“We set our chair in the midst ”⁠—so saith their smirking unto me⁠—“and as far from dying gladiators as from satisfied swine.”

That, however, is⁠— mediocrity , though it be called moderation.⁠—

I pass through this people and let fall many words: but they know neither how to take nor how to retain them.

They wonder why I came not to revile venery and vice; and verily, I came not to warn against pickpockets either!

They wonder why I am not ready to abet and whet their wisdom: as if they had not yet enough of wiseacres, whose voices grate on mine ear like slate-pencils!

And when I call out: “Curse all the cowardly devils in you, that would fain whimper and fold the hands and adore”⁠—then do they shout: “Zarathustra is godless.”