Friday, October 27:
Talked about Barbarossa and Arnold of Brescia, the great sin of the former in delivering him up, an act avenged on his whole family line: Der Ring des Nibelungen, Wotan’s sin. I tell R. that I cannot understand why our modern writers do not treat these subjects, which so closely affect us, instead of going in search of Nero and God knows what else.
Nice day, bathing with the children. In the afternoon I took a little walk with R. and the children, then sat for a long time with R. on our terrace and looked at the sea. After that a visit from Malwida, Dr. Ree, and our friend Nietzsche, the latter very run down and much concerned with his health. They are staying in Sorrento.
In the evening R. reads me the fine, detailed letter which he has written to Herr Monod in reply to his enthusiastic missive; in it he discusses his attitude toward the French. Moonlight over the olive garden, thought of Christ: “If it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt” — the epitome of all suffering and all salvation; how often does the soul beseech that the cup may pass, how hard to submit, and how seldom does it succeed in doing so! But when it does succeed, how the wings spread, how the soul is borne up to the purest heights, beyond the reach of everything! . . .