Marvel not then
at the love which all men have of their offspring; for that universal love
and interest is for the sake of immortality.'
I was astonished at her words, and said: 'Is this really true, O thou wise
Diotima?' And she answered with all the authority of an accomplished
sophist: 'Of that, Socrates, you may be assured;--think only of the
ambition of men, and you will wonder at the senselessness of their ways,
unless you consider how they are stirred by the love of an immortality of
fame. They are ready to run all risks greater far than they would have run
for their children, and to spend money and undergo any sort of toil, and
even to die, for the sake of leaving behind them a name which shall be
eternal. Do you imagine that Alcestis would have died to save Admetus, or
Achilles to avenge Patroclus, or your own Codrus in order to preserve the
kingdom for his sons, if they had not imagined that the memory of their
virtues, which still survives among us, would be immortal? Nay,' she said,
'I am persuaded that all men do all things, and the better they are the
more they do them, in hope of the glorious fame of immortal virtue; for
they desire the immortal.
Pages:
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146