Third Part · XLIX. The Bedwarfing Virtue

Zarathustra the godless against teachers of submission

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And when I call out: “Curse all the cowardly devils in you, that would fain whimper and fold the hands and adore”—then do they shout: “Zarathustra is godless.”

And especially do their teachers of submission shout this;—but precisely in their ears do I love to cry: “Yea! I AM Zarathustra, the godless!”

Those teachers of submission! Wherever there is aught puny, or sickly, or scabby, there do they creep like lice; and only my disgust preventeth me from cracking them.

Well! This is my sermon for THEIR ears: I am Zarathustra the godless, who saith: “Who is more godless than I, that I may enjoy his teaching?”

I am Zarathustra the godless: where do I find mine equal? And all those are mine equals who give unto themselves their Will, and divest themselves of all submission.

I am Zarathustra the godless! I cook every chance in MY pot. And only when it hath been quite cooked do I welcome it as MY food.

And verily, many a chance came imperiously unto me: but still more imperiously did my WILL speak unto it,—then did it lie imploringly upon its knees—

—Imploring that it might find home and heart with me, and saying flatteringly: “See, O Zarathustra, how friend only cometh unto friend!”—

When he curses the cowardly devils that whimper and adore, the teachers of submission cry that he is godless. He answers 'I am Zarathustra the godless', and says that chance must bow to his will.

Will, freedom and the 'I will'His equals are those who give themselves their own will and shed all submission.
The death of GodCalled godless by the teachers of submission, he accepts the name proudly.
Affirmation (Yea-saying, amor fati)He cooks every chance in his own pot and welcomes it only once it is cooked.
Christianity, priests and the need to worshipSets Zarathustra 'the godless' against the teachers of submission and the urge to fold the hands and adore.

Commentary on this passage

What the critics said

Georg Brandes, Aristocratic Radicalism (1889)

Petty virtue, apostates and the great cityGeorg Brandes · Aristocratic Radicalism, 1889exposition

Brandes summarises Zarathustra's disgust with the petty virtues that make men smaller, his being called godless, the apostasy of his former companions, and his loathing of the great city and of the State.

Commentary on this chapter

What the critics said

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

Great noontide as humanity's coming of ageAnthony M. Ludovici · Notes on Thus Spake Zarathustra, 1909interpretation

Ludovici explains that by 'the great noontide' Nietzsche meant the present period as the noon of man's history: the childhood of mankind is over, we now know, and there is no longer any excuse for mistakes that botch the type man.

Freedom not an end in itselfAnthony M. Ludovici · Notes on Thus Spake Zarathustra, 1909interpretation

Ludovici argues that in 'Old and New Tables' freedom receives its death-blow as a general desideratum: Nietzsche held freedom dangerous in unworthy hands, asking 'free for what?' and requiring that one first be such as can will.