Nietzsche returned to Basel from his war service at the end of October, 1870, in time to begin teaching for the winter term. He was suffering, as we saw, not only from the after-effects of dysentery but also from post-traumatic stress. To the former he attributed continuing digestive problems and stomach aches; to the latter we can probably attribute the insomnia, exhaustion, and depression which afflicted him for the next six months. On top of everything else, he was suffering from haemorrhoids. The resumption of lecturing convinced him that the tension between profession and calling, philology and philosophy, was only making his health worse. This moved him to write to Rohde that he planned soon to exit the university completely in order to create a ‘new Greek academy’ allied to the Bayreuth cause. By the end of the year, however, he had another idea: he would apply for the recently vacated chair of philosophy, with Rohde taking over his old position in philology.

By February 1871 Nietzsche's health was so bad he was forced to take sick leave and retreat, with Elizabeth in attendance, to the Hotel du Parc in Lugarno for six weeks' recuperation. On returning to Basel he found that his application for the philosophy chair had been rejected. He claimed to have been victimised on account of his Schopenhauerian allegiances but the rejection was, in fact, fully justified, since he lacked not only training in philosophical method but also – a gap he never filled – a basic knowledge of the history of the subject.