[339c]
My good sir, I have given it ample attention.Are you aware, then, he asked, that as the ode proceeds he says at one point—
Do you note that this and the former are statements of the same person?I know that, I said.Then do you think the second agrees with the first?So far as I can see, it does, I replied (at the same time, though, I was afraid there was something in what he said). Why, I asked, does it not seem so to you?“Nor ringeth true to me
That word of Pittacus—1
And yet 'twas a sage who spake—Hard, quoth he, to be good.
”Simonides Fr. 37.1.11