Friedrich_Nietzsche - Untimely_Meditations_(Cambridge_Texts_in_the_History_of_Philosophy__1997)

Untimely Meditationsto sound in kindred notes on the strings of his lyre: h e has become apassive sounding-board whose reflected tones act upon othersimilar sounding-boards: until at last the whole air of an age is filledwith the confused humming of these tender and kindred echoes. Yetit seems to me as though only the harmonics of the original historicalnote are audible: the solidity and power of the original can no longerbe divined in the shrill and bubble-thin vibrations of these strings.The original note recalled actions, distress, terrors; this note lulls usand makes of us tame spectators; it is as though the 'Eroica'Symphony had been arranged for two flutes for the entertainment ofdrowsy opium-smokers. Through this we are already in a position toassess how these virtuosi will stand in regard to modern man's supremeclaim to a higher and purer sense of justice; this virtue neverhas anything pleasing about it, knows no delicious tremors, is harshand dread-inspiring. In comparison, how low even magnanimitystands in the scale of the virtues, and magnanimity is itself possessedby only a few rare historians! Many more of them attain only totolerance, to allowing validity to what tj1ey cannot deny happened,to explaining away and extenuating, on the correct assumption thatthe inexperienced will interpret the mere absence of abrasivenessand harsh condemnation of the past as evidence of a just disposition.But only superior strength can judge, weakness is obliged to tolerateif it is not to make a hypocritical pretence of strength and turn justicesitting in judgment into an actor. There still remains a dreadfulspecies of historian, efficient, severe and honest of character butnarrow of mind; the will to be just is there, as is the pathos attendingthe office of judge: but all their verdicts are false, for approximatelythe same reason as the verdicts of ordinary court juries are false.How improbable it thus is that there should be an abundance oftalent for history! Qu ite apart from the disguised egoists and partymenwho employ an air of objectivity in furtherance of their crookedgame. And quite apart also from those wholly thoughtless peoplewho when they write history do so in the naive belief that all thepopular views of precisely their own age are the right and just viewsand that to write in accord with the views of their age is the samething as being just; a belief in which every religion dwells and aboutwhich in the case of religions no further comment is needed. Thesenaive historians call the assessment of the opinions and deeds of thepast according to the everyday standards of the present moment'objectivity': it is here they discover the canon of all truth; their task isto adapt the past to contemporary triviality. On the other hand, they90