and her dwelling-place is very nigh; but in front of virtue the
immortal gods have placed toil and sweat, long is the path and
steep that leads to her, and rugged at the first, but when the
summit of the pass is reached, then for all its roughness the path
grows easy.

(23) Cf. above, I. vi. 8.

(24) Or, "in admiration of themselves, the praise and envy of the
world at large."

(25) See Hippocrates, "V. Med." 18.

(26) Hesiod, "Works and Days," 285. See Plat. "Prot." 340 C; "Rep."
ii. 364 D; "Laws," iv. 718 E.

And Ephicharmus (27) bears his testimony when he says:

The gods sell us all good things in return for our labours.

(27) Epicharmus of Cos, the chief comic poet among the Dorians, fl.
500 B.C. Cf. Plat. "Theaet." 152 E, "the prince of comedy";
"Gorg." 505 D.

And again in another passage he exclaims:

Set not thine heart on soft things, thou knave, lest thou light
upon the hard.

And that wise man Prodicus (28) delivers himself in a like strain
concerning virtue in that composition of his about Heracles, which
crowds have listened to. (29) This, as far as I can recollect it, is the
substance at least of what he says:

(28) Prodicus of Ceos. See Plat. "Men." 24; "Cratyl." 1; Philostr.
"Vit. Soph." i. 12.

(29) Or, "which he is fond of reciting as a specimen of style." The
title of the {epideixis} was {'Orai} according to Suidas,
{Prodikos}.

"When Heracles was emerging from boyhood into the bloom of youth, having
reached that season in which the young man, now standing upon the verge
of independence, shows plainly whether he will enter upon the path of
virtue or of vice, he went forth into a quiet place, and sat debating
with himself which of those two paths he should pursue; and as he there
sat musing, there appeared to him two women of great stature which drew
nigh to him. The one was fair to look upon, frank and free by gift
of nature, (30) her limbs adorned with purity and her eyes with
bashfulness; sobriety set the rhythm of her gait, and she was clad in
white apparel. The other was of a different type; the fleshy softness
of her limbs betrayed her nurture, while the complexion of her skin was
embellished that she might appear whiter and rosier than she really
was, and her figure that she might seem taller than nature made her;
she stared with wide-open eyes, and the raiment wherewith she was clad
served but to reveal the rip