essary to proceed in searching the
garments of the others; for it is not certain that this cup really
belonged to the temple. Might there not be many such golden
vessels?--No! we must go on to every one of them, placing all that we
find in the midst together, and then make our guess which of all those
things may fairly be supposed to be the property of the god. For,
again, this circumstance adds greatly to our difficulty, that without
exception every one searched is found to have something upon him--cup,
or flagon, or diadem, of brass, of silver, [160] of gold: and still,
all the while, it is not ascertained which of all these is the sacred
thing. And you must still hesitate to pronounce any one of them guilty
of the sacrilege--those objects may be their own lawful property: one
cause of all this obscurity being, as I think, that there was no
inscription on the lost cup, if cup it was. Had the name of the god,
or even that of the donor, been upon it, at least we should have had
less trouble, and having detected the inscription, should have ceased
to trouble any one else by our search.

--I have nothing to reply to that.

--Hardly anything plausible. So that if we wish to find who it is has
the sacred vessel, or who will be our best guide to Corinth, we must
needs proceed to every one and examine him with the utmost care,
stripping off his garment and considering him closely. Scarcely, even
so, shall we come at the truth. And if we are to have a credible
adviser regarding this question of philosophy--which of all
philosophies one ought to follow--he alone who is acquainted with the
dicta of every one of them can be such a guide: all others must be
inadequate. I would give no credence to them if they lacked
information as to one only. If somebody introduced a fair person and
told us he was the fairest of all men, we should not believe that,
unless we knew that he had seen all the people in the world. Fair he
might be; but, fairest of all--none could [161] know, unless he had
seen all. And we too desire, not a fair one, but the fairest of all.
Unless we find him, we shall think we have failed. It is no casual
beauty that will content us; what we are seeking after is that supreme
beauty which must of necessity be unique.

--What then is one to do, if the matter be really thus? Perhaps you
know better than I. All I see is that very few of us would have time
to examine all the various sects of philosophy in tu