Xenophon, Memorabilia, Book 2, chapter 1, section 21


Hercules & the Path of Virtue or Vice 

When Hercules was passing from adolescence to young adulthood, when the young, become their own masters, and decide whether they will approach life by the path of virtue or the path of vice, he went out into a quiet place, and sat pondering which road to take. And there appeared two women of great stature coming towards him. The one was fair to see and of noble bearing; and her limbs were adorned with purity, her eyes with modesty; sober was her figure, and her robe was white. The other was plump and soft, with high feeding. Her face was made up to heighten its natural white and pink, her figure to exaggerate her height. Open-eyed was she; and dressed so as to disclose all her charms. She frequently looked at herself; and frequently glanced about to see if anyone was looking at her or giving her attention; and she often stole a glance at her own shadow to admire her own shapeliness. 

     When the two women drew near to Hercules, the first woman maintained her stride and composure: but the other, all eager to outdo her, ran to meet him, crying: “Hercules, I see that you are in doubt which path to take in life. Make me your friend; follow me, and I will lead you along the pleasantest and easiest road. You shall taste all the sweets of life; and hardship you shall never know.  First, of weighty matters such as wars, work, challenges, and hardships you shall not think, but will ever be considering what choice and delicious food or drink you can find, what sight or sound will delight you, what touch or perfume; what physical sensations can give you most delightful pleasure, what bed offers the softest and most comfortable of slumbers; and how to come by all these pleasures with least amount of difficulty or work.  And should there arise any misgivings that a lack of money may stint or hamper your enjoyments, never fear that I may lead you into earning the means to entertain yourself through toil and sweat of body and soul. No; you shall have the fruits of others' toil, and refrain from nothing that can bring you pleasure or delight your senses. For to those who follow me I give authority to pluck advantage where they will not according to merit.”  Now when Hercules heard this, he asked, “Lady, what is your name?”  And the lady replied, “My friends call me pleasure and ease, but among those that hate me I am called weakness, laziness, and vice.”

     Eventually the other woman drew near, and said: “I, too, come to you, Hercules: I know your parents and I have taken note of your character while you were growing up and during the time of your education. Therefore I hope, for your sake and the sake of others, that, you will take the road that leads to me, that you will grow into the doer of beautiful, noble and good deeds.  I hope that your example will lead others to see clearly the blessings I bestow. But I will not deceive you by a pleasant prelude: I will rather tell you about truth and reality and about how things really are without deception.  For of all things good and fair, the gods give nothing to man without toil and sweat. If you want what is truly good and that which leads to happiness in truth, you must do the good to earn it. If you desire the love of friends, you must do good and be loving to your friends; if you desire to be honorable, you must always act honorably; if you desire to be of strong body and mind, healthy, and virtuous you must do what actually is strenuous and difficult in the pursuit of strength, health and all that is noble and best, even when or especially when it is very difficult.  If you want land to yield you fruits in abundance, you must cultivate it with toil and sweat.  If you want to use your intelligence to make a living you must cultivate your knowledge through arduous study which requires self-discipline and long hours.  If you want to be a protector of others you may need to put yourself in harm’s way and may even need to wage war upon those who would harm the helpless and rule with injustice, for this you would need to learn the arts of war from those who know them and must practice their right use: and if you want your body to be strong, you must accustom your body to be the servant of your mind, and train it with toil and sweat.

       And Vice said, Hercules, mark you how hard and long is that road to joy, of which this woman tells? But I will lead you by a short and easy road to happiness. And Virtue said: What good thing is yours, poor wretch, or what pleasant thing do you know, if you will do nothing to win them? You do not even wait for the desire of pleasant things, but fill yourself with all things before you desire them, eating before you are hungry, drinking before you are thirsty, getting cooks, to give zest to eating, buying costly wines and running to and fro in search of snow in summer, to give zest to drinking; to soothe your slumbers it is not enough for you to buy soft sheets, but you must have frames for your beds. For not toil or hard work, but the boredom of having nothing to do, makes you long for sleep. You rouse lust by many a trick, when there is no need, using people: that is how you train your friends, staying up all night doing useless things, consuming in sleep the best hours of day. Immortal art thou, yet the outcast of the gods, the scorn of good men. Praise, sweetest of all things to hear, you hear not: the sweetest of all sights you see not, for never yet have you beheld a good work wrought by yourself. Who will believe what you say? Who will grant what you ask? Or what sane man will dare join your throng? While your followers are young their bodies are weak, when they are old, their souls are without sense; idle and sleek they waste their youth, withered and weary they journey through old age, and their past deeds bring them shame, their present deeds distress. Pleasure they ran through in their youth: hardship they laid up for their old age. But I company with gods and good men, and no fair deed of god or man is done without my aid. I am first in honor among the gods and among men that are akin to me.  To craftsmen a beloved fellow-worker, to masters a faithful guardian of the house, to servants a kindly protector: good helpmate in the toils of peace, staunch ally in the deeds of war, best partner in friendship. To my friends meat and drink bring sweet and simple enjoyment: for they wait until they are hungry and crave them. And a sweeter sleep falls on them than on lazy people: they are not vexed or bother when they wake from sleep, nor due to wanting to sleep do they neglect to do their duties. The young rejoice to win the praise of the old; the elders are glad to be honored by the young; with joy they recall their deeds past, and their present good deeds are joy to them, for through me they are dear to the gods, lovely to friends, precious to their native land. And when comes the appointed end, they lie not forgotten and dishonored, but live on, their impact of their good deeds rippling through time. O Hercules, you are the son of good parents, if you will work very hard on cultivating your strengths then you may have for thine own the most blessed well-being, health, and happiness.