The Tarantulas

Lo, this is the tarantula’s den! Wouldst thou see the tarantula itself? Here hangeth its web: touch this, so that it may tremble.

Look, this is the tarantula’s den! Do you want to see the tarantula itself? Here is its web. Touch it so that it trembles.

There cometh the tarantula willingly: Welcome, tarantula! Black on thy back is thy triangle and symbol; and I know also what is in thy soul.

Here comes the tarantula willingly. Welcome, tarantula! Your triangle and symbol are black on your back, and I also know what is in your soul.

Revenge is in thy soul: wherever thou bitest, there ariseth black scab; with revenge, thy poison maketh the soul giddy!

Revenge is in your soul. Wherever you bite, a black scab forms. With revenge, your poison makes the soul dizzy!

Thus do I speak unto you in parable, ye who make the soul giddy, ye preachers of EQUALITY! Tarantulas are ye unto me, and secretly revengeful ones!

I speak to you in a parable, you who make the soul dizzy, you preachers of EQUALITY! To me, you are tarantulas, secretly seeking revenge!

But I will soon bring your hiding-places to the light: therefore do I laugh in your face my laughter of the height.

But I will soon bring your hiding places into the light. So I laugh in your face with the laughter of the heights.

Therefore do I tear at your web, that your rage may lure you out of your den of lies, and that your revenge may leap forth from behind your word “justice.”

So I tear at your web, so that your rage may lure you out of your den of lies. And so that your revenge may leap out from behind your word “justice.”

Because, FOR MAN TO BE REDEEMED FROM REVENGE—that is for me the bridge to the highest hope, and a rainbow after long storms.

Because, for me, HUMANITY’S FREEDOM FROM REVENGE is the bridge to the highest hope, a rainbow after long storms.

Otherwise, however, would the tarantulas have it. “Let it be very justice for the world to become full of the storms of our vengeance”—thus do they talk to one another.

But the tarantulas want it otherwise. “It would be true justice for the world to be filled with the storms of our vengeance,” they say to one another.

“Vengeance will we use, and insult, against all who are not like us”—thus do the tarantula-hearts pledge themselves.

“We will take revenge on and insult all who are not like us.” This is the pledge of the tarantula-hearts.

“And ‘Will to Equality’—that itself shall henceforth be the name of virtue; and against all that hath power will we raise an outcry!”

“And from now on, ‘Will to Equality’ shall be the name of virtue. And we will speak out against all that has power!”

Ye preachers of equality, the tyrant-frenzy of impotence crieth thus in you for “equality”: your most secret tyrant-longings disguise themselves thus in virtue-words!

You preachers of equality, your powerlessness drives you into a tyrant’s frenzy, crying out for “equality.” Your most secret desires to rule as tyrants disguise themselves as words of virtue!

Fretted conceit and suppressed envy—perhaps your fathers’ conceit and envy: in you break they forth as flame and frenzy of vengeance.

Frustrated pride and suppressed envy, perhaps your fathers’ pride and envy, burst forth in you as flames and a frenzy of revenge.

What the father hath hid cometh out in the son; and oft have I found in the son the father’s revealed secret.

What the father has hidden comes to light in the son. And I have often found the father's secret revealed in the son.

Inspired ones they resemble: but it is not the heart that inspireth them—but vengeance. And when they become subtle and cold, it is not spirit, but envy, that maketh them so.

They seem inspired, but vengeance inspires them, not the heart. And when they become subtle and cold, envy makes them so, not spirit.

Their jealousy leadeth them also into thinkers’ paths; and this is the sign of their jealousy—they always go too far: so that their fatigue hath at last to go to sleep on the snow.

Their jealousy also leads them down the paths of thinkers. The sign of their jealousy is that they always go too far. So, worn out, they finally have to sleep in the snow.

In all their lamentations soundeth vengeance, in all their eulogies is maleficence; and being judge seemeth to them bliss.

Vengeance sounds in all their complaints. There is malice in all their praise. And being a judge seems like bliss to them.

But thus do I counsel you, my friends: distrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful!

But this is my advice to you, my friends: distrust everyone with a strong urge to punish!

They are people of bad race and lineage; out of their countenances peer the hangman and the sleuth-hound.

They are people of bad race and ancestry. Their faces reveal the hangman and the tracking dog.

Distrust all those who talk much of their justice! Verily, in their souls not only honey is lacking.

Distrust all those who talk a lot about their own justice! Truly, their souls lack more than honey.

And when they call themselves “the good and just,” forget not, that for them to be Pharisees, nothing is lacking but—power!

And when they call themselves “the good and just,” remember that all they lack to be Pharisees is power!

My friends, I will not be mixed up and confounded with others.

My friends, I will not be confused with others.

There are those who preach my doctrine of life, and are at the same time preachers of equality, and tarantulas.

Some people preach my teaching about life. At the same time, they preach equality and are tarantulas.

That they speak in favour of life, though they sit in their den, these poison-spiders, and withdrawn from life—is because they would thereby do injury.

These poison-spiders speak in favor of life, though they sit in their den, withdrawn from life. They speak this way because they want to cause harm.

To those would they thereby do injury who have power at present: for with those the preaching of death is still most at home.

By doing so, they would harm those who now hold power. For the preaching of death is still most at home among those in power.

Were it otherwise, then would the tarantulas teach otherwise: and they themselves were formerly the best world-maligners and heretic-burners.

If it were otherwise, the tarantulas would teach differently. They themselves were once the fiercest condemners of the world and burners of heretics.

With these preachers of equality will I not be mixed up and confounded. For thus speaketh justice UNTO ME: “Men are not equal.”

I will not be confused with these preachers of equality. For justice says TO ME: “Men are not equal.”

And neither shall they become so! What would be my love to the Superman, if I spake otherwise?

And they will not become so! What would my love for the Superman mean if I said otherwise?

On a thousand bridges and piers shall they throng to the future, and always shall there be more war and inequality among them: thus doth my great love make me speak!

They will crowd toward the future across a thousand bridges and piers. And there will always be more war and inequality among them. This is how my great love makes me speak!

Inventors of figures and phantoms shall they be in their hostilities; and with those figures and phantoms shall they yet fight with each other the supreme fight!

In their conflicts, they shall invent figures and phantoms. And with these figures and phantoms, they shall yet fight the ultimate battle against each other!

Good and evil, and rich and poor, and high and low, and all names of values: weapons shall they be, and sounding signs, that life must again and again surpass itself!

Good and evil, rich and poor, high and low, and all names for values shall be weapons. They shall be ringing signs that life must surpass itself again and again!

Aloft will it build itself with columns and stairs—life itself: into remote distances would it gaze, and out towards blissful beauties— THEREFORE doth it require elevation!

Life itself will build upward with columns and stairs. It wants to gaze into the distance and out toward blissful beauty. THAT IS WHY it needs to rise high!

And because it requireth elevation, therefore doth it require steps, and variance of steps and climbers! To rise striveth life, and in rising to surpass itself.

And because it needs to rise, it needs steps, and different kinds of steps and climbers! Life strives to rise, and in rising, to surpass itself.

And just behold, my friends! Here where the tarantula’s den is, riseth aloft an ancient temple’s ruins—just behold it with enlightened eyes!

And look, my friends! Here, where the tarantula’s den is, the ruins of an ancient temple rise up. Look at them with enlightened eyes!

Verily, he who here towered aloft his thoughts in stone, knew as well as the wisest ones about the secret of life!

Surely, the man who raised his thoughts high in stone here knew the secret of life as well as the wisest people!

That there is struggle and inequality even in beauty, and war for power and supremacy: that doth he here teach us in the plainest parable.

Even in beauty, there is struggle and inequality, and a war for power and supremacy. He teaches us this here through the plainest parable.

How divinely do vault and arch here contrast in the struggle: how with light and shade they strive against each other, the divinely striving ones.—

How divinely the vault and arch contrast as they struggle here. How divinely they struggle against each other with light and shadow.

Thus, steadfast and beautiful, let us also be enemies, my friends! Divinely will we strive AGAINST one another!—

So let us be steadfast and beautiful even as enemies, my friends! Let us struggle AGAINST one another like gods!

Alas! There hath the tarantula bit me myself, mine old enemy! Divinely steadfast and beautiful, it hath bit me on the finger!

Oh no! The tarantula has bitten me, my old enemy! Divinely steadfast and beautiful, it has bitten me on the finger!

“Punishment must there be, and justice”—so thinketh it: “not gratuitously shall he here sing songs in honour of enmity!”

“There must be punishment and justice,” it thinks. “He will not sing songs in praise of enmity here without paying for it!”

Yea, it hath revenged itself! And alas! now will it make my soul also dizzy with revenge!

Yes, it has taken its revenge! And sadly, now it will make my soul dizzy with revenge too!

That I may NOT turn dizzy, however, bind me fast, my friends, to this pillar! Rather will I be a pillar-saint than a whirl of vengeance!

But to keep me from getting dizzy, my friends, tie me tightly to this pillar! I would rather be a pillar-saint than a whirlwind of revenge!

Verily, no cyclone or whirlwind is Zarathustra: and if he be a dancer, he is not at all a tarantula-dancer!—

Truly, Zarathustra is no cyclone or whirlwind. And if he is a dancer, he is certainly not a tarantula-dancer!

Thus spake Zarathustra.

This is what Zarathustra said.