ther heroes; and whoever has caught
any resemblance of them, not estimating it by common fame, but by the real
applause of good men, may with confidence, when the occasion requires,
approach death, on which we are sure that even if the chief good is not
continued, at least no evil is. Such a man would even wish to die, whilst
in prosperity; for all the favours that could be heaped on him, would not
be so agreeable to him, as the loss of them would be painful. That speech
of the Lacedaemonian seems to have the same meaning, who, when Diagoras the
Rhodian, who had himself been a conqueror at the Olympic games, saw two of
his own sons conquerors there on the same day, approached the old man, and
congratulating him, said, "You should die now, Diagoras, for no greater
happiness can possibly await you." The Greeks look on these as great
things; perhaps they think too highly of them, or rather they did so then.
And so he who said this to Diagoras, looking on it as something very
glorious, that three men out of one family should have been conquerors
there, thought it could answer no purpose to him, to continue any longer
in life, where he could only be exposed to a reverse of fortune.

I might have given you a sufficient answer, as it seems to me, on this
point, in a few words, as you had allowed the dead were not exposed to any
positive evil; but I have spoken at greater length on the subject for this
reason, because this is our greatest consolation in the losing and
bewailing of our friends. For we ought to bear with moderation any grief
which arises from ourselves, or is endured on our own account, lest we
should seem to be too much influenced by self-love. But should we suspect
our departed friends to be under those evils, which they are generally
imagined to be and to be sensible of them, then such a suspicion would
give us intolerable pain; and accordingly I wished, for my own sake, to
pluck up this opinion by the roots, and on that account I have been
perhaps somewhat more prolix than was necessary.

XLVII. _A._ More prolix than was necessary? certainly not, in my opinion.
For I was induced by the former part of your speech, to wish to die; but,
by the latter, sometimes not to be unwilling, and at others to be wholly
indifferent about it. But the effect of your whole argument is, that I am
convinced that death ought not to be classed among the evils.

_M._ Do you, then, expect that I am to give you a regular peroration,