ke a bit of meat, was thrown betwixt
them, see what they say--

_Polynices._ Where wilt thou stand before the towers?

_Eteocles._ Why askest thou this of me?

_Polynices._ I will oppose myself to thee, to slay thee.

_Eteocles._ Me too the desire of this seizes.

Such are the prayers they offer. Be not therefore deceived. No living
being is held by anything so strongly as by its own needs. Whatever
therefore appears a hindrance to these, be it brother or father or
child or mistress or friend, is hated, abhorred, execrated; for by
nature it loves nothing like its own needs. This motive is father and
brother and family and country and God. Whenever, therefore, the gods
seem to hinder this, we vilify even them, and throw down their
statues, and burn their temples; as Alexander ordered the temple of
AEsculapius to be burnt, because he had lost the man he loved.

When, therefore, any one identifies his interest with those of
sanctity, virtue, country, parents, and friends, all these are
secured; but whenever he places his interest in anything else than
friends, country, family and justice, then these all give way, borne
down by the weight of self-interest. For wherever I and mine are
placed, thither must every living being gravitate. If in body, that
will sway us; if in our own will, that; if in externals, these. If,
therefore, I rest my personality in the will, then only shall I be a
friend, a son, or a father, such as I ought. For in that case it will
be for my interest to preserve the faithful, the modest, the patient,
the abstinent, the beneficent character; to keep the relations of life
inviolate. But if I place my personality in one thing, and virtue in
another, the doctrine of Epicurus will stand its ground, that virtue
is nothing, or mere opinion.

From this ignorance it was that the Athenians and Lacedaemonians
quarreled with each other, and the Thebans with both; the Persian king
with Greece, and the Macedonians with both; and now the Romans with
the Getes.[112] And in still remoter times the Trojan war arose from
the same cause. Alexander [Paris] was the guest of Menelaus; and
whoever had seen the mutual proofs of good-will that passed between
them would never have believed that they were not friends. But a
tempting bait, a pretty woman, was thrown in between them; and thence
came war. At present, therefore, when you see that dear brothers have,
in appearance, but one soul, do not immediately pronounce up