“I deny it! You do _not_ know all about me.” “What is it that we do not know?” “You do not know how I loved man!” “You spoke of him with contempt.” “That he might rise to Beyond Man.” “Oh! And drown the children on the _Lusitania_, and hack his way through Belgium, and turn every friend against him, and be the curse of the planet!” He raised an arresting finger. “You are speaking of the Germans,” he said. “They are the only ones who have followed your philosophy to its logical conclusion.” “And you taunt me with that?” “I taunt you with nothing. I am stating facts. It was you who taunted them--to their undoing.” “I only preached Beyond Man.” “So far beyond man that man misunderstood you.” “Is that my fault?” “Whose else?” “Not theirs?” “Not altogether theirs. You hated too much. You taught them to hate man.” “I taught them to hate all that was not Beyond Man.” “But man is not Beyond Man, and so you taught them to hate man.” “But they themselves are not Beyond Man!” “They aspire to be. You taught them to aspire to be. They believed themselves Beyond Man, beyond good and evil. You taught chemistry to babes and sucklings, and they have blown up the nursery of the world.” “I wanted only to teach them.” “You should have begun with the a-b-c.” “And what do you think is the a-b-c of Beyond Man?” he asked. “The a is love, the b is humility, the c is truth,” I answered. “And why did I not teach them love, humility and truth?” “You knew not love, humility and truth.” “I knew not love?” “You knew not love.” “And I knew not humility?” “Your arrogance is a by-word.” “And I knew not truth?” “You knew but half the truth, and half the truth is not truth, as half an apple is not an apple.” “Do you think I taught them falsehood?” “The supreme falsehood, that _they_ could be Beyond Man. They are not ready for Beyond Man.” “But man must be surpassed!” “Man must surpass himself,” I answered. “You see, there is a difference.” “What should I have taught them?” “That Beyond Man is the servant of man, not the bully and the tyrant.” “But they would not have understood.” “Be not too sure of that. Some few have understood the Son of Man.” “Oh, him!” “Whom you repudiated.” “But he taught men to be slaves!” “A good servant maketh a good master, and he that is greatest among you let him be the servant of all.” “Oh, if you are going to quote Scripture--” “I quote _the_ Beyond Man.” “And you believe----” “I believe that you repudiated the only _well-known_ example of your own ideal.” “And you also believe----” “Yes, I also believe that you went mad because you saw too late that all your teaching was a lie. I believe that you had not the courage to repudiate yourself, and so surpass yourself; so surpass yourself and become yourself Beyond Man.” “Then you think I knew?”