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pure and liberal pleasure, have recourse to the pleasures of the
body, we must not on that account suppose that bodily pleasures are the more desirable.
Children imagine that the things they themselves value are actually the best; it is not
surprising therefore that, as children and grown men have different standards of value, so
also should the worthless and the virtuous. <
[5]
Therefore, as has repeatedly been said, those things are actually valuable and pleasant
which appear so to the good man; but each man thinks that activity most desirable which
suits his particular disposition, and there fore the good a man thinks virtuous activity
most desirable.
[6]
It follows therefore that happiness is
not to be found in amusements.
(ii)Indeed it would be strange that amusement should be our
End—that we should toil and moil all our life long in order that we may amuse
ourselves. For virtually every object we adopt is pursued as a means to something else,
excepting happiness, which is an end in itself; to make amusement the object of our
serious pursuits and our work seems foolish and childish to excess: Anacharsis's motto,
Play in order that you may work, is felt to be the right rule. For amusement is a form of
rest; but we need rest because we are not able to go on working without a break, and
therefore it is not an end,