Hermotimus

Lycinus Ah, but Hesiod, your own authority, tells us, Well begun is half done; so we may safely call you half-way by this time.

Hermotimus Not even there yet; that would indeed have been much.

Lycinus Where shall we put you, then?

Hermotimus Still on the lower slopes, just making an effort to get on; but it is slippery and rough, and needs a helping hand.

Lycinus 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.

Hermotimus 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.

Lycinus 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

Hermotimus Too soon, Lycinus.

Lycinus By next Olympiad, then?

Hermotimus All too short a time, even that, for habituation to Virtue and attainment of Happiness.

Lycinus 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?