ach holds to be his is by no means his permanent duty. The
paramount duty of all is to throw our conception of duty into clearest
possible light. The word duty itself will often contain far more error
and moral indifference than virtue. Clytemnestra devoted her life to
revenge--she murdered her husband for that he had slain Iphigenia;
Orestes sacrificed his life in avenging Agamemnon's death on
Clytemnestra. And yet it has only needed a sage to pass by, saying,
"pardon your enemies," for all duties of vengeance to be banished for
ever from the conscience of man. And so may it one day suffice that
another sage shall pass by for many a duty of sacrifice too to be
exiled. But in the meanwhile there are certain ideas that prevail on
renouncement, resignation, and sacrifice, that are far more destructive
to the most beautiful moral forces of man than great vices, or even
than crimes.

65. There are some occasions in life, inevitable and of general
bearing, that demand resignation, which is necessary then, and good;
but there are many occasions when we still are able to fight; and at
such times resignation is no more than veiled helplessness, idleness,
ignorance. So is it with sacrifice too, which indeed is most often the
withered arm resignation still shakes in the void. There is beauty in
simple self-sacrifice when its hour has come unsought, when its motive
is happiness of others; but it cannot be wise, or of use to mankind, to
make sacrifice the aim of one's life, or to regard its achievement as
the magnificent triumph of the spirit over the body. (And here let us
add that infinitely too great importance is generally ascribed to the
triumph of spirit over body, these pretended triumphs being most often
the total defeat of life.) Sacrifice may be a flower that virtue will
pluck on its road, but it was not to gather this flower that virtue set
forth on its travels. It is a grave, error to think that the beauty of
soul is most clearly revealed by the eager desire for sacrifice; for
the soul's fertile beauty resides in its consciousness, in the
elevation and power of its life. There are some, it is true, that awake
from their sleep at the call of sacrifice only; but these lack the
strength and the courage to seek other forms of moral existence. It is,
as a rule, far easier to sacrifice self--to give up, that is, our moral
existence to the first one who chooses to take it--than to fulfil our
spiritual destiny, to accomplish, r