potion amid his boon companions, leaving off in time and not taking too
much,--would be an equally good test of temperance? 'Very true.' Let us
return to the lawgiver and say to him, 'Well, lawgiver, no such fear-
producing potion has been given by God or invented by man, but there is a
potion which will make men fearless.' 'You mean wine.' Yes; has not wine
an effect the contrary of that which I was just now describing,--first
mellowing and humanizing a man, and then filling him with confidence,
making him ready to say or do anything? 'Certainly.' Let us not forget
that there are two qualities which should be cultivated in the soul--
first, the greatest fearlessness, and, secondly, the greatest fear, which
are both parts of reverence. Courage and fearlessness are trained amid
dangers; but we have still to consider how fear is to be trained. We
desire to attain fearlessness and confidence without the insolence and
boldness which commonly attend them. For do not love, ignorance, avarice,
wealth, beauty, strength, while they stimulate courage, also madden and
intoxicate the soul? What better and more innocent test of character is
there than festive intercourse? Would you make a bargain with a man in
order to try whether he is honest? Or would you ascertain whether he is
licentious by putting your wife or daughter into his hands? No one would
deny that the test proposed is fairer, speedier, and safer than any other.
And such a test will be particularly useful in the political science,
which desires to know human natures and characters. 'Very true.'

BOOK II. And are there any other uses of well-ordered potations? There
are; but in order to explain them, I must repeat what I mean by right
education; which, if I am not mistaken, depends on the due regulation of
convivial intercourse. 'A high assumption.' I believe that virtue and vice
are originally present to the mind of children in the form of pleasure and
pain; reason and fixed principles come later, and happy is he who acquires
them even in declining years; for he who possesses them is the perfect