"...in the presence of this perpetual influx of beauty [of the ancient Greeks] would he not have to raise his hand to Apollo and exclaim: 'Blessed race of the Hellens! How great Dionysus must be among you, when the Delian god deems such charms necessary to cure you of your dithyrambic madness!' To such a one, however, an aged Athenian...might answer, 'Say also this, thou curious stranger: what must this people have suffered, that they might become thus beautiful!'" (pg. 92).
I'm not going to claim to have fully understood Nietzsche's Birth of Tragedy, certainly not on the first reading. But I will speak from personal experience, especially from grading student reflective essays, that some of the most charming, cheerfuly, passionate, and good-natured people I've ever met, have been survivors of excruciating tragedies.
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