Second Part · XXXV. The Sublime Ones

Redeem the monsters into heavenly children

To be sure, I love in him the shoulders of the ox: but now do I want to see also the eye of the angel.

Also his hero-will hath he still to unlearn: an exalted one shall he be, and not only a sublime one:—the ether itself should raise him, the will-less one!

He hath subdued monsters, he hath solved enigmas. But he should also redeem his monsters and enigmas; into heavenly children should he transform them.

As yet hath his knowledge not learned to smile, and to be without jealousy; as yet hath his gushing passion not become calm in beauty.

Verily, not in satiety shall his longing cease and disappear, but in beauty! Gracefulness belongeth to the munificence of the magnanimous.

His arm across his head: thus should the hero repose; thus should he also surmount his repose.

Zarathustra loves the ox's shoulders but wants the eye of an angel. The hero must unlearn his hero-will, redeem his monsters, and let longing end in beauty rather than satiety.

Creation and the creatorThe hero must transform his conquered monsters and enigmas into heavenly children rather than merely subdue them.
Will, freedom and the 'I will'His hero-will must be unlearned; the ether should raise him, the will-less one.
Self-overcomingEven his repose and his knowledge must be surmounted and learn to smile without jealousy.

Commentary on this chapter

What the critics said

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

The sublime ones stuck at the camel stageAnthony M. Ludovici · Notes on Thus Spake Zarathustra, 1909interpretation

Ludovici says the sublime ones are a type Nietzsche did not wholly dislike but who take life too seriously and never surmount the camel stage; real greatness is to speak of lofty things without being oppressed by them, and Nietzsche breaks old things not with the anarchist's irreverence but with the fingers of an artist at ease with beauty, guided by his own taste.