European Elegy

Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay.
['Locksley Hall', Lord Tennyson 1842]


Nietzsche entitles section 362 of 'The Joyful Wisdom';
" OUR FAITH THAT EUROPE WILL BECOME MORE VIRILE".

In this section Nietzsche talks of Napoleon who " wanted One Unified Europe as MISTRESS OF THE EARTH ".

The great Unifiers of Europe;
The Roman Empire which united southern and western Europe.
Charlemagne, crowned Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in 800 A.D.
Napoleon, Emperor 1804.
Hitler, Axis formed 1937.

But today's post-Hitler 'EU' is a soulless affair;
"The age of chivalry is gone - that of sophisters, economists, and calculators, has succeeded; and the glory of Europe is extinguished forever".
[E.Burke]

This was also felt by the Nietzschean writer DH Lawrence, and expressed by him in stronger language;
"One realises with horror, that the race of men is almost extinct in Europe. Only the Christ-like heroes and woman-worshipping Don Juans, and rabid equality-mongrels remain".
And;
"We have all lost the war. All Europe".
['The ladybird', DH Lawrence]

But the Flame still burns, and will once again burn like a Beacon.