saying is, and both together fasten upon him and
create irritation and in time drive him to distraction.

PROTARCHUS: That description is very true to nature.

SOCRATES: And in these sorts of mixtures the pleasures and pains are
sometimes equal, and sometimes one or other of them predominates?

PROTARCHUS: True.

SOCRATES: Of cases in which the pain exceeds the pleasure, an example
is afforded by itching, of which we were just now speaking, and by the
tingling which we feel when the boiling and fiery element is within, and
the rubbing and motion only relieves the surface, and does not reach the
parts affected; then if you put them to the fire, and as a last resort
apply cold to them, you may often produce the most intense pleasure or
pain in the inner parts, which contrasts and mingles with the pain or
pleasure, as the case may be, of the outer parts; and this is due to
the forcible separation of what is united, or to the union of what is
separated, and to the juxtaposition of pleasure and pain.

PROTARCHUS: Quite so.

SOCRATES: Sometimes the element of pleasure prevails in a man, and
the slight undercurrent of pain makes him tingle, and causes a gentle
irritation; or again, the excessive infusion of pleasure creates an
excitement in him,--he even leaps for joy, he assumes all sorts of
attitudes, he changes all manner of colours, he gasps for breath, and is
quite amazed, and utters the most irrational exclamations.

PROTARCHUS: Yes, indeed.

SOCRATES: He will say of himself, and others will say of him, that he is
dying with these delights; and the more dissipated and good-for-nothing
he is, the more vehemently he pursues them in every way; of all
pleasures he declares them to be the greatest; and he reckons him who
lives in the most constant enjoyment of them to be the happiest of
mankind.

PROTARCHUS: That, Socrates, is a very true description of the opinions
of the majority about pleasures.

SOCRATES: Yes, Protarchus, quite true of the mixed pleasures, which
arise out of the communion of external and internal sensations in the
body; there are also cases in which the mind contributes an opposite
element to the body, whether of pleasure or pain, and the two unite and
form one mixture. Concerning these I have already remarked, that when a
man is empty he desires to be full, and has pleasure in hope and pain in
vacuity. But now I must further add what I omitted before, that in all
these and similar emotions in