'But first I will try to sketch in words, and describe a cause which is more familiar to thee, that, when thou hast viewed this carefully, thou mayst turn thy eyes the other way, and recognise the beauty of true happiness.' SONG I.
THE THORNS OF ERROR.
Who fain would sow the fallow field, And see the growing corn, Must first remove the useless weeds, The bramble and the thorn.
After ill savour, honey's taste Is to the mouth more sweet; After the storm, the twinkling stars The eyes more cheerly greet.
When night hath past, the bright dawn comes In car of rosy hue; So drive the false bliss from thy mind, And thou shall see the true.
II.
For a little space she remained in a fixed gaze, withdrawn, as it were, into the august chamber of her mind; then she thus began: 'All mortal creatures in those anxious aims which find employment in so many varied pursuits, though they take many paths, yet strive to reach one goal--the goal of happiness.

Now, _the good_ is that which, when a man hath got, he can lack nothing further.

This it is which is the supreme good of all, containing within itself all particular good; so that if anything is still wanting thereto, this cannot be the supreme good, since something would be left outside which might be desired.

'Tis clear, then, that happiness is a state perfected by the assembling together of all good things.

To this state, as we have said, all men try to attain, but by different paths.