Volume 1 - Discourses - Books I - II - College of Stoic Philosophers

BOOK I. xsrvin. 4-10a man assents to a falsehood,, rest assured that itwas not his wish to assent to it as false ic for ;everysoul is unwillingly deprived of the truth/* as Platosays 1 It ; only seemed to him that the false was true.Well now, in the sphere of actions what have wecorresponding to the true and the false here inthe sphere of perceptions ? Duty and what is contraryto duty., the profitable and the unprofitable.,that which is appropriate to me and that which isnot appropriate to me, and whatever is similar toCfthese. Cannot a man, then, think that somethingis profitable to him, and yet not choose it?" Hecannot. How of her who says,Now, now, I learn what horrors I intend :But passion overmastereth sober thought ? 2It is because the very gratification of her passion andthe taking of vengeance on her husband she regardsas more profitable than the saving of her children."Yes,, but she is deceived." Show her clearly thatshe is deceived^ and she will not do it ;but solong as you do not show it, what else has she tofollow but that which appears to her to be true ?Nothing. Why, then,, are you angry with her,because the poor woman has gone astray in thegreatest matters, and has been transformed froma human being into a viper?Why do you not, ifanything., rather pity her? As we pity the blindand the halt, why do we not pity those who havebeen made blind and halt in their governingfaculties ?Whoever, then, bears this clearly in mind, thatthe measure of man's every action is the impressionof his senses (now this impression may be formedN 2179