Macmillan

On
44 BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL
37
"What? Does not that mean in popularlanguage: God
is disproved,but not the devil"?
"
the contrary! On
the contrary,my friends! And who the devil also compels
you
to speakpopularly1
I
38
As
happened finallyin all the enlightenmentof modem
times with the French Revolution (thatterrible farce,quite
superfluous when judgedclose at hand, into which,however,
the noble and visionaryspectatorsof all Europe have interpreted
from a distance their own indignation and enthusiasm
so long and passionately, until the text has disappearedunder
the interpretation), so a noble posteritymight once
more misunderstand the whole of the past, and perhapsonly
therebymake its endurable." aspect Or rather,has not this
already happened? Have not we ourselves been
"
that
"noble posterity"?And, in so far as we now comprehend
this,is it not
"
therebyalreadypast?
39
Nobody will very readilyregarda doctrine as true merely
because it makes peoplehappy or virtuous" excepting, perhaps,
the amiable "Idealists," who are enthusiastic about
the good,true, and beautiful, and let all kinds of motley,
coarse, and good-nature desirabilitieswim about promiscuously
in their pond. Happinessand virtue are no arguments.
It is willinglyforgotten, however,even on the part
of thoughtfulminds, that to make unhappy "ind to make