Ah, lieth everything already withered1 and grey which but lately stood green and many-hued on this meadow! And how much honey of hope did I carry hence into my beehives!
Those young hearts have already all become old—and not old even! only weary, ordinary, comfortable:—they declare it: “We have again become pious2.”
Of late did I see them run forth3 at early morn with valorous steps: but the feet of their knowledge became weary, and now do they malign4 even their morning valour!
Verily, many of them once lifted their legs like the dancer; to them winked5 the laughter of my wisdom:—then did they bethink themselves. Just now have I seen them bent6 down—to creep to the cross.
Around light and liberty did they once flutter like gnats7 and young poets. A little older, a little colder: and already are they mystifiers, and mumblers and mollycoddles8.
Did perhaps their hearts despond, because lonesomeness had swallowed me like a whale? Did their ear perhaps hearken yearningly-long for me IN VAIN, and for my trumpet-notes and herald-calls?
—Ah! Ever are there but few of those whose hearts have persistent9 courage and exuberance10; and in such remaineth also the spirit patient. The rest, however, are COWARDLY.
The rest: these are always the great majority, the common-place, the superfluous11, the far-too many—those all are cowardly!—
Him who is of my type, will also the experiences of my type meet on the way: so that his first companions must be corpses12 and buffoons13.
His second companions, however—they will call themselves his BELIEVERS,—will be a living host, with much love, much folly14, much unbearded veneration15.
To those believers shall he who is of my type among men not bind16 his heart; in those spring-times and many-hued meadows shall he not believe, who knoweth the fickly17 faint-hearted human species!
COULD they do otherwise, then would they also WILL otherwise. The half-and-half spoil every whole. That leaves become withered,—what is there to lament19 about that!
Let them go and fall away, O Zarathustra, and do not lament! Better even to blow amongst them with rustling20 winds,—
—Blow amongst those leaves, O Zarathustra, that everything WITHERED may run away from thee the faster!—
2.
“We have again become pious”—so do those apostates21 confess; and some of them are still too pusillanimous22 thus to confess.
Unto them I look into the eye,—before them I say it unto their face and unto the blush on their cheeks: Ye are those who again PRAY!
It is however a shame to pray! Not for all, but for thee, and me, and whoever hath his conscience in his head. For THEE it is a shame to pray!
Thou knowest it well: the faint-hearted devil in thee, which would fain fold its arms, and place its hands in its bosom23, and take it easier:—this faint-hearted devil persuadeth thee that “there IS a God!”
THEREBY24, however, dost thou belong to the light-dreading type, to whom light never permitteth repose25: now must thou daily thrust thy head deeper into obscurity and vapour!
And verily, thou choosest the hour well: for just now do the nocturnal birds again fly abroad. The hour hath come for all light-dreading people, the vesper hour and leisure hour, when they do not—“take leisure.”
I hear it and smell it: it hath come—their hour for hunt and procession, not indeed for a wild hunt, but for a tame, lame18, snuffling, soft-treaders’, soft-prayers’ hunt,—
—For a hunt after susceptible26 simpletons: all mouse-traps for the heart have again been set! And whenever I lift a curtain, a night-moth rusheth out of it.
Did it perhaps squat27 there along with another night-moth? For everywhere do I smell small concealed28 communities; and wherever there are closets there are new devotees therein, and the atmosphere of devotees.
They sit for long evenings beside one another, and say: “Let us again become like little children and say, ‘good God!’”—ruined in mouths and stomachs by the pious confectioners.
Or they look for long evenings at a crafty29, lurking30 cross-spider, that preacheth prudence31 to the spiders themselves, and teacheth that “under crosses it is good for cobweb-spinning!”
Or they sit all day at swamps with angle-rods, and on that account think themselves PROFOUND; but whoever fisheth where there are no fish, I do not even call him superficial!
Or they learn in godly-gay style to play the harp32 with a hymn-poet, who would fain harp himself into the heart of young girls:—for he hath tired of old girls and their praises.
Or they learn to shudder33 with a learned semi-madcap, who waiteth in darkened rooms for spirits to come to him—and the spirit runneth away entirely34!
Or they listen to an old roving howl-and growl-piper, who hath learnt from the sad winds the sadness of sounds; now pipeth he as the wind, and preacheth sadness in sad strains.
And some of them have even become night-watchmen: they know now how to blow horns, and go about at night and awaken35 old things which have long fallen asleep.
Five words about old things did I hear yester-night at the garden-wall: they came from such old, sorrowful, arid36 night-watchmen.
“For a father he careth not sufficiently37 for his children: human fathers do this better!”—
“He is too old! He now careth no more for his children,”—answered the other night-watchman.
“HATH he then children? No one can prove it unless he himself prove it! I have long wished that he would for once prove it thoroughly38.”
“Prove? As if HE had ever proved anything! Proving is difficult to him; he layeth great stress on one’s BELIEVING him.”
“Ay! Ay! Belief saveth him; belief in him. That is the way with old people! So it is with us also!”—
—Thus spake to each other the two old night-watchmen and light-scarers, and tooted thereupon sorrowfully on their horns: so did it happen yester-night at the garden-wall.
To me, however, did the heart writhe39 with laughter, and was like to break; it knew not where to go, and sunk into the midriff.
Verily, it will be my death yet—to choke with laughter when I see asses40 drunken, and hear night-watchmen thus doubt about God.
Hath the time not LONG since passed for all such doubts? Who may nowadays awaken such old slumbering41, light-shunning things!
With the old Deities42 hath it long since come to an end:—and verily, a good joyful43 Deity-end had they!
They did not “begloom” themselves to death—that do people fabricate! On the contrary, they—LAUGHED themselves to death once on a time!
That took place when the unGodliest utterance44 came from a God himself—the utterance: “There is but one God! Thou shalt have no other Gods before me!”—
—An old grim-beard of a God, a jealous one, forgot himself in such wise:—
And all the Gods then laughed, and shook upon their thrones, and exclaimed: “Is it not just divinity that there are Gods, but no God?”
He that hath an ear let him hear.—
Thus talked Zarathustra in the city he loved, which is surnamed “The Pied Cow.” For from here he had but two days to travel to reach once more his cave and his animals; his soul, however, rejoiced unceasingly on account of the nighness of his return home.
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1
withered
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| adj. 枯萎的，干瘪的，（人身体的部分器官）因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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2
pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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3
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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4
malign
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| adj.有害的；恶性的；恶意的；v.诽谤，诬蔑 | |
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5
winked
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| v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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6
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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7
gnats
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| n.叮人小虫( gnat的名词复数 ) | |
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8
mollycoddles
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| v.娇养，宠坏( mollycoddle的第三人称单数 ) | |
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9
persistent
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| adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的 | |
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10
exuberance
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| n.丰富；繁荣 | |
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11
superfluous
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| adj.过多的，过剩的，多余的 | |
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12
corpses
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| n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 ) | |
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13
buffoons
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| n.愚蠢的人( buffoon的名词复数 )；傻瓜；逗乐小丑；滑稽的人 | |
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14
folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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15
veneration
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| n.尊敬，崇拜 | |
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16
bind
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| vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬 | |
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17
fickly
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| （爱情、友谊等）易变的，无常的； 薄情的； 浮躁的 | |
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18
lame
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| adj.跛的，(辩解、论据等)无说服力的 | |
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19
lament
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| n.悲叹，悔恨，恸哭；v.哀悼，悔恨，悲叹 | |
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20
rustling
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| n. 瑟瑟声，沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的 | |
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21
apostates
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| n.放弃原来信仰的人( apostate的名词复数 )；叛教者；脱党者；反叛者 | |
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22
pusillanimous
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| adj.懦弱的，胆怯的 | |
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23
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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24
thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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25
repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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26
susceptible
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| adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的 | |
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27
squat
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| v.蹲坐，蹲下；n.蹲下；adj.矮胖的，粗矮的 | |
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28
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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29
crafty
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| adj.狡猾的，诡诈的 | |
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30
lurking
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| 潜在 | |
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31
prudence
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| n.谨慎，精明，节俭 | |
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32
harp
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| n.竖琴；天琴座 | |
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33
shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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34
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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35
awaken
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| vi.醒，觉醒；vt.唤醒，使觉醒，唤起，激起 | |
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36
arid
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| adj.干旱的；(土地)贫瘠的 | |
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37
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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38
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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39
writhe
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| vt.挣扎，痛苦地扭曲；vi.扭曲，翻腾，受苦；n.翻腾，苦恼 | |
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40
asses
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| n. 驴，愚蠢的人，臀部 adv. (常用作后置)用于贬损或骂人 | |
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41
slumbering
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| 微睡，睡眠（slumber的现在分词形式） | |
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42
deities
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| n.神，女神( deity的名词复数 )；神祗；神灵；神明 | |
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43
joyful
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| adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的 | |
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44
utterance
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| n.用言语表达，话语，言语 | |
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