up on high, as new and stronger geniii of that very enlightenment against which they had been raised. This enlightenment we now have to carry onward,— minding that there has been, nay, that there is still, a great revolution and again a great "reaction” against it: these are but playful waves compared to the truly great surge on which we drift and want to drift.
198
How to lend prestige to one's country.—A wealth of great inward experiences and reposeful calm watching over them with an intellectual eye, constitute the men of culture, who lend prestige to their country. In France and Italy this was the task of the nobility; in Germany, where until lately the nobility was generally composed of men who were poor in intellect (which we hope they may soon cease to be), it was the task of the priests, the teachers, and their descendants.
199
We are of nobler minds.—Faithfulness, generosity, great care of one's fair fame—these three qualities, when combined in one mind, we call noble, distinguished, highminded, and in this we excel the Greeks. We do not want to create the semblance, as though the ancient objects of these virtues (and rightly so) were lowered in estimation, but cautiously to substitute new objects for this precious hereditary craving. In order to understand
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