THE ANTICHRIST
By
Friedrich Nietzsche
Translation: H.L. Mencken
60.
Christianity destroyed for us the whole harvest of ancient
civilization, and later it also destroyed for us the whole harvest of Mohammedan
civilization. The wonderful
culture of the Moors in Spain, which was fundamentally nearer to us and appealed more to our senses and tastes than that of Rome and Greece, was trampled down (--I do not say by what sort of feet--) Why? Because it had to thank noble and manly instincts for its origin--because it said yes to life, even to the rare and refined luxuriousness of Moorish life! . . . The crusaders later made war on something before which it would have been more fitting for them to have grovelled in the dust--a
civilization beside which even that of our nineteenth century seems very poor and very "senile."--What they wanted, of course, was booty: the orient was rich. . . . Let us put aside our prejudices! The crusades were a higher form of piracy, nothing more! The
German nobility, which is fundamentally a Viking nobility, was in its element there: the church knew only too well how the
German nobility was to be won . . . The
German noble, always the "
Swiss guard" of the church, always in the ser
vice of every bad instinct of the church--but well paid. . . Consider the fact that it is precisely the aid of
German swords and
German blood and valour that has enabled the church to carry through its war to the death upon everything noble on earth! At this point a host of painful questions suggest themselves. The
German nobility stands outside the
history of the higher
civilization: the reason is obvious. . .
Christianity, alcohol--the two great means of
corruption. . . . Intrinsically there should be no more choice between Islam and
Christianity than there is between an Arab and a Jew. The decision is already reached; nobody remains at liberty to choose here. Either a man is a Chandala or he is not. . . . "War to the knife with Rome!
peace and friendship with Islam!": this was the feeling, this was the act, of that great free
spirit, that genius among
German emperors, Frederick II. What! must a
German first be a genius, a free
spirit, before he can feel decently? I can't make out how a
German could ever feel
Christian. . .