Observe too, says Philo, the curious artifices of Nature, in order to embitter the life of every living being.  The stronger prey upon the weaker, and keep them in perpetual terror and anxiety.  The weaker too, in their turn, often prey upon the stronger, and vex and molest them without relaxation.  Consider that innumerable race of insects, which either are bred on the body of each animal, or, flying about, infix their stings in him.  These insects have others still less than themselves, which torment them.  And thus on each hand, before and behind, above and below, every animal is surrounded with enemies, which incessantly seek his misery and destruction.

Man alone, said DEMEA, seems to be, in part, an exception to this rule.  For by combination in society, he can easily master lions, tigers, and bears, whose greater strength and agility naturally enable them to prey upon him.

On the contrary, it is here chiefly, cried Philo, that the uniform and equal maxims of Nature are most apparent.  Man, it is true, can, by combination, surmount all his real enemies, and become master of the whole animal creation:  but does he not immediately raise up to himself imaginary enemies, the demons of his fancy, who haunt him with superstitious terrors, and blast every enjoyment of life?  His pleasure, as he imagines, becomes, in their eyes, a crime:  his food and repose give them umbrage and offence:  his very sleep and dreams furnish new materials to anxious fear:  and even death, his refuge from every other ill, presents only the dread of endless and innumerable woes.  Nor does the wolf molest more the timid flock, than superstition does the anxious breast of wretched mortals.

Besides, consider, DEMEA:  This very society, by which we surmount those wild beasts, our natural enemies; what new enemies does it not raise to us?  What woe and misery does it not occasion?  Man is the greatest enemy of man.  Oppression, injustice, contempt, contumely, violence, sedition, war, calumny, treachery, fraud; by these they mutually torment each other; and they would soon dissolve that society which they had formed, were it not for the dread of still greater ills, which must attend their separation.

But though these external insults, said DEMEA, from animals, from men, from all the elements, which assault us, form a frightful catalogue of woes, they are nothing in comparison of those which arise within ourselves, from the distempered condition of our mind and body.  How many lie under the lingering torment of diseases?  Hear the pathetic enumeration of the great poet.

    Intestine stone and ulcer, colic-pangs,
    Demoniac frenzy, moping melancholy,
    And moon-struck madness, pining atrophy,
    Marasmus, and wide-wasting pestilence. 
    Dire was the tossing, deep the groans:  despair
    Tended the sick, busiest from couch to couch. 
    And over them triumphant death his dart
    Shook:  but delay’d to strike, though oft invok’d
    With vows, as their chief good and final hope.