Quoted from Plato's
Protagoras:
I [Socrates] said, if the pleasant is
the good, nobody does anything under
the idea or conviction that some other
thing would be better and is also attainable,
when he might do the better. And this
inferiority of a man to himself is merely
ignorance, as the superiority of a man
to himself is wisdom.
They all assented...
Then, I said, no man voluntarily
pursues evil, or that which he thinks
to be evil. To prefer evil to good
is not in human nature; and when a
man is compelled to choose one of
two evils, no one will choose the
greater when he may have the less.
All of us agreed to every word of
this.
Well, I said, there is a certain
thing called fear or terror; and here,
Prodicus, I should particularly like
to know whether you would agree with
me in defining this fear or terror
as expectation of evil. |