ndless care. [77] We must not forget this; we must
train ourselves in virtue from now henceforward with even greater
diligence than before we won this glory, remembering that the more a man
possesses, the more there are to envy him, to plot against him, and
be his enemies, above all when the wealth he wins and the services
he receives are yielded by reluctant hands. But the gods, we need not
doubt, will be upon our side; we have not triumphed through injustice;
we were not the aggressors, it was we who were attacked and we avenged
ourselves. [78] The gods are with us, I say; but next to that supreme
support there is a defence we must provide out of our own powers alone;
and that is the righteous claim to rule our subjects because we are
better men than they. Needs must that we share with our slaves in heat
and cold and food and drink and toil and slumber, and we must strive to
prove our superiority even in such things as these, and first in these.
[79] But in the science of war and the art of it we can admit no share;
those whom we mean to make our labourers and our tributaries can have no
part in that; we will set ourselves to defraud them there; we know that
such exercises are the very tools of freedom and happiness, given by the
gods to mortal men. We have taken their arms away from our slaves,
and we must never lay our own aside, knowing well that the nearer the
sword-hilt the closer the heart's desire. So. Does any man ask himself
what profit he has gained from the fulfilment of his dreams, if he must
still endure, still undergo hunger and thirst and toil and trouble and
care? Let him learn the lesson that a man's enjoyment of all good things
is in exact proportion to the pains he has undergone to gain them.
Toil is the seasoning of delight; without desire and longing, no dish,
however costly, could be sweet. [81] Yes, if some spirit were to set
before us what men desire most, and we were left to add for ourselves
that final touch of sweetness, I say that we could only gain above the
poorest of the poor in so far as we could bring hunger for the most
delicious foods, and thirst for the richest wines, and weariness to make
us woo the deepest slumber. [82] Therefore, we must strain every nerve
to win and to keep manhood and nobleness; so that we may gain that
satisfaction which is the sweetest and the best, and be saved from the
bitterest of sorrows; since to fail of good altogether is not so hard as
to lose the good t