Works of Plato, Volume 13

those who have experience of life agree in saying that the human race cannot attain true happiness. Listen to me, and see if on this point I do not think as well as they do. I agree that it is impossible for men to be truly happy, with the exception of a very small number; but the truth of this proposition seems to me limited to the present life, and I maintain that every man has a legitimate hope of enjoying after his death the goods for which he has striven to lead a virtuous life on earth, and to make an end similar to his life. I do not advance anything very profound, and of which we do not have some knowledge, Greeks and Barbarians alike, when I say that for every living being, life is a state of suffering, and this from the beginning. For, whether one considers this being when he is still in the womb of his mother, then at his birth, or in his first growths and in his education, we all agree that all this is accompanied by infinite pains. Then comes a very short time, not only in comparison to the duration of our evils, but taking it in itself, where man seems to breathe for a few moments; it is the middle of life. But old age, which advances with great strides, makes anyone who is not filled with childish prejudices wish not to begin a new career when he casts his eyes on that which he has just traversed. The very object whose research occupies us is a proof of the truth of what I say. We look for the means to attain wisdom, as if it were in our power to arrive at it. But wisdom moves away from us as we approach what are called arts, knowledges, and all other similar sciences, which we falsely take for sciences; for none of the knowledges that have human things as their object