The constitution of the polis is a Phoenician invention, even this has been imitated by the Hellenes.  For a long time they dabbled in everything, like joyful dilettanti.  Aphrodite is likewise Phoenician.  Neither do they disavow what has come to them through immigration and does not originally belong to their own country.

118

The happy and comfortable constitution of the politico-social position must not be sought among the Greeks . that is a goal which dazzles the eyes of our dreamers of the future!  It was, on the contrary, dreadful; for this is a matter that must be judged according to the following standard:  the more spirit, the more suffering (as the Greeks themselves prove).  Whence it follows, the more stupidity, the more comfort.  The philistine of culture is the most comfortable creature the sun has ever shone upon:  and he is doubtless also in possession of the corresponding stupidity.

119

The Greek polis and the [Greek:  aien aristeyein] grew up out of mutual enmity.  Hellenic and philanthropic are contrary adjectives, although the ancients flattered themselves sufficiently.

Homer is, in the world of the Hellenic discord, the pan-Hellenic Greek.  The [Greek:  “agon”] of the Greeks is also manifested in the Symposium in the shape of witty conversation.

120

Wanton, mutual annihilation inevitable:  so long as a single polis wished to exist—­its envy for everything superior to itself, its cupidity, the disorder of its customs, the enslavement of the women, lack of conscience in the keeping of oaths, in murder, and in cases of violent death.

Tremendous power of self-control:  for example in a man like Socrates, who was capable of everything evil.

121

Its noble sense of order and systematic arrangement had rendered the Athenian state immortal—­The ten strategists in Athens!  Foolish!  Too big a sacrifice on the altar of jealousy.

122

The recreations of the Spartans consisted of feasting, hunting, and making war . their every-day life was too hard.  On the whole, however, their state is merely a caricature of the polls, a corruption of Hellas.  The breeding of the complete Spartan—­but what was there great about him that his breeding should have required such a brutal state!

123

The political defeat of Greece is the greatest failure of culture; for it has given rise to the atrocious theory that culture cannot be pursued unless one is at the same time armed to the teeth.  The rise of Christianity was the second greatest failure:  brute force on the one hand, and a dull intellect on the other, won a complete victory over the aristocratic genius among the nations.  To be a Philhellenist now means to be a foe of brute force and stupid intellects.  Sparta was the ruin of Athens in so far as she compelled Athens to turn her entire attention to politics and to act as a federal combination.