther—“faith” has been no more than a cloak, a pretense387, a curtain behind which the instincts have played their game—a shrewd blindness to the domination of certain of the instincts.... I have already called “faith” the specially325 Christian form of shrewdness—people always talk of their “faith” and act according to their instincts.... In the world of ideas of the Christian there is nothing that so much as touches reality: on the contrary, one recognizes an instinctive hatred of reality as the motive388 power, the only motive power at the bottom of Christianity. What follows therefrom? That even here, in psychologicis, there is a radical error, which is to say one conditioning fundamentals, which is to say, one in substance. Take away one idea and put a genuine reality in its place—and the whole of Christianity crumbles389 to nothingness!—Viewed calmly, this strangest of all phenomena186, a religion not only depending on errors, but inventive and ingenious only in devising injurious errors, poisonous to life and to the heart—this remains a spectacle for the gods—for those gods who are also philosophers, and whom I have encountered, for example, in the celebrated390 dialogues at Naxos. At the moment when their disgust leaves them (—and us!) they will be thankful for the spectacle afforded by the Christians: perhaps because of this curious exhibition alone the wretched little planet called the earth deserves a glance from omnipotence391, a show of divine interest.... Therefore, let us not underestimate the Christians: the Christian, false to the point of innocence, is far above the ape—in its application to the Christians a well-known theory of descent becomes a mere piece of politeness....
[14] So in the text. One of Nietzsche’s numerous coinages, obviously suggested by Evangelium, the German for gospel.
40.
—The fate of the Gospels was decided242 by death—it hung on the “cross.”... It was only death, that unexpected and shameful death; it was only the cross, which was usually reserved for the canaille only—it was only this appalling392 paradox393 which brought the disciples face to face with the real riddle394: “Who was it? what was it?”—The feeling of dis may, of profound affront395 and injury; the suspicion that such a death might involve a refutation of their cause; the terrible question, “Why just in this way?”—this state of mind is only too easy to understand. Here everything must be accounted for as necessary; everything must have a meaning, a reason, the highest sort of reason; the love of a disciple322 excludes all chance. Only then did the chasm396 of doubt yawn: “Who put him to death? who was his natural enemy?”—this question flashed like a lightning-stroke. Answer: dominant397 Judaism, its ruling class. From that moment, one found one’s self in revolt against the established order, and began to understand Jesus as in revolt against the established order. Until then this militant398, this nay-saying, nay-doing element in his character had been lacking; what is more, he had appeared to present its opposite. Obviously, the little community had not understood what was precisely the most important thing of all: the example offered by this way of dying, the freedom from and superiority to every feeling of ressentiment—a plain indication of how little he was understood at all! All that Jesus could hope to accomplish by his death, in itself, was to offer the strongest possible proof, or example, of his teachings in the most public manner.... But his disciples were very far from forgiving his death—though to have done so would have accorded with the Gospels in the highest degree; and neither were they prepared to offer themselves, with gentle and serene399 calmness of heart, for a similar death.... On the contrary, it was precisely the most unevangelical of feelings, revenge, that now possessed them. It seemed impossible that the cause should perish with his death: “recompense” and “judgment” became necessary (—yet what could be less evangelical than “recompense,” “punishment,” and “sitting in judgment”!). Once more the popular belief in the coming of a messiah appeared in the foreground; attention was rivetted upon an historical moment: the “kingdom of God” is to come, with judgment upon his enemies.... But in all this there was a wholesale400 misunderstanding: imagine the “kingdom of God” as a last act, as a mere promise! The Gospels had been, in fact, the incarnation, the fulfilment, the realization401 of this “kingdom of God.” It was only now that all the familiar contempt for and bitterness against Pharisees and theologians began to appear in the character of the Master—he was thereby turned into a Pharisee and theologian himself! On the other hand, the savage veneration of these completely unbalanced souls could no longer endure the Gospel doctrine, taught by Jesus, of the equal right of all men to be children of God: their revenge took the form of elevating Jesus in an extravagant402 fashion, and thus separating him from themselves: just as, in earlier times, the Jews, to revenge themselves upon their enemies, separated themselves from their God, and placed him on a great height. The One God and the Only Son of God: both were products of ressentiment....
41.
—And from that time onward an absurd problem offered itself: “how could God allow it!” To which the deranged403 reason of the little community formulated an answer that was terrifying in its absurdity404: God gave his son as a sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins. At once there was an end of the gospels! Sacrifice for sin, and in its most obnoxious405 and barbarous form: sacrifice of the innocent for the sins of the guilty! What appalling paganism!—Jesus him self had done away with the very concept of “guilt,” he denied that there was any gulf407 fixed408 between God and man; he lived this unity294 between God and man, and that was precisely his “glad tidings”.... And not as a mere privilege!—From this time forward the type of the Saviour was corrupted, bit by bit, by the doctrine of judgment and of the second coming, the doctrine of death as a sacrifice, the doctrine of the resurrection, by means of which the entire concept of “blessedness,” the whole and only reality of the gospels, is juggled409 away—in favour of a state of existence after death!... St. Paul, with that rabbinical impudence410 which shows itself in all his doings, gave a logical quality to that conception, that indecent conception, in this way: “If Christ did not rise from the dead, then all our faith is in vain!”—And at once there sprang from the Gospels the most contemptible of all unfulfillable promises, the shameless doctrine of personal immortality.... Paul even preached it as a reward....
42.
One now begins to see just what it was that came to an end with the death on the cross: a new and thoroughly original effort to found a Buddhistic411 peace movement, and so establish happiness on earth—real, not merely promised. For this remains—as I have already pointed412 out—the essential difference between the two religions of décadence: Buddhism promises nothing, but actually fulfils; Christianity promises everything, but fulfils nothing.—Hard upon the heels of the “glad tidings” came the worst imaginable: those of Paul. In Paul is incarnated413 the very opposite of the “bearer of glad tidings”; he represents the genius for hatred, the vision of hatred, the relentless414 logic of hatred. What, indeed, has not this dysangelist sacrificed to hatred! Above all, the Saviour: he nailed him to his own cross. The life, the example, the teaching, the death of Christ, the meaning and the law of the whole gospels—nothing was left of all this after that counterfeiter415 in hatred had reduced it to his uses. Surely not reality; surely not historical truth!... Once more the priestly instinct of the Jew perpetrated the same old master crime against history—he simply struck out the yesterday and the day before yesterday of Christianity, and invented his own history of Christian beginnings. Going further, he treated the history of Israel to another falsification, so that it became a mere prologue416 to his achievement: all the prophets, it now appeared, had referred to his “Saviour.”... Later on the church even falsified the history of man in order to make it a prologue to Christianity.... The figure of the Saviour, his teaching, his way of life, his death, the meaning of his death, even the consequences of his death—nothing remained untouched, nothing remained in even remote contact with reality. Paul simply shifted the centre of gravity of that whole life to a place behind this existence—in the lie of the “risen” Jesus. At bottom, he had no use for the life of the Saviour—what he needed was the death on the cross, and something more. To see anything honest in such a man as Paul, whose home was at the centre of the Stoical enlightenment, when he converts an hallucination into a proof of the resurrection of the Saviour, or even to believe his tale that he suffered from this hallucination himself—this would be a genuine niaiserie in a psychologist. Paul willed the end; therefore he also willed the means.... What he himself didn’t believe was swallowed readily enough by the idiots among whom he spread his teaching.—What he wanted was power; in Paul the priest once more reached out for power—he had use only for such concepts, teachings and symbols as served the purpose of tyrannizing over the masses and organizing mobs. What was the only part of Christianity that Mohammed borrowed later on? Paul’s invention, his device for establishing priestly tyranny and organizing the mob: the belief in the immortality of the soul—that is to say, the doctrine of “judgment”....
43.
When the centre of gravity of life is placed, not in life itself, but in “the beyond”—in nothingness—then one has taken away its centre of gravity altogether. The vast lie of personal immortality destroys all reason, all natural instinct—henceforth, everything in the instincts that is beneficial, that fosters life and that safeguards the future is a cause of suspicion. So to live that life no longer has any meaning: this is now the “meaning” of life.... Why be public-spirited? Why take any pride in descent and forefathers417? Why labour together, trust one another, or concern one’s self about the common welfare, and try to serve it?... Merely so many “temptations,” so many strayings from the “straight path.”—“One thing only is necessary”.... That every man, because he has an “immortal soul,” is as good as every other man; that in an infinite universe of things the “salvation” of every individual may lay claim to eternal importance; that insignificant418 bigots and the three-fourths insane may assume that the laws of nature are constantly suspended in their behalf—it is impossible to lavish419 too much contempt upon such a magnification of every sort of selfishness to infinity420, to insolence421. And yet Christianity has to thank precisely this miserable flattery of personal vanity for its triumph—it was thus that it lured422 all the botched, the dissatisfied, the fallen upon evil days, the whole refuse and off-scouring of humanity to its side. The “salvation of the soul”—in plain English: “the world revolves423 around me.”... The poisonous doctrine, “equal rights for all,” has been propagated as a Christian principle: out of the secret nooks and crannies of bad instinct Christianity has waged a deadly war upon all feelings of reverence424 and distance between man and man, which is to say, upon the first prerequisite to every step upward, to every development of civilization—out of the ressentiment of the masses it has forged its chief weapons against us, against everything noble, joyous425 and high-spirited on earth, against our happiness on earth.... To allow “immortality” to every Peter and Paul was the greatest, the most vicious outrage426 upon noble humanity ever perpetrated.—And let us not underestimate the fatal influence that Christianity has had, even upon politics! Nowadays no one has courage any more for special rights, for the right of dominion, for feelings of honourable79 pride in himself and his equals—for the pathos427 of distance.... Our politics is sick with this lack of courage!—The aristocratic attitude of mind has been undermined by the lie of the equality of souls; and if belief in the “privileges of the majority” makes and will continue to make revolutions—it is Christianity, let us not doubt, and Christian valuations, which convert every revolution into a carnival428 of blood and crime! Christianity is a revolt of all creatures that creep on the ground against everything that is lofty: the gospel of the “lowly” lowers....
44.
—The gospels are invaluable as evidence of the corruption that was already persistent429 within the primitive community. That which Paul, with the cynical430 logic of a rabbi, later developed to a conclusion was at bottom merely a process of decay that had begun with the death of the Saviour.—These gospels cannot be read too carefully; difficulties lurk431 behind every word. I confess—I hope it will not be held against me—that it is precisely for this reason that they offer first-rate joy to a psychologist—as the opposite of all merely na?ve corruption, as refinement432 par excellence, as an artistic433 triumph in psychological corruption. The gospels, in fact, stand alone. The Bible as a whole is not to be compared to them. Here we are among Jews: this is the first thing to be borne in mind if we are not to lose the thread of the matter. This positive genius for conjuring434 up a delusion of personal “holiness” unmatched anywhere else, either in books or by men; this elevation of fraud in word and attitude to the level of an art—all this is not an accident due to the chance talents of an individual, or to any violation435 of nature. The thing responsible is race. The whole of Judaism appears in Christianity as the art of concocting436 holy lies, and there, after many centuries of earnest Jewish training and hard practice of Jewish technic, the business comes to the stage of mastery. The Christian, that ultima ratio of lying, is the Jew all over again—he is threefold the Jew.... The underlying will to make use only of such concepts, symbols and attitudes as fit into priestly practice, the instinctive repudiation437 of every other mode of thought, and every other method of estimating values and utilities—this is not only tradition, it is inheritance: only as an inheritance is it able to operate with the force of nature. The whole of mankind, even the best minds of the best ages (with one exception, perhaps hardly human—), have permitted themselves to be deceived. The gospels have been read as a book of innocence ... surely no small indication of the high skill with which the trick has been done.—Of course, if we could actually see these astounding438 bigots and bogus saints, even if only for an instant, the farce439 would come to an end,—and it is precisely because I cannot read a word of theirs without seeing their attitudinizing that I have made an end of them.... I simply cannot endure the way they have of rolling up their eyes.—For the majority, happily enough, books are mere literature.—Let us not be led astray: they say “judge not,” and yet they condemn to hell whoever stands in their way. In letting God sit in judgment they judge themselves; in glorifying441 God they glorify440 themselves; in demanding that every one show the virtues which they themselves happen to be capable of—still more, which they must have in order to remain on top—they assume the grand air of men struggling for virtue, of men engaging in a war that virtue may prevail. “We live, we die, we sacrifice ourselves for the good” (—“the truth,” “the light,” “the kingdom of God”): in point of fact, they simply do what they cannot help doing. Forced, like hypocrites, to be sneaky, to hide in corners, to slink along in the shadows, they convert their necessity into a duty: it is on grounds of duty that they account for their lives of humility, and that humility becomes merely one more proof of their piety442.... Ah, that humble443, chaste444, charitable brand of fraud! “Virtue itself shall bear witness for us.”... One may read the gospels as books of moral seduction: these petty folks fasten themselves to morality—they know the uses of morality! Morality is the best of all devices for leading mankind by the nose!—The fact is that the conscious conceit of the chosen here disguises itself as modesty: it is in this way that they, the “community,” the “good and just,” range themselves, once and for always, on one side, the side of “the truth”—and the rest of mankind, “the world,” on the other.... In that we observe the most fatal sort of megalomania that the earth has ever seen: little abortions of bigots and liars began to claim exclusive rights in the concepts of “God,” “the truth,” “the light,” “the spirit,” “love,” “wisdom” and “life,” as if these things were synonyms445 of themselves and thereby they sought to fence themselves off from the “world”; little super-Jews, ripe for some sort of madhouse, turned values upside down in order to meet their notions, just as if the Christian were the meaning, the salt, the standard and even the last judgment of all the rest.... The whole disaster was only made possible by the fact that there already existed in the world a similar megalomania, allied446 to this one in race, to wit, the Jewish: once a chasm began to yawn between Jews and Judaeo-Christians, the latter had no choice but to employ the self-preservative measures that the Jewish instinct had devised, even against the Jews themselves, whereas the Jews had employed them only against non-Jews. The Christian is simply a Jew of the “reformed” confession447.—
45.
—I offer a few examples of the sort of thing these petty people have got into their heads—what they have put into the mouth of the Master: the unalloyed creed448 of “beautiful souls.”—
“And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony449 against them. Verily I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city” (Mark vi, 11)—How evangelical!...
“And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea” (Mark ix, 42).—How evangelical!...
“And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire; Where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched450.” (Mark ix, 47.[15])—It is not exactly the eye that is meant....
[15] To which, without mentioning it, Nietzsche adds verse 48.
“Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.” (Mark ix, 1.)—Well lied, lion![16]....
[16] A paraphrase451 of Demetrius’ “Well roar’d, Lion!” in act v, scene 1 of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” The lion, of course, is the familiar Christian symbol for Mark.
“Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For...” (Note of a psychologist. Christian morality is refuted by its fors: its reasons are against it,—this makes it Christian.) Mark viii, 34.—
“Judge not, that ye be not judged. With what measure ye mete452, it shall be measured to you again.” (Matthew vii, 1.[17])—What a notion of justice, of a “just” judge!...
[17] Nietzsche also quotes part of verse 2.
“For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute453 your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?” (Matthew v, 46.[18])—Principle of “Christian love”: it insists upon being well paid in the end....
“But if ye forgive not men their trespasses455, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew vi, 15.)—Very compromising for the said “father.”...
“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matthew vi, 33.)—All these things: namely, food, clothing, all the necessities of life. An error, to put it mildly.... A bit before this God appears as a tailor, at least in certain cases....
“Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold456, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.” (Luke vi, 23.)—Impudent457 rabble458! It compares itself to the prophets....
“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile459 the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” (Paul, 1 Corinthians iii, 16.[19])—For that sort of thing one cannot have enough contempt....
[19] And 17.
“Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?” (Paul, 1 Corinthians vi, 2.)—Unfortunately, not merely the speech of a lunatic.... This frightful460 impostor then proceeds: “Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain461 to this life?”...
“Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.... Not many wise men after the flesh, not men mighty462, not many noble are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought463 things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence.” (Paul, 1 Corinthians i, 20ff.[20])—In order to understand this passage, a first-rate example of the psychology underlying every Chandala-morality, one should read the first part of my “Genealogy of Morals”: there, for the first time, the antagonism between a noble morality and a morality born of ressentiment and impotent vengefulness is exhibited. Paul was the greatest of all apostles of revenge....
[20] Verses 20, 21, 26, 27, 28, 29.
46.
—What follows, then? That one had better put on gloves before reading the New Testament464. The presence of so much filth465 makes it very advisable. One would as little choose “early Christians” for companions as Polish Jews: not that one need seek out an objection to them.... Neither has a pleasant smell.—I have searched the New Testament in vain for a single sympathetic touch; nothing is there that is free, kindly, open-hearted or upright. In it humanity does not even make the first step upward—the instinct for cleanliness is lacking.... Only evil instincts are there, and there is not even the courage of these evil instincts. It is all coward ice; it is all a shutting of the eyes, a self-deception. Every other book becomes clean, once one has read the New Testament: for example, immediately after reading Paul I took up with delight that most charming and wanton of scoffers, Petronius, of whom one may say what Domenico Boccaccio wrote of C?sar Borgia to the Duke of Parma: “è tutto festo”—immortally466 healthy, immortally cheerful and sound.... These petty bigots make a capital miscalculation. They attack, but everything they attack is thereby distinguished. Whoever is attacked by an “early Christian” is surely not befouled.... On the contrary, it is an honour to have an “early Christian” as an opponent. One cannot read the New Testament without acquired admiration467 for whatever it abuses—not to speak of the “wisdom of this world,” which an impudent wind-bag tries to dispose of “by the foolishness of preaching.”... Even the scribes and pharisees are benefitted by such opposition: they must certainly have been worth something to have been hated in such an indecent manner. Hypocrisy468—as if this were a charge that the “early Christians” dared to make!—After all, they were the privileged, and that was enough: the hatred of the Chandala needed no other excuse. The “early Christian”—and also, I fear, the “last Christian,” whom I may perhaps live to see—is a rebel against all privilege by profound instinct—he lives and makes war for ever for “equal rights.”... Strictly speaking, he has no alternative. When a man proposes to represent, in his own person, the “chosen of God”—or to be a “temple of God,” or a “judge of the angels”—then every other criterion, whether based upon honesty, upon intellect, upon manliness469 and pride, or upon beauty and freedom of the heart, becomes simply “worldly”—evil in itself.... Moral: every word that comes from the lips of an “early Christian” is a lie, and his every act is instinctively470 dishonest—all his values, all his aims are noxious406, but whoever he hates, whatever he hates, has real value.... The Christian, and particularly the Christian priest, is thus a criterion of values.
—Must I add that, in the whole New Testament, there appears but a solitary471 figure worthy of honour? Pilate, the Roman viceroy. To regard a Jewish imbroglio472 seriously—that was quite beyond him. One Jew more or less—what did it matter?... The noble scorn of a Roman, before whom the word “truth” was shamelessly mishandled, enriched the New Testament with the only saying that has any value—and that is at once its criticism and its destruction: “What is truth?...”
47.
—The thing that sets us apart is not that we are unable to find God, either in history, or in nature, or behind nature—but that we regard what has been honoured as God, not as “divine,” but as pitiable, as absurd, as injurious; not as a mere error, but as a crime against life.... We deny that God is God.... If any one were to show us this Christian God, we’d be still less inclined to believe in him.—In a formula: deus, qualem Paulus creavit, dei negatio.—Such a religion as Christianity, which does not touch reality at a single point and which goes to pieces the moment reality asserts its rights at any point, must be inevitably the deadly enemy of the “wisdom of this world,” which is to say, of science—and it will give the name of good to whatever means serve to poison, calumniate473 and cry down all intellectual discipline, all lucidity474 and strictness in matters of intellectual conscience, and all noble coolness and freedom of the mind. “Faith,” as an imperative, vetoes science—in praxi, lying at any price.... Paul well knew that lying—that “faith”—was necessary; later on the church borrowed the fact from Paul.—The God that Paul invented for himself, a God who “reduced to absurdity” “the wisdom of this world” (especially the two great enemies of superstition475, philology476 and medicine), is in truth only an indication of Paul’s resolute477 determination to accomplish that very thing himself: to give one’s own will the name of God, thora—that is essentially Jewish. Paul wants to dispose of the “wisdom of this world”: his enemies are the good philologians and physicians of the Alexandrine school—on them he makes his war. As a matter of fact no man can be a philologian478 or a physician without being also Antichrist. That is to say, as a philologian a man sees behind the “holy books,” and as a physician he sees behind the physiological degeneration of the typical Christian. The physician says “incurable”; the philologian says “fraud.”...
48.
—Has any one ever clearly understood the celebrated story at the beginning of the Bible—of God’s mortal terror of science?... No one, in fact, has understood it. This priest-book par excellence opens, as is fitting, with the great inner difficulty of the priest: he faces only one great danger; ergo, “God” faces only one great danger.—
The old God, wholly “spirit,” wholly the high-priest, wholly perfect, is promenading479 his garden: he is bored and trying to kill time. Against boredom even gods struggle in vain.[21] What does he do? He creates man—man is entertaining.... But then he notices that man is also bored. God’s pity for the only form of distress480 that invades all paradises knows no bounds: so he forthwith creates other animals. God’s first mistake: to man these other animals were not entertaining—he sought dominion over them; he did not want to be an “animal” himself.—So God created woman. In the act he brought boredom to an end—and also many other things! Woman was the second mistake of God.—“Woman, at bottom, is a serpent, Heva”—every priest knows that; “from woman comes every evil in the world”—every priest knows that, too. Ergo, she is also to blame for science.... It was through woman that man learned to taste of the tree of knowledge.—What happened? The old God was seized by mortal terror. Man himself had been his greatest blunder; he had created a rival to himself; science makes men godlike—it is all up with priests and gods when man becomes scientific!—Moral: science is the forbidden per se; it alone is forbidden. Science is the first of sins, the germ of all sins, the original sin. This is all there is of morality.—“Thou shall not know”:—the rest follows from that.—God’s mortal terror, however, did not hinder him from being shrewd. How is one to protect one’s self against science? For a long while this was the capital problem. Answer: Out of paradise with man! Happiness, leisure, foster thought—and all thoughts are bad thoughts!—Man must not think.—And so the priest invents distress, death, the mortal dangers of childbirth, all sorts of misery481, old age, decrepitude, above all, sickness—nothing but devices for making war on science! The troubles of man don’t allow him to think.... Nevertheless—how terrible!—, the edifice482 of knowledge begins to tower aloft, invading heaven, shadowing the gods—what is to be done?—The old God invents war; he separates the peoples; he makes men destroy one another (—the priests have always had need of war....). War—among other things, a great disturber of science!—Incredible! Knowledge, deliverance from the priests, prospers483 in spite of war.—So the old God comes to his final resolution: “Man has become scientific—there is no help for it: he must be drowned!”...
[21] A paraphrase of Schiller’s “Against stupidity even gods struggle in vain.”
49.
—I have been understood. At the opening of the Bible there is the whole psychology of the priest.—The priest knows of only one great danger: that is science—the sound comprehension of cause and effect. But science flourishes, on the whole, only under favourable484 conditions—a man must have time, he must have an overflowing485 intellect, in order to “know.”... “Therefore, man must be made unhappy,”—this has been, in all ages, the logic of the priest.—It is easy to see just what, by this logic, was the first thing to come into the world:—“sin.”... The concept of guilt and punishment, the whole “moral order of the world,” was set up against science—against the deliverance of man from priests.... Man must not look outward; he must look inward. He must not look at things shrewdly and cautiously, to learn about them; he must not look at all; he must suffer.... And he must suffer so much that he is always in need of the priest.—Away with physicians! What is needed is a Saviour.—The concept of guilt and punishment, including the doctrines of “grace,” of “salvation,” of “forgiveness”—lies through and through, and absolutely without psychological reality—were devised to destroy man’s sense of causality: they are an attack upon the concept of cause and effect!—And not an attack with the fist, with the knife, with honesty in hate and love! On the contrary, one inspired by the most cowardly, the most crafty486, the most ignoble487 of instincts! An attack of priests! An attack of parasites488! The vampirism of pale, subterranean leeches489!... When the natural consequences of an act are no longer “natural,” but are regarded as produced by the ghostly creations of superstition—by “God,” by “spirits,” by “souls”—and reckoned as merely “moral” consequences, as rewards, as punishments, as hints, as lessons, then the whole ground-work of knowledge is destroyed—then the greatest of crimes against humanity has been perpetrated.—I repeat that sin, man’s self-desecration par excellence, was invented in order to make science, culture, and every elevation and ennobling of man impossible; the priest rules through the invention of sin.—
50.
—In this place I can’t permit myself to omit a psychology of “belief,” of the “believer,” for the special benefit of “believers.” If there remain any today who do not yet know how indecent it is to be “believing”—or how much a sign of décadence, of a broken will to live—then they will know it well enough tomorrow. My voice reaches even the deaf.—It appears, unless I have been incorrectly informed, that there prevails among Christians a sort of criterion of truth that is called “proof by power.” “Faith makes blessed: therefore it is true.”—It might be objected right here that blessedness is not dem onstrated, it is merely promised: it hangs upon “faith” as a condition—one shall be blessed because one believes.... But what of the thing that the priest promises to the believer, the wholly transcendental “beyond”—how is that to be demonstrated?—The “proof by power,” thus assumed, is actually no more at bottom than a belief that the effects which faith promises will not fail to appear. In a formula: “I believe that faith makes for blessedness—therefore, it is true.”... But this is as far as we may go. This “therefore” would be absurdum itself as a criterion of truth.—But let us admit, for the sake of politeness, that blessedness by faith may be demonstrated (—not merely hoped for, and not merely promised by the suspicious lips of a priest): even so, could blessedness—in a technical term, pleasure—ever be a proof of truth? So little is this true that it is almost a proof against truth when sensations of pleasure influence the answer to the question “What is true?” or, at all events, it is enough to make that “truth” highly suspicious. The proof by “pleasure” is a proof of “pleasure”—nothing more; why in the world should it be assumed that true judgments490 give more pleasure than false ones, and that, in conformity491 to some pre-established harmony, they necessarily bring agreeable feelings in their train?—The experience of all disciplined and profound minds teaches the contrary. Man has had to fight for every atom of the truth, and has had to pay for it almost everything that the heart, that human love, that human trust cling to. Greatness of soul is needed for this business: the service of truth is the hardest of all services.—What, then, is the meaning of integrity in things intellectual? It means that a man must be severe with his own heart, that he must scorn “beautiful feelings,” and that he makes every Yea and Nay a matter of conscience!—Faith makes blessed: therefore, it lies....
51.
The fact that faith, under certain circumstances, may work for blessedness, but that this blessedness produced by an idée fixe by no means makes the idea itself true, and the fact that faith actually moves no mountains, but instead raises them up where there were none before: all this is made sufficiently492 clear by a walk through a lunatic asylum493. Not, of course, to a priest: for his instincts prompt him to the lie that sickness is not sickness and lunatic asylums494 not lunatic asylums. Christianity finds sickness necessary, just as the Greek spirit had need of a superabundance of health—the actual ulterior purpose of the whole system of salvation of the church is to make people ill. And the church itself—doesn’t it set up a Catholic lunatic asylum as the ultimate ideal?—The whole earth as a madhouse?—The sort of religious man that the church wants is a typical décadent; the moment at which a religious crisis dominates a people is always marked by epidemics495 of nervous disorder; the “inner world” of the religious man is so much like the “inner world” of the overstrung and exhausted that it is difficult to distinguish between them; the “highest” states of mind, held up before mankind by Christianity as of supreme496 worth, are actually epileptoid in form—the church has granted the name of holy only to lunatics or to gigantic frauds in majorem dei honorem.... Once I ventured to designate the whole Christian system of training[22] in penance and salvation (now best studied in England) as a method of producing a folie circulaire upon a soil already prepared for it, which is to say, a soil thoroughly unhealthy. Not every one may be a Christian: one is not “converted” to Christianity—one must first be sick enough for it.... We others, who have the courage for health and likewise for contempt,—we may well despise a religion that teaches misunderstanding of the body! that refuses to rid itself of the superstition about the soul! that makes a “virtue” of insufficient497 nourishment498! that combats health as a sort of enemy, devil, temptation! that persuades itself that it is possible to carry about a “perfect soul” in a cadaver499 of a body, and that, to this end, had to devise for itself a new concept of “perfection,” a pale, sickly, idiotically ecstatic state of existence, so-called “holiness”—a holiness that is itself merely a series of symptoms of an impoverished500, enervated501 and incurably502 disordered body!... The Christian movement, as a European movement, was from the start no more than a general uprising of all sorts of outcast and refuse elements (—who now, under cover of Christianity, aspire503 to power). It does not represent the decay of a race; it represents, on the contrary, a conglomeration504 of décadence products from all directions, crowding together and seeking one another out. It was not, as has been thought, the corruption of antiquity505, of noble antiquity, which made Christianity possible; one cannot too sharply challenge the learned imbecility which today maintains that theory. At the time when the sick and rotten Chandala classes in the whole imperium were Christianized, the contrary type, the nobility, reached its finest and ripest development. The majority became master; democracy, with its Christian instincts, triumphed.... Christianity was not “national,” it was not based on race—it appealed to all the varieties of men disinherited by life, it had its allies everywhere. Christianity has the rancour of the sick at its very core—the instinct against the healthy, against health. Everything that is well-constituted, proud, gallant and, above all, beautiful gives offence to its ears and eyes. Again I remind you of Paul’s priceless saying: “And God hath chosen the weak things of the world, the foolish things of the world, the base things of the world, and things which are despised”:[23] this was the formula; in hoc signo the décadence triumphed.—God on the cross—is man always to miss the frightful inner significance of this symbol?—Everything that suffers, everything that hangs on the cross, is divine.... We all hang on the cross, consequently we are divine.... We alone are divine.... Christianity was thus a victory: a nobler attitude of mind was destroyed by it—Christianity remains to this day the greatest misfortune of humanity.—
[22] The word training is in English in the text.
[23]1 Corinthians i, 27, 28.
52.
Christianity also stands in opposition to all intellectual well-being,—sick reasoning is the only sort that it can use as Christian reasoning; it takes the side of everything that is idiotic; it pronounces a curse upon “intellect,” upon the superbia of the healthy intellect. Since sickness is inherent in Christianity, it follows that the typically Christian state of “faith” must be a form of sickness too, and that all straight, straightforward506 and scientific paths to knowledge must be banned by the church as forbidden ways. Doubt is thus a sin from the start.... The complete lack of psychological cleanliness in the priest—revealed by a glance at him—is a phenomenon resulting from décadence,—one may observe in hysterical507 women and in rachitic children how regularly the falsification of instincts, delight in lying for the mere sake of lying, and incapacity for looking straight and walking straight are symptoms of décadence. “Faith” means the will to avoid knowing what is true. The pietist, the priest of either sex, is a fraud because he is sick: his instinct demands that the truth shall never be allowed its rights on any point. “Whatever makes for illness is good; whatever issues from abundance, from superabundance, from power, is evil”: so argues the believer. The impulse to lie—it is by this that I recognize every foreordained theologian.—Another characteristic of the theologian is his unfitness for philology. What I here mean by philology is, in a general sense, the art of reading with profit—the capacity for absorbing facts without interpreting them falsely, and without losing caution, patience and subtlety508 in the effort to understand them. Philology as ephexis[24] in interpretation: whether one be dealing with books, with newspaper reports, with the most fateful events or with weather statistics—not to mention the “salvation of the soul.”... The way in which a theologian, whether in Berlin or in Rome, is ready to explain, say, a “passage of Scripture,” or an experience, or a victory by the national army, by turning upon it the high illumination of the Psalms509 of David, is always so daring that it is enough to make a philologian run up a wall. But what shall he do when pietists and other such cows from Suabia[25] use the “finger of God” to convert their miserably510 commonplace and huggermugger existence into a miracle of “grace,” a “providence” and an “experience of salvation”? The most modest exercise of the intellect, not to say of decency, should certainly be enough to convince these interpreters of the perfect childishness and unworthiness of such a misuse511 of the divine digital dexterity512. However small our piety, if we ever encountered a god who always cured us of a cold in the head at just the right time, or got us into our carriage at the very instant heavy rain began to fall, he would seem so absurd a god that he’d have to be abolished even if he existed. God as a domestic servant, as a letter carrier, as an almanac-man—at bottom, he is a mere name for the stupidest sort of chance.... “Divine Prov idence,” which every third man in “educated Germany” still believes in, is so strong an argument against God that it would be impossible to think of a stronger. And in any case it is an argument against Germans!...
[24] That is, to say, scepticism. Among the Greeks scepticism was also occasionally called ephecticism.
[25] A reference to the University of Tübingen and its famous school of Biblical criticism. The leader of this school was F. C. Baur, and one of the men greatly influenced by it was Nietzsche’s pet abomination, David F. Strauss, himself a Suabian. Vide § 10 and § 28.
53.
—It is so little true that martyrs513 offer any support to the truth of a cause that I am inclined to deny that any martyr514 has ever had anything to do with the truth at all. In the very tone in which a martyr flings what he fancies to be true at the head of the world there appears so low a grade of intellectual honesty and such insensibility to the problem of “truth,” that it is never necessary to refute him. Truth is not something that one man has and another man has not: at best, only peasants, or peasant-apostles like Luther, can think of truth in any such way. One may rest assured that the greater the degree of a man’s intellectual conscience the greater will be his modesty, his discretion515, on this point. To know in five cases, and to refuse, with delicacy516, to know anything further.... “Truth,” as the word is understood by every prophet, every sectarian, every free-thinker, every Socialist517 and every churchman, is simply a complete proof that not even a beginning has been made in the intellectual discipline and self-control that are necessary to the unearthing518 of even the smallest truth.—The deaths of the martyrs, it may be said in passing, have been misfortunes of history: they have misled.... The conclusion that all idiots, women and plebeians519 come to, that there must be something in a cause for which any one goes to his death (or which, as under primitive Christianity, sets off epidemics of death-seeking)—this conclusion has been an unspeakable drag upon the testing of facts, upon the whole spirit of inquiry and investigation520. The martyrs have damaged the truth.... Even to this day the crude fact of persecution521 is enough to give an honourable name to the most empty sort of sectarianism.—But why? Is the worth of a cause altered by the fact that some one had laid down his life for it?—An error that becomes honourable is simply an error that has acquired one seductive charm the more: do you suppose, Messrs. Theologians, that we shall give you the chance to be martyred for your lies?—One best disposes of a cause by respectfully putting it on ice—that is also the best way to dispose of theologians.... This was precisely the world- historical stupidity of all the persecutors: that they gave the appearance of honour to the cause they opposed—that they made it a present of the fascination522 of martyrdom.... Women are still on their knees before an error because they have been told that some one died on the cross for it. Is the cross, then, an argument?—But about all these things there is one, and one only, who has said what has been needed for thousands of years—Zarathustra.
They made signs in blood along the way that they went, and their folly523 taught them that the truth is proved by blood.
But blood is the worst of all testimonies524 to the truth; blood poisoneth even the purest teaching and turneth it into madness and hatred in the heart.
And when one goeth through fire for his teaching—what doth that prove? Verily, it is more when one’s teaching cometh out of one’s own burning![26]
[26] The quotations525 are from “Also sprach Zarathustra” ii, 24: “Of Priests.”
54.
Do not let yourself be deceived: great intellects are sceptical. Zarathustra is a sceptic. The strength, the freedom which proceed from intellectual power, from a superabundance of intellectual power, manifest themselves as scep ticism. Men of fixed convictions do not count when it comes to determining what is fundamental in values and lack of values. Men of convictions are prisoners. They do not see far enough, they do not see what is below them: whereas a man who would talk to any purpose about value and non-value must be able to see five hundred convictions beneath him—and behind him.... A mind that aspires526 to great things, and that wills the means thereto, is necessarily sceptical. Freedom from any sort of conviction belongs to strength, and to an independent point of view.... That grand passion which is at once the foundation and the power of a sceptic’s existence, and is both more enlightened and more despotic than he is himself, drafts the whole of his intellect into its service; it makes him unscrupulous; it gives him courage to employ unholy means; under certain circumstances it does not begrudge527 him even convictions. Conviction as a means: one may achieve a good deal by means of a conviction. A grand passion makes use of and uses up convictions; it does not yield to them—it knows itself to be sovereign.—On the contrary, the need of faith, of something unconditioned by yea or nay, of Carlylism, if I may be allowed the word, is a need of weakness. The man of faith, the “believer” of any sort, is necessarily a dependent man—such a man cannot posit45 himself as a goal, nor can he find goals within himself. The “believer” does not belong to himself; he can only be a means to an end; he must be used up; he needs some one to use him up. His instinct gives the highest honours to an ethic59 of self-effacement; he is prompted to embrace it by everything: his prudence528, his experience, his vanity. Every sort of faith is in itself an evidence of self-effacement, of self-estrangement.... When one reflects how necessary it is to the great majority that there be regulations to restrain them from without and hold them fast, and to what extent control, or, in a higher sense, slavery, is the one and only condition which makes for the well-being of the weak-willed man, and especially woman, then one at once understands conviction and “faith.” To the man with convictions they are his backbone529. To avoid seeing many things, to be impartial530 about nothing, to be a party man through and through, to estimate all values strictly and infallibly—these are conditions necessary to the existence of such a man. But by the same token they are antagonists of the truthful man—of the truth.... The believer is not free to answer the question, “true” or “not true,” according to the dictates531 of his own conscience: integrity on this point would work his instant downfall. The pathological limitations of his vision turn the man of convictions into a fanatic—Savonarola, Luther, Rousseau, Robespierre, Saint-Simon—these types stand in opposition to the strong, emancipated532 spirit. But the grandiose533 attitudes of these sick intellects, these intellectual epileptics, are of influence upon the great masses—fanatics are picturesque, and mankind prefers observing poses to listening to reasons....
55.
—One step further in the psychology of conviction, of “faith.” It is now a good while since I first proposed for consideration the question whether convictions are not even more dangerous enemies to truth than lies. (“Human, All-Too-Human,” I, aphorism534 483.)[27] This time I desire to put the question definitely: is there any actual difference between a lie and a conviction?—All the world believes that there is; but what is not believed by all the world!—Every conviction has its history, its primitive forms, its stage of tentativeness and error: it becomes a conviction only after having been, for a long time, not one, and then, for an even longer time, hardly one. What if falsehood be also one of these embryonic535 forms of conviction?—Sometimes all that is needed is a change in persons: what was a lie in the father becomes a conviction in the son.—I call it lying to refuse to see what one sees, or to refuse to see it as it is: whether the lie be uttered before witnesses or not before witnesses is of no consequence. The most common sort of lie is that by which a man deceives himself: the deception of others is a relatively rare offence.—Now, this will not to see what one sees, this will not to see it as it is, is almost the first requisite317 for all who belong to a party of whatever sort: the party man becomes inevitably a liar93. For example, the German historians are convinced that Rome was synonymous with despotism and that the Germanic peoples brought the spirit of liberty into the world: what is the difference between this conviction and a lie? Is it to be wondered at that all partisans536, including the German historians, instinctively roll the fine phrases of morality upon their tongues—that morality almost owes its very survival to the fact that the party man of every sort has need of it every moment?—“This is our conviction: we publish it to the whole world; we live and die for it—let us respect all who have convictions!”—I have actually heard such sentiments from the mouths of anti-Semites. On the contrary, gentlemen! An anti-Semite surely does not become more respectable because he lies on principle.... The priests, who have more finesse537 in such matters, and who well understand the objection that lies against the notion of a conviction, which is to say, of a falsehood that becomes a matter of principle because it serves a purpose, have borrowed from the Jews the shrewd device of sneaking538 in the concepts, “God,” “the will of God” and “the revelation of God” at this place. Kant, too, with his categorical imperative, was on the same road: this was his practical reason.[28] There are questions regarding the truth or untruth of which it is not for man to decide; all the capital questions, all the capital problems of valuation, are beyond human reason.... To know the limits of reason—that alone is genuine philosophy.... Why did God make a revelation to man? Would God have done anything superfluous539? Man could not find out for himself what was good and what was evil, so God taught him His will.... Moral: the priest does not lie—the question, “true” or “untrue,” has nothing to do with such things as the priest discusses; it is impossible to lie about these things. In order to lie here it would be necessary to know what is true. But this is more than man can know; therefore, the priest is simply the mouthpiece of God.—Such a priestly syllogism540 is by no means merely Jewish and Christian; the right to lie and the shrewd dodge541 of “revelation” belong to the general priestly type—to the priest of the décadence as well as to the priest of pagan times (—Pagans are all those who say yes to life, and to whom “God” is a word signifying acquiescence542 in all things).—The “law,” the “will of God,” the “holy book,” and “inspiration”—all these things are merely words for the conditions under which the priest comes to power and with which he maintains his power,—these concepts are to be found at the bottom of all priestly organizations, and of all priestly or priestly-philosophical schemes of governments. The “holy lie”—common alike to Confucius, to the Code of Manu, to Mohammed and to the Christian church—is not even wanting in Plato. “Truth is here”: this means, no matter where it is heard, the priest lies....
[27] The aphorism, which is headed “The Enemies of Truth,” makes the direct statement: “Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies.”
[28] A reference, of course, to Kant’s “Kritik der praktischen Vernunft” (Critique of Practical Reason).
56.
—In the last analysis it comes to this: what is the end of lying? The fact that, in Christianity, “holy” ends are not visible is my objection to the means it employs. Only bad ends appear: the poisoning, the calumniation543, the denial of life, the despising of the body, the degradation544 and self-contamination of man by the concept of sin—therefore, its means are also bad.—I have a contrary feeling when I read the Code of Manu, an incomparably more intellectual and superior work, which it would be a sin against the intelligence to so much as name in the same breath with the Bible. It is easy to see why: there is a genuine philosophy behind it, in it, not merely an evil-smelling mess of Jewish rabbinism and superstition,—it gives even the most fastidious psychologist something to sink his teeth into. And, not to forget what is most important, it differs fundamentally from every kind of Bible: by means of it the nobles, the philosophers and the warriors545 keep the whip-hand over the majority; it is full of noble valuations, it shows a feeling of perfection, an acceptance of life, and triumphant feeling toward self and life—the sun shines upon the whole book.—All the things on which Christianity vents284 its fathomless546 vulgarity—for example, procreation, women and marriage—are here handled earnestly, with reverence and with love and confidence. How can any one really put into the hands of children and ladies a book which contains such vile292 things as this: “to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband; ... it is better to marry than to burn”?[29] And is it possible to be a Christian so long as the origin of man is Christianized, which is to say, befouled, by the doctrine of the immaculata conceptio?... I know of no book in which so many delicate and kindly things are said of women as in the Code of Manu; these old grey-beards and saints have a way of being gallant to women that it would be impossible, perhaps, to surpass. “The mouth of a woman,” it says in one place, “the breasts of a maiden547, the prayer of a child and the smoke of sacrifice are always pure.” In another place: “there is nothing purer than the light of the sun, the shadow cast by a cow, air, water, fire and the breath of a maiden.” Finally, in still another place—perhaps this is also a holy lie—: “all the orifices of the body above the navel are pure, and all below are impure548. Only in the maiden is the whole body pure.”
[29]1 Corinthians vii, 2, 9.
57.
One catches the unholiness of Christian means in flagranti by the simple process of putting the ends sought by Christianity beside the ends sought by the Code of Manu—by putting these enormously antithetical ends under a strong light. The critic of Christianity cannot evade549 the necessity of making Christianity contemptible.—A book of laws such as the Code of Manu has the same origin as every other good law-book: it epitomizes the experience, the sagacity and the ethical experimentation550 of long centuries; it brings things to a conclusion; it no longer creates. The prerequisite to a codification551 of this sort is recognition of the fact that the means which establish the authority of a slowly and painfully attained truth are fundamentally different from those which one would make use of to prove it. A law-book never recites the utility, the grounds, the casuistical antecedents of a law: for if it did so it would lose the imperative tone, the “thou shall,” on which obedience is based. The problem lies exactly here.—At a certain point in the evolution of a people, the class within it of the greatest insight, which is to say, the greatest hindsight and foresight552, declares that the series of experiences determining how all shall live—or can live—has come to an end. The object now is to reap as rich and as complete a harvest as possible from the days of experiment and hard experience. In consequence, the thing that is to be avoided above everything is further experimentation—the continuation of the state in which values are fluent, and are tested, chosen and criticized ad infinitum. Against this a double wall is set up: on the one hand, revelation, which is the assumption that the reasons lying behind the laws are not of human origin, that they were not sought out and found by a slow process and after many errors, but that they are of divine ancestry553, and came into being complete, perfect, without a history, as a free gift, a miracle...; and on the other hand, tradition, which is the assumption that the law has stood unchanged from time immemorial, and that it is impious and a crime against one’s forefathers to bring it into question. The authority of the law is thus grounded on the thesis: God gave it, and the fathers lived it.—The higher motive of such procedure lies in the design to distract consciousness, step by step, from its concern with notions of right living (that is to say, those that have been proved to be right by wide and carefully considered experience), so that instinct attains554 to a perfect automatism—a primary necessity to every sort of mastery, to every sort of perfection in the art of life. To draw up such a law-book as Manu’s means to lay before a people the possibility of future mastery, of attainable202 perfection—it permits them to aspire to the highest reaches of the art of life. To that end the thing must be made unconscious: that is the aim of every holy lie.—The order of castes, the highest, the dominating law, is merely the ratification555 of an order of nature, of a natural law of the first rank, over which no arbitrary fiat556, no “modern idea,” can exert any influence. In every healthy society there are three physiological types, gravitating toward differentiation557 but mutually conditioning one another, and each of these has its own hygiene, its own sphere of work, its own special mastery and feeling of perfection. It is not Manu but nature that sets off in one class those who are chiefly intellectual, in another those who are marked by muscular strength and temperament558, and in a third those who are distinguished in neither one way or the other, but show only mediocrity—the last-named represents the great majority, and the first two the select. The superior caste—I call it the fewest—has, as the most perfect, the privileges of the few: it stands for happiness, for beauty, for everything good upon earth. Only the most intellectual of men have any right to beauty, to the beautiful; only in them can goodness escape being weakness. Pulchrum est paucorum hominum:[30] goodness is a privilege. Nothing could be more unbecoming to them than uncouth559 manners or a pessimistic look, or an eye that sees ugliness—or indignation against the general aspect of things. Indigna tion is the privilege of the Chandala; so is pessimism560. “The world is perfect”—so prompts the instinct of the intellectual, the instinct of the man who says yes to life. “Imperfection, whatever is inferior to us, distance, the pathos of distance, even the Chandala themselves are parts of this perfection.” The most intelligent men, like the strongest, find their happiness where others would find only disaster: in the labyrinth, in being hard with themselves and with others, in effort; their delight is in self-mastery; in them asceticism becomes second nature, a necessity, an instinct. They regard a difficult task as a privilege; it is to them a recreation to play with burdens that would crush all others.... Knowledge—a form of asceticism.—They are the most honourable kind of men: but that does not prevent them being the most cheerful and most amiable561. They rule, not because they want to, but because they are; they are not at liberty to play second.—The second caste: to this belong the guardians562 of the law, the keepers of order and security, the more noble warriors, above all, the king as the highest form of warrior, judge and preserver of the law. The second in rank constitute the executive arm of the intellectuals, the next to them in rank, taking from them all that is rough in the business of ruling—their followers563, their right hand, their most apt disciples.—In all this, I repeat, there is nothing arbitrary, nothing “made up”; whatever is to the contrary is made up—by it nature is brought to shame.... The order of castes, the order of rank, simply formulates564 the supreme law of life itself; the separation of the three types is necessary to the maintenance of society, and to the evolution of higher types, and the highest types—the inequality of rights is essential to the existence of any rights at all.—A right is a privilege. Every one enjoys the privileges that accord with his state of existence. Let us not underestimate the privileges of the mediocre565. Life is always harder as one mounts the heights—the cold increases, responsibility increases. A high civilization is a pyramid: it can stand only on a broad base; its primary prerequisite is a strong and soundly consolidated566 mediocrity. The handicrafts, commerce, agriculture, science, the greater part of art, in brief, the whole range of occupational activities, are compatible only with mediocre ability and aspiration; such callings would be out of place for exceptional men; the instincts which belong to them stand as much opposed to aristocracy as to anarchism. The fact that a man is publicly useful, that he is a wheel, a function, is evidence of a natural predisposition; it is not society, but the only sort of happiness that the majority are capable of, that makes them intelligent machines. To the mediocre mediocrity is a form of happiness; they have a natural instinct for mastering one thing, for specialization. It would be altogether unworthy of a profound intellect to see anything objectionable in mediocrity in itself. It is, in fact, the first prerequisite to the appearance of the exceptional: it is a necessary condition to a high degree of civilization. When the exceptional man handles the mediocre man with more delicate fingers than he applies to himself or to his equals, this is not merely kindness of heart—it is simply his duty.... Whom do I hate most heartily567 among the rabbles of today? The rabble of Socialists568, the apostles to the Chandala, who undermine the workingman’s instincts, his pleasure, his feeling of contentment with his petty existence—who make him envious569 and teach him revenge.... Wrong never lies in unequal rights; it lies in the assertion of “equal” rights.... What is bad? But I have already answered: all that proceeds from weakness, from envy, from revenge.—The anarchist and the Christian have the same ancestry....
[30] Few men are noble.
58.
In point of fact, the end for which one lies makes a great difference: whether one preserves thereby or destroys. There is a perfect likeness570 between Christian and anarchist: their object, their instinct, points only toward destruction. One need only turn to history for a proof of this: there it appears with appalling distinctness. We have just studied a code of religious legislation whose object it was to convert the conditions which cause life to flourish into an “eternal” social organization,—Christianity found its mission in putting an end to such an organization, because life flourished under it. There the benefits that reason had produced during long ages of experiment and insecurity were applied571 to the most remote uses, and an effort was made to bring in a harvest that should be as large, as rich and as complete as possible; here, on the contrary, the harvest is blighted572 overnight.... That which stood there aere perennis, the imperium Romanum, the most magnificent form of organization under difficult conditions that has ever been achieved, and compared to which everything before it and after it appears as patchwork573, bungling574, dilletantism—those holy anarchists575 made it a matter of “piety” to destroy “the world,” which is to say, the imperium Romanum, so that in the end not a stone stood upon another—and even Germans and other such louts were able to become its masters.... The Christian and the anarchist: both are décadents; both are incapable of any act that is not disintegrating576, poisonous, degenerating577, blood-sucking; both have an instinct of mortal hatred of everything that stands up, and is great, and has durability578, and promises life a future.... Christianity was the vampire579 of the imperium Romanum,—overnight it destroyed the vast achievement of the Romans: the conquest of the soil for a great culture that could await its time. Can it be that this fact is not yet understood? The imperium Romanum that we know, and that the history of the Roman provinces teaches us to know better and better,—this most admirable of all works of art in the grand manner was merely the beginning, and the structure to follow was not to prove its worth for thousands of years. To this day, noth ing on a like scale sub specie aeterni has been brought into being, or even dreamed of!—This organization was strong enough to withstand bad emperors: the accident of personality has nothing to do with such things—the first principle of all genuinely great architecture. But it was not strong enough to stand up against the corruptest of all forms of corruption—against Christians.... These stealthy worms, which under the cover of night, mist and duplicity, crept upon every individual, sucking him dry of all earnest interest in real things, of all instinct for reality—this cowardly, effeminate and sugar-coated gang gradually alienated580 all “souls,” step by step, from that colossal581 edifice, turning against it all the meritorious582, manly583 and noble natures that had found in the cause of Rome their own cause, their own serious purpose, their own pride. The sneakishness of hypocrisy, the secrecy584 of the conventicle, concepts as black as hell, such as the sacrifice of the innocent, the unio mystica in the drinking of blood, above all, the slowly rekindled585 fire of revenge, of Chandala revenge—all that sort of thing became master of Rome: the same kind of religion which, in a pre-existent form, Epicurus had combatted. One has but to read Lucretius to know what Epicurus made war upon—not paganism, but “Christianity,” which is to say, the corruption of souls by means of the concepts of guilt, punishment and immortality.—He combatted the subterranean cults, the whole of latent Christianity—to deny immortality was already a form of genuine salvation.—Epicurus had triumphed, and every respectable intellect in Rome was Epicurean—when Paul appeared ... Paul, the Chandala hatred of Rome, of “the world,” in the flesh and inspired by genius—the Jew, the eternal Jew par excellence.... What he saw was how, with the aid of the small sectarian Christian movement that stood apart from Judaism, a “world conflagration” might be kindled586; how, with the symbol of “God on the cross,” all secret seditions, all the fruits of anarchistic587 intrigues588 in the empire, might be amalgamated589 into one immense power. “Salvation is of the Jews.”—Christianity is the formula for exceeding and summing up the subterranean cults of all varieties, that of Osiris, that of the Great Mother, that of Mithras, for instance: in his discernment of this fact the genius of Paul showed itself. His instinct was here so sure that, with reckless violence to the truth, he put the ideas which lent fascination to every sort of Chandala religion into the mouth of the “Saviour” as his own inventions, and not only into the mouth—he made out of him something that even a priest of Mithras could understand.... This was his revelation at Damascus: he grasped the fact that he needed the belief in immortality in order to rob “the world” of its value, that the concept of “hell” would master Rome—that the notion of a “beyond” is the death of life.... Nihilist and Christian: they rhyme in German, and they do more than rhyme....
59.
The whole labour of the ancient world gone for naught590: I have no word to describe the feelings that such an enormity arouses in me.—And, considering the fact that its labour was merely preparatory, that with adamantine self-consciousness it laid only the foundations for a work to go on for thousands of years, the whole meaning of antiquity disappears!... To what end the Greeks? to what end the Romans?—All the prerequisites591 to a learned culture, all the methods of science, were already there; man had already perfected the great and incomparable art of read ing profitably—that first necessity to the tradition of culture, the unity of the sciences; the natural sciences, in alliance with mathematics and mechanics, were on the right road,—the sense of fact, the last and more valuable of all the senses, had its schools, and its traditions were already centuries old! Is all this properly understood? Every essential to the beginning of the work was ready:—and the most essential, it cannot be said too often, are methods, and also the most difficult to develop, and the longest opposed by habit and laziness. What we have today reconquered, with unspeakable self-discipline, for ourselves—for certain bad instincts, certain Christian instincts, still lurk in our bodies—that is to say, the keen eye for reality, the cautious hand, patience and seriousness in the smallest things, the whole integrity of knowledge—all these things were already there, and had been there for two thousand years! More, there was also a refined and excellent tact137 and taste! Not as mere brain-drilling! Not as “German” culture, with its loutish592 manners! But as body, as bearing, as instinct—in short, as reality.... All gone for naught! Overnight it became merely a memory!—The Greeks! The Romans! Instinctive nobility, taste, methodical inquiry, genius for organization and administration, faith in and the will to secure the future of man, a great yes to everything entering into the imperium Romanum and palpable to all the senses, a grand style that was beyond mere art, but had become reality, truth, life....—All overwhelmed in a night, but not by a convulsion of nature! Not trampled593 to death by Teutons and others of heavy hoof594! But brought to shame by crafty, sneaking, invisible, an?mic vampires595! Not conquered,—only sucked dry!... Hidden vengefulness, petty envy, became master! Everything wretched, intrinsically ailing200, and invaded by bad feelings, the whole ghetto-world of the soul, was at once on top!—One needs but read any of the Christian agitators, for example, St. Augustine, in order to realize, in order to smell, what filthy596 fellows came to the top. It would be an error, however, to assume that there was any lack of understanding in the leaders of the Christian movement:—ah, but they were clever, clever to the point of holiness, these fathers of the church! What they lacked was something quite different. Nature neglected—perhaps forgot—to give them even the most modest endowment of respectable, of upright, of cleanly instincts.... Between ourselves, they are not even men.... If Islam despises Christianity, it has a thousandfold right to do so: Islam at least assumes that it is dealing with men....
60.
Christianity destroyed for us the whole harvest of ancient civilization, and later it also destroyed for us the whole harvest of Mohammedan civilization. The wonderful culture of the Moors in Spain, which was fundamentally nearer to us and appealed more to our senses and tastes than that of Rome and Greece, was trampled down (—I do not say by what sort of feet—) Why? Because it had to thank noble and manly instincts for its origin—because it said yes to life, even to the rare and refined luxuriousness597 of Moorish598 life!... The crusaders later made war on something before which it would have been more fitting for them to have grovelled599 in the dust—a civilization beside which even that of our nineteenth century seems very poor and very “senile.”—What they wanted, of course, was booty: the orient was rich.... Let us put aside our prejudices! The crusades were a higher form of piracy600, nothing more! The German nobility, which is fundamentally a Viking nobility, was in its element there: the church knew only too well how the German nobility was to be won.... The German noble, always the “Swiss guard” of the church, always in the service of every bad instinct of the church—but well paid.... Consider the fact that it is precisely the aid of German swords and German blood and valour that has enabled the church to carry through its war to the death upon everything noble on earth! At this point a host of painful questions suggest themselves. The German nobility stands outside the history of the higher civilization: the reason is obvious.... Christianity, alcohol—the two great means of corruption.... Intrinsically there should be no more choice between Islam and Christianity than there is between an Arab and a Jew. The decision is already reached; nobody remains at liberty to choose here. Either a man is a Chandala or he is not.... “War to the knife with Rome! Peace and friendship with Islam!”: this was the feeling, this was the act, of that great free spirit, that genius among German emperors, Frederick II. What! must a German first be a genius, a free spirit, before he can feel decently? I can’t make out how a German could ever feel Christian....
61.
Here it becomes necessary to call up a memory that must be a hundred times more painful to Germans. The Germans have destroyed for Europe the last great harvest of civilization that Europe was ever to reap—the Renaissance. Is it understood at last, will it ever be understood, what the Renaissance was? The transvaluation of Christian values,—an attempt with all available means, all instincts and all the resources of genius to bring about a triumph of the opposite values, the more noble values.... This has been the one great war of the past; there has never been a more critical question than that of the Renaissance—it is my question too—; there has never been a form of attack more fundamental, more direct, or more violently delivered by a whole front upon the center of the enemy! To attack at the critical place, at the very seat of Christianity, and there enthrone the more noble values—that is to say, to insinuate601 them into the instincts, into the most fundamental needs and appetites of those sitting there.... I see before me the possibility of a perfectly heavenly enchantment602 and spectacle:—it seems to me to scintillate603 with all the vibrations604 of a fine and delicate beauty, and within it there is an art so divine, so infernally divine, that one might search in vain for thousands of years for another such possibility; I see a spectacle so rich in significance and at the same time so wonderfully full of paradox that it should arouse all the gods on Olympus to immortal laughter—C?sar Borgia as pope!... Am I understood?... Well then, that would have been the sort of triumph that I alone am longing605 for today—: by it Christianity would have been swept away!—What happened? A German monk606, Luther, came to Rome. This monk, with all the vengeful instincts of an unsuccessful priest in him, raised a rebellion against the Renaissance in Rome.... Instead of grasping, with profound thanksgiving, the miracle that had taken place: the conquest of Christianity at its capital—instead of this, his hatred was stimulated607 by the spectacle. A religious man thinks only of himself.—Luther saw only the depravity of the papacy at the very moment when the oppo site was becoming apparent: the old corruption, the peccatum originale, Christianity itself, no longer occupied the papal chair! Instead there was life! Instead there was the triumph of life! Instead there was a great yea to all lofty, beautiful and daring things!... And Luther restored the church: he attacked it.... The Renaissance—an event without meaning, a great futility608!—Ah, these Germans, what they have not cost us! Futility—that has always been the work of the Germans.—The Reformation; Leibnitz; Kant and so-called German philosophy; the war of “liberation”; the empire—every time a futile609 substitute for something that once existed, for something irrecoverable.... These Germans, I confess, are my enemies: I despise all their uncleanliness in concept and valuation, their cowardice179 before every honest yea and nay. For nearly a thousand years they have tangled610 and confused everything their fingers have touched; they have on their conscience all the half-way measures, all the three-eighths-way measures, that Europe is sick of,—they also have on their conscience the uncleanest variety of Christianity that exists, and the most incurable and indestructible—Protestantism.... If man kind never manages to get rid of Christianity the Germans will be to blame....
62.
—With this I come to a conclusion and pronounce my judgment. I condemn Christianity; I bring against the Christian church the most terrible of all the accusations611 that an accuser has ever had in his mouth. It is, to me, the greatest of all imaginable corruptions612; it seeks to work the ultimate corruption, the worst possible corruption. The Christian church has left nothing untouched by its depravity; it has turned every value into worthlessness, and every truth into a lie, and every integrity into baseness of soul. Let any one dare to speak to me of its “humanitarian” blessings613! Its deepest necessities range it against any effort to abolish distress; it lives by distress; it creates distress to make itself immortal.... For example, the worm of sin: it was the church that first enriched mankind with this misery!—The “equality of souls before God”—this fraud, this pretext614 for the rancunes of all the base-minded—this explosive concept, ending in revolution, the modern idea, and the notion of overthrowing615 the whole social order —this is Christian dynamite616.... The “humanitarian” blessings of Christianity forsooth! To breed out of humanitas a self-contradiction, an art of self-pollution, a will to lie at any price, an aversion and contempt for all good and honest instincts! All this, to me, is the “humanitarianism” of Christianity!—Parasitism as the only practice of the church; with its an?mic and “holy” ideals, sucking all the blood, all the love, all the hope out of life; the beyond as the will to deny all reality; the cross as the distinguishing mark of the most subterranean conspiracy617 ever heard of,—against health, beauty, well-being, intellect, kindness of soul—against life itself....
This eternal accusation against Christianity I shall write upon all walls, wherever walls are to be found—I have letters that even the blind will be able to see.... I call Christianity the one great curse, the one great intrinsic depravity, the one great instinct of revenge, for which no means are venomous enough, or secret, subterranean and small enough,—I call it the one immortal blemish618 upon the human race....
And mankind reckons time from the dies nefastus when this fatality619 befell—from the first day of Christianity!—Why not rather from its last?—From today?—The transvaluation of all values!...
THE END
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labyrinth
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| n.迷宫；难解的事物；迷路 | |
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ward
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| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
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virtuous
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| adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的 | |
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nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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tolerance
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| n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差 | |
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virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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par
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| n.标准，票面价值，平均数量；adj.票面的，平常的，标准的 | |
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dismal
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| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
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embodied
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mythical
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| adj.神话的；虚构的；想像的 | |
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augments
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| 增加，提高，扩大( augment的名词复数 ) | |
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augment
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| vt.(使)增大，增加，增长，扩张 | |
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renaissance
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| n.复活，复兴，文艺复兴 | |
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vice
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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liberate
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precisely
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cult
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attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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herd
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mere
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elevation
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isolated
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embellish
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reprobate
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antagonism
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corrupted
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| （使）败坏( corrupt的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）腐化； 引起（计算机文件等的）错误； 破坏 | |
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corrupt
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faculties
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lamentable
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corruption
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tragic
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fore
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drawn
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accusation
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aspiration
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surmise
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| v./n.猜想，推测 | |
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aspirations
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| 强烈的愿望( aspiration的名词复数 )； 志向； 发送气音； 发 h 音 | |
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degenerate
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| v.退步，堕落；adj.退步的，堕落的；n.堕落者 | |
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43
contention
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| n.争论，争辩，论战；论点，主张 | |
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44
opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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45
posit
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| v.假定，认为 | |
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46
tonic
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| n./adj.滋补品，补药，强身的，健体的 | |
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47
contagious
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| adj.传染性的，有感染力的 | |
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48
thwarts
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| 阻挠( thwart的第三人称单数 )； 使受挫折； 挫败； 横过 | |
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49
condemn
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| vt.谴责，指责；宣判(罪犯)，判刑 | |
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50
condemned
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| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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51
dubious
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| adj.怀疑的，无把握的；有问题的，靠不住的 | |
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52
inscribed
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| v.写，刻( inscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；内接 | |
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53
preservation
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| n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持 | |
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54
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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55
promotion
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| n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传 | |
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56
extinction
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| n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种 | |
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57
salvation
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| n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困 | |
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58
rhetoric
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| n.修辞学，浮夸之言语 | |
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59
ethic
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| n.道德标准，行为准则 | |
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60
ethical
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| adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的 | |
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61
conceals
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，遮住( conceal的第三人称单数 ) | |
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62
sublime
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| adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的 | |
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63
purgative
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| n.泻药；adj.通便的 | |
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64
puncturing
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| v.在（某物）上穿孔( puncture的现在分词 )；刺穿（某物）；削弱（某人的傲气、信心等）；泄某人的气 | |
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65
logic
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| n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性 | |
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66
wield
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| vt.行使，运用，支配；挥，使用(武器等) | |
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67
antagonists
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| 对立[对抗] 者，对手，敌手( antagonist的名词复数 )； 对抗肌； 对抗药 | |
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68
veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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69
succumbed
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| 不再抵抗（诱惑、疾病、攻击等）( succumb的过去式和过去分词 )； 屈从； 被压垮； 死 | |
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70
alleged
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| a.被指控的，嫌疑的 | |
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71
physiologist
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| n.生理学家 | |
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72
physiologists
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| n.生理学者( physiologist的名词复数 )；生理学( physiology的名词复数 )；生理机能 | |
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73
arrogant
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| adj.傲慢的，自大的 | |
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74
ecclesiastic
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| n.教士，基督教会；adj.神职者的，牧师的，教会的 | |
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75
benevolent
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| adj.仁慈的，乐善好施的 | |
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76
humility
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| n.谦逊，谦恭 | |
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77
vices
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| 缺陷( vice的名词复数 )； 恶习； 不道德行为； 台钳 | |
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78
calumniator
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| n.中伤者，诽谤者 | |
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79
honourable
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| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
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80
incurable
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| adj.不能医治的，不能矫正的，无救的；n.不治的病人，无救的人 | |
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81
erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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82
sacrosanct
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| adj.神圣不可侵犯的 | |
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83
eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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84
unearth
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| v.发掘，掘出，从洞中赶出 | |
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85
subterranean
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| adj.地下的，地表下的 | |
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86
exalts
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| 赞扬( exalt的第三人称单数 )； 歌颂； 提升； 提拔 | |
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87
intensifies
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| n.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的名词复数 )v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的第三人称单数 ) | |
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88
justifies
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| 证明…有理( justify的第三人称单数 )； 为…辩护； 对…作出解释； 为…辩解（或辩护） | |
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89
triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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90
pastor
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| n.牧师，牧人 | |
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91
paralysis
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| n.麻痹(症)；瘫痪(症) | |
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92
liars
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| 说谎者( liar的名词复数 ) | |
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93
liar
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| n.说谎的人 | |
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94
prerogative
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| n.特权 | |
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95
impersonality
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| n.无人情味 | |
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96
chimeras
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| n.（由几种动物的各部分构成的）假想的怪兽( chimera的名词复数 )；不可能实现的想法；幻想；妄想 | |
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97
collapse
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| vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷 | |
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98
ego
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| n.自我，自己，自尊 | |
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99
imperative
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| n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的 | |
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100
penetrating
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| adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的 | |
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101
bowels
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| n.肠，内脏，内部；肠( bowel的名词复数 )；内部，最深处 | |
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102
automaton
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| n.自动机器，机器人 | |
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103
idiocy
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| n.愚蠢 | |
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104
calamitous
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| adj.灾难的，悲惨的；多灾多难；惨重 | |
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105
transformation
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| n.变化；改造；转变 | |
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106
inorganic
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| adj.无生物的；无机的 | |
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107
faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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108
decency
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| n.体面，得体，合宜，正派，庄重 | |
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109
enthusiasts
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| n.热心人，热衷者( enthusiast的名词复数 ) | |
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110
bellows
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| n.风箱；发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的名词复数 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的第三人称单数 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
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111
innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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112
dearth
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| n.缺乏，粮食不足，饥谨 | |
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113
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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114
inflames
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| v.（使）变红，发怒，过热( inflame的第三人称单数 ) | |
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115
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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116
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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117
visualized
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| 直观的，直视的 | |
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118
scoffer
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| 嘲笑者 | |
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119
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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120
contemptible
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| adj.可鄙的，可轻视的，卑劣的 | |
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121
aesthetic
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| adj.美学的，审美的，有美感 | |
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122
picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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123
modesty
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| n.谦逊，虚心，端庄，稳重，羞怯，朴素 | |
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124
derive
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| v.取得；导出；引申；来自；源自；出自 | |
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125
craftiest
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| 狡猾的，狡诈的( crafty的最高级 ) | |
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126
conceit
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| n.自负，自高自大 | |
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127
relatively
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| adv.比较...地，相对地 | |
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128
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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129
physiology
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| n.生理学，生理机能 | |
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130
doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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131
formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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132
inevitably
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| adv.不可避免地；必然发生地 | |
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133
discordant
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| adj.不调和的 | |
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134
harmonious
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| adj.和睦的，调和的，和谐的，协调的 | |
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135
shuffle
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| n.拖著脚走，洗纸牌；v.拖曳，慢吞吞地走 | |
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136
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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137
tact
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| n.机敏，圆滑，得体 | |
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138
purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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139
intercourse
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| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
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140
psychology
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| n.心理，心理学，心理状态 | |
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141
interpretations
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| n.解释( interpretation的名词复数 )；表演；演绎；理解 | |
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142
interpretation
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| n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理 | |
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143
repentance
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| n.懊悔 | |
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144
teleology
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| n.目的论 | |
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145
fictitious
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| adj.虚构的，假设的；空头的 | |
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146
differentiated
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| 区分，区别，辨别( differentiate的过去式和过去分词 )； 区别对待； 表明…间的差别，构成…间差别的特征 | |
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147
abominable
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| adj.可厌的，令人憎恶的 | |
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148
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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149
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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150
foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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151
inclination
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| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
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152
humanitarianism
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| n.博爱主义；人道主义；基督凡人论 | |
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153
submission
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| n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出 | |
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154
overhaul
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| v./n.大修，仔细检查 | |
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155
timorous
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| adj.胆怯的，胆小的 | |
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156
demure
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| adj.严肃的；端庄的 | |
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157
leniency
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| n.宽大（不严厉） | |
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158
cosmopolitan
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| adj.世界性的，全世界的，四海为家的，全球的 | |
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159
physiological
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| adj.生理学的，生理学上的 | |
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160
physiologically
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| ad.生理上，在生理学上 | |
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161
abortions
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| n.小产( abortion的名词复数 )；小产胎儿；（计划）等中止或夭折；败育 | |
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162
ascending
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| adj.上升的，向上的 | |
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163
courageous
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| adj.勇敢的，有胆量的 | |
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164
excellence
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| n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德 | |
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165
saviour
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| n.拯救者，救星 | |
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166
democrat
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| n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员 | |
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167
crevices
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| n.（尤指岩石的）裂缝，缺口( crevice的名词复数 ) | |
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168
ghetto
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| n.少数民族聚居区，贫民区 | |
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169
spun
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| v.纺，杜撰，急转身 | |
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170
ebbing
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| （指潮水）退( ebb的现在分词 )； 落； 减少； 衰落 | |
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171
degenerated
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| 衰退，堕落，退化( degenerate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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172
slander
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| n./v.诽谤，污蔑 | |
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173
repudiate
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| v.拒绝，拒付，拒绝履行 | |
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174
moribund
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| adj.即将结束的，垂死的 | |
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175
decrepitude
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| n.衰老；破旧 | |
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176
ultimatum
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| n.最后通牒 | |
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177
hybrid
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| n.(动，植）杂种，混合物 | |
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178
conjured
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| 用魔术变出( conjure的过去式和过去分词 )； 祈求，恳求； 变戏法； （变魔术般地） 使…出现 | |
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179
cowardice
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| n.胆小，怯懦 | |
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180
condemnation
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| n.谴责; 定罪 | |
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181
injustice
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| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
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182
allude
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| v.提及，暗指 | |
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183
Buddhism
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| n.佛教（教义） | |
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184
philosophical
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| adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的 | |
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185
speculation
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| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
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186
phenomena
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| n.现象 | |
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187
differentiating
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| [计] 微分的 | |
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188
deception
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| n.欺骗，欺诈；骗局，诡计 | |
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189
bestows
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的第三人称单数 ) | |
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190
secondly
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| adv.第二，其次 | |
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191
protracted
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| adj.拖延的；延长的v.拖延“protract”的过去式和过去分词 | |
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192
Buddha
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| n.佛；佛像；佛陀 | |
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193
bilious
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| adj.胆汁过多的；易怒的 | |
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194
asceticism
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| n.禁欲主义 | |
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195
monastery
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| n.修道院，僧院，寺院 | |
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196
antagonistic
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| adj.敌对的 | |
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197
fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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198
subjugated
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| v.征服，降伏( subjugate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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199
prevailing
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| adj.盛行的；占优势的；主要的 | |
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200
ailing
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| v.生病 | |
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201
boredom
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| n.厌烦，厌倦，乏味，无聊 | |
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202
attainable
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| a.可达到的，可获得的 | |
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203
dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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204
concealment
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| n.隐藏, 掩盖，隐瞒 | |
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205
hygiene
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| n.健康法，卫生学 （a.hygienic） | |
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206
banishment
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| n.放逐，驱逐 | |
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207
moors
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| v.停泊，系泊（船只）( moor的第三人称单数 ) | |
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208
persecute
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| vt.迫害，虐待；纠缠，骚扰 | |
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209
disquieting
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| adj.令人不安的，令人不平静的v.使不安，使忧虑，使烦恼( disquiet的现在分词 ) | |
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210
esteemed
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| adj.受人尊敬的v.尊敬( esteem的过去式和过去分词 )；敬重；认为；以为 | |
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211
engender
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| v.产生，引起 | |
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212
morbid
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| adj.病的；致病的；病态的；可怕的 | |
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213
rivalry
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| n.竞争，竞赛，对抗 | |
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214
libertinage
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| n.放荡，自由观点 | |
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215
barbarian
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| n.野蛮人；adj.野蛮(人)的；未开化的 | |
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216
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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217
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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218
bungled
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|
| v.搞糟，完不成( bungle的过去式和过去分词 )；笨手笨脚地做；失败；完不成 | |
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219
Buddhists
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| n.佛教徒( Buddhist的名词复数 ) | |
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220
inordinate
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| adj.无节制的；过度的 | |
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221
inflicting
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的现在分词 ) | |
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222
subjective
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| a.主观(上)的，个人的 | |
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223
barbarians
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| n.野蛮人( barbarian的名词复数 )；外国人；粗野的人；无教养的人 | |
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224
disdain
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| n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑 | |
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225
rationing
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| n.定量供应 | |
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226
prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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227
austere
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|
| adj.艰苦的；朴素的，朴实无华的；严峻的 | |
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228
justify
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|
| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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229
blessing
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|
| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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230
omnipotent
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|
| adj.全能的，万能的 | |
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231
subtleties
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|
| 细微( subtlety的名词复数 )； 精细； 巧妙； 细微的差别等 | |
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232
thoroughly
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|
| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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233
sage
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|
| n.圣人，哲人；adj.贤明的，明智的 | |
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234
exalted
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|
| adj.(地位等)高的，崇高的；尊贵的，高尚的 | |
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235
inquiry
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|
| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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236
discredited
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|
| 不足信的，不名誉的 | |
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237
malign
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|
| adj.有害的；恶性的；恶意的；v.诽谤，诬蔑 | |
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238
ardor
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| n.热情，狂热 | |
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239
virgin
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|
| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
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240
vehemence
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|
| n.热切；激烈；愤怒 | |
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241
subjectivity
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|
| n.主观性（主观主义） | |
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242
decided
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|
| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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243
ingenuities
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| 足智多谋，心灵手巧( ingenuity的名词复数 ) | |
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244
inevitable
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|
| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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245
radical
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|
| n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的 | |
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246
originality
|
|
| n.创造力，独创性；新颖 | |
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247
underlying
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|
| adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的 | |
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248
well-being
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|
| n.安康，安乐，幸福 | |
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249
vitality
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|
| n.活力，生命力，效力 | |
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250
guise
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|
| n.外表，伪装的姿态 | |
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251
frankly
|
|
| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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252
slanders
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|
| 诽谤，诋毁( slander的名词复数 ) | |
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253
invaluable
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|
| adj.无价的，非常宝贵的，极为贵重的 | |
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254
monarchy
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|
| n.君主，最高统治者；君主政体，君主国 | |
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255
dominion
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|
| n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图 | |
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256
benign
|
|
| adj.善良的，慈祥的；良性的，无危险的 | |
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257
herds
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|
| 兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众 | |
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258
anarchy
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|
| n.无政府状态；社会秩序混乱，无秩序 | |
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259
projection
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|
| n.发射，计划，突出部分 | |
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260
gallant
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|
| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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261
warrior
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|
| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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262
satirist
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|
| n.讽刺诗作者，讽刺家，爱挖苦别人的人 | |
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263
conditionally
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|
| adv. 有条件地 | |
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264
agitators
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|
| n.（尤指政治变革的）鼓动者( agitator的名词复数 )；煽动者；搅拌器；搅拌机 | |
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265
obedience
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|
| n.服从，顺从 | |
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266
doctrines
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|
| n.教条( doctrine的名词复数 )；教义；学说；（政府政策的）正式声明 | |
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267
perversion
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|
| n.曲解；堕落；反常 | |
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268
disorder
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| n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调 | |
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269
accomplished
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|
| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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270
idiotic
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| adj.白痴的 | |
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271
mechanism
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|
| n.机械装置；机构，结构 | |
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272
shameful
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| adj.可耻的，不道德的 | |
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273
inclinations
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|
| 倾向( inclination的名词复数 )； 倾斜； 爱好； 斜坡 | |
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274
parasitical
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|
| adj. 寄生的(符加的) | |
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275
subservience
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|
| n.有利，有益；从属（地位），附属性；屈从，恭顺；媚态 | |
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276
rites
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| 仪式，典礼( rite的名词复数 ) | |
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277
entirely
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|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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278
penance
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| n.（赎罪的）惩罪 | |
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279
lamentation
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|
| n.悲叹，哀悼 | |
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280
formulate
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| v.用公式表示；规划；设计；系统地阐述 | |
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281
formulated
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|
| v.构想出( formulate的过去式和过去分词 )；规划；确切地阐述；用公式表示 | |
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282
meticulousness
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|
| 谨小慎微 | |
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283
tithes
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|
| n.（宗教捐税）什一税，什一的教区税，小部分( tithe的名词复数 ) | |
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284
vents
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|
| （气体、液体等进出的）孔、口( vent的名词复数 )； （鸟、鱼、爬行动物或小哺乳动物的）肛门； 大衣等的)衩口； 开衩 | |
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285
parasite
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|
| n.寄生虫；寄生菌；食客 | |
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286
noted
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|
| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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287
parasitism
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|
| n.寄生状态，寄生病；寄生性 | |
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288
depreciates
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|
| v.贬值，跌价，减价( depreciate的第三人称单数 )；贬低，蔑视，轻视 | |
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289
desecrates
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|
| 毁坏或亵渎( desecrate的第三人称单数 ) | |
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290
consistency
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|
| n.一贯性，前后一致，稳定性；(液体的)浓度 | |
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291
hierarchy
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|
| n.等级制度；统治集团，领导层 | |
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292
vile
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|
| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
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293
anarchist
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|
| n.无政府主义者 | |
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294
unity
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|
| n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调 | |
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295
inscription
|
|
| n.（尤指石块上的）刻印文字，铭文，碑文 | |
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296
sapient
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|
| adj.有见识的，有智慧的 | |
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297
laboriousness
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298
philologist
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|
| n.语言学者，文献学者 | |
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299
pious
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|
| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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300
corroborative
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|
| adj.确证（性）的，确凿的 | |
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301
depicted
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|
| 描绘，描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 )； 描述 | |
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302
extraneous
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|
| adj.体外的；外来的；外部的 | |
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303
truthful
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|
| adj.真实的，说实话的，诚实的 | |
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304
levity
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|
| n.轻率，轻浮，不稳定，多变 | |
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305
mountebank
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|
| n.江湖郎中；骗子 | |
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306
essentially
|
|
| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
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307
instinctive
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| adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的 | |
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308
exclusion
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| n.拒绝，排除，排斥，远足，远途旅行 | |
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309
exclusions
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| n.不包括的项目：如接受服务项目是由投保以前已患有的疾病或伤害引致的，保险公司有权拒绝支付。；拒绝( exclusion的名词复数 )；排除；被排斥在外的人（或事物）；排外主义 | |
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310
tactile
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| adj.触觉的，有触觉的，能触知的 | |
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311
recoil
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| vi.退却，退缩，畏缩 | |
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312
hostility
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| n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争 | |
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313
unbearable
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| adj.不能容忍的；忍受不住的 | |
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314
anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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315
infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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316
prerequisite
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| n.先决条件；adj.作为前提的，必备的 | |
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317
requisite
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| adj.需要的，必不可少的；n.必需品 | |
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318
milieu
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| n.环境；出身背景；(个人所处的)社会环境 | |
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319
imprinted
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| v.盖印（imprint的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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320
embellished
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| v.美化( embellish的过去式和过去分词 )；装饰；修饰；润色 | |
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321
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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322
disciple
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| n.信徒，门徒，追随者 | |
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323
disciples
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|
| n.信徒( disciple的名词复数 )；门徒；耶稣的信徒；（尤指）耶稣十二门徒之一 | |
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324
crudity
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|
| n.粗糙，生硬；adj.粗略的 | |
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325
specially
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| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
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326
veneration
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| n.尊敬，崇拜 | |
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327
erase
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| v.擦掉；消除某事物的痕迹 | |
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328
venerated
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|
| 敬重（某人或某事物），崇敬( venerate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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329
poignant
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|
| adj.令人痛苦的，辛酸的，惨痛的 | |
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330
contradictory
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|
| adj.反驳的，反对的，抗辩的；n.正反对，矛盾对立 | |
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331
fanatic
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|
| n.狂热者，入迷者；adj.狂热入迷的 | |
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332
ecclesiastics
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| n.神职者，教会，牧师( ecclesiastic的名词复数 ) | |
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333
glorified
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| 美其名的，变荣耀的 | |
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334
malice
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|
| n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋 | |
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335
venom
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|
| n.毒液，恶毒，痛恨 | |
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336
Christians
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|
| n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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337
adroit
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|
| adj.熟练的，灵巧的 | |
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338
contentious
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|
| adj.好辩的，善争吵的 | |
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339
pugnacious
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|
| adj.好斗的 | |
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340
maliciously
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|
| adv.有敌意地 | |
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341
hesitation
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|
| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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342
utterly
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|
| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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343
odds
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| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
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344
intrude
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|
| vi.闯入；侵入；打扰，侵扰 | |
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345
annul
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| v.宣告…无效，取消，废止 | |
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346
prominence
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| n.突出；显著；杰出；重要 | |
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347
primitive
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|
| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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348
symbolical
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| a.象征性的 | |
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349
parables
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| n.（圣经中的）寓言故事( parable的名词复数 ) | |
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350
literally
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|
| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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351
paramount
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| a.最重要的，最高权力的 | |
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352
incapable
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|
| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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353
laments
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|
| n.悲恸，哀歌，挽歌( lament的名词复数 )v.（为…）哀悼，痛哭，悲伤( lament的第三人称单数 ) | |
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354
Founder
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| n.创始者，缔造者 | |
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355
guilt
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|
| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
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356
bliss
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| n.狂喜，福佑，天赐的福 | |
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357
distinguished
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|
| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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358
heeds
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| n.留心，注意，听从( heed的名词复数 )v.听某人的劝告，听从( heed的第三人称单数 ) | |
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359
mandates
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| 托管（mandate的第三人称单数形式） | |
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360
immortal
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|
| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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361
spatial
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|
| adj.空间的，占据空间的 | |
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362
thereby
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|
| adv.因此，从而 | |
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363
ironical
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|
| adj.讽刺的，冷嘲的 | |
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364
antithesis
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|
| n.对立；相对 | |
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365
delude
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|
| vt.欺骗；哄骗 | |
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366
fable
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|
| n.寓言；童话；神话 | |
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367
onward
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|
| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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368
cults
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| n.迷信( cult的名词复数 )；狂热的崇拜；（有极端宗教信仰的）异教团体 | |
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369
absurdities
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|
| n.极端无理性( absurdity的名词复数 )；荒谬；谬论；荒谬的行为 | |
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370
engendered
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|
| v.产生（某形势或状况），造成，引起( engender的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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371
kindly
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|
| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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372
antitheses
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|
| n.对照，对立的，对比法；对立( antithesis的名词复数 )；对立面；对照；对偶 | |
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373
suffocated
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|
| （使某人）窒息而死( suffocate的过去式和过去分词 )； （将某人）闷死； 让人感觉闷热； 憋气 | |
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374
foul
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|
| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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375
irresistibly
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|
| adv.无法抵抗地，不能自持地；极为诱惑人地 | |
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376
pretensions
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|
| 自称( pretension的名词复数 )； 自命不凡； 要求； 权力 | |
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377
errs
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|
| 犯错误，做错事( err的第三人称单数 ) | |
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378
counterfeits
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|
| v.仿制，造假( counterfeit的第三人称单数 ) | |
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379
sinister
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|
| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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380
immortality
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|
| n.不死，不朽 | |
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381
arrogance
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|
| n.傲慢，自大 | |
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382
patriot
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|
| n.爱国者，爱国主义者 | |
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383
authentic
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|
| a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的 | |
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384
strictly
|
|
| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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385
negation
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|
| n.否定；否认 | |
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386
delusion
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|
| n.谬见，欺骗，幻觉，迷惑 | |
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387
pretense
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|
| n.矫饰，做作，借口 | |
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388
motive
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|
| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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389
crumbles
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| 酥皮水果甜点( crumble的名词复数 ) | |
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390
celebrated
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|
| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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391
omnipotence
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|
| n.全能，万能，无限威力 | |
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392
appalling
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|
| adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的 | |
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393
paradox
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|
| n.似乎矛盾却正确的说法；自相矛盾的人(物) | |
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394
riddle
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|
| n.谜，谜语，粗筛；vt.解谜，给…出谜，筛，检查，鉴定，非难，充满于；vi.出谜 | |
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395
affront
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|
| n./v.侮辱，触怒 | |
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396
chasm
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|
| n.深坑，断层，裂口，大分岐，利害冲突 | |
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397
dominant
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|
| adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因 | |
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398
militant
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|
| adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士 | |
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399
serene
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|
| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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400
wholesale
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|
| n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售 | |
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401
realization
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|
| n.实现；认识到，深刻了解 | |
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402
extravagant
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|
| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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403
deranged
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|
| adj.疯狂的 | |
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404
absurdity
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|
| n.荒谬，愚蠢；谬论 | |
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405
obnoxious
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|
| adj.极恼人的，讨人厌的，可憎的 | |
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406
noxious
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|
| adj.有害的，有毒的；使道德败坏的，讨厌的 | |
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407
gulf
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|
| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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408
fixed
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|
| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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409
juggled
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|
| v.歪曲( juggle的过去式和过去分词 )；耍弄；有效地组织；尽力同时应付（两个或两个以上的重要工作或活动） | |
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410
impudence
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|
| n.厚颜无耻；冒失；无礼 | |
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411
Buddhistic
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|
| adj.佛陀的，佛教的 | |
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412
pointed
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|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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413
incarnated
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|
| v.赋予（思想、精神等）以人的形体( incarnate的过去式和过去分词 )；使人格化；体现；使具体化 | |
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414
relentless
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|
| adj.残酷的，不留情的，无怜悯心的 | |
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415
counterfeiter
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|
| n.伪造者 | |
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416
prologue
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|
| n.开场白，序言；开端，序幕 | |
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417
forefathers
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|
| n.祖先，先人；祖先，祖宗( forefather的名词复数 )；列祖列宗；前人 | |
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418
insignificant
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|
| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
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419
lavish
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|
| adj.无节制的；浪费的；vt.慷慨地给予，挥霍 | |
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420
infinity
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|
| n.无限，无穷，大量 | |
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421
insolence
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|
| n.傲慢；无礼；厚颜；傲慢的态度 | |
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422
lured
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|
| 吸引，引诱（lure的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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423
revolves
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|
| v.（使）旋转( revolve的第三人称单数 )；细想 | |
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424
reverence
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|
| n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬 | |
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425
joyous
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|
| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
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426
outrage
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|
| n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒 | |
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427
pathos
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|
| n.哀婉，悲怆 | |
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428
carnival
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|
| n.嘉年华会，狂欢，狂欢节，巡回表演 | |
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429
persistent
|
|
| adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的 | |
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430
cynical
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|
| adj.(对人性或动机)怀疑的，不信世道向善的 | |
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431
lurk
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|
| n.潜伏，潜行；v.潜藏，潜伏，埋伏 | |
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432
refinement
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|
| n.文雅；高尚；精美；精制；精炼 | |
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433
artistic
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|
| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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434
conjuring
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|
| n.魔术 | |
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435
violation
|
|
| n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯 | |
参考例句： |
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436
concocting
|
|
| v.将（尤指通常不相配合的）成分混合成某物( concoct的现在分词 )；调制；编造；捏造 | |
参考例句： |
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437
repudiation
|
|
| n.拒绝；否认；断绝关系；抛弃 | |
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|
438
astounding
|
|
| adj.使人震惊的vt.使震惊，使大吃一惊astound的现在分词) | |
参考例句： |
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|
439
farce
|
|
| n.闹剧，笑剧，滑稽戏；胡闹 | |
参考例句： |
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|
440
glorify
|
|
| vt.颂扬，赞美，使增光，美化 | |
参考例句： |
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|
441
glorifying
|
|
| 赞美( glorify的现在分词 )； 颂扬； 美化； 使光荣 | |
参考例句： |
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442
piety
|
|
| n.虔诚，虔敬 | |
参考例句： |
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443
humble
|
|
| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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444
chaste
|
|
| adj.贞洁的；有道德的；善良的；简朴的 | |
参考例句： |
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445
synonyms
|
|
| 同义词( synonym的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
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446
allied
|
|
| adj.协约国的；同盟国的 | |
参考例句： |
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|
447
confession
|
|
| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
参考例句： |
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|
448
creed
|
|
| n.信条；信念，纲领 | |
参考例句： |
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|
449
testimony
|
|
| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
参考例句： |
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|
450
quenched
|
|
| 解（渴）( quench的过去式和过去分词 )； 终止（某事物）； （用水）扑灭（火焰等）； 将（热物体）放入水中急速冷却 | |
参考例句： |
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451
paraphrase
|
|
| vt.将…释义，改写；n.释义，意义 | |
参考例句： |
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452
mete
|
|
| v.分配；给予 | |
参考例句： |
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453
salute
|
|
| vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮 | |
参考例句： |
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454
quotation
|
|
| n.引文，引语，语录；报价，牌价，行情 | |
参考例句： |
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455
trespasses
|
|
| 罪过( trespass的名词复数 )； 非法进入 | |
参考例句： |
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456
behold
|
|
| v.看，注视，看到 | |
参考例句： |
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457
impudent
|
|
| adj.鲁莽的，卑鄙的，厚颜无耻的 | |
参考例句： |
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458
rabble
|
|
| n.乌合之众，暴民；下等人 | |
参考例句： |
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459
defile
|
|
| v.弄污，弄脏；n.(山间)小道 | |
参考例句： |
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|
460
frightful
|
|
| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
参考例句： |
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|
461
pertain
|
|
| v.(to)附属，从属；关于；有关；适合，相称 | |
参考例句： |
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462
mighty
|
|
| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
参考例句： |
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|
463
nought
|
|
| n.／adj.无，零 | |
参考例句： |
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|
464
testament
|
|
| n.遗嘱；证明 | |
参考例句： |
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|
465
filth
|
|
| n.肮脏，污物，污秽；淫猥 | |
参考例句： |
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|
466
immortally
|
|
| 不朽地，永世地，无限地 | |
参考例句： |
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|
467
admiration
|
|
| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
参考例句： |
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|
|
468
hypocrisy
|
|
| n.伪善，虚伪 | |
参考例句： |
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|
|
|
469
manliness
|
|
| 刚毅 | |
参考例句： |
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|
470
instinctively
|
|
| adv.本能地 | |
参考例句： |
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|
471
solitary
|
|
| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
参考例句： |
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|
472
imbroglio
|
|
| n.纷乱，纠葛，纷扰，一团糟 | |
参考例句： |
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|
473
calumniate
|
|
| v.诬蔑，中伤 | |
参考例句： |
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|
474
lucidity
|
|
| n.明朗，清晰，透明 | |
参考例句： |
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|
475
superstition
|
|
| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
参考例句： |
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|
476
philology
|
|
| n.语言学；语文学 | |
参考例句： |
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|
477
resolute
|
|
| adj.坚决的，果敢的 | |
参考例句： |
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|
|
478
philologian
|
|
| n.语言学家 | |
参考例句： |
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|
|
479
promenading
|
|
| v.兜风( promenade的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
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|
|
|
480
distress
|
|
| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
参考例句： |
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|
|
481
misery
|
|
| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
参考例句： |
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|
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|
482
edifice
|
|
| n.宏伟的建筑物(如宫殿，教室) | |
参考例句： |
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|
483
prospers
|
|
| v.成功，兴旺( prosper的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
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|
484
favourable
|
|
| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
参考例句： |
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|
485
overflowing
|
|
| n. 溢出物,溢流 adj. 充沛的，充满的 动词overflow的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
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|
486
crafty
|
|
| adj.狡猾的，诡诈的 | |
参考例句： |
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|
|
487
ignoble
|
|
| adj.不光彩的，卑鄙的；可耻的 | |
参考例句： |
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|
|
488
parasites
|
|
| 寄生物( parasite的名词复数 )； 靠他人为生的人； 诸虫 | |
参考例句： |
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|
|
|
489
leeches
|
|
| n.水蛭( leech的名词复数 )；蚂蟥；榨取他人脂膏者；医生 | |
参考例句： |
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|
490
judgments
|
|
| 判断( judgment的名词复数 )； 鉴定； 评价； 审判 | |
参考例句： |
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|
491
conformity
|
|
| n.一致，遵从，顺从 | |
参考例句： |
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|
492
sufficiently
|
|
| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
参考例句： |
|
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|
|
493
asylum
|
|
| n.避难所，庇护所，避难 | |
参考例句： |
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|
494
asylums
|
|
| n.避难所( asylum的名词复数 )；庇护；政治避难；精神病院 | |
参考例句： |
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|
|
495
epidemics
|
|
| n．流行病 | |
参考例句： |
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|
|
496
supreme
|
|
| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
参考例句： |
|
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|
|
497
insufficient
|
|
| adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的 | |
参考例句： |
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|
|
498
nourishment
|
|
| n.食物，营养品；营养情况 | |
参考例句： |
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|
|
499
cadaver
|
|
| n.尸体 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
500
impoverished
|
|
| adj.穷困的，无力的，用尽了的v.使（某人）贫穷( impoverish的过去式和过去分词 )；使（某物）贫瘠或恶化 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
501
enervated
|
|
| adj.衰弱的，无力的v.使衰弱，使失去活力( enervate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
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|
|
502
incurably
|
|
| ad.治不好地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
503
aspire
|
|
| vi.(to，after)渴望，追求，有志于 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
504
conglomeration
|
|
| n.团块，聚集，混合物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
505
antiquity
|
|
| n.古老；高龄；古物，古迹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
506
straightforward
|
|
| adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
507
hysterical
|
|
| adj.情绪异常激动的，歇斯底里般的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
508
subtlety
|
|
| n.微妙，敏锐，精巧；微妙之处，细微的区别 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
509
psalms
|
|
| n.赞美诗( psalm的名词复数 )；圣诗；圣歌；(中的) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
510
miserably
|
|
| adv.痛苦地；悲惨地；糟糕地；极度地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
511
misuse
|
|
| n.误用，滥用；vt.误用，滥用 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
512
dexterity
|
|
| n.(手的)灵巧，灵活 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
513
martyrs
|
|
| n.martyr的复数形式；烈士( martyr的名词复数 )；殉道者；殉教者；乞怜者（向人诉苦以博取同情） | |
参考例句： |
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|
|
|
514
martyr
|
|
| n.烈士，殉难者；vt.杀害，折磨，牺牲 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
515
discretion
|
|
| n.谨慎；随意处理 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
516
delicacy
|
|
| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
517
socialist
|
|
| n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
518
unearthing
|
|
| 发掘或挖出某物( unearth的现在分词 )； 搜寻到某事物，发现并披露 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
519
plebeians
|
|
| n.平民( plebeian的名词复数 )；庶民；平民百姓；平庸粗俗的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
520
investigation
|
|
| n.调查，调查研究 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
521
persecution
|
|
| n. 迫害,烦扰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
522
fascination
|
|
| n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
523
folly
|
|
| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
524
testimonies
|
|
| （法庭上证人的）证词( testimony的名词复数 )； 证明，证据 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
525
quotations
|
|
| n.引用( quotation的名词复数 )；[商业]行情（报告）；（货物或股票的）市价；时价 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
526
aspires
|
|
| v.渴望，追求( aspire的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
527
begrudge
|
|
| vt.吝啬，羡慕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
528
prudence
|
|
| n.谨慎，精明，节俭 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
529
backbone
|
|
| n.脊骨，脊柱，骨干；刚毅，骨气 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
530
impartial
|
|
| adj.(in,to)公正的，无偏见的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
531
dictates
|
|
| n.命令，规定，要求( dictate的名词复数 )v.大声讲或读( dictate的第三人称单数 )；口授；支配；摆布 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
532
emancipated
|
|
| adj.被解放的，不受约束的v.解放某人（尤指摆脱政治、法律或社会的束缚）( emancipate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
533
grandiose
|
|
| adj.宏伟的，宏大的，堂皇的，铺张的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
534
aphorism
|
|
| n.格言，警语 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
535
embryonic
|
|
| adj.胚胎的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
536
partisans
|
|
| 游击队员( partisan的名词复数 )； 党人； 党羽； 帮伙 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
537
finesse
|
|
| n.精密技巧，灵巧，手腕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
538
sneaking
|
|
| a.秘密的，不公开的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
539
superfluous
|
|
| adj.过多的，过剩的，多余的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
540
syllogism
|
|
| n.演绎法，三段论法 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
541
dodge
|
|
| v.闪开，躲开，避开；n.妙计，诡计 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
542
acquiescence
|
|
| n.默许；顺从 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
543
calumniation
|
|
| n.诽谤，中伤 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
544
degradation
|
|
| n.降级；低落；退化；陵削；降解；衰变 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
545
warriors
|
|
| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
546
fathomless
|
|
| a.深不可测的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
547
maiden
|
|
| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
548
impure
|
|
| adj.不纯净的，不洁的；不道德的，下流的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
549
evade
|
|
| vt.逃避，回避；避开，躲避 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
550
experimentation
|
|
| n.实验，试验，实验法 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
551
codification
|
|
| n.法典编纂，法律成文化；法规汇编 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
552
foresight
|
|
| n.先见之明，深谋远虑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
553
ancestry
|
|
| n.祖先，家世 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
554
attains
|
|
| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的第三人称单数 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
555
ratification
|
|
| n.批准，认可 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
556
fiat
|
|
| n.命令，法令，批准；vt.批准，颁布 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
557
differentiation
|
|
| n.区别，区分 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
558
temperament
|
|
| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
559
uncouth
|
|
| adj.无教养的，粗鲁的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
560
pessimism
|
|
| n.悲观者，悲观主义者，厌世者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
561
amiable
|
|
| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
562
guardians
|
|
| 监护人( guardian的名词复数 )； 保护者，维护者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
563
followers
|
|
| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
564
formulates
|
|
| v.构想出( formulate的第三人称单数 )；规划；确切地阐述；用公式表示 | |
参考例句： |
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565
mediocre
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| adj.平常的，普通的 | |
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566
consolidated
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| a.联合的 | |
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567
heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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568
socialists
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| 社会主义者( socialist的名词复数 ) | |
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569
envious
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| adj.嫉妒的，羡慕的 | |
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570
likeness
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| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
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571
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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572
blighted
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| adj.枯萎的，摧毁的 | |
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573
patchwork
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| n.混杂物；拼缝物 | |
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574
bungling
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| adj.笨拙的，粗劣的v.搞糟，完不成( bungle的现在分词 )；笨手笨脚地做；失败；完不成 | |
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575
anarchists
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| 无政府主义者( anarchist的名词复数 ) | |
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576
disintegrating
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| v.（使）破裂[分裂，粉碎]，（使）崩溃( disintegrate的现在分词 ) | |
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577
degenerating
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| 衰退，堕落，退化( degenerate的现在分词 ) | |
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578
durability
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| n.经久性，耐用性 | |
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579
vampire
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| n.吸血鬼 | |
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580
alienated
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|
| adj.感到孤独的，不合群的v.使疏远( alienate的过去式和过去分词 )；使不友好；转让；让渡（财产等） | |
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581
colossal
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|
| adj.异常的，庞大的 | |
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582
meritorious
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|
| adj.值得赞赏的 | |
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583
manly
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|
| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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584
secrecy
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|
| n.秘密，保密，隐蔽 | |
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585
rekindled
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| v.使再燃( rekindle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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586
kindled
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| （使某物）燃烧，着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 )； 激起（感情等）； 发亮，放光 | |
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587
anarchistic
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| 无政府主义的 | |
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588
intrigues
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| n.密谋策划( intrigue的名词复数 )；神秘气氛；引人入胜的复杂情节v.搞阴谋诡计( intrigue的第三人称单数 )；激起…的好奇心 | |
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589
amalgamated
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| v.（使）（金属）汞齐化( amalgamate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）合并；联合；结合 | |
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590
naught
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| n.无，零 [=nought] | |
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591
prerequisites
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| 先决条件，前提( prerequisite的名词复数 ) | |
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592
loutish
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| adj.粗鲁的 | |
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593
trampled
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|
| 踩( trample的过去式和过去分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯 | |
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594
hoof
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| n.(马，牛等的)蹄 | |
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595
vampires
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|
| n.吸血鬼( vampire的名词复数 )；吸血蝠；高利贷者；（舞台上的）活板门 | |
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596
filthy
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|
| adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的 | |
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597
luxuriousness
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598
moorish
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| adj.沼地的，荒野的，生[住]在沼地的 | |
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599
grovelled
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| v.卑躬屈节，奴颜婢膝( grovel的过去式和过去分词 )；趴 | |
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600
piracy
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| n.海盗行为，剽窃，著作权侵害 | |
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601
insinuate
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|
| vt.含沙射影地说，暗示 | |
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602
enchantment
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|
| n.迷惑，妖术，魅力 | |
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603
scintillate
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| v.闪烁火光；放出火花 | |
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604
vibrations
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|
| n.摆动( vibration的名词复数 )；震动；感受；（偏离平衡位置的）一次性往复振动 | |
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605
longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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606
monk
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| n.和尚，僧侣，修道士 | |
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607
stimulated
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| a.刺激的 | |
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608
futility
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| n.无用 | |
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609
futile
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|
| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
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610
tangled
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| adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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611
accusations
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| n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名 | |
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612
corruptions
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| n.堕落( corruption的名词复数 )；腐化；腐败；贿赂 | |
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613
blessings
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| n.（上帝的）祝福( blessing的名词复数 )；好事；福分；因祸得福 | |
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614
pretext
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| n.借口，托词 | |
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615
overthrowing
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| v.打倒，推翻( overthrow的现在分词 )；使终止 | |
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616
dynamite
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| n./vt.(用)炸药(爆破) | |
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617
conspiracy
|
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| n.阴谋，密谋，共谋 | |
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618
blemish
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| v.损害；玷污；瑕疵，缺点 | |
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619
fatality
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| n.不幸，灾祸，天命 | |
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