I have gauged your nature; wherefore I
entertain good hope that if you choose the path which leads to me, you
shall greatly bestir yourself to be the doer of many a doughty deed of
noble emprise; and that I too shall be held in even higher honour for
your sake, lit with the lustre shed by valorous deeds. (35) I will not
cheat you with preludings of pleasure, (36) but I will relate to you the
things that are according to the ordinances of God in very truth. Know
then that among things that are lovely and of good report, not one have
the gods bestowed upon mortal men apart from toil and pains. Would
you obtain the favour of the gods, then must you pay these same gods
service; would you be loved by your friends, you must benefit these
friends; do you desire to be honoured by the state, you must give the
state your aid; do you claim admiration for your virtue from all Hellas,
you must strive to do some good to Hellas; do you wish earth to yield
her fruits to you abundantly, to earth must you pay your court; do you
seek to amass riches from your flocks and herds, on them must you bestow
your labour; or is it your ambition to be potent as a warrior, able to
save your friends and to subdue your foes, then must you learn the arts
of war from those who have the knowledge, and practise their application
in the field when learned; or would you e'en be powerful of limb and
body, then must you habituate limbs and body to obey the mind, and
exercise yourself with toil and sweat.'

(35) Or, "bathed in the splendour of thy virtues."

(36) Or, "honeyed overtures of pleasure."

"At this point, (as Prodicus relates) Vice broke in exclaiming: 'See
you, Heracles, how hard and long the road is by which yonder woman would
escort you to her festal joys. (37) But I will guide you by a short and
easy road to happiness.'

(37) Hesiod, "Theog." 909; Milton, "L'Allegro," 12.

"Then spoke Virtue: 'Nay, wretched one, what good thing hast thou? or
what sweet thing art thou acquainted with--that wilt stir neither hand
nor foot to gain it? Thou, that mayest not even await the desire of
pleasure, but, or ever that desire springs up, art already satiated;
eating before thou hungerest, and drinking before thou thirsteth; who to
eke out an appetite must invent an army of cooks and confectioners; and
to whet thy thirst must lay down costliest wines, and run up and down
in search of ice in summer-time; to help thy slumbers soft coverlets
suffice not,