the future. What would a Greek say, if only he could see us!


130

The gods make men still more evil; this is the nature of man. If we do
not like a man, we wish that he may become worse than he is, and then we
are glad. This forms part of the obscure philosophy of hate--a
philosophy which has never yet been written, because it is everywhere
the _pudendum_ that every one feels.


131

The pan-Hellenic Homer finds his delight in the frivolity of the gods;
but it is astounding how he can also give them dignity again. This
amazing ability to raise one's self again, however, is Greek.


132

What, then, is the origin of the envy of the gods? people did not
believe in a calm, quiet happiness, but only in an exuberant one. This
must have caused some displeasure to the Greeks; for their soul was only
too easily wounded: it embittered them to see a happy man. That is
Greek. If a man of distinguished talent appeared, the flock of envious
people must have become astonishingly large. If any one met with a
misfortune, they would say of him: "Ah! no wonder! he was too frivolous
and too well off." And every one of them would have behaved exuberantly
if he had possessed the requisite talent, and would willingly have