to Schopenhauer is
incalculable. It was the _philosopher of decadence_ who allowed the
_artist of decadence_ to find himself.--

5.

_The artist of decadence._ That is the word. And here I begin to be
serious. I could not think of looking on approvingly while this _decadent_
spoils our health--and music into the bargain. Is Wagner a man at all? Is
he not rather a disease? Everything he touches he contaminates. _He has
made music sick._

A typical _decadent_ who thinks himself necessary with his corrupted
taste, who arrogates to himself a higher taste, who tries to establish his
depravity as a law, as progress, as a fulfilment.

And no one guards against it. His powers of seduction attain monstrous
proportions, holy incense hangs around him, the misunderstanding
concerning him is called the Gospel,--and he has certainly not converted
only the _poor in spirit_ to his cause!

I should like to open the window a little:--Air! More air!--

The fact that people in Germany deceive themselves concerning Wagner does
not surprise me. The reverse would surprise me. The Germans have modelled
a Wagner for themselves, whom they can honour: never yet have they been
psychologists; they are thankful that they misunderstand. But that people
should also deceive themselves concerning Wagner in Paris! Where people
are scarcely anything else than psychologists. And in Saint Petersburg!
Where things are divined, which even Paris has no idea of. How intimately
related must Wagner be to the entire decadence of Europe for her not to
have felt that he was decadent! He belongs to it, he is its protagonist,
its greatest name.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} We bring honour on ourselves by elevating him to the
clouds--For the mere fact that no one guards against him is in itself
already a sign of decadence. Instinct is weakened, what ought to be
eschewed now attracts. People actually kiss that which plunges them more
quickly into the abyss.--Is there any need for an example? One has only to
think of the regime which anaemic, or gouty, or diabetic people prescribe
for themselves. The definition of a vegetarian: a creature who has need of
a corroborating diet. To recognise what is harmful as harmful, to be able
to deny oneself what is harmful, is a sign of youth, of vitality. That
which is harmful lures the exhausted: cabbage lures the vegetarian.
Illness itself can be a stimulus to life but one must be healthy enough
for such a stimulus!--Wagner