2. For enjoyment is connected, in the first instance, with appetite; and in the second place, with pleasure. And Sophocles the poet, being a man fond of enjoyment, in order to avoid accusing old age, attributed his impotence in amatory pleasures to his temperance, saying that he was glad to be released from them as from some hard master. But I say that the Judgment of Paris is a tale originally invented by the ancients, as a comparison between pleasure and virtue. Accordingly, when Venus, that is to say pleasure, was preferred, everything was thrown into confusion. And that excellent writer Xenophon seems to me to have invented his fable about Hercules and Virtue on the same principle. For according to Empedocles— Mars was no god to them, nor gallant War, Nor Jupiter the king, nor Saturn old, Nor Neptune; Venus was their only queen. Her they propitiate and duly worship With pious images, with beauteous figures Skilfully carved; with fragrant incenses, And holy offerings of unmix'd myrrh, And sweetly-smelling frankincense; and many A pure libation of fresh golden honey They pour'd along the floor. [Sidenote: LOVE OF PLEASURE.] And Menander, in his Harp-player, speaking of some one who was very fond of music, says— He was to music much devoted, and Sought ever pleasing sounds to gratify His delicate taste. 3. And yet some people say that the desire of pleasure is a natural desire, as may be proved by all animals becoming enslaved by it; as if cowardice, and fear, and all sorts of other passions were not also common to all animals, and yet these are rejected by all who use their reason. Accordingly, to be very eager in the pursuit of pleasure is to go hunting for pain. On which account Homer, wishing to represent pleasure in an odious light, says that the greatest of the gods receive no advantage from their power, but are even much injured by it, if they will allow themselves to be hurried away by the pursuit of pleasure. For all the anxiety which Jupiter, when awake, lavished on the Trojans, was lost in open day, when he abandoned himself to pleasure. And Mars, who was a most valiant deity, was put in chains by Vulcan, who was very powerless, and incurred great disgrace and punishment, when he had given himself up to irrational love; and therefore he says to the Gods, when they came to see him in fetters— Behold, on wrong Swift vengeance waits, and art subdues the strong. Dwells there a god on all th' Olympian brow More swift than Mars, and more than Vulcan slow? Yet Vulcan conquers, and the God of arms Must pay the penalty for lawless charms.[1]