156

Ferox gens, nullam esse vitam sine armis rati.[73]—­They prefer death to peace; others prefer death to war.

Every opinion may be held preferable to life, the love of which is so strong and so natural.[74]

157

Contradiction:  contempt for our existence, to die for nothing, hatred of our existence.

158

Pursuits.—­The charm of fame is so great, that we like every object to which it is attached, even death.

159

Noble deeds are most estimable when hidden.  When I see some of these in history (as p. 184)[75], they please me greatly.  But after all they have not been quite hidden, since they have been known; and though people have done what they could to hide them, the little publication of them spoils all, for what was best in them was the wish to hide them.

160

Sneezing absorbs all the functions of the soul, as well as work does; but we do not draw therefrom the same conclusions against the greatness of man, because it is against his will.  And although we bring it on ourselves, it is nevertheless against our will that we sneeze.  It is not in view of the act itself; it is for another end.  And thus it is not a proof of the weakness of man, and of his slavery under that action.

It is not disgraceful for man to yield to pain, and it is disgraceful to yield to pleasure.  This is not because pain comes to us from without, and we ourselves seek pleasure; for it is possible to seek pain, and yield to it purposely, without this kind of baseness.  Whence comes it, then, that reason thinks it honourable to succumb under stress of pain, and disgraceful to yield to the attack of pleasure?  It is because pain does not tempt and attract us.  It is we ourselves who choose it voluntarily, and will it to prevail over us.  So that we are masters of the situation; and in this man yields to himself.  But in pleasure it is man who yields to pleasure.  Now only mastery and sovereignty bring glory, and only slavery brings shame.

161

Vanity.—­How wonderful it is that a thing so evident as the vanity of the world is so little known, that it is a strange and surprising thing to say that it is foolish to seek greatness!

162

He who will know fully the vanity of man has only to consider the causes and effects of love.  The cause is a je ne sais quoi (Corneille),[76] and the effects are dreadful.  This je ne sais quoi, so small an object that we cannot recognise it, agitates a whole country, princes, armies, the entire world.

Cleopatra’s nose:  had it been shorter, the whole aspect of the world would have been altered.

163

Vanity.—­The cause and the effects of love:  Cleopatra.

164

He who does not see the vanity of the world is himself very vain.  Indeed who do not see it but youths who are absorbed in fame, diversion, and the thought of the future?  But take away diversion, and you will see them dried up with weariness.  They feel then their nothingness without knowing it; for it is indeed to be unhappy to be in insufferable sadness as soon as we are reduced to thinking of self, and have no diversion.