" said Aristippus, "that
nourishment is the foundation of our life, for a man must soon die if he
be not nourished." "You would accustom both of them," said Socrates, "to
eat and drink at a certain hour?" "It is likely I should?" "But which
of the two," said Socrates, "would you teach to leave eating before he
was satisfied, to go about some earnest business?" "Him, without doubt,"
answered Aristippus, "whom I intended to render capable to govern, to the
end that under him the affairs of the Republic might not suffer by
delay." "Which of the two," continued Socrates, "would you teach to
abstain from drinking when he was thirsty, to sleep but little, to go
late to bed, to rise early, to watch whole nights, to live chastely, to
get the better of his favourite inclinations, and not to avoid fatigues,
but expose himself freely to them?" "The same still," replied
Aristippus. "And if there be any art that teaches to overcome our
enemies, to which of the two is it rather reasonable to teach it?" "To
him to," said Aristippus, "for without that art all the rest would avail
him nothing." "I believe," said Socrates, "that a man, who has been
educated in this manner, would not suffer himself to be so easily
surprised by his enemies as the most part of animals do. For some perish
by their gluttony, as those whom we allure with a bait, or catch by
offering them to drink, and who fall into the snares, notwithstanding
their fears and distrust. Others perish through their lasciviousness, as
quails and partridges, who suffer themselves to be decoyed by the
counterfeit voice of their females, and blindly following the amorous
warmth that transports them, fall miserably into the nets." "You say
true," said Aristippus. "Well, then," pursued Socrates, "is it not
scandalous for a man to be taken in the same snares with irrational
animals? And does not this happen to adulterers, who skulk and hide
themselves in the chambers and closets of married women, though they know
they run a very great risk, and that the laws are very strict and
rigorous against those crimes? They know themselves to be watched, and
that, if they are taken, they shall not be let go with impunity. In a
word, they see punishment and infamy hanging over the heads of criminals
like themselves. Besides, they are not ignorant, that there are a
thousand honourable diversions to deliver them from those infamous
passions, and yet they run hand over head into the mid