And these all standing on each side of her,
were her body-guards, while she was in the middle of them.


 And she, having assumed an appearance familiar to
her, began to speak as follows: "I have seen pleasure, that
worker of wondrous tricks, that conjuror and teller of fables,
dressed in a somewhat tragic style, and constantly approaching
you in a delicate manner; so that (for I myself do by nature


 



detest everything that is evil) I feared lest, without being
aware of it, you might be deceived, and might consent to the
very greatest of evils as if they were exceeding good; and
therefore I have thought fit to declare to you with all sincerity
what really belongs to that woman, in order that you might
not reject anything advantageous to you out of ignorance, and
so proceed unintentionally on the road of transgression and
unhappiness.


 "Know, then, that the very dress in which she appear
to you wholly belongs to some one else; for of ten things
which contribute to genuine beauty, not one is ever brought
forward as being derived from or as belonging to her. But she
is hung round with nets and snares with which to catch you
with a bastard and adulterated beauty, which you, beholding
beforehand, will, if you are wise, take care that her pursuit
shall be unprofitable to her; for when she appears she
conciliates your eyes, and when she speaks she wins over your
ears; and by these, and by all other parts of her conduct, she
is well calculated by nature to injure your soul, which is the
most valuable of all your possessions; and all the different
circumstances belonging to her, which were likely to be
attractive to you if you heard of them, she enumerated; but all
those which would not have been alluring she suppressed and
made no mention of, but, meaning mischief to you, concealed
utterly, as she very naturally expected that no one would
readily agree with them."


 But I, stripping off all her disguises, will reveal her to you;
and I will not myself imitate the ways of pleasure, so as to
show you nothing in me but what is alluring, and to conceal and
to keep out of sight everything that has any unpleasantness or
harshness in it; but, on the contrary, I will say nothing about
those matters which do of themselves give delight and pleasure,
well knowing that such things will of themselves find a voice
by their effects; but I will fully detail to you all that is painful
and difficult to be borne about me, putting them plainly forward
with their naked appellation, so that their nature may be visible
and plain even to those whose sight is somewhat dim. For
the things which, when offered by me, appear to be the greatest
of my evils, will in effect be found to be more honourable and
more beneficial to the users than the greatest blessings
bestowed by pleasure. But, before I begin to speak of what I


 



myself have to give, I will mention all that may be mentioned
of those things which are kept in the back ground by her.


 For she, when she spoke of what she had stored up in her
magazines, such as colours, sounds, flavours, smells, distinctive
qualities, powers relating to touch and to every one of the
outward senses, and having softened them all by the allurements
which she offered to the hearing, made no mention at all of
those other qualities which are her misfortunes and diseases;
which, however, you will of necessity experience if you choose
those pleasures which she offers; that so, being borne aloft by
the breeze of some advantage, you may be taken in her toils.