Eight! And deeper than woe—delight.
Nine! Saith woe: Pass, go!
Ten! Eternity's sought by all delight—Eleven! Eternity deep by all delight.[8]
Twelve!
. . . . . . . . . . . .
Then Zarathustra rises: he has recovered his security, his sweetness, and his strength. He takes up his staff and sings as he goes down towards men. A similar versicle completes the seven strophes of his hymn:
"Never yet have I found the woman by whom I would like to have children, if it be not the woman whom I love: for I love thee, oh Eternity!
"For I love thee, oh Eternity!"
At the opening of the poem Zarathustra entered the great town—the Multi-coloured Cow he names it—and began his apostolate. At the end of the third part Zarathustra descends to the great town to recommence his apostolate there. Friedrich Nietzsche, a vanquished warrior, after two years of labour, has quailed. In 1872 he sent to Fräulein von Meysenbug the interrupted series of his lectures on the future of Universities: "It gives one a terrible thirst," he said to her, "and, in the long run, nothing to drink." The same words apply to his poem.
[6] Albergo la Poata (information given by M Lanzky).