[69]
Therefore, that profligate fellow, the
moment that he heard that pleasure was so exceedingly praised by a
philosopher, inquired nothing further; he so excited all his own senses
which could be affected by pleasure, he neighed so on hearing this
statement, that it was plain he thought that he had discovered not a teacher
of virtue, but a pander to his lust. The Greek first began to distinguish
between those precepts, and to separate them from one another, and to show
in what sense they are uttered; but that cripple held the ball, as they say;
he was determined to retain what he had got; he would have witnesses, and
would have all the papers sealed up; he said, that Epicurus was an eloquent
man. And so he is; he says, as I conceive, that he cannot understand the
existence of any good when all the pleasures of the body are taken away. Why
need I say much on such a topic?
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M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge, B. A. London. George Bell & Sons, York Street, Covent Garden. 1891.
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