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[4] What thing is there then of this nature,1 which is attainable by us? for it is something of this nature that we are in search of.

Those2 on the other hand who deny that that which all creatures seek to obtain is good, are surely talking nonsense. For what all think to be good, that, we assert, is good; and he that subverts our belief in the opinion of all mankind, will hardly persuade us to believe his own either. If only the irrational creatures strove to obtain what is pleasant, there would have been some sense in this contention; but inasmuch as beings endowed with intelligence do so too, how can it be right? And perhaps even the lower animals possess an instinct superior to their own natures, which seeks to obtain the good appropriate to their kind.

1 Viz., incapable of being improved by the addition of something else. But the sentence looks like an interpolation.

2 These are Speusippus and the Academics of Aristotle's day; see 7.11.3, note.

Aristotle in 23 Volumes, Vol. 19, translated by H. Rackham. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1934.

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