UNJUST DISCOURSE. Next you condemn the habit of frequenting the market-place, while I approve this. If it were wrong Homer would never have made Nestor[559] speak in public as well as all his wise heroes. As for the art of speaking, he tells you, young men should not practise it; I hold the contrary. Furthermore he preaches chastity to them. Both precepts are equally harmful. Have you ever seen chastity of any use to anyone? Answer and try to confute me. JUST DISCOURSE. To many; for instance, Peleus won a sword thereby.[560] UNJUST DISCOURSE. A sword! Ah! what a fine present to make him! Poor wretch! Hyperbolus, the lamp-seller, thanks to his villainy, has gained more than ... I do not know how many talents, but certainly no sword. JUST DISCOURSE. Peleus owed it to his chastity that he became the husband of Thetis.[561] UNJUST DISCOURSE. ... who left him in the lurch, for he was not the most ardent; in those nocturnal sports between two sheets, which so please women, he possessed but little merit. Get you gone, you are but an old fool. But you, young man, just consider a little what this temperance means and the delights of which it deprives you--young fellows, women, play, dainty dishes, wine, boisterous laughter. And what is life worth without these? Then, if you happen to commit one of these faults inherent in human weakness, some seduction or adultery, and you are caught in the act, you are lost, if you cannot speak. But follow my teaching and you will be able to satisfy your passions, to dance, to laugh, to blush at nothing. Are you surprised in adultery? Then up and tell the husband you are not guilty, and recall to him the example of Zeus, who allowed himself to be conquered by love and by women. Being but a mortal, can you be stronger than a god? JUST DISCOURSE. And if your pupil gets impaled, his hairs plucked out, and he is seared with a hot ember,[562] how are you going to prove to him that he is not a filthy debauchee? UNJUST DISCOURSE. And wherein lies the harm of being so? JUST DISCOURSE. Is there anything worse than to have such a character? UNJUST DISCOURSE. Now what will you say, if I beat you even on this point? JUST DISCOURSE. I should certainly have to be silent then. UNJUST DISCOURSE. Well then, reply! Our advocates, what are they? JUST DISCOURSE. Low scum. UNJUST DISCOURSE. Nothing is more true. And our tragic poets? JUST DISCOURSE. Low scum. UNJUST DISCOURSE. Well said again. And our demagogues? JUST DISCOURSE. Low scum. UNJUST DISCOURSE. You admit that you have spoken nonsense. And the spectators, what are they for the most part? Look at them. JUST DISCOURSE. I am looking at them. UNJUST DISCOURSE. Well! What do you see? JUST DISCOURSE. By the gods, they are nearly all low scum. See, this one I know to be such and that one and that other with the long hair. UNJUST DISCOURSE. What have you to say, then?