It is obvious from this passage that Nietzsche only objected to the influence of herd-morality outside the herd--that is to say, among exceptional and higher men who may be wrecked by it. Whereas most other philosophers before him had been the "Altruist" of the lower strata of humanity, Nietzsche may aptly be called the Altruist of the exceptions, of the particular lucky cases among men. For such "varieties," he thought, the morality of Christianity had done all it could do, and though he in no way wished to underrate the value it had sometimes been to them in the past, he saw that at present, in any case, it might prove a great danger. With Goethe, therefore, he believed that "Hypotheses are only the pieces of scaffolding which are erected round a building during the course of its construction, and which are taken away as soon as the edifice is completed. To the workman, they are indispensable; but he must be careful not to confound the scaffolding with the building."[1] It is deeply to be deplored that Nietzsche was never able to complete his life-work. The fragments of it collected in volumes i. and ii. of _The Will to Power_ are sufficiently remarkable to convey some idea of what the whole work would have been if only its author had been able to arrange and complete it according to his original design. It is to be hoped that we are too sensible nowadays to allow our sensibilities to be shocked by serious and well-meditated criticism, even of the most cherished among our institutions, and an honest and sincere reformer ought no longer to find us prejudiced--to the extent of deafness--against him, more particularly when he comes forward with a gospel--"The Will to Power"--which is, above all, a test of our power to will. ANTHONY M. LUDOVICI. [Footnote 1: _Naturwissenschaft im Allgemeinen_ (Weimar Edition, i. II, p. 132).] PREFACE. 1. Concerning great things one should either be silent or one should speak loftily:--loftily--that is to say, cynically and innocently. 2. What I am now going to relate is the history of the next two centuries. I shall describe what will happen, what must necessarily happen: _the triumph of Nihilism._ This history can be written already; for necessity itself is at work in bringing it about. This future is already proclaimed by a hundred different omens; as a destiny it announces its advent everywhere, for this music of to-morrow all ears are already pricked. The whole of our culture in Europe has long been writhing in an agony of suspense which increases from decade to decade as if in expectation of a catastrophe: restless, violent, helter-skelter, like a torrent that will _reach its bourne,_ and refuses to reflect--yea, that even dreads reflection. 3.