Herbst 1884 28 [1-67]
28 [52]
Der “ächte Deutsche.”
“Ô peuple des meilleurs Tartuffes,
Ich bleibe dir treu, gewiß!”
— Sprach’s, und mit dem schnellsten Schiffe
Fuhr er nach Cosmopolis.
[Earlier titles for this poem were: "Der Barde spricht" and "Yorick unter Deutschen" ("The Bard Speaks" and "Yorick Among Germans"). Nietzsche's inspiration was the French writer Stendhal. His source was probably Stendhal, or perhaps Paul Bourget. See Stendhal, Promenades dans Rome. Vol. 2. Paris: Lévy, 1853, 233: "Vengo adesso di Cosmopoli. /
(Vous voyez en moi un véritable cosmopolite.)" (You see in me a true cosmopolitan.) Stendhal used this loose quotation of a line from an opéra bouffe, and adopted it as his motto. Also in Stendhal, Rome, Naples et Florence. Paris: Lévy, 1854, 67: "vengo adesso di cosmopoli." Cf. Paul Bourget, "Psychologie Contemporaine. Notes et Portraits: Stendhal (Henri Beyle). [III. Le Cosmopolitisme de Beyle.]" In: La Nouvelle Revue. Tome dix-septiéme. Juillet-Août. Paris: 1882, 890-925 (911). The first line of the poem, "Ô peuple des meilleurs Tartuffes" (O people with the best Tartuffes), alludes to the hypocritical priest who is the eponymous hero of Molière's 1664 comedy. For the poem in English, see Nietzsche: Poems / Gedichte, The "True German."]