REDAKSIONEEL / EDITORIAL

Abstract

In the Binh of tragedy, Section 15, Nietzsche gives a remarkable description of the attitude of other nations towards the ancient Greeks: "Nearly every age and stage of culture has at some time or other sought with profound irritation to free itself from the Greeks, because in their presence everything one has achieved, though apparently quite original and sincerely admired, suddenly seemed to lose life and color and shriveled into a poor copy, even a caricature. And so time after time cordial anger erupts against this presumptious little people that made bold for all time to designate everything not native as 'barbaric'. Who are they, one asks, who, though they display only an ephemeral historical splendor, ridiculously restricted institutions, a dubious excellence in their mores, and are marked by ugly vices, yet lay claim to that dignity and pre-eminence among peoples which characterize genius among the masses? Unfortunately one was not lucky enough to find the cup of hemlock with which one could simply dispose of such a character; for all the poison that envy, calumny and rancor. created did not suffice to destroy that self-sufficient splendor" (translation by W. Kaufmann).