First Part · XXII. The Bestowing Virtue

The great noontide promised

The great noontide Going-under (descent)The Superman (Übermensch)Zarathustra The disciples The farewell and the golden staff

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And once again shall ye have become friends unto me, and children of one hope: then will I be with you for the third time, to celebrate the great noontide with you.

And it is the great noontide, when man is in the middle of his course between animal and Superman, and celebrateth his advance to the evening as his highest hope: for it is the advance to a new morning.

At such time will the down-goer bless himself, that he should be an over-goer; and the sun of his knowledge will be at noontide.

“DEAD ARE ALL THE GODS: NOW DO WE DESIRE THE SUPERMAN TO LIVE.”—Let this be our final will at the great noontide!—

Zarathustra promises to return a third time to celebrate the great noontide with his disciples as friends and children of one hope. The chapter ends on the will 'Dead are all the gods: now do we desire the Superman to live.'

The great noontideThe great noontide is when man stands midway between animal and Superman and celebrates his way to evening as his highest hope.
Going-under (descent)The down-goer blesses himself as an over-goer.
The Superman (Übermensch)The final will is that the Superman may live.

Commentary on this chapter

What the critics said

Anthony M. Ludovici, Notes on Thus Spake Zarathustra (1909)

Bestowing as discharge of overflowing strengthAnthony M. Ludovici · Notes on Thus Spake Zarathustra, 1909interpretation

Ludovici says that the Nietzschean ideal is the man of overflowing strength who must discharge it or perish, so that giving from overflow is the only charity Nietzsche recognises, and that the discourse urges disciples to become independent thinkers and find themselves before learning more from Zarathustra.