Eryxias | Page 5

the sick, since health
is a possession more valuable than riches to the sick? Surely there is no
one who would not prefer to be poor and well, rather than to have all
the King of Persia's wealth and to be ill. And this proves that men set
health above wealth, else they would never choose the one in
preference to the other.
ERASISTRATUS: True.
SOCRATES: And if anything appeared to be more valuable than health,
he would be the richest who possessed it?
ERASISTRATUS: He would.
SOCRATES: Suppose that some one came to us at this moment and
were to ask, Well, Socrates and Eryxias and Erasistratus, can you tell
me what is of the greatest value to men? Is it not that of which the
possession will best enable a man to advise how his own and his

friend's affairs should be administered?--What will be our reply?
ERASISTRATUS: I should say, Socrates, that happiness was the most
precious of human possessions.
SOCRATES: Not a bad answer. But do we not deem those men who
are most prosperous to be the happiest?
ERASISTRATUS: That is my opinion.
SOCRATES: And are they not most prosperous who commit the fewest
errors in respect either of themselves or of other men?
ERASISTRATUS: Certainly.
SOCRATES: And they who know what is evil and what is good; what
should be done and what should be left undone;--these behave the most
wisely and make the fewest mistakes?
Erasistratus agreed to this.
SOCRATES: Then the wisest and those who do best and the most
fortunate and the richest would appear to be all one and the same, if
wisdom is really the most valuable of our possessions?
Yes, said Eryxias, interposing, but what use would it be if a man had
the wisdom of Nestor and wanted the necessaries of life, food and drink
and clothes and the like? Where would be the advantage of wisdom
then? Or how could he be the richest of men who might even have to
go begging, because he had not wherewithal to live?
I thought that what Eryxias was saying had some weight, and I replied,
Would the wise man really suffer in this way, if he were so ill-provided;
whereas if he had the house of Polytion, and the house were full of gold
and silver, he would lack nothing?
ERYXIAS: Yes; for then he might dispose of his property and obtain in
exchange what he needed, or he might sell it for money with which he
could supply his wants and in a moment procure abundance of
everything.
SOCRATES: True, if he could find some one who preferred such a
house to the wisdom of Nestor. But if there are persons who set great
store by wisdom like Nestor's and the advantages accruing from it, to
sell these, if he were so disposed, would be easier still. Or is a house a
most useful and necessary possession, and does it make a great
difference in the comfort of life to have a mansion like Polytion's
instead of living in a shabby little cottage, whereas wisdom is of small
use and it is of no importance whether a man is wise or ignorant about

the highest matters? Or is wisdom despised of men and can find no
buyers, although cypress wood and marble of Pentelicus are eagerly
bought by numerous purchasers? Surely the prudent pilot or the skilful
physician, or the artist of any kind who is proficient in his art, is more
worth than the things which are especially reckoned among riches; and
he who can advise well and prudently for himself and others is able
also to sell the product of his art, if he so desire.
Eryxias looked askance, as if he had received some unfair treatment,
and said, I believe, Socrates, that if you were forced to speak the truth,
you would declare that you were richer than Callias the son of
Hipponicus. And yet, although you claimed to be wiser about things of
real importance, you would not any the more be richer than he.
I dare say, Eryxias, I said, that you may regard these arguments of ours
as a kind of game; you think that they have no relation to facts, but are
like the pieces in the game of draughts which the player can move in
such a way that his opponents are unable to make any countermove.
(Compare Republic.) And perhaps, too, as regards riches you are of
opinion that while facts remain the same, there are arguments, no
matter whether true or false, which enable the user of them to prove
that the wisest and the richest are one and the same, although he is in
the wrong and his opponents are in the right. There would be nothing
strange