22–23
Chrysippos
If a crocodile should manage to snatch it, finding it wandering too near the river, and if, then, he should promise to restore it if you could tell him truly whether he had determined to give it back or not, what would you tell him he had in mind?
Buyer
That is a difficult question, for I do not see which answer would be the more likely to get the child back. But do you, in Heaven's name, answer for me, and save my child before he eats him.
Chrysippos
Never fear, I will teach you other things still more surprising.
Buyer
What sort of things?
10
Chrysippos
The Reaper, the Master, and, above all, the Elektra, and the Veiled.
Buyer
What do you mean by the "Veiled," or the "Elektra?"
Chrysippos
Elektra is that famous person, the daughter of Agamemnon, who at the same moment knows a thing and does not know it; for when Orestes stands beside her, still incognito, she knows, indeed, that Orestes is her brother, but that this is Orestes she does not know. And I will tell you about the "Veiled," too, a most extraordinary figure. Answer me, do you know your father?
Chrysippos
Well, then, if I present some veiled person to you and ask whether you know him, what would you say?
15
Buyer
That I do not, of course.
Chrysippos
And yet this very person was your father! Therefore, if you do not know him, it is plain you do not know your father.
Buyer
Not at all, for if I unveil him I shall know the truth. However, what is the object of your philosophy? What do you do when you have reached the pinnacle of virtue?
