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

BOOK II. xiv. 14-19ought to understand the meaning of terms. So youimply that I do not now understand the meaning ofterms ? You do not. How comes it, then, that Juse them ?Why,, you use them as the illiterate usewritten speech,, as the cattle use external impressionsfor use is one ; thing, and understandinganother. But if you think you understand terms,,propose any term you please, and let us putourselves to the test, to see whether we understandit. But it isunpleasant to be subjected to anexamination when one isalready somewhat advancedin years, and, if it so chance, has served his1three campaigns.I realize that myself. For nowyou have come to me like a man who stood in needof nothing. But what could anyone even imagineyou to be in need of? You are rich, you havechildren, possibly also a wife, and many slaves ;Caesar knows you, you have many friends in Rome,you perform the duties incumbent upon you, andwhen a man has done you either good or harm youknow how to pay him back in kind. What doyou still lack? If, therefore, I show you that whatyou lack are things most necessary and importantfor happiness, and that hitherto you have devotedyour attention to everything but what was appropriatefor you to do, and if 12add the colophon,O"r partly *bv Nafftova Aeyf/, \v yap TU>V /LieyaXtoV TT/S 'Pualthough this can hardly have been more than a guesa on hiepart.2 i f. the ftniwhing touch ;a word (sometimes Derivedfromthe ancient city Colophon because of a tradition that itsefficient cavalry gave the 'finishing stroke in every war inwhich it wan engaged [Strabo, XIV. i, 28], but moreprobably a common noun in the sense of "tip," "summit,"u iiniuhing point,") used to indicate the title and otherexplanatory data when entered at the end of a work.3M