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[4]

And there are some who fail to abide by their resolves from some other cause than lack of self-restraint, for instance, Neoptolemus1 in thePhiIoctetesof Sophocles. It is true that his motive for changing was pleasure, though a noble pleasure, since it was pleasant2 for him to speak the truth, and he had only told a lie at the instigation of Odysseus. In fact, not everyone whose conduct is guided by pleasure is either profligate and base, or unrestrained, but only those who yield to disgraceful pleasures.

1 Cf. 2.7.

2 The mss., instead of ‘pleasant,’ repeat ‘noble’ by a slip.

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