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19“Indeed,” said Cicero, “if you have any argument that will dispel this mist from my soul and restore me to the light of old, I am most ready to listen. For words, as drugs, are of many varieties, and divers potencies, so that it will not be surprising if you should be able to steep in some mixture of philosophy even me, for all my brilliant feats in the senate, the assemblies, and the law-courts.”
2“Come then,” continued Philiscus, “since you are ready to listen, let us consider first whether these conditions that surround you are actually bad, and next in what way we may cure them. First of all, now, I see you are in excellent physical health and strength, which is surely man’s chief natural blessing; and, next, that you have the necessities of life in sufficiency 3so as not to hunger or thirst or suffer cold or endure any other hardship through lack of means—which may appropriately be set down as the second natural blessing for man. For when one’s physical condition is good and one can live without anxiety, all the factors essential to happiness are enjoyed.”
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