icurus himself would have restored it;
just as Sextus Peducaeus the son of Sextus did; he who has left behind him
a son, our intimate friend, a living image of his own virtue and honesty,
a learned person, and the most virtuous and upright of all men; for he,
though no one was aware that he had been entreated by Caius Plotius, a
Roman knight of high character and great fortune, of the district of
Nursia, to do so, came of his own accord to his widow, and, though she had
no notion of the fact, detailed to her the commission which he had
received from her husband, and made over the inheritance to her. But I ask
you (since you would certainly have acted in the same manner yourself), do
you not understand that the power of nature is all the greater, inasmuch
as you yourselves, who refer everything to your own advantage, and, as you
yourselves say, to pleasure, still perform actions from which it is
evident that you are guided not by pleasure, but by principles of duty,
and that your own upright nature has more influence over you than any
vicious reasoning?

If you knew, says Carneades, that a snake was lying hid in any place, and
that some one was going ignorantly to sit down upon it whose death would
bring you some advantage, you would be acting wickedly if you did not warn
him not to sit down there; and yet you could not be punished, for who
could possibly convict you? However, I am dwelling too long on this point;
for it is evident, unless equity, good faith and justice proceed from
nature, and if all these things are referred to advantage, that a good man
cannot possibly be found. But on this subject we have put a sufficient
number of arguments into the mouth of Laelius, in our books on a Republic.

XIX. Now apply the same arguments to modesty, or temperance, which is a
moderation of the appetites, in subordination to reason. Can we say that a
man pays sufficient regard to the dictates of modesty, who indulges his
lusts in such a manner as to have no witnesses of his conduct? or is there
anything which is intrinsically flagitious, even if no loss of reputation
ensues? What do brave men do? Do they enter into an exact calculation of
pleasure, and so enter the battle, and shed their blood for their country?
or are they excited rather by a certain ardour and impetuosity of courage?
Do you think, O Torquatus, that that imperious ancestor of yours, if he
could hear what we are now saying, would rather listen to your sentiment