Message #32964

[VoraX]

2. The Academic Chairs of Virtue

  PEOPLE commended unto Zarathustra a wise man, as one who could
discourse well about sleep and virtue: greatly was he honoured and
rewarded for it, and all the youths sat before his chair. To him
went Zarathustra, and sat among the youths before his chair. And
thus spake the wise man:
  Respect and modesty in presence of sleep! That is the first thing!
And to go out of the way of all who sleep badly and keep awake at
night!
  Modest is even the thief in presence of sleep: he always stealeth
softly through the night. Immodest, however, is the night-watchman;
immodestly he carrieth his horn.
  No small art is it to sleep: it is necessary for that purpose to
keep awake all day.
  Ten times a day must thou overcome thyself: that causeth wholesome
weariness, and is poppy to the soul.
  Ten times must thou reconcile again with thyself; for overcoming
is bitterness, and badly sleep the unreconciled.
  Ten truths must thou find during the day; otherwise wilt thou seek
truth during the night, and thy soul will have been hungry.
  Ten times must thou laugh during the day, and be cheerful; otherwise
thy stomach, the father of affliction, will disturb thee in the night.
  Few people know it, but one must have all the virtues in order to
sleep well. Shall I bear false witness? Shall I commit adultery?
  Shall I covet my neighbour's maidservant? All that would ill
accord with good sleep.
  And even if one have all the virtues, there is still one thing
needful: to send the virtues themselves to sleep at the right time.
  That they may not quarrel with one another, the good females! And
about thee, thou unhappy one!
  Peace with God and thy neighbour: so desireth good sleep. And
peace also with thy neighbour's devil! Otherwise it will haunt thee in
the night.
  Honour to the government, and obedience, and also to the crooked
government! So desireth good sleep. How can I help it, if power liketh
to walk on crooked legs?
  He who leadeth his sheep to the greenest pasture, shall always be
for me the best shepherd: so doth it accord with good sleep.
  Many honours I want not, nor great treasures: they excite the
spleen. But it is bad sleeping without a good name and a little
treasure.
  A small company is more welcome to me than a bad one: but they
must come and go at the right time. So doth it accord with good sleep.
  Well, also, do the poor in spirit please me: they promote sleep.
Blessed are they, especially if one always give in to them.
  Thus passeth the day unto the virtuous. When night cometh, then take
I good care not to summon sleep. It disliketh to be summoned- sleep,
the lord of the virtues!
  But I think of what I have done and thought during the day. Thus
ruminating, patient as a cow, I ask myself: What were thy ten
overcomings?
  And what were the ten reconciliations, and the ten truths, and the
ten laughters with which my heart enjoyed itself?
  Thus pondering, and cradled by forty thoughts, it overtaketh me
all at once- sleep, the unsummoned, the lord of the virtues.
  Sleep tappeth on mine eye, and it turneth heavy. Sleep toucheth my
mouth, and it remaineth open.
  Verily, on soft soles doth it come to me, the dearest of thieves,
and stealeth from me my thoughts: stupid do I then stand, like this
academic chair.
  But not much longer do I then stand: I already lie.-
  When Zarathustra heard the wise man thus speak, he laughed in his
heart: for thereby had a light dawned upon him. And thus spake he to
his heart:
  A fool seemeth this wise man with his forty thoughts: but I
believe he knoweth well how to sleep.
  Happy even is he who liveth near this wise man! Such sleep is
contagious- even through a thick wall it is contagious.
  A magic resideth even in his academic chair. And not in vain did the
youths sit before the preacher of virtue.
  His wisdom is to keep awake in order to sleep well. And verily, if
life had no sense, and had I to choose nonsense, this would be the
desirablest nonsense for me also.
  Now know I well what people sought formerly above all else when they
sought teachers of virtue. Good sleep they sought for themselves,
and poppy-head virtues to promote it!
  To all those belauded sages of the academic chairs, wisdom was sleep
without dreams: they knew no higher significance of life.
  Even at present, to be sure, there are some like this preacher of
virtue, and not always so honourable: but their time is past. And
not much longer do they stand: there they already lie.
  Blessed are those drowsy ones: for they shall soon nod to sleep.-

  Thus spake Zarathustra.