ed by Oroetes, the
lieutenant of Darius. But he had great evils inflicted on him. Who denies
that?--but those evils were overcome by the greatness of his virtue.

XXXI. Do you not grant even this to the Peripatetics, that they may say
that the life of all good, that is, of all wise men, and of men adorned
with every virtue, has in all its parts more good than evil? Who says
this? The Stoics may say so. By no means. But do not those very men who
measure everything by pleasure and pain, say loudly that the wise man has
always more things which he likes than dislikes? When, then, these men
attribute so much to virtue, who confess that they would not even lift a
finger for the sake of virtue, if it did not bring pleasure with it, what
ought we to do, who say that ever so inconsiderable an excellence of mind
is so superior to all the goods of the body, that they are put wholly out
of sight by it? For who is there who can venture to say, that it can
happen to a wise man (even if such a thing were possible) to discard
virtue for ever, with a view of being released from all pain? Who of our
school, who are not ashamed to call those things evils which the Stoics
call only bitter, would say that it was better to do anything
dishonourably with pleasure than honourably with pain? To us, indeed,
Dionysius of Heraclea appears to have deserted the Stoics in a shameful
manner, on account of the pain of his eyes; as if he had learnt from Zeno
not to be in pain when he was in pain. He had heard, but he had not
learnt, that it was not an evil, because it was not dishonourable, and
because it might be borne by a man. If he had been a Peripatetic he would,
I suppose, have adhered to his opinion, since they say that pain is an
evil. And with respect to bearing its bitterness, they give the same
precepts as the Stoics; and, indeed, your friend Arcesilas, although he
was a rather pertinacious arguer, was still on our side; for he was a
pupil of Polemo; and when he was suffering under the pain of the gout, and
Carneades, a most intimate friend of Epicurus, had come to see him, and
was going away very melancholy, said, "Stay awhile, I entreat you, friend
Carneades; for the pain does not reach here," showing his feet and his
breast. Still he would have preferred being out of pain.

XXXII. This, then, is our doctrine, which appears to you to be
inconsistent, since, by reason of a certain heavenly, divine, and
inexpressible excellence of virtue, so