happy by the acquisition of these things. But if they are not able to fulfil their promises, and, moreover, lack many good things, is not the happiness men seek in them clearly discovered to be a false show? Therefore do I first ask thee thyself, who but lately wert living in affluence, amid all that abundance of wealth, was thy mind never troubled in consequence of some wrong done to thee?'
'Nay,' said I, 'I cannot ever remember a time when my mind was so completely at peace as not to feel the pang of some uneasiness.'
'Was it not because either something was absent which thou wouldst not have absent, or present which thou wouldst have away?'
'Yes,' said I.
'Then, thou didst want the presence of the one, the absence of the other?'
'Admitted.'
'But a man lacks