it is a state of continual warfare. Every
person in it has to fight, and the battle is not less cruel now because it
is not fought with swords. Indeed, I should think that the time when every
man carried his sword in society was a time when men were quite as kindly
and much more honest than they are now. The object of this little lecture
was to show you that the principles of the ancient Norse are really the
principles ruling English society to-day; but I think you will be able to
take from it a still larger meaning. It is that not only one form of
society, but all forms of society, represent the warfare of man and man.
That is why thinkers, poets, philosophers, in all ages, have tried to find
solitude, to keep out of the contest, to devote themselves only to study
of the beautiful and the true. But the prizes of life are not to be
obtained in solitude, although the prizes of thought can only there be
won. After all, whatever we may think about the cruelty and treachery of
the social world, it does great things in the end. It quickens judgment,
deepens intelligence, enforces the acquisition of self-control, creates
forms of mental and moral strength that can not fail to be sometimes of
vast importance to mankind. But if you should ask me whether it increases
human happiness, I should certainly say "no." The "Havamal" said the same
thing,--the truly wise man can not be happy.

CHAPTER VIII

BEYOND MAN

It seems to me a lecturer's duty to speak to you about any remarkable
thought at this moment engaging the attention of Western philosophers and
men of science,--partly because any such new ideas are certain, sooner or
later, to be reflected in literature, and partly because without a
knowledge of them you might form incorrect ideas in relation to utterances
of any important philosophic character. I am not going to discourse about
Nietzsche, though the title of this lecture is taken from one of his
books; the ideas about which I am going to tell you, you will not find in
his books. It is most extraordinary, to my thinking, that these ideas
never occurred to him, for he was an eminent man of science before writing
his probably insane books. I have not the slightest sympathy with most of
his ideas; they seem to me misinterpretations of evolutional teachings;
and if not misinterpretations, they are simply undeveloped and
ill-balanced thinking. But the title of one of his books, and the idea
which he tries always uns