I see myself still at the beginning of my journey; still [146] but at the mountain's foot.

I am trying with all my might to get forward.

What I need is a hand, stretched out to help me.
-- And is not the master sufficient for that?
Could he not, like Zeus in Homer, let down to you, from that high place, a golden cord, to draw you up thither, to himself and to that Happiness, to which he ascended so long ago?
-- The very point, Lucian! Had it depended on him I should long ago have been caught up.

'Tis I, am wanting.
-- Well! keep your eye fixed on the journey's end, and that happiness there above, with confidence in his goodwill.
-- Ah! there are many who start cheerfully on the journey and proceed a certain distance, but lose heart when they light on the obstacles of the way.

Only, those who endure to the end do come to the mountain's top, and thereafter live in Happiness:--live a wonderful manner of life, seeing all other people from that great height no bigger than tiny ants.
-- What little fellows you make of us--less than the pygmies--down in the dust here.