ciousness of becoming better oneself, of acquiring better and better
friends? That, for my part, is the belief I continue to cherish.

(4) "The business of a shipowner or skipper."

Again, if it be a question of helping one's friends or country, which of
the two will have the larger leisure to devote to these objects--he who
leads the life which I lead to-day, or he who lives in the style which
you deem so fortunate? Which of the two will adopt a soldier's life more
easily--the man who cannot get on without expensive living, or he to
whom whatever comes to hand suffices? Which will be the readier to
capitulate and cry "mercy" in a siege--the man of elaborate wants, or
he who can get along happily with the readiest things to hand? You,
Antiphon, would seem to suggest that happiness consists of luxury and
extravagance; I hold a different creed. To have no wants at all is, to
my mind, an attribute of Godhead; (5) to have as few wants as possible
the nearest approach to Godhead; and as that which is divine is
mightiest, so that is next mightiest which comes closest to the divine.

(5) Cf. Aristot. "Eth. N." x. viii. 1.

Returning to the charge at another time, this same Antiphon engaged
Socrates in conversation thus.

Ant. Socrates, for my part, I believe you to be a good and upright man;
but for your wisdom I cannot say much. I fancy you would hardly dispute
the verdict yourself, since, as I remark, you do not ask a money payment
for your society; and yet if it were your cloak now, or your house, or
any other of your possessions, you would set some value upon it, and
never dream, I will not say of parting with it gratis, but of exchanging
it for less than its worth. A plain proof, to my mind, that if you
thought your society worth anything, you would ask for it not less than
its equivalent in gold. (6) Hence the conclusion to which I have come,
as already stated: good and upright you may be, since you do not
cheat people from pure selfishness; but wise you cannot be, since your
knowledge is not worth a cent.

(6) Or rather "money," lit. "silver."

To this onslaught Socrates: Antiphon, it is a tenet which we cling to
that beauty and wisdom have this in common, that there is a fair way and
a foul way in which to dispose of them. The vendor of beauty purchases
an evil name, but supposing the same person have discerned a soul of
beauty in his lover and makes that man his friend, we regard his choice
as sensible. (7)