18. R. Thou hast made great progress: yet those things which remain in order to the seeing of that light, very greatly impede. But I am aiming at something which appears to me very easy to be shown; that either nothing remains to us to be subdued, or that we have made no advance at all, and that the taint of all those things which we believed cut away remains. For I ask of thee, if thou wert persuaded that thou couldst live with the throng of those dearest to thee in the study and pursuit of wisdom on no other terms than as possessed of an estate ample enough to meet all your joint necessities; would you not desire and seek for wealth? A. I should. R. How, if it should also be clear, that you would be to many a master of wisdom, if your authority in teaching were supported by civil honor, and that even these your familiars would not be able to put a bridle on their cravings except as they too were in honor, and that this could only accrue to them through your honors and dignity? would not honor then be a worthy object of desire, and of strenuous pursuit? A. It is as thou sayest. R. I do not consider the question of a wife; for perhaps no such necessity could arise of marrying one: although if it were certain that by her ample patrimony all those could be sustained whom thou wouldst fain have live at ease with thee in one place, and that moreover with her cordial consent, especially if she were of a family of such nobility as that through her those honors which you have just granted, in our hypothesis, to be necessary, could easily be attained, I do not know that it would be any part of your duty to contemn these advantages, thus obtained. A. But how could I hope for such things?

CAPUT XI. Externa commoda non propter se, sed propter alia vera bona possunt admitti verius quam expeti.

18. R. Multum profecisti: ea tamen quae restant ad videndam illam lucem, plurimum impediunt. Sed molior aliquid quod mihi videtur facile ostendi; aut nihil edomandum nobis remanere, aut nihil nos omnino profecisse, omniumque illorum quae resecta credimus tabem manere. Nam quaero abs te, si tibi persuadeatur aliter cum multis charissimis tuis te in studio sapientiae non posse vivere, nisi ampla res aliqua familiaris necessitates vestras sustinere possit; nonne desiderabis divitias et optabis? A. Assentior. R. Quid, si etiam illud appareat, et multis te persuasurum esse sapientiam, si tibi de honore auctoritas creverit, eosque ipsos familiares tuos non posse cupiditatibus suis modum imponere, seque totos convertere ad quaerendum Deum, nisi et ipsi fuerint honorati, idque nisi per tuos honores dignitatemque fieri non posse? nonne ista etiam desideranda erunt, et ut proveniant magnopere instandum. A. Ita est ut dicis. R. Jam de uxore nihil disputo; fortasse enim non potest, ut ducatur, existere talis necessitas: quanquam, si ejus amplo patrimonio certum sit sustentari posse omnes quos tecum in uno loco vivere otiose cupis, ipsa etiam concorditer id sinente, praesertim si generis nobilitate tanta polleat, ut honores illos quos esse necessarios jam dedisti, per eam facile adipisci possis, nescio utrum pertineat ad officium tuum ista contemnere. A. Quando ego istud sperare audeam?