For two women live with each individual among us,
both unfriendly and hostile to one another, filling the whole
abode of the soul with envy, and jealousy, and contention;
of these we love the one looking upon her as being mild and
tractable, and very dear to and very closely connected with
ourselves, and she is called pleasure; but the other we detest,
deeming her unmanageable, savage, fierce, and most
completely hostile, and her name is virtue. Accordingly, the one
comes to us luxuriously dressed in the guise of a harlot and
prostitute, with mincing steps, rolling her eyes about with
excessive licentiousness and desire, by which baits she
entraps the souls of the young, looking about with a mixture
of boldness and impudence, holding up her head, and raising
herself above her natural height, fawning and giggling, having
the hair of her head dressed with most superfluous
elaborateness, having her eyes pencilled, her eyebrows covered over,
using incessant warm baths, painted with a fictitious colour,
exquisitely dressed with costly garments, richly embroidered,
adorned with armlets, and bracelets, and necklaces, and all
other ornaments which can be made of gold, and precious
stones, and all kinds of female decorations; loosely girdled,
breathing of most fragrant perfumes, thinking the whole
market her home; a marvel to be seen in the public roads,
out of the scarcity of any genuine beauty, pursuing a bastard
elegance.


 And with her there walk as her most intimate friends, bold
cunning, and rashness, and flattery, and trick, and deceit,
and false speaking, and false opinion, and impiety, and
injustice, and intemperance, in the middle of which she
advances like the leader of the company, and marshalling her
band, speaks thus to her mind, "My good friend, the treasuries
of all human blessings and stores of happiness are in my
power (for as for divine blessings they are all in heaven), and
besides them you will find nothing.


 



 "If you will dwell with me I will open to you all these
treasures, and will bestow on you for ever the most
unsparing use and enjoyment of them. And I desire to inform you
beforehand of the multitude of good things which I have
stored up there, that if you are so inclined you may of your
own accord live happily, and that if you refuse you may not
decline them out of ignorance. "There is in my power perfect relaxation, and exemption
from all fear, and tranquillity, and a complete absence of all
care and labour, and an abundant variety of colours, and most
melodious intonations of the voice, and all kinds of costly
viands and drinks, and plentiful varieties of the sweetest
scents, and continual loves, and sports such as require no
teacher, and connections which will never be inquired into,
and speeches which will have no shade of reproof in them, and
actions free from all necessity of being accounted for, and a
life free from anxiety, and soft sleep, and abundance without
any feeling of satiety. If therefore you are inclined to take up
your abode with me, I will give you what is suitable for you of
all the things which I have prepared, considering carefully by
eating or drinking what you may be most thoroughly cheered,
or by what sights addressed to your eyes, or by what sounds
visiting your ears, or by the smell of what fragrant odours you
may be most delighted.


"And nothing which you can desire shall be wanting to you;
for you shall find what is produced anew more abundant than
what is expended and consumed; for in the treasuries which I have mentioned there are ever-flourishing plants, blossoming
and producing an incessant series of fruits, so that the beauty
of those in their prime and fresh appearing overtakes and
overshadows those which are already fully ripe; and no war,
either domestic or foreign, has ever cut down these plants, but
from the very day that the earth first received them it has
cherished them like a faithful nurse, sending down into its
lowest depths the roots to act like the strongest branches, and
above ground extending its trunk as high as heaven, and
putting forth branches which are by analogy imitations of the
hand and feet which we see in animals, and leaves which
correspond to the hair. I have prepared and caused that to
blossom which shall be at the same time a covering and an
ornament to you; and besides all this, I have provided fruit


 



for the sake of which the branches and leaves are originally
produced."