_Her_. Alas, Lycinus, I am only just beginning to get an inkling of the right way. Very far off dwells Virtue, as Hesiod says, and long and steep and rough is the way thither, and travellers must bedew it with sweat. _Ly_. And you have not yet sweated and travelled enough? _Her_. Surely not; else should I have been on the summit, with nothing left between me and bliss; but I am only starting yet, Lycinus. _Ly_. Ah, but Hesiod, your own authority, tells us, Well begun is half done; so we may safely call you half-way by this time. _Her_. Not even there yet; that would indeed have been much. _Ly_. Where _shall_ we put you, then? _Her_. Still on the lower slopes, just making an effort to get on; but it is slippery and rough, and needs a helping hand. _Ly_. Well, your master can give you that; from his station on the summit, like Zeus in Homer with his golden cord, he can let you down his discourse, and therewith haul and heave you up to himself and to the Virtue which he has himself attained this long time. _Her_. The very picture of what he is doing; if it depended on him alone, I should have been hauled up long ago; it is my part that is still wanting. _Ly_. You must be of good cheer and keep a stout heart; gaze at the end of your climb and the Happiness at the top, and remember that he is working with you. What prospect does he hold out? when are you to be up? does he think you will be on the top next year--by the Great Mysteries, or the Panathenaea, say? _Her_. Too soon, Lycinus. _Ly_. By next Olympiad, then? _Her_. All too short a time, even that, for habituation to Virtue and attainment of Happiness. _Ly_. Say two Olympiads, then, for an outside estimate. You may fairly be found guilty of laziness, if you cannot get it done by then; the time would allow you three return trips from the Pillars of Heracles to India, with a margin for exploring the tribes on the way instead of sailing straight and never stopping. How much higher and more slippery, pray, is the peak on which your Virtue dwells than that Aornos crag which Alexander stormed in a few days? _Her_. There is no resemblance, Lycinus; this is not a thing, as you conceive it, to be compassed and captured quickly, though ten thousand Alexanders were to assault it; in that case, the sealers would have been legion. As it is, a good number begin the climb with great confidence, and do make progress, some very little indeed, others more; but when they get half-way, they find endless difficulties and discomforts, lose heart, and turn back, panting, dripping, and exhausted. But those who endure to the end reach the top, to be blessed thenceforth with wondrous days, looking down from their height upon the ants which are the rest of mankind.