VI. The Pale Criminal

Ye do not mean to slay, ye judges and sacrificers, until the animal hath bowed its head? Lo! the pale criminal hath bowed his head: out of his eye speaketh the great contempt. “Mine ego is something which is to be…

Zarathustra addresses the judges as the criminal bows his head. In his eye he reads great contempt for his own ego. He says the criminal's self-judgment was his supreme moment, and that only a speedy death can help him.

“Enemy” shall ye say but not “villain,” “invalid” shall ye say but not “wretch,” “fool” shall ye say but not “sinner.”

Zarathustra tells the judges which words to use for the criminal, and which words to drop.

And thou, red judge, if thou would say audibly all thou hast done in thought, then would every one cry: “Away with the nastiness and the virulent reptile!” But one thing is the thought, another thing is the deed, and…

Thought, deed and the idea of the deed are three separate things, with no wheel of causality between them. The man was equal to his deed but could not bear the idea of it afterwards. Zarathustra calls this madness after the deed. The madness before it was a thirst for blood, which his weak reason disguised as a wish to rob.

What is this man? A mass of diseases that reach out into the world through the spirit; there they want to get their prey. What is this man? A coil of wild serpents that are seldom at peace among themselves—so they go…

The man is described as a mass of diseases and a coil of serpents seeking prey in the world. The sick man tries to cause pain with what pains him. Zarathustra notes that other ages had another good and evil, when the invalid became a heretic or sorcerer.

But this will not enter your ears; it hurteth your good people, ye tell me. But what doth it matter to me about your good people! Many things in your good people cause me disgust, and verily, not their evil. I would…

Zarathustra says the good disgust him more than the evil do, and he wishes they had a madness to succumb to. He calls himself a railing beside the torrent, not a crutch.

I am a railing alongside the torrent; whoever is able to grasp me may grasp me! Your crutch, however, I am not.—

Zarathustra describes the kind of support he offers.