ECCE HOMO

(NIETZSCHES AUTOBIOGRAPHY)

BY

FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE

TRANSLATED BY

ANTHONY M. LUDOVICI

POETRY RENDERED BY

PAUL V. COHN — FRANCIS BICKLEY

HERMAN SCHEFFAUER — DR. G. T. WRENCH

HYMN TO LIFE (composed by F. NIETZSCHE)

The Complete Works of Friedrich Nietzsche

The First Complete and Authorised English Translation

Edited by Dr Oscar Levy

Volume Seventeen

T.N. FOULIS

13 & 15 FREDERICK STREET

EDINBURGH: AND LONDON

1911

CONTENTS

TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION
PREFACE
WHY I AM SO WISE
WHY I AM SO CLEVER
WHY I WRITE SUCH EXCELLENT BOOKS
THE BIRTH Of TRAGEDY
THOUGHTS OUT OF SEASON
"HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN
THE DAWN OF DAY
JOYFUL WISDOM: LA GAYA SCIENZA
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA
BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL
THE GENEALOGY OF MORALS
THE TWILIGHT OF THE IDOLS
THE CASE OF WAGNER
WHY I AM A FATALITY
EDITORIAL NOTE TO POETRY
POETRY—
SONGS, EPIGRAMS, ETC.
DIONYSUS-DITHYRAMBS
FRAGMENTS OF DIONYSUS-DITHYRAMBS
HYMN TO LIFE, COMPOSED BY F. NIETZSCHE

[Pg vii]

TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION

Ecce Homo is the last prose work that Nietzsche wrote. It is truethat the pamphlet Nietzsche contra Wagner was prepared a monthlater than the Autobiography; but we cannot consider this pamphlet asanything more than a compilation, seeing that it consists entirely ofaphorisms drawn from such previous works as Joyful Wisdom, BeyondGood and Evil, The Genealogy of Morals, etc. Coming at the end of ayear in which he had produced the Case of Wagner, The Twilight of theIdols, and The Antichrist, Ecce Homo is not only a coping-stoneworthy of the wonderful creations of that year, but also a fittingconclusion to his whole life, in the form of a grand summing up of hischaracter as a man, his purpose as a reformer, and his achievementas a thinker. As if half conscious of his approaching spiritual end,Nietzsche here bids his friends farewell, just in the manner in which,in the Twilight of the