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From it are belched out of its abysses the purest It is right to ask of the gods what is suitable to jets of unapproachable fire. By day the streams of lava pour forth a lurid torrent of smoke; but in reason, recollecting what is before our feet, and the dark the ruddy flame, rolling in volumes, carious for an immortal life, but draw only on what is Do not, my soul, be anxries rocks into the deep, level sea, with a fearful

roar.

JOY OF MARINERS RETURNING HOME.

of what nature we are.

practicable.

GOOD AND EVIL.

The immortals award to mortals a couple of And to seafaring men, what first cheers them on woes with every good. These woes the silly cantheir departure is a favorable breeze for the voy-not submit to with patience, but only the wellage; for it is expected, too, in the end, that they born, who turn the fair side outwards (as we do will obtain a better passage home. old clothes).

EVERYTHING PROCEEDS FROM THE GODS.
For all the means of mortal valor come from

WISDOM ANd fortune NECESSARY TO BE JOINED.

But if any one has found the way of truth by his the gods; they make men to be wise, mighty in understanding, his prosperity he must obtain from

deeds, and eloquent in language.

ENVY.

the gods. Yet there are different currents of violent winds at different times. Man's happiness

For the mind is offended by hearing the con- does not continue long if it be excessive. stant praise of an individual; and the gossip of the citizens gives secret pain to the mind chiefly when the merit of others is the theme.

ENVIED RATHER THAN PITIED.

To be envied is a nobler fate

Than to be pitied.

TRUTH.

Point thy tongue on the anvil of truth.

THE POSTHUMOUS VERDICT OF PUBLIC OPINION.

The posthumous verdict of public opinion alone shows the life of the dead to historians and poets.

WHAT IS TO BE DESIRED IN LIFE.

The enjoyment of prosperity is what is first to be desired; to be well-spoken, is the next best thing in life; but he who has enjoyed both, and really felt them, has received the highest crown of

all.

A BENEFACTOR SHOULD BE REPAID.

It is by the express direction of the gods, as the story goes, that Ixion warns mortals, as he writhes and sprawls on the revolving wheel, "to pay back to one's benefactor, requiting him by kindly returns."

"THERE IS A TIDE IN THE AFFAIRS OF MEN." For the right time of action has a brief limit for

men.

WEALTH GIVES INFLUENCE.

'Tis their wealth that gives men their influence, when they have received it from fortune combined with disinterested virtue, and take it to their house as an attendant that finds him many friends.

EXCUSE.

In that he did not take with him Excuse, the child of late-minded Afterthought.

WE ARE CREATURES OF A DAY.

We are creatures of a day; what man is no one can say. Man is but a shadowy dream; and yet, when glory comes to them from Heaven, a bright light shines around them, and a pleasant life

attends them.

VARIOUS PARTS TO VARIOUS MEN.

Various parts are assigned to various men, but every one should proceed in a straightforward path, and contend with his understanding. For strength succeeds in action, but mina in counsel in those who naturally foresee the future.

'Tis by inborn merit that a man acquires pre-making the path of life to be winding; and yet eminence; whereas he who acts by precepts is a even these evils are able to be amended, if men man of naught, swaying from this side to that, enjoy but freedom. A man ought to indulge in never setting down a firm, well-directed foot; good hopes. much he attempts, but to little purpose.

It is the destiny that is born with man which thanked God that he had been made a contemdetermines all his actions.

But when, being borne along, they arrive at the For nothing else but the body and its desires Acherusian lake, there they call upon and entreat, cause wars, seditions, and fightings.

in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger So Matthew (xxvi. 41)—"The spirit indeed is willing, but in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this the flesh is weak."

THE BODY THE GRAVE OF THE SOUL.

For some say that the body is the tomb of the soul, as being buried at the present time.

WISDOM.

It would be well, Agatho (said Socrates), if wisdom were of that nature that it would flow from the person who was filled with it to the one who was empty, when we touched each other, like the water in two cups, which will flow through a flock of wool from the fuller into the emptier, until both are equal.

DRUNKENNESS.

For from my knowledge of medicine, it has become very clear to me that drunkenness is a bad thing to men, and I would neither myself be willing to drink far on nor advise any one else to do so, especially if they were suffering from a surfeit of the night before.

TO DIE FOR ANOTHER.

As to what Homer said, that a god breathed strength into some heroes, Love furnishes this, produced from himself to all lovers.

Moreover, to die for another lovers alone are ready, not only men, but also women.

MEN OF SENSE CONTRASTED WITH THE MULTI-
TUDE.

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IF THY RIGHT HAND OFFEND THEE CUT IT OFF." Since men are willing to have their feet and hands cut off, if their own limbs seem to them to be an evil; nor do they cherish and embrace that which may belong to themselves merely because it is their own: unless, indeed, any one should choose to say that what is good is attached to his own nature, and is his own, while that which is evil is foreign and accidental; since there is noth ing else of which men are in love but good alone.

Whether a man dwelling in the city is nobly or ignobly born, whether some unfortunate event has taken place to one of his ancestors, man or woman is equally unknown to him as the number of measures of water in the sea, as the proverb goes.. And he is not aware of his own ignorance; nor does he keep aloof from such things from mere

For to a man of any mind a few persons of sense vanity, but, in reality, his body only dwells in the are more awful than a multitude of fools.

LOVE MAKES A MAN TO BE A POET.

city and sojourns there, while his mind regarding all such things as trivial, and of no real moment, despising them, is carried about everywhere, as Pindar says, measuring things under the earth and

Each becomes a poet when Love touches him, upon its surface, raising his eyes to the stars in though he was not musical before.

heaven, and examining into the nature of every

Shakespeare ("As You Like It," act ii., sc. 7) speaks of a thing in the whole universe, never stooping to loveranything near at hand.

With his woful ballad, made to his mistress' eyebrow."

THE EFFECT OF LOVE.

Greeks.

FOLLY OF PRIDE OF BIRTH.

And when they praise nobleness of birth,-how For it is Love that causes peace among men, a some great man is able to show seven rich ancescalm on the sea, a lulling of the winds, sweet sleep tors, he thinks that such praise can only proceed on joyless beds. It is he who takes from us the feel- from the stupid, and from men who look merely ing of enmity, and fills us with those of friendship; at trifles; in fact, from those who, through ignowho establishes friendly meetings, being the rance, are not able to take a comprehensive view leader in festivals, dances, and sacrifices, giving of the question, nor to perceive that every man mildness and driving away harshness; the benefi- has countless myriads of ancestors and progenitors, cent bestower of goodwill, the non-giver of enmi- amongst whom there must have been myriads of ty; gracious to the good, looked up to by the wise, rich and poor, kings and slaves, barbarians and admired by the gods; envied by those who have no lot in life, possessed by those who have; the parent of luxury, of tenderness, of elegance, of It is not possible, Theodorus, to get rid of evil grace, of desire, and regret; careful of the good, altogether; for there must always be something regardless of the bad; in labor, in fear, in wishes, opposite to good; nor can it be placed among the and in speech, the pilot, the defender, the by-gods, but must of necessity circulate round this stander and best savior; of gods and men, taken mortal nature and world of ours. Wherefore we altogether, the ornament; a leader the most beau- ought to fly hence as soon as possible to that tiful and best, in whose train it becomes every man to follow, hymning well his praise, and bearing a part in that sweet song which he sings himself, when soothing the mind of every god and man.

EVIL.

upper region; but this flight is our resembling the Divinity as much as we are able, and this resemblance is that we should be just, and holy, and wise.

So John (iii. 6)- "That which is born of the flesh is flesh."

GOD AND MAN.

God is in nowise in the least unjust, but is as just as possible; and there is no one more like to Him than the man among us who has become as just as possible. It is on this that the real excellence of a man depends, and his nothingness and worth

lessness.

So Matthew (xxiii. 28)—“Within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity."

GOOD SENSE CANNOT BE TAUGHT.

But when the affairs of the city are the subject of discussion, any one rises up and gives his opinion on such matters, whether he be a builder, a brazier, a shoemaker, a merchant, a ship's captain, rich or poor, noble or ignoble, and no one makes objection to them as to the former, that without

So Psalms (xi. 7)—“For the righteous Lord loveth right- having received instruction, or having been the

eousness."

pupil of any one, they yet attempt to give advice

WHO SHALL DELIVER ME FROM THE BODY OF for it is evident that they think this cannot be THIS DEATH ?"

Being initiated, and beholding perfect, simple, and happy visions in the pure light-being ourselves pure, and, as yet, unclothed with this, which, carrying about us, we call the body, to which we are bound as an oyster to its shell.

EVERY GOOD GIFT IS FROM ABOVE.

Tell me, therefore, what benefits the gods derive from the gifts they receive from us; for the advantage derived from what they bestow is evident to every one; for there is no perfect gift which they do not bestow; but how are they benefited by what they get from us? Have we so much advantage in this traffic, that we receive everything good from them, and they nothing from us?

EXPERIENCE.

Chærephon, there are many arts among men, the knowledge of which is acquired bit by bit by experience. For it is experience that causes our life to move forward by the skill we acquire, while want of experience subjects us to the effects of chance.

taught.

FOOLS.

The race of fools is not to be counted.

WE OUGHT TO LISTEN TO OUR ELDERS.

As for me, Cephalus, it gives me great pleasure to converse with those who are far advanced in years; for I feel that I ought to learn from them, as from men who have proceeded before me on that road along which we must perhaps travel, what is the nature of the road, whether it is rough and difficult, or easy and level.

MEN ARE FOND OF THE RICHES ACCUMULATED BY

THEMSELVES.

For as poets are fond of their own poems, and parents of their children, so also those who have made their own fortune are delighted with their wealth, as the workmanship of their own hands, not looking merely at its utility, as others are apt to regard it.

APPROACH OF DEATH CAUSES MAN TO REFLECT.

For be assured of this, Socrates, that when a man imagines that he is approaching the close of his life, fearful thoughts enter his mind, and anx iety about things which never occurred to him before. For the stories told us respecting the regions below,-how the man who has acted unjustly here must there dree his punishment, though he may have laughed at them hitherto,

BEST THINGS ARE HEALTH, BEAUTY, AND RICHES. I think you must have heard at banquets men singing that distich, in which the singers run over the various blessings of life,-how the best is health the second is beauty, and the third, as the author of the song says, is to be rich with inno-now torment his spirit, lest they should, after all,

cence.

PUNISHMENT.

be true. And the man, either from the weakness incident to old age, or because they are seen closer to him, looks at them with more attention. Then

Punishment brings wisdom, makes men more he becomes full of suspicions and dread, ponders just, and is the healing art of wickedness.

So Hebrews (xii. 5)—" My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him."

THE ADVANTAGE OF CHASTISEMENT.

and considers in what he has done any one wrong Finding in his life many wicked and base deeds, and waking up from his sleep, like a child, he is overwhelmed with terror, and lives on with sad thoughts of the future. But to the man who is Those who derive advantage, suffering punish-conscious of no wicked deed, there is sweet and ment both from gods and men, are such as have pleasant hope, the solace of old age, as Pindar been guilty of offences that can be cured; yet it is through pain and torments that advantage is derived both here and in Hades; for injustice cannot be got rid of in any other way.

says.

HATE NOT YOUR ENEMY.

If, then, any man says that it is right to give So Psalms (ciii. 3)" Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who every one his due, and therefore thinks within his healeth all thy diseases."

TO BE, AND NOT TO SEEM GOOD.

own mind that injury is due from a just man his enemies, but kindness to his friends, he was not wise who said so, for he spoke not the truth;

Not merely to appear good ought man to care, for in no case has it appeared to be just to injure but to be so both privately and publicly.

any one.