The Dawn of Day · Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
29.
ACTORS OF VIRTUE AND SIN.—Among the ancients who became celebrated for their virtue there were many, it would seem, _who acted to themselves_, especially the Greeks, who, being actors by nature, must have acted quite unconsciously, seeing no reason why they should not do so. In addition, every one was striving to outdo some one else’s virtue with his own, so why should they not have made use of every artifice to show off their virtues, especially among themselves, if only for the sake of practice! Of what use was a virtue which one could not display, and which did not know how to display itself!—Christianity put an end to the career of these actors of virtue; instead it devised the disgusting ostentation and parading of sins: it brought into the world a state of _mendacious sinfulness_ (even at the present day this is considered as _bon ton_ among orthodox Christians).
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.