right hand, their most apt
disciples.--In all this, I repeat, there is nothing arbitrary, nothing
"made up"; whatever is to the _contrary_ is made up--by it nature is
brought to shame.... The order of castes, the _order of rank_, simply
formulates the supreme law of life itself; the separation of the three
types is necessary to the maintenance of society, and to the evolution
of higher types, and the highest types--the _inequality_ of rights is
essential to the existence of any rights at all.--A right is a
privilege. Every one enjoys the privileges that accord with his state of
existence. Let us not underestimate the privileges of the _mediocre_.
Life is always harder as one mounts the _heights_--the cold increases,
responsibility increases. A high civilization is a pyramid: it can stand
only on a broad base; its primary prerequisite is a strong and soundly
consolidated mediocrity. The handicrafts, commerce, agriculture,
_science_, the greater part of art, in brief, the whole range of
_occupational_ activities, are compatible only with mediocre ability and
aspiration; such callings would be out of place for exceptional men; the
instincts which belong to them stand as much opposed to aristocracy as
to anarchism. The fact that a man is publicly useful, that he is a
wheel, a function, is evidence of a natural predisposition; it is not
_society_, but the only sort of happiness that the majority are capable
of, that makes them intelligent machines. To the mediocre mediocrity is
a form of happiness; they have a natural instinct for mastering one
thing, for specialization. It would be altogether unworthy of a profound
intellect to see anything objectionable in mediocrity in itself. It is,
in fact, the _first_ prerequisite to the appearance of the exceptional:
it is a necessary condition to a high degree of civilization. When the
exceptional man handles the mediocre man with more delicate fingers than
he applies to himself or to his equals, this is not merely kindness of
heart--it is simply his _duty_.... Whom do I hate most heartily among
the rabbles of today? The rabble of Socialists, the apostles to the
Chandala, who undermine the workingman's instincts, his pleasure, his
feeling of contentment with his petty existence--who make him envious
and teach him revenge.... Wrong never lies in unequal rights; it lies in
the assertion of "equal" rights.... What is _bad_? But I have already
answered: all that proceeds from weakness, fro