Kitap 4
1
But what say you, philosopher? A tyrant calls upon you to speak something unbecoming you. Will you say it, or will you not? Stay, let me consider. Would you consider now? And what did you use to consider when you were in the schools? Did you not study what things were good and evil, and what indifferent? did. Well, and what were the opinions which pleased us? That just and fair actions were good; unjust and base ones, evil. Is living a good? No. Dying, an evil? No. A prison? No. And what did a mean and dishonest speech, the betraying a friend, or the flattering a tyrant, appear to us? Evils. Why, then, are you still considering, and have not already considered and come to a resolution? For what sort of a consideration is this: Whether I ought, when it is in my power, to procure myself the greatest good, instead of procuring myself the greatest evil. A fine and necessary consideration, truly, and deserving mighty deliberation! Why do you trifle with us, man? No one ever needed to consider any such point; nor, if you really imagined things fair and honest to be good, things base and dishonest to be evil, and all other things indifferent, would you ever be in such a perplexity as this, or near it; but you would presently be able to distinguish by your understanding as you do by your sight. For do you ever have to consider whether black is white, or whether light is heavy? Do you not follow the plain evidence of your senses? Why, then, do you say that you are now considering whether things indifferent are to be avoided, rather than evils? The truth is, you have no principles; for things indifferent do not impress you as such, but as the greatest evils; and these last, on the other hand, as things of no importance.
