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certain hidden and, as it were, arcane facts, while the latter indicates
things which are evident and out in the open. Moreover, since there is
nothing left if you deprive man of his sense-perception, it is necessary
that nature herself judge what is natural and what is unnatural. And
what does nature perceive or judge, with reference to what does she
decide to pursue or avoid something, except pleasure and pain?
- There are, however, some members of our school [Epicureans]
who want to teach a more subtle form of this doctrine, and they say that
it is not sufficient to let sense-perception judge what is good and what
is bad, but that the intellect and reason can also understand that pleasure
by itself is worth pursuing for its own sake and that pain by itself is to
be avoided for its own sake. And so they say that we have this conception,
which is, as it were, naturally implanted in our souls, and that as a result
of this we perceive that the one is to be pursued and the other to be
rejected. But there are other Epicureans too, men with whom I agree,
who do not think it right for us to be too sure of our case, since so many
philosophers say so much about why pleasure ought not to be counted
as a good thing and pain ought not to be counted as a bad thing; they
think that one must argue and debate with great care, and employ well
researched lines of argument in the dispute about pleasure and pain. - But so that you will see the origin of the mistake made by those
who attack pleasure and praise pain, I shall open up the whole theory
and explain exactly what was said by that discoverer of the truth [Epicu-
rus], who was a kind of architect of the happy life. No one rejects or
dislikes or avoids pleasure itself just because it is pleasure, but rather
because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally meet
with great pains as a result. Nor again is there anyone who loves, pursues,
and wants to acquire pain just because it is pain, but rather because
sometimes circumstances of such a nature occur that he can pursue some
great pleasure by means of effort and pain. To cite a minor instance:
who among us undertakes any demanding regimen of physical training
except in order to get some sort of benefit from it? Who, moreover, could
justifiably criticize either a man who wished to have the sort of pleasure
which is followed by no pains or a man who avoids a pain which serves
to produce no pleasure? - But we do attack and indeed find most worthy of justified hatred
those who are seduced and corrupted by the allures of present pleasures
and, being blinded by desire, do not foresee the pains and troubles which
they are bound to incur; similarly to blame are those who abandon their
duties because of moral weakness, i.e., a tendency to avoid efforts and
pains. The distinction here is simple and clear enough. For at a moment
of free time, when we have an unrestricted opportunity to select and