Fourth and Last Part · LXXIII. The Higher Man

Away from the market-place

When I came unto men for the first time, then did I commit the anchorite folly, the great folly: I appeared on the market-place.

And when I spake unto all, I spake unto none. In the evening, however, rope-dancers were my companions, and corpses; and I myself almost a corpse.

With the new morning, however, there came unto me a new truth: then did I learn to say: “Of what account to me are market-place and populace and populace-noise and long populace-ears!”

Ye higher men, learn THIS from me: On the market-place no one believeth in higher men. But if ye will speak there, very well! The populace, however, blinketh: “We are all equal.”

“Ye higher men,”—so blinketh the populace—“there are no higher men, we are all equal; man is man, before God—we are all equal!”

Before God!—Now, however, this God hath died. Before the populace, however, we will not be equal. Ye higher men, away from the market-place!

Zarathustra recalls his first coming to men, when speaking to all meant speaking to none. He tells the higher men that the populace blinks 'we are all equal', and that they must go away from the market-place.

The herd, the rabble, the many-too-manyThe populace believes in no higher men and insists that all are equal before God, so the higher men must leave the market-place.
The higher menZarathustra opens his address to the higher men by telling them what he learned from his own folly in the market-place.

Commentary on this passage

What the critics said

H. L. Mencken, The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche (1908)

Equality and the death of GodH. L. Mencken · The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche, 1908interpretation

Mencken argues, quoting Zarathustra's reply to the market-place crowd that God is dead, that belief in equality and brotherhood is the mob-morality of the ancient Jews credited to their god, and that since educated men no longer believe in that god it is ridiculous to keep the ethics grounded on him.

Commentary on this chapter

What the critics said

H. L. Mencken, The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche (1908)

Portrait of the supermanH. L. Mencken · The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche, 1908interpretation

Mencken argues that the superman will be perfect in body and mind, delight in combat, say yes to life's pleasures and ills, be scornful, merciless and free of fear of gods and laws, owe nothing to his neighbours and sacrifice himself only for generations unborn; he will distinguish instinct from passion and renounce from expediency, as Zarathustra's sayings to the brethren and to the higher men are taken to show.

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

The noble wickedness of higher menAnthony M. Ludovici · Notes on Thus Spake Zarathustra, 1909interpretation

Ludovici argues that depriving a higher man of his so-called wickedness may do violence to the greatest in him, and that the noblest wickedness, that of courage and determination, is vanishing under slave-moralities, which is why Nietzsche cried that man's baddest is so small and that to be brave is good.

A hard bed for higher menAnthony M. Ludovici · Notes on Thus Spake Zarathustra, 1909interpretation

Ludovici holds that Zarathustra's greeting confirms his thesis that the philosophy aims to give higher men the great hope, but harshly: Nietzsche would be a hard bed to higher men, making them harder, not easing their way.

The higher the type, the rarer successAnthony M. Ludovici · Notes on Thus Spake Zarathustra, 1909interpretation

Ludovici calls Nietzsche's principle that the higher the type the seldomer it succeeds very important: the most deplorable waste is among higher individuals, because highly organised beings rarely reach full development, so the blind will to power in nature needs direction by man.

Learn to laughAnthony M. Ludovici · Notes on Thus Spake Zarathustra, 1909exposition

Ludovici explains that the closing paragraphs of 'The Higher Man' protest against democratic seriousness: all that is good is cheerful, being able to joke about one's deepest feelings tests their value, and the greatest sin was the word 'Woe unto them that laugh now!'

Learn to laughAnthony M. Ludovici · Notes on Thus Spake Zarathustra, 1909exposition