--- title: "Thus Spake Zarathustra" author: "Friedrich Nietzsche" translator: "Thomas Common" languages: [en] shelf: "Philosophy" section: 10 of 95 url: https://scriptura.si/works/nietzsche-zarathustra/10/ cite: "Friedrich Nietzsche, tr. Thomas Common, Thus Spake Zarathustra, section 10. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/nietzsche-zarathustra/10/" --- # Thus Spake Zarathustra *Friedrich Nietzsche, tr. Thomas Common* A prophet comes down from his mountain to teach the overman, in sermons and songs. ## 10. VI. The Pale Criminal Source: https://scriptura.si/works/nietzsche-zarathustra/10/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/nietzsche-zarathustra/10/#p-N [¶0] Ye do not mean to slay, ye judges and sacrificers, until the animal hath bowed its head? Lo! the pale criminal hath bowed his head: out of his eye speaketh the great contempt. [¶1] “Mine ego is something which is to be surpassed: mine ego is to me the great contempt of man”: so speaketh it out of that eye. [¶2] When he judged himself—that was his supreme moment; let not the exalted one relapse again into his low estate! [¶3] There is no salvation for him who thus suffereth from himself, unless it be speedy death. [¶4] Your slaying, ye judges, shall be pity, and not revenge; and in that ye slay, see to it that ye yourselves justify life! [¶5] It is not enough that ye should reconcile with him whom ye slay. Let your sorrow be love to the Superman: thus will ye justify your own survival! [¶6] “Enemy” shall ye say but not “villain,” “invalid” shall ye say but not “wretch,” “fool” shall ye say but not “sinner.” [¶7] And thou, red judge, if thou would say audibly all thou hast done in thought, then would every one cry: “Away with the nastiness and the virulent reptile!” [¶8] But one thing is the thought, another thing is the deed, and another thing is the idea of the deed. The wheel of causality doth not roll between them. [¶9] An idea made this pale man pale. Adequate was he for his deed when he did it, but the idea of it, he could not endure when it was done. [¶10] Evermore did he now see himself as the doer of one deed. Madness, I call this: the exception reversed itself to the rule in him. [¶11] The streak of chalk bewitcheth the hen; the stroke he struck bewitched his weak reason. Madness AFTER the deed, I call this. [¶12] Hearken, ye judges! There is another madness besides, and it is BEFORE the deed. Ah! ye have not gone deep enough into this soul! [¶13] Thus speaketh the red judge: “Why did this criminal commit murder? He meant to rob.” I tell you, however, that his soul wanted blood, not booty: he thirsted for the happiness of the knife! [¶14] But his weak reason understood not this madness, and it persuaded him. “What matter about blood!” it said; “wishest thou not, at least, to make booty thereby? Or take revenge?” [¶15] And he hearkened unto his weak reason: like lead lay its words upon him—thereupon he robbed when he murdered. He did not mean to be ashamed of his madness. [¶16] And now once more lieth the lead of his guilt upon him, and once more is his weak reason so benumbed, so paralysed, and so dull. [¶17] Could he only shake his head, then would his burden roll off; but who shaketh that head? [¶18] What is this man? A mass of diseases that reach out into the world through the spirit; there they want to get their prey. [¶19] What is this man? A coil of wild serpents that are seldom at peace among themselves—so they go forth apart and seek prey in the world. [¶20] Look at that poor body! What it suffered and craved, the poor soul interpreted to itself—it interpreted it as murderous desire, and eagerness for the happiness of the knife. [¶21] Him who now turneth sick, the evil overtaketh which is now the evil: he seeketh to cause pain with that which causeth him pain. But there have been other ages, and another evil and good. [¶22] Once was doubt evil, and the will to Self. Then the invalid became a heretic or sorcerer; as heretic or sorcerer he suffered, and sought to cause suffering. [¶23] But this will not enter your ears; it hurteth your good people, ye tell me. But what doth it matter to me about your good people! [¶24] Many things in your good people cause me disgust, and verily, not their evil. I would that they had a madness by which they succumbed, like this pale criminal! [¶25] Verily, I would that their madness were called truth, or fidelity, or justice: but they have their virtue in order to live long, and in wretched self-complacency. [¶26] I am a railing alongside the torrent; whoever is able to grasp me may grasp me! Your crutch, however, I am not.— [¶27] Thus spake Zarathustra.