The first and most necessary topic in philosophy is the practical application of principles, as, _We ought not to lie_; the second is that of demonstrations as, _Why it is that we ought not to lie_; the third, that which gives strength and logical connection to the other two, as, _Why this is a demonstration_. For what is demonstration? What is a consequence? What a contradiction? What truth? What falsehood? The third point is then necessary on account of the second; and the second on account of the first. But the most necessary, and that whereon we ought to rest, is the first. But we do just the contrary. For we spend all our time on the third point and employ all our diligence about that, and entirely neglect the first. Therefore, at the same time that we lie, we are very ready to show how it is demonstrated that lying is wrong. Upon all occasions we ought to have these maxims ready at hand: Conduct me, Zeus, and thou, O Destiny, Wherever your decrees have fixed my lot. I follow cheerfully; and, did I not, Wicked and wretched, I must follow still.[8] Who’er yields properly to Fate is deemed Wise among men, and knows the laws of Heaven.[9] And this third: “O Crito, if it thus pleases the gods, thus let it be.”[10] “Anytus and Melitus may kill me indeed; but hurt me they cannot.”[11] Footnotes [1]Happiness, the effect of virtue, is the mark which God has set up for us to aim at. Our missing it is no work of His; nor so properly anything real, as a mere negative and failure of our own. [2][Chapter XV of the third book of the _Discourses_, which, with the exception of some very trifling differences, is the same as chapter XXIX of the _Enchiridion_.—Ed.] [3]Euphrates was a philosopher of Syria, whose character is described, with the highest encomiums, by Pliny the Younger, _Letters_ I. 10. [4][The two inimical sons of Oedipus, who killed each other in battle.—Ed.] [5][This refers to an anecdote given in full by Simplicius, in his commentary on this passage, of a man assaulted and killed on his way to consult the oracle, while his companion, deserting him, took refuge in the temple till cast out by the Deity.—Tr.] [6][Reference is to Zeno of Cyprus (335-263 B.C.), the founder of the Stoic school.—Ed.] [7][Chrysippus (_c._ 280-207 B.C.) was a Stoic philosopher who became head of the Stoa after Cleanthes. His works, which are lost, were most influential and were generally accepted as the authoritative interpretation of orthodox Stoic philosophy.—Ed.] [8]Cleanthes, in Diogenes Laertius, quoted also by Seneca, _Epistle_ 107. [9]Euripides, Fragments. [10]Plato, _Crito_, Chap. XVII. [11]Plato, _Apology_, Chap. XVIII. The Library of Liberal Arts