Soc. The principle of endurance. We too must endure and persevere in the
enquiry, and then courage will not laugh at our faintheartedness in searching
for courage; which after all may, very likely, be endurance.
La. I am ready to go on, Socrates; and yet I am unused to investigations of
this sort. But the spirit of controversy has been aroused in me by what has
been said; and I am really grieved at being thus unable to-express my meaning.
For I fancy that I do know the nature of courage; but, somehow or other, she
has slipped away from me, and I cannot get hold of her and tell her nature.
Soc. But, my dear friend, should not the good sportsman follow the track, and
not be lazy?
La. Certainly, he should.
Soc. And shall we invite Nicias to join us? he may be better at the sport than
we are. What do you say?
La. I should like that.
Soc. Come then, Nicias, and do what you can to help your friends, who are
tossing on the waves of argument, and at the last gasp: you see our extremity,
and may save us and also settle your own opinion, if you will tell us what you
think about courage.
Nic. I have been thinking, Socrates, that you and Laches are not defining
courage in the right way; for you have forgotten an excellent saying which I
have heard from your own lips.
Soc. What is it, Nicias?
Nic. I have often heard you say that "Every man is good in that in which he is
wise, and bad in that in which he is unwise."
Soc. That is certainly true, Nicias.
Nic. And therefore if the brave man is good, he is also wise.
Soc. Do you hear him, Laches?
La. Yes, I hear him, but I do not very well understand him.
Soc. I think that I understand him; and he appears to me to mean that courage
is a sort of wisdom.
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