The Joyful Wisdom ("La Gaya Scienza"): Complete Works, Volume TenNietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm
PhilosophyPhilosophy
The Joyful Wisdom ("La Gaya Scienza"): Complete Works, Volume Ten
Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm
Philosophy
_Incipit Tragœdia._--When Zarathustra was thirty years old, he left
his home and the Lake of Urmi, and went into the mountains. There he
enjoyed his spirit and his solitude, and for ten years did not weary
of it. But at last his heart changed,--and rising one morning with the
rosy dawn, he went before the sun and spake thus to it: "Thou great
star! What would be thy happiness if thou hadst not those for whom thou
shinest! For ten years hast thou climbed hither unto my cave: thou
wouldst have wearied of thy light and of the journey, had it not been
for me, mine eagle, and my serpent. But we awaited thee every morning,
took from thee thine overflow, and blessed thee for it. Lo! I am weary
of my wisdom, like the bee that hath gathered too much honey; I need
hands outstretched to take it. I would fain bestow and distribute,
until the wise have once more become joyous in their folly, and the
poor happy in their riches. Therefore must I descend into the deep, as
thou doest in the evening, when thou goest behind the sea and givest
light also to the nether-world, thou most rich star! Like thee must I
_go down,_ as men say, to whom I shall descend. Bless me then, thou
tranquil eye, that canst behold even the greatest happiness without
envy! Bless the cup that is about to overflow, that the water may flow
golden out of it, and carry everywhere the reflection of thy bliss! Lo!
This cup is again going to empty itself, and Zarathustra is again going
to be a man."--Thus began Zarathustra's down-going.
BOOK FIFTH
FEARLESS ONES
"Carcasse, tu trembles? Tu tremblerais bien davantage, tu savais, où je
te mène." _Turenne._
343.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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