★ 165 ★
Sultans? In the way that Dionysus and Croesus were cured. Starting with terror, fasts, and forced cloistering and gradually with increases in restorative tonics. Sultans and slaves are the extreme. There are yet many other middle classes between the king and the true cynic—the class of complete health. Terrorists and toadies belong in the class nearest to sultans and slaves—and like them, merge into one another. Both are representatives of a form of disease from a very weak constitution.
45. The healthiest constitution for a maximum of stimuli is represented by the king—in the same way, for a minimum of stimuli—the true cynic. The more alike the two are, the more their roles can be exchanged easily and with no modifications, even more so as their constitution approaches the ideal of a perfect constitution. The more independent a king is from his throne, the more so is he king.
46. All stimuli are relative—are great—except the one that is absolute—and more than great.
47. The most perfect constitution develops through incitation and absolute coupling with this stimulus. Through it, the constitution can do away with anything else—for initially, it functions more strongly in proportion to the decrease in the relative stimuli, and vice versa. But once it has penetrated the constitution completely, the constitution becomes completely indifferent to the relative stimulus. This stimulus is—absolute love.
A cynic and a king without it are only so in title.
Every improvement in imperfect constitutions comes down to making them more capable of love.
