If, in addition to all this, he end his life well, he is of a truth the man of whom thou art in search, the man who may rightly be termed happy. Call him, however, until he die, not happy but fortunate. Scarcely, indeed, can any man unite all these advantages: as there is no country which contains within it all that it needs, but each, while it possesses some things, lacks others, and the best country is that which contains the most; so no single human being is complete in every respect- something is always lacking. He who unites the greatest number of advantages, and retaining them to the day of his death, then dies peaceably, that man alone, sire, is, in my judgment, entitled to bear the name of 'happy.' But in every matter it behoves us to mark well the end: for oftentimes God gives men a gleam of happiness, and then plunges them into ruin."

εἰ δὲ πρὸς τούτοισι ἔτι τελευτήσει τὸν βίον εὖ͵ οὗτος ἐκεῖνος τὸν σὺ ζητέεις͵ ὁ ὄλβιος κεκλῆσθαι ἄξιός ἐστι· πρὶν δ΄ ἂν τελευτήσῃ͵ ἐπισχεῖν μηδὲ καλέειν κω ὄλβιον͵ ἀλλ΄ εὐτυχέα. Τὰ πάντα μέν νυν ταῦτα συλλαβεῖν ἄνθρωπον ἐόντα ἀδύνατόν ἐστι͵ ὥσπερ χώρη οὐδεμία καταρκέει πάντα ἑωυτῇ παρέχουσα͵ ἀλλὰ ἄλλο μὲν ἔχει͵ ἑτέρου δὲ ἐπιδέεται· ἣ δὲ ἂν τὰ πλεῖστα ἔχῃ͵ αὕτη ἀρίστη. Ὣς δὲ καὶ ἀνθρώπου σῶμα ἓν οὐδὲν αὔταρκές ἐστι· τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἔχει͵ ἄλλου δὲ ἐνδεές ἐστι· ὃς δ΄ ἂν αὐτῶν πλεῖστα ἔχων διατελέῃ καὶ ἔπειτα τελευτήσῃ εὐχαρίστως τὸν βίον͵ οὗτος παρ΄ ἐμοὶ τὸ οὔνομα τοῦτο͵ ὦ βασιλεῦ͵ δίκαιός ἐστι φέρεσθαι. Σκοπέειν δὲ χρὴ παντὸς χρήματος τὴν τελευτὴν κῇ ἀποβήσεται· πολλοῖσι γὰρ δὴ ὑποδέξας ὄλβον ὁ θεὸς προρρίζους ἀνέτρεψε.