do not follow one another—do not press to or long after one another.[1] Nietzsche at times carries the thought of independence so far that he departs from his usual conception of the great as the rulers of the rest of mankind, and compares them to Epicurean Gods who live apart from the world.[2] He really has a twofold classification of great men, the highest, rarest type simply giving direction to mankind, but not actually ruling it—ruling being a function of the others.[3] Aristotle said that one who was not a citizen was either low in the scale of humanity, or else a superhuman being, either a brute or a God;[4] it is evident to which category Nietzsche's supreme persons belong.
I have already referred to the fear-inspiring (böse) aspect which great men may have.[5] Nietzsche warns against a too soft interpretation; there is a certain amount of the brute in them, even a nearness to crime.[6] They will be independent, even at the risk of subjecting others or sacrificing them—not because they are inhuman, but because independence may be impossible of attainment in any other way and they can transcend feelings of humanity on occasion, as Brutus transcended pity and friendship when for the res publica he murdered Cæsar.[7] h
They can, however, give to men as well as take from them, though doing so in their own way, serving "austerely." All but the very highest of them (who live apart) function in ways that are appreciable, are helpers of their kind as statesmen, commanders, leaders in difficult enterprises. They leave aims of personal security, comfort, and happiness to others. They can endure poverty and want, if need be—also sickness. They represent a new type of sainthood.[8] Their instinctive attitude to the weak is one of protection; they come naturally to the defense of whatever is misused, misunderstood, or calumniated (whether God or Devil). They have their own kind of goodness
- ↑ Ibid., XIV, 418, § 300.
- ↑ Ibid., XIV, 262, § 4.
- ↑ See The Antichristian, § 57; Will to Power, §§ 998-9, and later in this volume, pp. 449-51. In Human, etc., § 521, greatness is treated as equivalent to giving direction.
- ↑ Politics, I, ii.
- ↑ Pp. 234-5.
- ↑ Will to Power, § 951; cf. Ecce Homo, IV, § 5.
- ↑ Werke, XI, 239, § 196; Joyful Science, § 98; cf. § 382.
- ↑ Will to Power, §§ 943-4; Werke (pocket ed.), VII, 486, § 36.
