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8Nay, I for my part am ashamed that I have been forced even to mention such a thing. Have done with your madness, then, and stop at last to reflect, that with many dying all the time by disease and many in war it is impossible for the city to maintain itself, unless its population is continually renewed by those who are ever and anon being born.
2“And let none of you imagine that I fail to realize that there are disagreeable and painful things incident to marriage and the begetting of children. But bear this in mind, that we do not possess any other good with which some unpleasantness is not mingled, and that in our most abundant and greatest blessings there reside the most abundant and greatest evils. 3Therefore, if you decline to accept the latter, do not seek to obtain the former, either, since for practically everything that has any genuine excellence or enjoyment one must strive beforehand, strive at the time, and strive afterwards. But why should I prolong my speech by going into all these details? Even if there are, then, some unpleasant things incident to marriage and the begetting of children, set over against them the advantages, and you will find these to be at once more numerous and more compelling. 4For, in addition to all the other blessings that naturally inhere in this state of life, the prizes offered by the laws should induce everyone to obey me; for a very small part of these inspires many to undergo even death. And is it not disgraceful that for rewards which lead others to sacrifice even their lives you should be unwilling either to marry wives or to rear children?
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