206 THE TUSCULAN DISPUTATIONS.throat is being cut, nor the roaring of the sea when they are desirous of rest. And if they should chance to be fond of singing, they ought, in the first place, to consider that many wise men lived happily before music was discov ered ; besides, they may have more pleasure in reading verses than in hearing them sung. Then, as I before re ferred the blind to the pleasures of hearing, so I may the deaf to the pleasures of sight : moreover, whoever can con verse with himself doth not need the conversation of an other. But suppose all these misfortunes to meet in one person : suppose him blind and deaf let him be afflicted with the sharpest pains of body, which, in the first place, generally of themselves make an end of him ; still, should they continue so long, and the pain be so exquisite, that we should be unable to assign any reason for our being so af flicted still, why, good Gods ! should we be under any difficulty? For there is a retreat at hand: death is that retreat a shelter where we shall forever be insensible. Theodorus said to Lysimachus, who threatened him with death, " It is a great matter, indeed, for you to have ac quired the power of a Spanish fly !" When Perses en treated Paulus not to lead him in triumph, " That is a matter which you have in your own power," said Paulus. I said many things about death in our first day's disputa tion, when death was the subject ; and not a little the next day, when I treated of pain ; which things if you recollect, there can be no danger of your looking upon death as un desirable, or, at least, it will not be dreadful. That custom which is common among the Grecians at their banquets should, in my opinion, be observed in life: Drink, say they, or leave the company; and rightly enough; for a guest should either enjoy the pleasure of drinking with others, or else not stay till he meets with affronts from those that are in liquor. Thus, those in juries of fortune which you cannot bear you should flee from. XLI. This is the very same which is said by Epicu rus and Hieronymus. Now, if those philosophers, whose opinion it is that virtue has no power of itself, and who say that the conduct which we denominate honorable and

laudable is really nothing, and is only an empty circuni-