Luna's Spoliarium with its bloody carcasses of slave gladiators being dragged away

from the arena where they had entertained their Roman oppressors with their
lives...stripped to satisfy the lewd contempt of their Roman persecutors with their
honor. Embodied the essense [sic] of our social, moral and political life: humanity in severe ordeal,
humanity unredeemed, reason and idealism in open struggle with prejudice, fanaticism.

Masterslave morality is a central theme of Friedrich Nietzsche's works, in particular the first essay
of On the Genealogy of Morality. Nietzsche argued that there were two fundamental types
of morality: 'Master morality' and 'slave morality'. Slave morality values things like kindness, humility
and sympathy, while master morality values pride, strength, and nobility. Master morality weighs
actions on a scale of good or bad consequences unlike slave morality which weighs actions on a
scale of good or evil intentions. For Nietzsche, a particular morality is inseparable from the formation
of a particular culture. This means that its language, codes and practices, narratives, and institutions
are informed by the struggle between these two types of moral valuation.
This struggle between master and slave moralities recurs historically. According to Nietzsche,
ancient Greek and Roman societies were grounded in master morality. TheHomeric hero is the
strong-willed man, and the classical roots of the Iliad and Odyssey exemplified Nietzsche's master
morality. He calls the heroes "men of a noble culture", [8]giving a substantive example of master
morality. Historically, master morality was defeated as the slave morality of Christianity spread
throughout the Roman Empire.
The essential struggle between cultures has always been between the Roman (master, strong) and
the Judean (slave, weak). Nietzsche condemns the triumph of slave morality in the West, saying that
the democratic movement is the "collective degeneration of man".[9] He claimed that the nascent
democratic movement of his time was essentially slavish and weak.[citation needed] Weakness conquered
strength, slave conquered master, re-sentiment conquered sentiment. This resentment Nietzsche
calls "priestly vindictiveness", which is the jealousy of the weak seeking to enslave the strong with
itself. Such movements were, to Nietzsche, inspired by "the most intelligent revenge" of the weak.
Nietzsche saw democracy and Christianity as the same emasculating impulse which sought to make
all equalto make all slaves.
Nietzsche, however, did not believe that humans should adopt master morality as the be-all-end-all
code of behavior he believed that the revaluation of morals would correct the inconsistencies in
both master and slave morality but simply that master morality was preferable to slave morality,
although this is debatable. Walter Kaufmann disagrees that Nietzsche actually preferred master
morality to slave morality. He certainly gives slave morality a much harder time, but this is partly
because he believes that slave morality is modern society's more imminent danger.