Key Arguments

• Zarathustra himself frames indifference to pity as his ultimate temptation: 'But what does humans’ need matter to me! My ultimate sin, that has been saved for me– perhaps you know what it is called?'
• The soothsayer explicitly declares his purpose: 'O Zarathustra, I come that I might seduce you to your ultimate sin!'
• The structure reprises the prior critique of pity: the 'cry of need' aims to break Zarathustra’s resistance and drag him into compassion that he has condemned.

Source Quotes

But what does humans’ need matter to me! My ultimate sin, that has been saved for me– perhaps you know what it is called?’ – ‘ !’ answered the soothsayer from an overflowing heart, and raised both hands aloft.– ‘O Zarathustra, I come that I might seduce you to your ultimate sin!’– And no sooner had these words been spoken than the cry resounded again, longer and more anxious than before, and also much nearer. ‘Do you hear?

Key Concepts

• My ultimate sin, that has been saved for me– perhaps you know what it is called?
• ‘O Zarathustra, I come that I might seduce you to your ultimate sin!’

Context

Immediately after hearing the abyssal cry, the soothsayer names his mission; this continues the earlier section 'On Those Who Pity,' aligning 'ultimate sin' with succumbing to pity.

Perspectives

Nietzsche

Consistent with his polemic against pity (Mitleid) as life-depressing; the 'ultimate sin' for the higher type would be capitulation to reactive compassion that undermines creation.

Zarathustra

Resists being seduced; he guards himself against pity’s pull, treating it as a sin against his task and height.