ee what AEschylus says, who was not only a poet, but a
Pythagorean philosopher, also, for that is the account which you have
received of him; how doth he make Prometheus bear the pain he suffered for
the Lemnian theft, when he clandestinely stole away the celestial fire,
and bestowed it on men, and was severely punished by Jupiter for the
theft. Fastened to mount Caucasus, he speaks thus:

Thou heav'n-born race of Titans here fast bound,
Behold thy brother! As the sailors sound
With care the bottom, and their ships confine
To some safe shore, with anchor and with line:
So, by Jove's dread decree the god of fire
Confines me here the victim of Jove's ire.
With baneful art his dire machine he shapes;
From such a god what mortal e'er escapes?
When each third day shall triumph o'er the night,
Then doth the vulture, with his talons light,
Seize on my entrails; which, in rav'nous guise,
He preys on! then with wing extended flies
Aloft, and brushes with his plumes the gore:
But when dire Jove my liver doth restore,
Back he returns impetuous to his prey,
Clapping his wings, he cuts th' ethereal way.
Thus do I nourish with my blood this pest,
Confined my arms, unable to contest;
Entreating only, that in pity Jove
Would take my life, and this cursed plague remove.
But endless ages past, unheard my moan,
Sooner shall drops dissolve this very stone.(81)

And therefore it scarcely seems possible to avoid calling a man who is
suffering, miserable; and if he is miserable, then pain is an evil.

XI. _A._ Hitherto you are on my side; I will see to that by-and-by; and,
in the meanwhile, whence are those verses? I do not remember them.

_M._ I will inform you, for you are in the right to ask. Do you see that I
have much leisure?

_A._ What then?

_M._ I imagine, when you were at Athens, you attended frequently at the
schools of the philosophers.

_A._ Yes, and with great pleasure.

_M._ You observed then, that, though none of them at that time were very
eloquent, yet they used to mix verses with their harangues.

_A._ Yes, and particularly Dionysius, the Stoic, used to employ a great
many.

_M._ You say right; but they were quoted without any appropriateness or
elegance. But our friend Philo used to give a few select lines and well
adapted; and in imitation of him, ever since I took a fancy to this kind
of elderly declamation, I ha