But the first way is both impossible and takes too long. It means trying to do something Zeus himself couldn't do — convince everyone what's good and bad. Do you have that power? No. You only have the power to convince yourself. And you haven't even done that yet. So why are you trying to persuade other people? Who has spent more time with you than you have with yourself? Who has more power to convince you than you do? Who cares more about you than you do? So why haven't you convinced yourself to learn? Right now, isn't everything backwards? Is this really what you've been working on — learning to be free from pain, free from worry, and free from shame?
But the first way is both impracticable and long, to attempt the very thing which Zeus has not been able to do, to convince all men what things are good and bad. Is this power given to you? This only is given to you, to convince yourself; and you have not convinced yourself. Then I ask you, do you attempt to persuade other men? and who has lived so long with you as you with yourself? and who has so much power of convincing you as you have of convincing yourself; and who is better disposed and nearer to you than you are to yourself? How then have you not yet convinced yourself in order to learn? At present are not things upside down? Is this what you have been earnest about doing, to learn to be free from grief and free from disturbance, and not to be humbled (abject), and to be free?