Macmillan

" when
"
we
^50 BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL
"historical sense" we have our virtues,is not to be disputed:
are unpretentious,unselfish,modest, brave,
habituated to self-controland self-renunication, very grateful,
very patient,very
"
complaisant^but with all this we are
perhapsnot very "tasteful." Let us finallyconfess it,that
what is most difficultfor us men of the "historicalsense" to
grasp, feel,taste, and love,what finds us fundamentally
prejudicedand almost hostile, is precisely the perfection and
ultimate maturityin every culture and art, the essentially
noble in works and men, their moment of smooth sea and
halcyonself-sufficiency, the goldennessand
coldness which
all thing show that have perfectedthemselves. Perhapsour
great virtue of the historical sense is in necessary contrast
to good taste,at least to the very bad taste; and we can
only evoke in ourselves imperfectly, hesitatingly, and withJ
compulsionthe small,short,and happy godsendsand glorifications
of human lifeas they shine here and there: those
moments and marvellous experiences when a greatpower has
voluntarily come to a halt before the boundless and infinite,
a superabundanceof refined delighthas been enjoyed
by a sudden checkingand petrifying, by standing
firmlyand plantingoneself fixedlyon stilltremblingroimd.
Proportionateness is strange to us, let us confess it to ourselves;
our itchingis reallythe itchingfor the infinite, the
immeasurable. Like the rider on his forward pantinghorse,
we let the reins fallbefore the infinite, we modem men, we
semi-barbarians " and
"
are in most danger.
are onlyin our highestblisswhen we
225
Whether it be hedonism,pessimism,utilitarianism, or eu^
dsemonism,all those modes of thinkingwhich measure th"