哲学的慰藉The Consolation of Philosophy
作者：Boethius 阿兰．德波顿
　　《哲学的慰藉》针对六个不同的人生问题——与世不合、缺少钱财、受到挫折、被认为有缺陷、伤心、困难——德波顿分别向苏格拉底、伊壁鸠鲁、塞内加、蒙田、叔本华、尼采这六位哲学家取经，希望这些哲学家的个人体验与思想学说能在我们饱受痛苦时，舒缓我们的症状，甚至根治我们的问题。
　　本篇节选自资中筠先生的译本，文字隽永，既典雅又活泼，寓严肃于幽默。
哲学不只是慰藉（推荐序）、
第一章 对与世不合的慰藉1、
第二章 对缺少钱财的慰藉45、
第三章 对受挫折的慰藉79、
第四章 对缺陷的慰藉121、
第五章 对伤心的慰藉187、
第六章 困难中的慰藉225
哲学不只是慰藉 周国平
　　德波顿的《哲学的慰藉》一书选择西方哲学史上六位哲学家，从不同角度阐述了哲学对于人生的慰藉作用。人生中有种种不如意处，其中有一些是可改变的，有一些是不可改变的。对于那些不可改变的缺陷，哲学提供了一种视角，帮助我们坦然面对和接受。
　　在此意义上，可以说哲学是一种慰藉。但是，哲学不只是慰藉，更是智慧。二者 的区别也许在于，慰藉类似于心理治疗，重在调整我们的心态，智慧调整的却是我们看世界和人生的总体眼光。因此，如果把哲学的作用归结为慰藉，就有可能缩小甚至歪曲哲学的内涵。
　　全书中，我读得最有兴味的是写塞内加的一章。部分的原因可能是，这一章比较切题，斯多噶派哲学家本身就重视哲学的慰藉作用，塞内加自己就有以《慰藉》为题的著作。作为罗马宫廷的重臣，此人以弄权和奢华著称，颇招时人及后世訾议。不过，他到底是一个智者，身在大富大贵之中，仍能清醒地视富贵为身外之物，用他的话来说便是：“我从来没有信任过命运女神。我把她赐予我的一切——金钱，官位，权势——都搁置在一个地方，可以让她随时拿回去而不干扰我。我同它们之间保持很宽的距离，这样，她只是把它们取走，而不是从我身上强行剥走。”
　　不止于此，对于家庭、儿女、朋友乃至自己的身体都应作如是观。塞内加的看法是：人对有准备的、理解了的挫折承受力最强，反之受伤害最重。哲学的作用就在于，第一，使人认识到任何一种坏事都可能发生，从而随时作好准备；第二，帮助人理解已经发生的坏事，认识到它们未必那么坏。
　　坏事为什么未必那么坏呢？请不要在这里拽坏事变好事之类的通俗辩证法，塞内加的理由见于一句精辟之言：“何必为部分生活而哭泣？君不见全部人生都催人泪下。”叔本华有一个类似说法：倘若一个人着眼于整体而非一己的命运，他的行为就会更像是一个智者而非一个受难者了。
　　哲人之为哲人，就在于看到了整个人生的全景和限度，因而能够站在整体的高度与一切个别灾难拉开距离，达成和解。塞内加是说到做到的。他官场一度失意，被流放到荒凉的科西嘉，始终泰然自若。最后，暴君尼禄上台，命他自杀，同伴们一片哭声，他从容问道：“你们的哲学哪里去了？”
　　蒙田是我的老朋友了，现在从本书中重温他的一些言论，倍感亲切。作者引用了蒙田谈论性事的片断，评论道：“他把人们私下都经历过而极少听到的事勇敢地说出来……他的勇气基于他的信念：凡是能发生在人身上的事就没有不人道的”。说得好，有蒙田自己的话作证：“每一个人的形体都承载着全部人的状况。”然而，正因为此，这一章的标题“对缺陷的慰藉”就很不确切了。
　　再看蒙田的警句：“登上至高无上的御座，仍只能坐在屁股上。”“国王与哲学家皆拉屎，贵妇人亦然。”很显然，在蒙田眼里，性事、屁股、拉屎等等哪里是什么缺陷啊，恰好是最正常的人性现象，因此我们完全应该以最正常的心态去面对。
　　一个人对于人性有了足够的理解，他看人包括看自己的眼光就会变得既深刻又宽容，在这样的眼光下，一切隐私都可以还原成普遍的人性现象，一切个人经历都可以转化成心灵的财富。想起最近我的自传所引起的所谓自曝隐私的非议，我倒真觉得蒙田是一个慰藉，但不是对我的缺陷的慰藉，而是对我的智慧的慰藉。
　　在当今这个崇拜财富的时代，关于伊壁鸠鲁的一章也颇值得一读。这位古希腊哲学家把快乐视为人生最高价值，他的哲学因此被冠以享乐主义的名称，他本人则俨然成了一切酒色之徒的祖师爷，这真是天大的误会。其实，他的哲学的核心思想恰恰是主张，真正的快乐对于物质的依赖十分有限，无非是食、住、衣的基本条件。超出了一定限度，财富的增加便不再能带来快乐的增加了。奢侈对于快乐并无实质的贡献，往往还导致痛苦。
　　事实上，无论是伊壁鸠鲁，还是继承了他的基本思想的后世哲学家，比如英国功利主义者，全都主张快乐更多地依赖于精神而非物质。这个道理一点也不深奥，任何一个品尝过两种快乐的人都可以凭自身的体验予以证明，沉湎于物质快乐而不知精神快乐为何物的人也可以凭自己的空虚予以证明。
　　本书还有三章分别论述苏格拉底、叔本华、尼采，我觉得相比之下较差，就这些哲学家的精华而言，基本上是拣了芝麻丢了西瓜。部分的原因也许在于，这三人的哲学是更不能以慰藉论之的。尤其尼采，他的哲学的基本精神恰恰是反对形形色色的慰藉，直面人生的悲剧性质，以此证明人的高贵和伟大。作者从尼采著作中择取登山的意象，来解说“困难中的慰藉”，不但显得勉强，而且多少有些把尼采哲学平庸化了。
第一章 对与世不合的慰藉
我们不该那么在意群众如何谈论我们，应该在意的是专家在正义和非正义的事情上说些什么。——苏格拉底
苏格拉底在七十岁时遭遇了一场风暴。三名雅典人——诗人米利图斯、政治家阿尼图斯和演说家莱昂——认定他是一个怪诞的恶人。他们指责他不敬城邦之神，腐蚀了雅典的社会构成，唆使年轻人反对他们的父辈。他们认为应该让他永远沉默，甚至杀死他。
审判苏格拉底那天，陪审团有五百名公民。公诉人一开始就要他们把站在他们面前的这位哲学家当作一个不诚实的人。他上天入地刨根问底，他提出异端邪说，他善于用闪烁的辞藻让弱理战胜强理，他故意通过谈话腐蚀年轻人，对他们施加邪恶的影响。
苏格拉底对这些指控进行申辩。他解释说，他从未对天上或地下的事物提出过理论；他信奉神明，并非异端；他从未腐蚀过雅典的青年，只不过有些逍遥自在的富家子弟模仿了他的提问法，证明某些重要人物无知，使他们感到恼火。即使他误导了任何人，那也是无意的，他没有理由故意对同伴施加坏影响，因为他们有可能反过来伤害自己。如果他曾无意中误导了什么人，那么正确的程序应该是在私下纠正他，而不是公开审判。
他承认他的生活方式显得有点特别：
我对许多人关心的事弃置不顾——赚钱、经营房产、追求文职或军事的荣誉，或其他权力地位，或参加政治团体以及本城邦的政党。
但是，他从事哲学的动机是出于改善雅典人生活的朴素愿望：
我设法劝告你们每一个人少想一些实际利益，而多想一些精神和道德的福祉。
我将继续像平时一样说：“我的好朋友，你们是雅典人，属于因智慧和力量而著称于世的最伟大的城邦。可是你们岌岌于争名逐利，而不思考如何理解真理，如何改善自己的灵魂，不觉得惭愧吗？”假如有人争辩说自己不是那种人，还是关心真理和灵魂的，那么我不会放他走或离他而去，而要对他进行盘问，让他经过考验……我将要对所有我遇到的人这样做，不论老、少、本邦人或是外邦人。
现在轮到那五百名陪审员来决定了。他们经过简短的讨论后，二百二十人判定苏格拉底无罪，二百八十人认为有罪。哲学家苦笑说：“我没想到比分那么接近。”不过他没有丧失信心。没有犹豫，没有惊慌；他坚持对一种哲学方案的信仰，而他的听众刚刚以百分之五十六的多数宣判其为荒谬。
如果我们做不到这样的泰然自若，如果我们听了几句对我们的性格或业绩的严厉批评就忍不住掉眼泪，那可能是因为我们自信正确的能力主要是由他人的赞许构成的。我们对于不受世人喜爱很在意，不仅是出于实用的理由——例如生存或升迁，更重要的是世人的嘲弄似乎是一种信号，毫不含糊地表明我们已误入歧途。
苏格拉底自然也会承认我们有时可能是错的，我们的观点可以怀疑，但是他会提出一项至关重要的细节来改变我们对真理与孚众望之间的关系的认识：决不能简单地以遭到反对来证明我们的思想和生活方式的错误。
我们应该关心的不是反对我们的人数，而是他们反对的理由有多充分。所以我们的注意力应该由不负众望转向解释其所以然。社会上占很大比例的人认为我们是错的，听起来怪吓人的。但是在放弃我们的立场之前先要审视一下他们得出这一结论所用的方法。我们对他们的反对意见给予多少重视，应取决于他们论证方法是否健全。
摘录
苏格拉底的申辩以其非凡的镇静自若流传后世。法庭给他机会当众放弃他的哲学，但是他选择了所信仰的真理而不肯随俗，根据柏拉图的叙述，他意气昂然对法官说：
只要我一息尚存，官能健全，我决不会停止哲学实践，不会停止对你们进行劝导，不会停止向我遇到的每一个人阐明真理……所以，诸位先生，不论你们是否释放我，你们知道我是不会改变我的行为的，虽百死而不悔。
凡公认为显而易见和“当然”的，很少真是如此。认识到这一点，就可以教会我们想到世界比看起来更有可变性，因为传统的成见往往不是从无懈可击的推理中得出来的，而是从几世纪的混沌头脑中涌现出来的。现存的不一定就是合理的。
一种坏思想以权威的方式提出来，往往可以在一段时期内具备好思想的分量，尽管并没有证据说明它是如何产生的。而我们只注意结论，就会养成尊重错了人的习惯。所以苏格拉底敦促我们把注意力放在他们得出结论的逻辑上。即使我们逃避不了遭遇反对的后果，我们至少可以免去自以为非的那种软弱感。
批评的价值取决于批评者的思想程序，而不是人数的多少或是他们所在的阶层。
第二章 对缺少钱财的慰藉
当来自欲望的痛苦解除时，简朴的菜肴和奢华的盛宴提供同样的愉悦。——伊壁鸠鲁
有一位哲学家，在那通常厌恶享乐、以艰苦自律的同行中是个异类。他似乎理解这种对享乐的向往，并愿有所帮助。他写道：“如果我把口腹之乐、性爱之欢、悦耳之娱、见窈窕倩影而柔情荡漾，一概摈弃，那我将无法设想善为何物。”
伊壁鸠鲁于公元前341年生于靠近小亚细亚西岸、四季常青的萨摩斯岛。他很早就为哲学所吸引，十四岁长途跋涉，去听柏拉图学派的帕非勒和原子论哲学家瑙西芬①[①公元前四世纪希腊原子学派哲学家，一般认为他是伊壁鸠鲁第一位导师。]的讲课。但是他对他们讲的很多都不同意，于是在不到三十岁时决心把他的思想整理成自己的人生哲学。据说他写了三百部书，题材无所不包：《论情爱》、《论音乐》、《论公平交易》、《论人生》（共四卷），以及《论自然》（共三十七卷），不过在几世纪中由于一连串的灾难，几乎全部散失，结果他的哲学思想只能根据幸存的断篇残帙，加上后来的伊壁鸠鲁信徒的证言重新建立起来。
他的哲学最显著的与众不同之处就是强调感官的快乐：“快乐是幸福生活的起点和目标，”伊壁鸠鲁如是说。他只是肯定了许多人早已有的，而鲜为哲学所接受的想法。
快乐——伊壁鸠鲁开的需求清单
1．友谊
公元前306年，三十五岁的伊壁鸠鲁回到雅典，他安家的方式不同寻常。他在离雅典市中心几里处，在集市与庇拉尤斯港之间的美立特区找了一所大房子，同一帮朋友一起搬了进去。这所大宅子有足够的房间，朋友们都可以有自己的住房，还有共同就餐和集会、谈话的厅堂。
伊壁鸠鲁说：
凡智慧所能提供的、助人终身幸福的事物之中，友谊远超过一切。
伊壁鸠鲁的住宅就像一个大家庭，但毫无阴沉、闭塞之气，有的只是同情和温馨。
真正的朋友不以世俗的标准来衡量我们，他们看重的是我们的本质；就像理想的父母一样，他们对我们的爱不以我们的外表和社会地位为转移，所以我们身穿旧衣服、承认今年没赚多少钱，都不会于心不安。追求财富的欲望不一定单纯出自对奢侈生活的渴望，更重要的动机可能是希望得到别人的赞赏和善待。我们追求发财最大的目的可能就是要获得别人的尊重和关注，否则他们就会对我们视而不见。伊壁鸠鲁分析了我们内心的需要以后，指出：一小群真正的朋友可以给予我们的关爱与尊敬是财富不见得能提供的。
2．自由
伊壁鸠鲁及其同道还做出了第二项激进的创新。为了避免在自己不喜欢的人手下受喜怒无常的屈辱，他们辞去了雅典商业界的工作（我们必须从日常事务和政治的牢笼中解放出来），开始一种可称为公社的生活，以简朴换取独立。他们钱少了，但从此不再需要听从那令人厌恶的上级的指示。
生活简朴并不影响朋友们感到自己是有地位的人，因为他们同雅典世俗的价值观拉开距离，不以物质标准衡量自己。家徒四壁不必汗颜；黄金万两无可炫耀。在城邦的政治经济中心以外，与若干朋友离群索居，就钱财的角度而言，没有什么需要证明自己的。
3．思想
很少有比思想更好的医治焦虑的良药了。把我们的焦虑写下来，或者在谈话中说出来，其主要内容就显露出来了。了解其实质之后，我们即便不能消除那问题本身，也可以退而求其次，消除使问题严重化的那些特点：迷茫、错位、惊愕。
伊壁鸠鲁特别关切的是同他的朋友们一道分析他们由金钱、疾病、死亡和鬼神引起的焦虑。伊壁鸠鲁的理论是，如果能理性地思考生命有限的问题，就会意识到人一死，物我两忘，复归于无，“要到来时自然到来，为此而预先担忧是庸人自扰”。事先对永远不会经历的境界妄自惊扰是没有意义的。
对于真正懂得不活着就没有什么可怕的人来说，生命中就没有什么可怕的事了。
清醒的分析使人心神宁静；这样，伊壁鸠鲁的朋友们偶然窥见人生的艰难，也可以免受其扰，而在园外缺乏思考的扰攘尘世中，这种困扰会长期挥之不去。
当然财富总不至于使人愁苦。但是伊壁鸠鲁立论的关键在于，如果我们只有钱而没有朋友、自由和经过剖析的生活，我们决不可能真正快乐。而如果我们有了这些，只缺财富，我们决不会不快乐。
摘录
伊壁鸠鲁学说的核心就是：我们凭直觉回答“怎样才能快乐？”同凭直觉回答“怎样才能健康”一样糟糕。立即出现的答案往往是错的。我们灵魂对自身的病痛并不见得比我们的身体对病痛的陈述更清楚，我们凭直觉的诊断也不会比对身体的诊断更准确。钻洞疗法象征着我们理解自身有多困难，这一象征意义既适用于肉体也适用于精神。
以天然的人生目标来衡量，贫穷就是巨大的财富，而无限财富是巨大的贫穷。
第三章 对受挫折的慰藉—塞内加
我们无力改变事物的秩序，我们的灵魂必须将自己安适于自然的法则中，这是他们应该追随，服从的……你无法改善，最好是忍受。——塞内加
挫折的范围虽然很广——从脚趾头绊了一下到死亡都能算——而每一种挫折的核心却都有着同样的基本构成，那就是主观愿望与严酷的现实之间的冲突。这种冲突从我们还在襁褓中就开始了：发现自己够不着能满足欲望的东西，发现不能指望这个世界总能如己之愿。而对塞内加来说，我们能够达到的智慧，就是要学习如何避免用我们对挫折的反应来加剧这个世界的顽固性，这种反应包括盛怒、自怜、焦虑、怨恨、自以为是和偏执狂。
在他的著作中贯穿始终的一个思想就是：我们对有准备的、理解了的挫折承受力最强，而准备最少、不能预测的挫折对我们伤害最严重。哲学教给我们顺应全方位的现实，从而使我们纵使不能免遭挫折，也至少能免于因情绪激动而遭受挫折带来的全部毒害。
哲学的任务是教会我们在愿望碰到现实的顽固之壁时，以最软的方式着陆。
当然，如果我们对一切挫折逆来顺受的话，人类伟大的成就就不多了。所以，塞内加的智慧就在于正确地区分何处能够凭己意重塑现状，何处是不可改变的现实，必须泰然接受。
公元62年2月里，塞内加碰到了一桩不可更改的现实。尼禄不再听这位老导师的话，他躲避他，鼓励宫廷中对他的毁谤，而且任命了一名嗜血成性的行政长官帮他任着性子滥杀无辜和进行性虐待。塞内加意识到自己处于极端危险之中，就企图退出宫廷，住到罗马郊外的别墅中去过平静的日子。他两次提出辞职，尼禄两次拒绝，热情地拥抱他，发誓说他宁死也不离开他亲爱的导师。塞内加的阅历中没有任何事足以使他相信这种许诺。
于是他求助于哲学。他不能逃脱尼禄，既然他不能改变，理性就叫他接受。在那几年难以忍受的日子里，他致力于研究自然，开始写一本关于大地和星球的书。他仰望苍穹和天上的星座，研究无边的大海和高山峻岭。他观察闪电，探索其成因。
塞内加的科学理论有误，这不重要；更加有意义的是，一个生命随时都可能被一名喜怒无常、嗜杀成性的皇帝结束的人似乎从观察大自然的现象中得到极大的宽慰——也许正是强有力的自然现象提醒我们认识到一切我们无力改变的、必须接受的事物。冰川、火山、地震、龙卷风都是令人敬畏的、超人的象征。在人类世界，我们相信总能改变自己的命运，从而有希望，有忧虑。而海涛兀自拍岸，彗星兀自划过夜空，显然说明存在着完全漠视我们愿望的力量。这种漠视非独自然界为然，人也能向他的同类施以同样盲目的力量，不过自然界能够以最优雅的方式教训我们必须服从必然。
塞内加第一次向尼禄递了辞呈之后就开始写关于自然的书。他获得了三年时间。然后，公元65年4月间皮索反对皇帝的阴谋败露了，一名百人队长受命来到哲学家的别墅。他对此是有准备的。上身袒露的妻子保丽娜和她的侍女们泣不成声，但是塞内加已经学会顺从地跟着车子走，没有抗议就割了手腕。正如他在马尔恰痛失爱子时劝过她的：
何必为部分生活而哭泣？
君不见全部人生都催人泪下。
摘录
塞内加是斯多葛派哲学家，公元65年4月的一天，一名罗马军队的百人队长来到他的住所，传达皇帝的旨意，令塞内加立即自裁。塞内加的亲友们听说尼禄的命令后都大惊失色，哭了起来。但哲学家不动声色，努力劝他们止泪，重新鼓起勇气：
他问他们的哲学哪里去了，多少年来他们互相激励的那种处变不惊的精神哪里去了？他说：“当然，谁都知道尼禄残暴成性，他弑母杀兄之后，只剩下杀师了。”（塔西陀记载）
他认为愤怒不是来自失控的感情爆发，而是来自理智本身的根本性的（但是可以纠正的）错误。他承认，我们的行动并不总是在理智的控制之下：如果在身上泼冷水，就情不自禁地打战；如果手指掠过眼睛，我们一定眨眼。但是愤怒不属于这类不自禁是生理的生理动作，它只能在我们理性地持有的某些思想的基础上发作；只要我们改变了思想，我们就可以改变发怒的倾向。
怒气来自一种信念，认为某种挫折没有写进生活的契约中，这种信念发源于近乎喜剧性的乐观，但其后果却是悲剧性的。
假如说，我们不仔细考虑突发灾难的危险，从而为我们的天真付出代价，那是因为现实包含着两种令人糊涂的特性：一方面是世世代代的延续性和可靠性；一方面是无法预料的灾难。我们处在夹缝之中，一边是合理的召唤，让我们假设明天还会和今天一样；另一边是大难临头的可能性，从此生活再不能恢复原样。由于我们忽视后者的倾向十分强烈，塞内加请出了一尊女神。
很多罗马钱币背面都刻有这位女神像，一手握山羊角，一手握舵桨。她貌美，经常身着薄衫，面带羞涩的微笑。她的名字叫“命运”，原来是司丰饶之神，是朱庇特的长女，每年5月25日全意大利的神庙都要祭祀她，无子女的和求雨的农夫都来朝拜她。但是她的辖区逐渐扩大，同财富、升迁、爱情和健康联系在一起。羊角象征着她赐福予人的权力，舵桨则象征着她改变命运的更为凶险的权力。
每当有人在你身旁或身后倒下时，你要大声喊到：“命运之神，你欺骗不了我，你要乘我不备扑到我身上。我知道你的计划。诚然，你打击了别人，但我知道你的是我。”
传统的安慰方式就是说宽心话。告诉焦虑的人他过虑了，事情一定会如愿的。
但是这种宽慰可能是对焦虑最残酷的解药。我们所描绘的美好图景有双重作用：既使焦虑的人对最坏的情况毫无准备，又无意间暗示果真最坏的情况出现，将是大祸临头。塞内加的做法比较明智，他要我们想到坏事大概会发生的，但又说其实这些坏事也未必像我们担心的那样坏。
他这样劝告他的朋友：
如果你想消除一切担心，那么请设想你所害怕的一切都会发生。
斯多葛主义并不提倡贫穷；它提倡的是我们既不害怕也不鄙视贫穷。它认为财富——用技术名词来说——是一种优先产品，既不是必不可少的，也不是罪恶。斯多葛派人士可能接受命运女神的恩赐和愚人一样多。他们的房屋也可以一样大，家具一样漂亮。而确定他们智慧的只有一点：如何应付突如其来的贫穷。他们会泰然离开他们的华屋和奴仆，没有愤怒，没有绝望。
塞内加认为：把并非必然的事当作必然接受下来同对是必然的事进行反抗一样不合理。我们可能误把非必然当作必然而拒绝可能之事，我们也可能拒绝承认必然而妄想不可能之事。对二者作正确的区分，就需要理性。
Book 3
BOOK III
When she finished her lay, its soothing tones left me spellbound with my ears alert in my eagerness to listen. So a while afterwards I said, 'Greatest comforter of weary minds, how have you cheered me with your deep thoughts and sweet singing too! No more shall I doubt my power to meet the blows of Fortune. So far am I from terror at the remedies which you did lately tell me were sharper, that I am longing to hear them, and eagerly I beg you for them.'
Then said she,'I knew it when you laid hold upon my words in silent attention, and I was waiting for that frame of mind in you, or more truly, I brought it about in you. They that remain are indeed bitter to the tongue, but sweet to the inner man. But as you say you are eager to hear, how ardently you would be burning, if you knew whither I am attempting to lead you! '
Whither is that? ' I asked.
'To the true happiness, of which your soul too dreams; but your sight is taken up in imaginary views thereof, so that you cannot look upon itself.'
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Then said I,' I pray you shew me what that truly is, and quickly.'
'I will do so,' she said,' fo r your sake willingly. But first I will try to picture in words and give you the form of the cause, which is already better known to you, that so, when that picture is perfect and you turn your eyes to the other side, you may recognise the form of tru e happiness.
'When a man would sow in virgin soil, first he clears away the bushes, cuts the brambles and the ferns, that the corn-goddess may go forth laden with her new fruit. The honey, that the bee has toiled to give us, is sweeter when the mouth has tasted bitter things. The stars shine with more pleasing grace when a storm has ceased to roar and pour down rain. After the morning star has dispersed the shades of night, the day in all its beauty drives its rosy chario t forth. So thou hast looked upon false happiness first; now draw thy neck from under her yoke: so shall true happiness now come into thy soul.'
She lowered her eyes for a little while as though searching the innermost rece sses of her mind; and then she continued: -- ' The trouble of the many and various aims of mortal men bring them much care, and herein they go forward by different paths but strive to reach one end, which is happiness. And that good is that, to which i f any man attain, he
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can desire nothing further. It is that highest of all good things, and it embraces in itself all good things: if any good is lacking, it cannot be the highest good, since then there is left outside it something which can be desired. Wherefore happiness is a state which is made perfect by the union of all good things. This end all men seek to reach, as I said, though by different paths. For there is implanted by nature in the minds of men a desire for the true good; but error leads them astray towards false goods by wrong paths.
'Some men believe that the highest good is to lack nothing, and so they are at pains to possess abundant riches. Others consider th e true good to be that which is most worthy of admiration, and so they strive to attain to places of honour, and to be held by their fellow- citizens in honour thereby. Some determine that the highest good lies in the highest power;and so they either d esire to reign themselves, or try to cleave to those who do reign. Others think that renown is the greatest good, and they therefore hasten to make a famous name by the arts of peace or of war. But more than all measure the fruit of good by pleasure a nd enjoyment, and these think that the happiest man is abandoned to pleasure.
'Further, there are those who confuse the aims and the causes of these good things: as those who desire riches for the sake of power or of pleasure , or those who seek power for the sake of money or celebrity. In these, then, and
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other things like to them, lies the aim of men's actions and prayers, such as renown and popularity, which seem to afford some fame, or wife and children, which are sought for the pleasure they give. On the other hand, the good of friends, which is the most honourable and holy of all, lies not in Fortune's but in Virtue's realm. All others are adopted for the sake of power or enjoy ment.
'Again, it is plain that the good things of the body must be accounted to those false causes which we have mentioned; for bodily strength and stature seem to make men more able and strong; beauty and swiftness seem to gi ve renown; health seems to give pleasure. By all these happiness alone is plainly desired. For each man holds that to be the highest good, which he seeks before all others. But we have defined the highest good to be happiness. Wherefore what each man desires above all others, he holds to be a state of happiness.
'Wherefore you have each of these placed before you as the form of human happiness: wealth, honours, power, glory, and pleasure. Epicurus1 considered these forms alone, and accordingly determined upon pleasure as the highest good, because all the others seemed but
59:1 -- Epicurus (B.C. 342-270) was the famous founder of the Epicurean school of p hilosophy. His school had a large following of Romans under the Empire. His own teaching was of a higher nature than might be supposed from this bare statement that he thought 'pleasure was the highest good.'
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to join with it in bringing enjoyment to the mind.
'But to return to the aims of men: their minds seem to seek to regain the highest good, and their memories seem to dull their powers. It is as though a drunken man were seek ing his home, but could not remember the way thither. Can those people be altogether wrong whose aim it is to lack nothing? No, there is nothing which can make happiness so perfect as an abundant possession of good things, needing naught that belongs to others, but in all ways sufficing for itself. Surely those others too are not mistaken who think that what is best is also most worthy of reverence and respect. It cannot be any cheap or base thing, to attain which almost all men aim and strive. And is power not to be accounted a good thing? Surely it is: can that be a weak thing or forceless, which is allowed in all cases to excel? Is renown of no value ? We cannot surrender this; that whatever is most excellent, has also great renown. It is ha rdly worth saying that happiness has no torturing cares or gloom, and is not subject to grief and trouble; for even in small things, the aim is to find that which it is a delight to have and to enjoy. These, then, are the desires of men: they long for riches, places of honour, kingdoms, glory, and pleasure;and they long for them because they think that thereby they will find satisfaction, veneration, power, renown, and happiness. It is the good then which men seek by their different desires;
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and it is easy to shew how great a force nature has put therein, since in spite of such varying and discordant opinions, they are all agreed in the goal they seek, that of the highest good.
'I would to pliant strings set forth a song of how almighty Nature turns her guiding reins, telling with what laws her providence keeps safe this boundless universe, binding and tying each and all with cords that never shall be loosed. The lions of Carthage, though they bear the gorgeous bonds and trappings of captivity, and eat the food that is given them by hand, and though they fear their harsh master with his lash they know so well; yet if once blood has touched their b ristling jaws, their old, their latent wills return; with deep roaring they remember their old selves; they loose their bands and free their necks, and their tamer is the first torn by their cruel teeth, and his blood is poured out by their rage and wrath.
'If the bird who sings so lustily upon the high tree-top, be caught and caged, men may minister to him with dainty care, may give him cups of liquid honey and feed him with all gentleness on plenteous food; yet if he fl y to the roof of his cage and see the shady trees he loves, he spurns with his foot the food they have put before him; the woods are all his sorrow calls for, for the woods he sings with his sweet tones.
'The bough which has b een downward thrust by force of strength to bend its top to
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earth, so soon as the pressing hand is gone, looks up again straight to the sky above.
'Phoebus sinks into the western waves, but by his unknown track he turns his car once more to his rising in the east.
'All things must find their own peculiar course again, and each rejoices in his own return. Not one can keep the order handed down to it, unless i n some way it unites its rising to its end, and so makes firm, immutable, its own encircling course.
'And you too, creatures of the earth, do dream of your first state, though with a dim idea. With whatsoever thinking it may b e, you look to that goal of happiness, though never so obscure your thoughts: thither, to true happiness, your natural course does guide you, and from the same your various errors lead you. For I would have you consider whether men can reach the end they have resolved upon, namely happiness, by these ways by which they think to attain thereto. If money and places of honour and such-like do bring anything of that sort to a man who seems to lack no good thing, then let us acknowledge with them th at men do become happy by the possession of these things. But if they cannot perform their promises, and there is still lack of further good things, surely it is plain that a false appearance of happiness is there discovered. You, therefore, who had lately abundant riches, shall first answer me. With all that great wealth, was your mind never
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perturbed by torturing care arising from some sense of injustice? '
'Yes,' I said; ' I cann ot remember that my mind was ever free from some such care.'
Was it not because something was lacking, which you missed, or because something was present to you which you did not like to have? '
'Yes ,' I answered.
'You desired, then, the presence of the one, and the absence of the other? '
'I acknowledge it.'
'Then,' said she,'such a man lacks what he desires.'
&n bsp; 'He does.'
'But while a man lacks anything, can he possibly satisfy himself? '
'No,' said I.
'Then, while you were bountifully supplied with wealth, you felt that you did not satisfy yourself? '
'I did indeed.'
'Then,' said she,'wealth cannot prevent a man from lacking or make him satisfied. And this is what it apparently professed to do. And this point to o I feel is most important: money has in itself, by its own nature, nothing which can prevent its being carried off from those, who possess it, against their will.'
'It has not,' I said.
'No, you canno t deny that any stronger man may any day snatch it from them. For how come about the quarrels of the law-courts ? Is it not because people try to regain money that
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has been by force or by fraud taken from them? ' ' Yes,' I answered.
'Then,' said she,' a man will need to seek from the outside help to guard his own money.'
'That cannot be denied,' I said.
'And a man will not need that unless he possesses money which he can lose.'
'Undoubtedly he will not.'
'Then the argument turns round the other way,' she said.' The riches which were thought to make a man all-sufficient for himself , do really put him in need of other people's help. Then how can need be separated from wealth? Do the rich never feel hunger nor thirst? Do the limbs of moneyed men never feel the cold of winter? You will say, " Yes, but the rich have the wherewithal to satisfy hunger and thirst, and drive away cold." But though riches may thus console wants, they cannot entirely take them away. For, though these ever crying wants, these continual requests, are satisfied, yet there must exist that which is to be satisfied. I need not say that nature is satisfied with little, greed is never satisfied. Wherefore, I ask you, if wealth cannot remove want, and even creates its own wants, what reason is there that you should think it affords satisfaction to a man?
' Though the rich man with greed heap up from ever-flowing streams the wealth that cannot satisfy, though he deck himself with pearls from the Red Sea's shore, and plough
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his fertile fi eld with oxen by the score, yet gnawing care will never in his lifetime leave him, and at his death his wealth will not go with him, but leave him faithlessly.'
'But,' I urged,' places of honour make the man, to whom they fa ll, honoured and venerated.'
'Ah! ' she answered,' have those offices their force in truth that they may instil virtues into the minds of those that hold them, and drive out vices therefrom? And yet we are too well accustome d to see them making wickedness conspicuous rather than avoiding it. Wherefore we are displeased to see such places often falling to the most wicked of men, so that Catullus called Nonius "a diseased growth,"1 though he sat in the highest chair of office. Do you see how great a disgrace high honours can add to evil men? Their unworthiness is less conspicuous if they are not made famous by honours. Could you yourself have been induced by any dangers to think of be ing a colleague with Decoratus, 2 when you saw that he had the mind of an unscrupulous buffoon, and a base informer? We cannot consider men worthy of veneration on account of their high places, when we hold them to b e unworthy of those
65:1 -- Probably Boethius makes a mistake in his interpretation of Catullus (Carm. 52), as Nonius's surname was very likely ' Struma ' (which also means a wen); in which case Catullus cannot at most have intended more to be understood than a play upon the man's true name.
65:2 -- Decoratus was a minion of Theodoric.
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high places. But if you see a man endowed with wisdo m, you cannot but consider him worthy of veneration, or at least of the wisdom with which he is endowed. For such a man has the worth peculiar to virtue, which it transmits directly to those in whom it is found. But since honours from the vulgar crowd cannot create merit, it is plain that they have not the peculiar beauty of this worth. And here is a particular point to be noticed: if men are the more worthless as they are despised by more people, high position makes them all the worse because it cannot make venerable those whom it shews to so many people to be contemptible. And this brings its penalty with it: wicked people bring a like quality into their positions, and stain them with their infection.
'Now I would hav e you consider the matter thus, that you may recognise that true veneration cannot be won through these shadowy honours. If a man who had filled the office of consul many times in Rome, came by chance into a country of barbarians, would his high posi tion make him venerated by the barbarians? Yet if this were a natural quality in such dignities, they would never lose their effective function in any land, just as fire is never aught but hot in all countries. But since they do not receive this qualit y of veneration from any force peculiar to themselves, but only from a connexion in the untrustworthy opinions of men, they become as nothing as soon as they are among those who do not consider these dignities as such.
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'But that is only in the case of foreign peoples. Among the very peoples where they had their beginnings, do these dignities last for ever? Consider how great was the power in Rome of old of the office of Pr?fect: now i t is an empty name and a heavy burden upon the income of any man of Senator's rank.'The pr?fect then, who was commissioner of the corn-market, was held to be a great man. Now there is no office more despised. For, as I said before, that which has no intrinsic beauty, sometimes receives a certain glory, sometimes loses it, according to the opinion of those who are concerned with it. If then high offices cannot make men venerated, if furthermore they grow vile by the infection of bad men, if ch anges of time can end their glory, and, lastly, if they are held cheaply in the estimation of whole peoples, I ask you, so far from affording true beauty to men, what beauty have they in themselves which men can desire?
'Thoug h Nero decked himself proudly with purple of Tyre and snow-white gems, none the less that man of rage and luxury lived ever hated of all. Yet would that evil man at times give his dishonoured offices to men who were revered. Who then could count men b lessed, who to such a villain owed their high estate?
'Can kingdoms and intimacies with kings make people powerful? " Certainly," some The may answer, " in so far as their happiness is lasting." But antiquity and our times too are
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full of examples of the contrary; examples of men whose happiness as kings has been exchanged for disaster. What wonderful power, which is found to be powerless even for its own preservation! But if this kingly power is really a source of happiness, surely then, if it fail in any way, it lessens the happiness it brings, and equally causes unhappiness. However widely human empires may extend, there must be still more nations left, over whom each king d oes not reign. And so, in whatever direction this power ceases to make happy, thereby comes in powerlessness, which makes men unhappy; thus therefore there must be a greater part of unhappiness in every king's estate. That tyrant 1 had learnt well the dangers of his lot, who likened the fear which goes with kingship to the terror inspired by a sword ever hanging overhead. What then is such a power, which cannot drive away the bite of cares, nor escape the stings of fear?
' Yet these all would willingly live without fear, but they cannot, and yet they boast of their power. Think you a man is powerful when you see that he longs for that which he cannot bring to pass? Do you reckon a man powerful who walks abroad with digni ty and attended by servants? A man who strikes fear into his subjects, yet fears them more himself? Damocles, what it was to be a tyrant, by setting him in his own seat at a sumptuous banquet,'but hung a sword above him by a hair.
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A man who must be at the mercy of those that serve him, in order that he may seem to have power?
'Need I speak of intimacies with kings when kingship itself is shewn to be full of weakness? Not only when ki ngs' powers fall are their friends laid low, but often even when their powers are intact. Nero compelled his friend and tutor, Seneca,l to choose how he would die. Papinianus,2 for a long whi le a powerful courtier, was handed over to the soldiers' swords by the Emperor Antoninus. Yet each of these was willing to surrender all his power. Seneca even tried to give up all his wealth to Nero, and to seek retirement. But the very weight of thei r wealth and power dragged them down to ruin, and neither could do what he wished.
'What then is that power, whose possessors fear it? in desiring to possess which, you are not safe, and from which you cannot escape, even tho ugh you try to lay it down? What help are friends, made not by virtue but by fortune? The friend gained by good fortune becomes an enemy in ill-fortune. And what plague can more effectually injure than an intimate enemy?
'Th e man who would true power gain, must needs subdue his own wild thoughts: never
69:1 -- Seneca, the philosopher and wise counsellor of Nero, was by him compelled to commit suicide, A.D. 65.
69:2 -- Papinianus, the greatest lawyer of his time, was put to death by the Emperor Antoninus Caracalla, A.D. 212.
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must he let his passions triumph and yoke his neck by their fou l bonds. For though the earth, as far as India's shore, tremble before the laws you give, though Thule bow to your service on earth's farthest bounds, yet if thou canst not drive away black cares, if thou canst not put to flight complaints, then is no true power thine.
'How deceitful is fame often, and how base a thing it is! Justly did the tragic poet cry out,1 "O Fame, Fame, how many lives of men Of naught hast thou puffed up! " For m any men have got a great name from the false opinions of the crowd.-And what could be baser than such a thing? For those who are falsely praised, must blush to hear their praises. And if they are justly won by merits, what can they add to the pleasure of a wise man's conscience? For he measures his happiness not by popular talk, but by the truth of his conscience. If it attracts a man to make his name widely known, he must equally think it a shame if it be not made known. But I have already said th at there must be yet more lands into which the renown of a single man can never come; wherefore it follows that the man, whom you think famous, will seem to have no such fame in the next quarter of the earth.
'Popular favour s eems to me to be unworthy even of mention under this head, for it comes not by any judgment, and is never constant.
70:1 -- Euriped, Andromache,.319-320.
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& nbsp; 'Again, who can but see how empty a name, and how futile, is noble birth? For if its glory is due to renown, it belongs not to the man. For the glory of noble birth seems to be praise for the merits of a man's forefathers. But if praise cre ates the renown, it is the renowned who are praised. Wherefore, if you have no renown of your own, that of others cannot glorify you. But if there is any good in noble birth, I conceive it to be this, and this alone, that the highborn seem to be bound in honour not to show any degeneracy from their fathers' virtue.
'From like beginning rise all men on earth, for there is one Father of all things; one is the guide of everything.'Tis He who gave the sun his rays, and horn s unto the moon.'Tis He who set mankind on earth, and in the heavens the stars. He put within our bodies spirits which were born in heaven. And thus a highborn race has He set forth in man. Why do ye men rail on your forefathers? If ye look to your be ginning and your author, which is God, is any man degenerate or base but he who by his own vices cherishes base things and leaves that beginning which was his?
'And now what am I to say of the pleasures of the body? The desi res of the flesh are full of cares, their fulfilment is full of remorse. What terrible diseases, what unbearable griefs,
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truly the fruits of sin, do they bring upon the bodies of those who enjoy them! I know not wha t pleasure their impulse affords, but any who cares to recall his indulgences of his passions, will know that the results of such pleasures are indeed gloomy. If any can shew that those results are blest with happiness, then may the beasts of the field be justly called blessed, for all their aims are urged toward the satisfying of their bodies' wants. The pleasures of wife and children may be most honourable; but nature makes it all too plain that some have found torment in their children. How bitt er is any such kind of suffering, I need not tell you now, for you have never known it, nor have any such anxiety now. Yet in this matter I would hold with my philosopher Euripides,l that he who has no children is happy in his misfortune.
'All pleasures have this way: those who enjoy them they drive on with stings. Pleasure, like the winged bee, scatters its honey sweet, then flies away, and with a clinging sting it strikes the hearts it touches.
'There is then no doubt that these roads to happiness are no roads, and they cannot lead any man to any end whither they profess to take him. I would shew you shortly with
72:1 -- Referring to lines in the Andromache (419-420), where Euripides says: 'The man who complains that he has no children suffers less than he who has them, and is blest in his misfortune.'
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what great evils they are bound up. Would you heap up money? You will need to tear it from its owner. Would you seem brilliant by the glory of great honours? You must kneel before their dispenser, and in your desire to surpass other men in honour, you must debase yourself by setting asid e all pride. Do you long for power? You will be subject to the wiles of all over whom you have power, you will be at the mercy of many dangers. You seek fame? You will be drawn to and fro among rough paths, and lose all freedom from care. Would you sp end a life of pleasure? Who would not despise and cast off such servitude to so vile and brittle a thing as your body? How petty are all the aims of those who put before themselves the pleasures of the body, how uncertain is the possession of such? In bodily size will you ever surpass the elephant? In strength will you ever lead the bull, or in speed the tiger? Look upon the expanse of heaven, the strength with which it stands, the rapidity with which it moves, and cease for a while to wonder at ba se things. This heaven is not more wonderful for those things than for the design which guides it. How sweeping is the brightness of outward form, how swift its movement, yet more fleeting than the passing of the flowers of spring. But if, as Aristotl e says, many could use the eyes of lynxes to see through that which meets the eye, then if they saw into the organs within, would not that body,
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though it had the most fair outside of Alcibiades,1 seem most vile within? Wherefore it is not your own nature, but the weakness of the eyes of them that see you, which makes you seem beautiful. But consider how in excess you desire the pleasures of the body, when you know that hows oever you admire it, it can be reduced to nothing by a three-days' fever. To put all these points then in a word: these things cannot grant the good which they promise; they are not made perfect by the union of all good things in them; they do not le ad to happiness as a path thither; they do not make men blessed.2
'Ah! how wretched are they whom ignorance leads astray by her crooked path! Ye seek not gold upon green trees, nor gather precious stones from vines, nor set your nets on mountain tops to catch the fishes for your feast, nor hunt the Umbrian sea in search of goats. Man knows the depths of the sea themselves, hidden though they be beneath its waves; he knows which wate r best yields him pearls, and which the scarlet dye. But in their blindness men are content, and know not where lies hid the good which they desire. They sink in earthly things, and there they seek that which has soared
74:1 -- Alcibiad:s was the most handsome and brilliantly fascinating of all the public men of Athens in her most brilliant period.
74:2 -- Compare Philosophy's first words about the highest good, p. 58.
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above the star-lit heavens. What can I call down upon them worthy of their stubborn folly? They go about in search of wealth and honours; and only when they have by labours vast stored up deception for themselves, do they at last know what is their true good.
'So far,' she continued,' we have been content to set forth the form of false happiness. If you clearly understand that, my next duty is to shew what is true happiness.'
& nbsp; 'I do see,' said I,'that wealth cannot satisfy, that power comes not to kingdoms, nor veneration to high offices; that true renown cannot accompany ambition, nor true enjoyment wait upon the pleasures of the body.'
; 'Have you grasped the reasons why it is so? ' she asked.
'I seem to look at them as through a narrow chink, but I would learn more clearly from you.'
'The reason is to hand,' said she; 'human error takes that which is simple and by nature impossible to divide, tries to divide it, and turns its truth and perfection into falsity and imperfection. Tell me, do you think that anything which lacks nothing, can be without power? '
'Of course not.'
'You are right; for if anything has any weakness in any part, it must lack the help of something else.'
'That is so,' I said.
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&n bsp; 'Then perfect satisfaction and power have the same nature? '
'Yes, it seems so.'
'And do you think such a thing contemptible, or the opposite, worthy of all veneration? '
'There can be no doubt that it is worthy.'
'Then let us add veneration to that satisfaction and power, and so consider these three as one.'
'Yes, we must add it if we wish to proclaim the truth.'
'Do you then think that this whole is dull and of no reputation, or renowned with all glory? For consider it thus: we have granted that it lacks nothing, that it has all power and is worthy of all veneration; it must not therefore lack the glory which it cannot supply for itself, and thereby seem to be in any direction contemptible.'
'No,' I said,'I must allow that it has glory too.'
'Therefore we must rank this glory equally with the other three.'
'Yes, we must.'
'Then that which lacks nothing from outside itself, which is all-powerful by its own might, which has renown and veneration, must surely be allowe d to be most happy too?'
'I cannot imagine from what quarter unhappiness would creep into such a thing, wherefore we must grant that it is full of happiness if the other qualities remain existent.'
'T hen it follows further, that though perfect
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satisfaction, power, glory, veneration, and happiness differ in name, they cannot differ at all in essence?'
'They cannot.'
'This then,' said she,'is a simple, single thing by nature, only divided by the mistakes of base humanity; and while men try to gain a part of that which has no parts, they fail both to obtain a fraction, which cannot exist, and the whole too a fter which they do not strive.'
'Tell me how they fail thus,' I said.
'One seeks riches by fleeing from poverty, and takes no thought of power,' she answered, 'and so he prefers to be base and unknown, and even deprives himself of natural pleasures lest he should part with the riches which he has gathered. Thus not even that satisfaction reaches the man who loses all power, who is stabbed by sorrow, lowered by his meanness, hidden by his lack of fame. Another seeks power only: he scatters his wealth, he despises pleasures and honours which have no power, and sets no value upon glory. You see how many things such an one lacks. Sometimes he goes without necessaries even, sometimes he feels th e bite and torture of care; and as he cannot rid himself of these, he loses the power too which he sought above all things. The same argument may be applied to offices, glory, and pleasure. For since each one of these is the same as each other, any m an who seeks one without the others, gains not even that one which he desires.'
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'What then? ' I asked.
'If any man desires to obtain all together, he will be seeki ng the sum of happiness. But will he ever find that in these things which we have shewn cannot supply what they promise?' 'No.
'Then happiness is not to be sought for among these things which are separately believed to suppl y each thing so sought.'
'Nothing could be more plainly true,' I said.
'Then you have before you the form of false happiness, and its causes; now turn your attention in the opposite direction, and you will quickly see the true happiness which I have promised to shew you.'
'But surely this is clear even to the blindest, and you shewed it before when you were trying to make clear the causes of false happiness. For if I mist ake not, true and perfect happiness is that which makes a man truly satisfied, powerful, venerated, renowned, and happy. And (for I would have you see that I have looked deeply into the matter) I realise without doubt that that which can truly yield any one of these, since they are all one, is perfect happiness.
'Ah! my son,' said she,' I do see that you are blessed in this opinion, but I would have you add one thing.'
'What is that? ' I asked.
'Do you think that there is anything among mortals, and in our perishable lives, which could yield such a state? '
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'I do not think that there is, and I think th at you have shewn this beyond the need of further proof.'
'These then seem to yield to mortals certain appearances of the true good, or some such imperfections; but they cannot give true and perfect good.'
; 'No.'
'Since, then, you have seen what is true happiness, and what are the false imitations thereof, it now remains that you should learn whence this true happiness may be sought.'
'For that,' said I,' I have been impatiently waiting.'
'But divine help must be sought in small things as well as great (as my pupil Plato says in his Timoe;us);1 so what, think you, must we d o to deserve to find the place of that highest good? '
'Call,' I said,' upon the Father of all, for if we do not do so, no undertaking would be rightly or duly begun.'
'You are right,' said she; and t hus she cried aloud: -- 2
'Thou who dost rule the universe with
79:1 -- Plato, Timoe;us, 27 C. (ch. v.) -- ' All those who have even the least share of moderatio n, on undertaking any enterprise, small or great, always call upon God at the beginning.
79:2 -- This hymn is replete with the highest development of Plato's theory of ideas, as expressed in the Timoe;us, and his theory of the ideal good being the moving spirit of the material world. Compare also the speculative portion of Virgil, ?neid, vi.
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everlasting law, founder of earth and heaven alike, who hast bidden time stand forth from out Eternity, for ever firm Thyself, yet giving movement unto all. No causes were without Thee which could thence impel Thee to create this mass of changing matter, but within Thyself exists the very idea of perfect good, which grudges naught, for of what can it have envy? Thou makest all things follow that high pattern. In perfect beauty Thou movest in Thy mind a world of beauty, making all in a like image, and bidding the perfect whole to complete its perfect functions. All the first principles of nature Thou dost bind together by perfect orders as of numbers, so that they may be balanced each with its opposite: cold with heat, and dry with moist together; thus fire may not fly upward too swiftly because too purely, nor may the weight of the solid earth drag it down and overwhelm it. Thou dost make the soul as a third between mind and material bodies: to these the soul gives life and movement, for Thou dost spread it abroad among the members of the universe, now working in accord. Thus is the soul divided as it takes its course, making two circles, as though a binding thread around the world. Thereafter it returns unto itself and passes around the lower earthly mind; and in like manner it giv es motion to the heavens to turn their course. Thou it is who dost carry forward with like inspiration these souls and lower lives. Thou dost fill these weak vessels
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with lofty souls, and send them abroad throughou t the heavens and earth, and by Thy kindly law dost turn them again to Thyself and bring them to seek, as fire doth, to rise to Thee again.
'Grant then, O Father, that this mind of ours may rise to Thy throne of majesty; gra nt us to reach that fount of good. Grant that we may so find light that we may set on Thee unblinded eyes; cast Thou therefrom the heavy clouds of this material world. Shine forth upon us in Thine own true glory. Thou art the bright and peaceful res t of all Thy children that worship Thee. To see Thee clearly is the limit of our aim. Thou art our beginning, our progress, our guide, our way, our end.
'Since then you have seen the form both of the imperfect and the perf ect good, I think I should now shew you where lies this perfection of happiness. In this I think our first inquiry must be whether any good of this kind can exist in the very nature of a subject; for we must not let any vain form of thought make us miss the truth of this matter. But there can be no denial of its existence, that it is as the very source of all good. For if anything is said to be imperfect, it is held to be so by some loss of its perfection. Wherefore if in any kind of thing a pa rticular seems imperfect, there must also be a perfect specimen in the same kind. For if you take away the perfection,
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it is impossible even to imagine whence could come the so-called imperfect specimen. For nature do es not start from degenerate or imperfect specimens, but starting from the perfect and ideal, it degenerates to these lower and weaker forms. If then, as we have shewn above, there is an uncertain and imperfect happiness to be found in the good, then there must doubtless be also a sure and perfect happiness therein.'1
'Yes,' said I,' that is quite surely proved to be true.'
'Now consider,' she continued,' whe re it lies. The universally accepted notion of men proves that God, the fountain-head of all things, is good. For nothing can be thought of better than God, and surely He, than whom there is nothing better, must without doubt be good. Now reason she ws us that God is so good, that we are convinced that in Him lies also the perfect good. For if it is not so, He cannot be the fountain-head; for there must then be something more excellent, possessing that perfect good, which appears to be of older origin than God: for it has been proved that all perfections are of earlier origin than the imperfect specimens of the same: wherefore, unless we are to prolong the series to infinity, we must allow that the highest Deity must be full of the highest , the perfect good. But as we have laid down that true happiness is perfect
82:1 -- This reasoning hangs upon Plato's theory of ideas and so is the opposite of the theory of evolution.
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good, it must be that true happiness is situated in His Divinity.'
'Yes, I accept that; it cannot be in any way contradicted.'
'But,' she said,' I beg you, be sure that you accept with a sur e conscience and determination this fact, that we have said that the highest Deity is filled with the highest good.'
'How should I think of it? ' I asked.
'You must not think of God, the Father of all , whom we hold to be filled with the highest good, as having received this good into Himself from without, nor that He has it by nature in such a manner that you might consider Him, its possessor, and the happiness possessed, as having different esse ntial existences. For if you think that good has been received from without, that which gave it must be more excellent than that which received it; but we have most rightly stated that He is the most excellent of all things. And if you think that it is in Him by His nature, but different in kind, then, while we speak of God as the fountain-head of all things, who could imagine by whom these different kinds can have been united? Lastly, that which is different from anything cannot be the thing f rom which it differs. So anything which is by its nature different from the highest good, cannot be the highest good. And this we must not think of God, than whom there is nothing more excellent, as we have agreed. Nothing in this world can have a n ature which is better than
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its origin, wherefore I would conclude that that which is the origin of all things, according to the truest reasoning, is by its essence the highest good.'
'Most tr uly,' I said.
'You agree that the highest good is happiness? '
'Yes.'
'Then you must allow that God is absolute happiness?
'I cannot deny what you put forward before, and I see that this follows necessarily from those propositions.'
'Look then,' she said,'whether it is proved more strongly by this too: there cannot be two highest goods which are different. For where two g ood things are different, the one cannot be the other; wherefore neither can be the perfect good, while each is lacking to the other. And that which is not perfect cannot be the highest, plainly. Therefore if two things are highest good, they cannot be different. Further, we have proved to ourselves that both happiness and God are each the highest good. Therefore the highest Deity must be identical with the highest happiness.'
'No conclusion,' I said,' could be truer in fact, or more surely proved by reason, or more worthy of our God.'
'Besides this let me give you corollary, as geometricians do, when they wish to add a point drawn from the propositions they have proved. Since men become ha ppy by
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acquiring happiness, and happiness is identical with divinity, it is plain that they become happy by acquiring divinity. But just as men become just by acquiring the quality of justice, and wise by wisdo m, so by the same reasoning, by acquiring divinity they become divine. Every happy man then is divine. But while nothing prevents as many men as possible from being divine, God is so by His nature, men become so by participation.'
; 'This corollary,' I said,' or whatever you call it, is indeed beautiful and very precious.'
'Yes, but nothing can be more beautiful than this too which reason would have us add to what we have agreed upon.'
&nbs p; 'What is that? ' I asked.
'Happiness seems to include many things: do all these join it together as into a whole which is happiness, as though each thing were a different part thereof, or is any one of them a go od which fulfils the essence of happiness, and do the others merely bear relations to this one .? '
'I would have you make this plain by the enunciation of these particulars.'
'Do we not,' she asked,' hold that happiness is a good thing? '
'Yes,' I answered,' the highest good.'
'But you may apply this quality of happiness to them all. For the perfect satisfaction is the same, and the highest power , and veneration, and renown, and pleasure; these are all held to be happiness.
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'What then? ' I asked.
'Are all these things, satisfaction, power, and the others, as it were, members of the body, happiness, or do they all bear their relation to the good, as members to a head? '
'I understand what you propose to examine, but I am waiting eagerly to hear what you will lay down.'
&n bsp; 'I would have you take the following explanation,' she said.' If these were all members of the one body, happiness, they would differ individually. For this is the nature of particulars, to make up one body of different parts. But all these have been shewn to be one and the same. Therefore they are not as members; and further, this happiness will then appear to be joined together into a whole body out of one member, which is impossible.'
'That is quite ce rtain,' said I,' but I would hear what is to come.'
'It is plain that the others have some relation to the good. It is for that reason, namely because it is held to be good, that this satisfaction is sought, and power likewis e, and the others too; we may suppose the same of veneration, renown, and pleasure. The good then is the cause of the desire for all of these, and their consummation also. Such a thing as has in itself no real or even pretended good, cannot ever be sought. On the other hand, such things as are not by nature good, but seem to be so, are sought as though they were truly good. Wherefore we may justly believe that
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their good quality is the cause of the desire f or them, the very hinge on which they turn, and their consummation. The really important object of a desire, is that for the sake of which anything is sought, as a means. For instance, if a man wishes to ride for the sake of his health, he does not so much desire the motion of riding, as the effect, namely health. As, therefore, each of these things is desired for the sake of the good, the absolute good is the aim, rather than themselves. But we have agreed that the other things are desired for the sake of happiness, wherefore in this case too, it is happiness alone which is the object of the desire. Wherefore it is plain that the essence of the good and of happiness is one and the same.'
'I cannot see how any one can think otherwise.'
'But we have shewn that God and true happiness are one and the same.'
'Yes.'
'Therefore,' said she,'we may safely conclude that the essence of God also lies in the absolute good and nowhere else.
'Come hither all who are the prey of passions, bound by their ruthless chains; those deceiving passions which blunt the minds of men. Here shall you find rest from your labours; here a haven lying in tranquil peace; this shall be a resting-place open to receive within itself all the miserable on earth. Not
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all the wealth of Tagus's golden sands, nor Hermus's gleaming strand,1 nor Indus, nigh earth's hottest zone, mingling its emeralds and pearls, can bring light to the eyes of any soul, but rather plunge the soul more blindly in their shade. In her deepest caverns does earth rear all that pleases the eye and excites the mind. The glory by which the heavens move and have their being, has nought to do with the darknesses which bring ruin to the soul. Whosoever can look on this true light will scarce allow the sun's rays to be clear.'
&nb sp; 'I cannot but agree with that,' I said,' for it all stands woven together by the strongest proofs.' Then she said,'At what would you value this, namely if you could find out what is the absolute good? '
'I wou ld reckon it,' I said,'at an infinite value, if I could find out God too, who is the good.'
'And that too I will make plain by most true reasoning, if you will allow to stand the conclusions we have just now arrived at.'
'They shall stand good.'
'Have I not shewn,' she asked,' that those upon the things which most men seek are for this reason not perfect goods, because they differ between the highest themselves; they are lacking to one another, and so cannot afford full, absolute good? But
88:1 -- The modern Sarabat, in Asia Minor, formerly auriferous.
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when they are gathered together, as it were , into one form and one operation, so that complete satisfaction, power, veneration, renown, and pleasure are all the same, then they become the true good. Unless they are all one and the same, they have no claim to be reckoned among the true object s of men's desires.'
'That has been proved beyond all doubt.'
'Then such things as differ among themselves are not goods, but they become so when they begin to be a single unity. Is it not then the ca se these become goods by the attainment of unity? '
'Yes,' I said,' it seems so.'
'But I think you allow that every good is good by participation in good? '
'Yes, I do.'
'Then by reason of this likeness both unity and good must be allowed to be the same thing; for such things as have by nature the same operation, have the same essence.'
'Undeniably.'
&n bsp;'Do you realise that everything remains existent so long as it keeps its unity, but perishes in dissolution as soon as it loses its unity? '
'How so? ' I asked.
'In the case of animals,' she said, ' so long as mind and body remain united, you have what you call an animal. But as soon as this unity is dissolved by the separation of the two, the animal perishes and can plainly be no longer called an animal. In the case of the body, too,
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so long as it remains in a single form by the union of its members, the human figure is presented. But if the division or separation of the body's parts drags that union asunder, it at once ceases to be what it was. In thi s way one may go through every subject, and it will be quite evident that each thing exists individually, so long as it is one, but perishes so soon as it ceases to be one.'
'Yes, I see the same when I think of other cases.'
'Is there anything,' she then asked,' which, in so far as it acts by nature, ever loses its desire for self-preservation, and would voluntarily seek to come to death and corruption? '
'No,' I said; ' while I think of animals which have volition in their nature, I can find in them no desire to throw away their determination to remain as they are, or to hasten to perish of their own accord, so long as there are no external forces compelling them t hereto. Every animal labours for its preservation, shunning death and extinction. But about trees and plants, I have great doubts as to what I should agree to in their case, and in all inanimate objects.'
'But in this case t oo,' she said,'you have no reason to be in doubt, when you see how trees and plants grow in places which suit them, and where, so far as nature is able to prevent it, they cannot quickly wither and perish. For some grow in plains, others on mountain s; some are nourished by marshes,
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