and dragged to prison by stronger men, and that anyone should have given
hemlock to the poor body of Socrates, and that it should breathe out the
life. Do these things seem strange, do they seem unjust, do you on
account of these things blame God? Had Socrates then no equivalent for
these things? Where then for him was the nature of good? Whom shall we
listen to, you or him? And what does Socrates say? "Anytus and Melitus
can kill me, but they cannot hurt me." And further, he says, "If it so
pleases God, so let it be."

But show me that he who has the inferior principles overpowers him who
is superior in principles. You will never show this, nor come near
showing it; for this is the law of nature and of God that the superior
shall always overpower the inferior. In what? In that in which it is
superior. One body is stronger than another: many are stronger than one:
the thief is stronger than he who is not a thief. This is the reason why
I also lost my lamp, because in wakefulness the thief was superior to
me. But the man bought the lamp at this price: for a lamp he became a
thief, a faithless fellow, and like a wild beast. This seemed to him a
good bargain. Be it so. But a man has seized me by the cloak, and is
drawing me to the public place: then others bawl out, Philosopher, what
has been the use of your opinions? see, you are dragged to prison, you
are going to be beheaded. And what system of philosophy ([Greek:
eisagogaen)] could I have made so that, if a stronger man should have
laid hold of my cloak, I should not be dragged off; that if ten men
should have laid hold of me and cast me into prison, I should not be
cast in? Have I learned nothing else then? I have learned to see that
everything which happens, if it be independent of my will, is nothing to
me. I may ask, if you have not gained by this. Why then do you seek
advantage in anything else than in that in which you have learned that
advantage is?

Will you not leave the small arguments ([Greek: logaria]) about these
matters to others, to lazy fellows, that they may sit in a corner and
receive their sorry pay, or grumble that no one gives them anything; and
will you not come forward and make use of what you have learned? For it
is not these small arguments that are wanted now; the writings of the
Stoics are full of them. What then is the thing which is wanted? A man
who shall apply them, one who by his acts shall bear testimony to his
words. Assume, I intre