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For which I am indebted to you, I said, now that you have grown

gentle towards me and have left off scolding. Nevertheless, I

have not been well entertained; but that was my own fault and not

yours. As an epicure snatches a taste of every dish which is

successively brought to table, he not having allowed himself time

to enjoy the one before, so have I gone from one subject to

another without having discovered what I sought at first, the

nature of justice. I left that enquiry and turned away to

consider whether justice is virtue and wisdom or evil and folly;

and when there arose a further question about the comparative

advantages of justice and injustice, I could not refrain from

passing on to that. And the result of the whole discussion has

been that I know nothing at all. For I know not what justice is,

and therefore I am not likely to know whether it is or is not a

virtue, nor can I say whether the just man is happy or unhappy.

BOOK II.