Pagina 442 di 734

("There must be something in what most folks say,") only as one

and the same nature or state neither is nor is thought to be the

best, so neither do all pursue the same Pleasure, Pleasure

nevertheless all do. Nay further, what they pursue is, perhaps,

not what they think nor what they would say they pursue, but

really one and the same: for in all there is some instinct above

themselves. But the bodily Pleasures have received the name

exclusively, because theirs is the most frequent form and that

which is universally partaken of; and so, because to many these

alone are known they believe them to be the only ones which

exist.

It is plain too that, unless Pleasure and its active working be

good, it will not be true that the happy man's life embodies

Pleasure: for why will he want it on the supposition that it is

not good and that he can live even with Pain? because, assuming

that Pleasure is not good, then Pain is neither evil nor good,

and so why should he avoid it?