58 THE SCIENCE OF POWER 



compare with the drama of the meeting of these 

 two epochs of human evolution in the life of the 

 modern West. 



There is not one of us in the dark, efficient, and 

 terrible West who does not feel deep in him the 

 stir of this soul of the past as he watches Nietzsche's 

 tragic spirit go forth in modern literature casting 

 dust to heaven as he curses the advancing armies 

 of progress. There is no foolish and futile effort 

 in Nietzsche as there is in Haeckel to identify his 

 doctrines with the ethic of Christianity, " I impeach 

 the greatest blasphemy in time the religion which 

 has enchained and softened us." These are 

 Nietzsche's words. And again : " What have we 

 to do with the herd morality which expresses itself 

 in modern democracy ? ... It is good for cows, 

 women, and Englishmen." He turns, therefore, to 

 voice his soul in the doctrine of the superman 

 the animal efficient in the struggle for his own 

 interests : "A new table I set over you, oh my 

 brethren. Become hard ; " l " For the best things 

 belong to us, the best food, the purest sky, the 

 fairest women, the strongest thoughts. And if 

 men do not give us these things, we take them." * 

 Thus do we see the ethic of popular Darwinism 

 passing towards its embodiment in the politics of 



1 The Twilight of the Idols. Zarathustra. 



