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Good news, he said.

Truly, I said, we are stupid fellows.

Why so?

Why, my good sir, at the beginning of our enquiry, ages ago,

there was justice tumbling out at our feet, and we never saw her;

nothing could be more ridiculous. Like people who go about

looking for what they have in their hands-that was the way with

us-we looked not at what we were seeking, but at what was far off

in the distance; and therefore, I suppose, we missed her.

What do you mean?

I mean to say that in reality for a long time past we have been

talking of justice, and have failed to recognise her.

I grow impatient at the length of your exordium.

Well then, tell me, I said, whether I am right or not: You

remember the original principle which we were always laying down

at the foundation of the State, that one man should practise one

thing only, the thing to which his nature was best adapted;-now

justice is this principle or a part of it.

Yes, we often said that one man should do one thing only.