thy mind? No, by the gods; but thou mightest have been
delivered from these things long ago. Only if in truth thou canst be
charged with being rather slow and dull of comprehension, thou must
exert thyself about this also, not neglecting it nor yet taking pleasure
in thy dullness.

6. One man, when he has done a service to another, is ready to set it
down to his account as a favor conferred. Another is not ready to do
this, but still in his own mind he thinks of the man as his debtor, and
he knows what he has done. A third in a manner does not even know what
he has done, but he is like a vine which has produced grapes, and seeks
for nothing more after it has once produced its proper fruit. As a horse
when he has run, a dog when he has tackled the game, a bee when it has
made the honey, so a man when he has done a good act does not call out
for others to come and see, but he goes on to another act, as a vine
goes on to produce again the grapes in season.--Must a man then be one
of these, who in a manner act thus without observing it?--Yes.--But this
very thing is necessary, the observation of what a man is doing: for, it
may be said, it is characteristic of the social animal to perceive that
he is working in a social manner, and indeed to wish that his social
partner also should perceive it.--It is true that thou sayest, but thou
dost not rightly understand what is now said: and for this reason thou
wilt become one of those of whom I spoke before, for even they are
misled by a certain show of reason. But if thou wilt choose to
understand the meaning of what is said, do not fear that for this reason
thou wilt omit any social act.

7. A prayer of the Athenians: Rain, rain, O dear Zeus, down on the
ploughed fields of the Athenians and on the plains.--In truth we ought
not to pray at all, or we ought to pray in this simple and noble
fashion.

8. Just as we must understand when it is said, That Aesculapius
prescribed to this man horse-exercise, or bathing in cold water, or
going without shoes, so we must understand it when it is said, That the
nature of the universe prescribed to this man disease, or mutilation, or
loss, or anything else of the kind. For in the first case Prescribed
means something like this: he prescribed this for this man as a thing
adapted to procure health; and in the second case it means, That which
happens[A] to [or suits] every man is fixed in a manner for him suitably
to his destiny. For this is w