When someone chooses virtue, it shows they have a noble character. But someone who chases pleasure looks weak and worn out. They degrade themselves and risk falling into shameful vices — unless they learn to pick their pleasures wisely. They need to know which desires stay within natural bounds and which are wild and endless, becoming more insatiable the more you feed them.
But listen! Let virtue lead the way. Then every step you take will be safe. Too much pleasure will hurt you. But with virtue, you never need to fear excess of any kind, because moderation is built right into virtue itself. Anything that gets damaged by having too much of it cannot be truly good.
Besides, what better guide could there be for reasoning creatures than reason itself? So if this partnership appeals to you — if you want to walk toward a happy life with both companions — let virtue lead the way. Let pleasure follow along and hang around your body like a shadow. Only a mind incapable of great things would make virtue, the highest of all qualities, into pleasure's servant.
He who ranges himself on the side of virtue gives thereby a proof of a noble disposition: he who follows pleasure appears to be weakly, worn out, degrading his manhood, likely to fall into infamous vices unless someone discriminates his pleasures for him, so that he may know which remain within the bounds of natural desire, which are frantic and boundless, and become all the more insatiable the more they are satisfied. But come! let virtue lead the way: then every step will be safe. Too much pleasure is hurtful: but with virtue we need fear no excess of any kind, because moderation is contained in virtue herself. That which is injured by its own extent cannot be a good thing: besides, what better guide can there be than reason for beings endowed with a reasoning nature? so if this combination pleases you, if you are willing to proceed to a happy life thus accompanied, let virtue lead the way, let pleasure follow and hang about the body like a shadow: it is the part of a mind incapable of great things to hand over virtue, the highest of all qualities, as a handmaid to pleasure.