and the scholar efficient; and, looked at more closely, there is no true scholar who has not the instincts of a true soldier in his veins. To be able to command and to be able to obey in a proud fashion; to keep one's place in rank and file, and yet to be ready at any moment to lead; to prefer danger to comfort; not to weigh what is permitted and what is forbidden in a tradesman's balance; to be more hostile to pettiness, slyness, and parasitism than to wickedness. What is it that one _learns_ in a hard school?--_to obey_ and _to command._ 913. We should _repudiate_ merit--and do only that which stands above all praise and above all understanding. 914. The new forms of morality:-- Faithful vows concerning that which one wishes to do or to leave undone; complete and definite abstention from many things. Tests as to whether one is _ripe_ for such discipline. 915. It is my desire to _naturalise asceticism:_ I would substitute the old intention of asceticism, "self-denial," by my own intention, _self-strengthening:_ a gymnastic of the will; a period of abstinence and occasional fasting of every kind, even in things intellectual; a casuistry in deeds, in regard to the opinions which we derive from our powers; we should try our hand at adventure and at deliberate dangers. (_Dîners chez Magny:_ all intellectual gourmets with spoilt stomachs.) _Tests_ ought also to be devised for discovering a man's power in keeping his word. 916. The things which have become _spoilt_ through having been abused by the Church:-- (1) _Asceticism._--People have scarcely got the courage yet to bring to light the natural utility and necessity of asceticism for the purpose of the _education of the will._ Our ridiculous world of education, before whose eyes the useful State official hovers as an ideal to be striven for, believes that it has completed its duty when it has instructed or trained the brain; it never even suspects that something else is first of all necessary --the education of _will-power;_ tests are devised for everything except for the most important thing of all: whether a man can _will,_ whether he can _promise;_ the young man completes his education without a question or an inquiry having been made concerning the problem of the highest value of his nature. (2) _Fasting:_--In every sense--even as a means of maintaining the capacity for taking pleasure in all good things (for instance, to give up reading for a while, to hear no music for a while, to cease from being amiable for a while: one ought also to have fast days for one's virtues).