Kitap 18
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Thereupon the Peripatetic, in truth very wittily, said: Pray pardon me, and tell me this, whether you think that an amphora Somewhat less than 6 gallons. of wine from which a congius A little less than 6 pints. has been taken, is still an amphora? By no means, was the reply, can that be called an amphora of wine, from which a congius is missing. When the Peripatetic heard this, he retorted: Then it will have to be said that one congius makes an amphora of wine, since when that one is lacking, it is not an amphora, and when it is added, it becomes an amphora. But if it is absurd to say that an amphora is made from one single congius, it is equally absurd to say that a life is made happy by virtue alone by itself, because when virtue is lacking life can never be happy.
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Then Favorinus, turning to the Peripatetic, said: This clever turn which you have used about the congius of wine is indeed set forth in the books; but, as you know, it ought to be regarded rather as a neat catch than as an honest or plausible argument. For when a congius is lacking, it indeed causes the amphora not to be of full measure; but when it is added and put in, it alone does not make, but completes, an amphora. But virtue, as the Stoics say, is not an addition or a supplement, but it by itself is the equivalent of a happy life, and therefore it alone makes a happy life, when it is present.
