_"C'est la rage de vouloir penser et sentir au delà de sa force"_ (Doudan). The Wagnerites. 25. Wagner whose ambition far exceeds his natural gifts, has tried an incalculable number of times to achieve what lay beyond his powers--but it almost makes one shudder to see some one assail with such persistence that which defies conquest--the fate of his constitution. 26. He is always thinking of the most _extreme_ expression,--in every word. But in the end superlatives begin to pall. 27. There is something which is in the highest degree suspicious in Wagner, and that is Wagner's suspicion. It is such a strong trait in him, that on two occasions I doubted whether he were a musician at all. 28. The proposition: "in the face of perfection there is no salvation save love,"[1] is thoroughly Wagnerian. Profound jealousy of everything great from which he can draw _fresh_ ideas. Hatred of all that which he cannot approach: the Renaissance, French and Greek art in style. [Footnote 1: What Schiller said of Goethe.--TR.] 29. Wagner is jealous of all periods that have shown _restraint:_ he despises beauty and grace, and finds only his own _virtues_ in the "Germans," and even attributes all his failings to them. 30. Wagner has not the power to unlock and liberate the soul of those he frequents: Wagner is not sure of himself, but distrustful and arrogant. His _art_ has this effect upon artists, it is envious of all rivals. 31. _Plato's Envy._ He would fain monopolise Socrates. He saturates the latter with himself, pretends to adorn him καλὸς Σωκράτης, and tries to separate all Socratists from him in order himself to appear as the only true apostle. But his historical presentation of him is false, even to a parlous degree: just as Wagner's presentation of Beethoven and Shakespeare is false. 32. When a dramatist speaks about himself he plays a part: this is inevitable. When Wagner speaks about Bach and Beethoven he speaks like one for whom he would fain be taken. But he impresses only those who are already convinced, for his dissimulation and his genuine nature are far too violently at variance. 33. Wagner struggles against the "frivolity" in his nature, which to him the ignoble (as opposed to Goethe) constituted the joy of life. 34. Wagner has the mind of the ordinary man who prefers to trace things to _one_ cause. The Jews do the same: one _aim,_ therefore one Saviour. In this way he simplifies German and culture; wrongly but strongly. 35. Wagner admitted all this to himself often enough when in private communion with his soul: I only wish he had also admitted it publicly. For what constitutes the greatness of a character if it is not this, that he who possesses it is able to take sides even against himself in favour of truth. _Wagner's Teutonism._ 36.