This _Nihilistic_ religion gathers together all the _decadent elements_ and things of like order which it can find in antiquity, viz.:-- _(a)_ The _weak_ and the _botched_ (the refuse of the ancient world, and that of which it rid itself with most violence). _(b)_ Those who are _morally obsessed_ and _anti-pagan._ _(c)_ Those who are _weary of politics_ and indifferent (the _blasé_ Romans), the _denationalised,_ who know not what they are. _(d)_ Those who are tired of themselves--who are happy to be party to a subterranean conspiracy. 154. _Buddha_ versus _Christ._--Among the Nihilistic religions, Christianity and _Buddhism_ may always be sharply distinguished. _Buddhism_ is the expression of a _fine evening,_ perfectly sweet and mild--it is a sort of gratitude towards all that lies hidden, including that which it entirely lacks, viz., bitterness, disillusionment, and resentment. Finally it possesses lofty intellectual love; it has got over all the subtlety of philosophical contradictions, and is even resting after it, though it is precisely from that source that it derives its intellectual glory and its glow as of a sunset (it originated in the higher classes). _Christianity_ is a degenerative movement, consisting of all kinds of decaying and excremental elements: it is _not_ the expression of the downfall of a race, it is, from the root, an agglomeration of all the morbid elements which are mutually attractive and which gravitate to one another.... It is therefore _not_ a national religion, _not_ determined by race: it appeals to the disinherited everywhere; it consists of a foundation of resentment against all that is successful and dominant: it is in need of a symbol which represents the damnation of everything successful and dominant. It is opposed to every form of _intellectual_ movement, to all philosophy: it takes up the cudgels for idiots, and utters a curse upon all intellect. Resentment against those who are gifted, learned, intellectually independent: in all these it suspects the element of success and domination. 155.