60.
Christianity destroyed for us the whole harvest of ancient
civilization, and later it also destroyed for us the whole harvest of Mohammedan
civilization. The wonderful culture of the Moors in Spain, which was
fundamentally nearer to us and appealed more to our senses and tastes than
that of Rome and Greece, was trampled down (—I do not say by what
sort of feet—) Why? Because it had to thank noble and manly instincts for
its origin—because it said yes to life, even to the rare and refined
luxuriousness of Moorish life! . . . The crusaders later made war on
something before which it would have been more fitting for them to have
grovelled in the dust—a civilization beside which even that of our
nineteenth century seems very poor and very “senile.”—What they
wanted, of course, was booty: the orient was rich. . . . Let us put aside
our prejudices! The crusades were a higher form of piracy, nothing more!
The German nobility, which is fundamentally a Viking nobility, was in its
element there: the church knew only too well how the German nobility was
to be won . . . The German noble, always the “Swiss guar.”
of the church, always in the service of every bad instinct of the church—but
well paid. . . Consider the fact that it is precisely the aid of
German swords and German blood and valour that has enabled the church to
carry through its war to the death upon everything noble on earth! At this
point a host of painful questions suggest themselves. The German nobility
stands outside the history of the higher civilization: the reason
is obvious. . . Christianity, alcohol—the two great means of
corruption. . . . Intrinsically there should be no more choice between
Islam and Christianity than there is between an Arab and a Jew. The
decision is already reached; nobody remains at liberty to choose here.
Either a man is a Chandala or he is not. . . . “War to the knife with
Rome! Peace and friendship with Islam!”. this was the feeling, this
was the act, of that great free spirit, that genius among German
emperors, Frederick II. What! must a German first be a genius, a free
spirit, before he can feel decently? I can't make out how a German
could ever feel Christian. . . .