Nicias.  What is “good,” and what is “evil”?

There was a moment’s silence, during which Hermodorus, his arm extended on the cloth, pointed to a little ass in Corinthian metal which bore two baskets—­the one containing white olives, the other black olives.

“You see these olives,” he said.  “The contrast between the colours is pleasant to the eye, and we are content that these should be light and those should be dark.  But, if they were endowed with thought and knowledge, the white would say, It is good for an olive to be white, it is bad for it to be black; and the black olives would hate the white olives.  We judge better, for we are as much above them as the gods are above us.  For man, who only sees a part of things, evil is an evil; for God, who understands all things, evil is a good.  Doubtless ugliness is ugly, and not beautiful; but if all were beautiful, the whole would not be beautiful.  It is, then, well that there should be evil, as the second Plato, far greater than the first, has demonstrated.”

Eucrites.  Let us talk more morally.  Evil is an evil—­not for the world, of which it cannot destroy the indestructible harmony but for the sinner who does it, and cannot help doing it.

Cotta.  By Jupiter? that is a good argument.

Eucrites.  The world is a tragedy by an excellent poet.  God, who composed it, has intended each of us to play a part in it.  If he wills that you shall be a beggar, a prince, or a cripple, make the best of the part assigned you.

Nicias.  Assuredly it would be well that the cripple should limp like Hephaistos:  it would be well that the madman should indulge in all the fury of Ajax, that the incestuous woman should repeat the crimes of Phaedra, that the traitor should betray, that the rascal should lie, and the murderer kill, and when the piece was played, all the actor—­kings, just men, bloody tyrants, pious virgins, immodest wives, noble-minded citizens, and cowardly assassins—­should receive from the poet an equal share in the felicitations.

Eucrites.  You distort my thought, Nicias, and change a beautiful young girl into a hideous Gorgon.  I am sorry for you, if you are so ignorant of the nature of the gods, of justice, and of the eternal laws.

Zenothemis.  For my part, friends, I believe in the reality of good and evil.  But I am convinced that there is not a single human action—­were it even the kiss of Judas—­which does not bear within itself the germ of redemption.  Evil contributes to the ultimate salvation of men, and, in that respect issues from Good, and shares the merits belonging to Good.  This has been admirably expressed by the Christians, in the myth concerning the man with red hair, who, in order to betray his master, gave him the kiss of peace, and by such act assured the salvation of men.  Therefore, nothing is, in my opinion, more unjust and absurd than the hate