40

The position we have taken up towards classical antiquity is at bottom
the profound cause of the sterility of modern culture; for we have taken
all this modern conception of culture from the Hellenised Romans. We
must distinguish within the domain of antiquity itself: when we come to
appreciate its purely productive period, we condemn at the same time the
entire Romano-Alexandrian culture. But at the same time also we condemn
our own attitude towards antiquity, and likewise our philology.


41

There has been an age-long battle between the Germans and antiquity,
_i.e._, a battle against the old culture. It is certain that precisely
what is best and deepest in the German resists it. The main point,
however, is that such resistance is only justifiable in the case of the
Romanised culture; for this culture, even at that time, was a
falling-off from something more profound and noble. It is this latter
that the Germans are wrong in resisting.


42

Everything classic was thoroughly cultivated by Charles the Great,
whilst he combated everything heathen with the severest possible
measures of coercion. Ancient mythology was developed, but German
mythology was treated as a crime. The feeling underlying all this, in my