Ch. 21
Concerning those who readily set up for sophists.
They who have merely received bare maxims are
presently inclined to throw them up, as a sick
stomach does its food. Digest it, and then you will
not throw it up; otherwise it will be crude and impure, and unfit for nourishment. But show us, from
what you have digested, some change in your ruling
faculty; as wrestlers do in their shoulders, from their
exercise and their diet; as artificers, in their skill,
from what they have learnt. A carpenter does not
come and say, "Hear me discourse on the art of
building;" but he hires a building, and fits it up, and
shows himself master of his trade. Let it be your
business likewise to do something like this; be manly
in your ways of eating, drinking, dressing; marry, have
children, perform the duty of a citizen; bear reproach; bear with an unreasonable brother; bear with
a father; bear with a son, a neighbor, a companion,
as becomes a man. Show us these things, that we
may see that you have really learned something from
the philosophers. No; but" come and hear me repeat
commentaries." Get you gone, and seek somebody
else upon whom to bestow them. "Nay, but I will
explain the doctrines of Chrysippus to you as no other
person can; I will elucidate his style in the clearest
manner." And is it for this, then, that young men
leave their country and their own parents, that they
may come and hear you explain words? Ought they
not to return patient, active, free from passion, free
from perturbation; furnished with such a provision
for life, that, setting out with it, they will be able
to bear all events well, and derive ornament from
them? But how should you impart what you have
not? For have you yourself done anything else, from
the beginning, but spend your time in solving syllogisms and convertible propositions and interrogatory
arguments? " But such a one has a school, and why
should not I have one?" Foolish man, these things
are not brought about carelessly and at haphazard;
but there must be a fit age, and a method of life, and
a guiding God. Is it not so? No one quits the port,
or sets sail, till he hath sacrificed to the gods, and implored their assistance; nor do men sow without first
invoking Ceres. And shall any one who has undertaken so great a work attempt it safely without the
gods? And shall they who apply to such a one,
apply to him with success? What are you doing else,
man, but divulging the mysteries? As if you said,
" There is a temple at Eleusis, and here is one too;
there is a priest, and I will make a priest here; there
is a herald, and I will appoint a herald too; there is a
torch-bearer, and I will have a torch-bearer; there
are torches, and so shall there be here. The words
said, the things done, are the same. Where is the
difference betwixt one and the other?" Most impious man ! is there no difference? Are these things
of use, out of place and out of time? A man should
come with sacrifices and prayers, previously purified,
and his mind affected by the knowledge that he is
approaching sacred and ancient rites. Thus the mysteries become useful; thus we come to have an idea
that all these things were appointed by the ancients
for the instruction and correction of life. But you divulge and publish them without regard to time and
place, without sacrifices, without purity; you have not
the garment that is necessary for a priest, nor the fitting hair nor girdle, nor the voice, nor the age, nor
have you purified yourself like him. But when you
have got the words by heart, you say, "The mere
words are sacred of themselves." These things are to
be approached in another manner. It is a great, it
is a mystical affair; not given by chance, or to every
one indifferently. Nay, mere wisdom, perhaps, is not
a sufficient qualification for the care of youth. There
ought to be likewise a certain readiness and aptitude for this, and indeed a particular physical temperament, and, above all, a counsel from God to
undertake this office, as he counselled Socrates to
undertake the office of confutation; Diogenes, that
of authoritative reproof; Zeno, that of dogmatical
instruction. But you set up for a physician, provided
with nothing but medicines, and without knowing, or
having studied, where or how they are to be applied.
"Why, such a one had medicines for the eyes, and
I have the same." Have you also, then, a faculty of
making use of them? Do you at all know when and
how and to whom they will be of service? Why then
do you act at hazard? Why are you careless in
things of the greatest importance? Why do you
attempt a matter unsuitable to you? Leave it to
those who can perform it and do it honor. Do not
you too bring a scandal upon philosophy by your
means; nor be one of those who cause the thing
itself to be calumniated. But if mere theorems delight you, sit quietly and turn them over by yourself;
but never call yourself a philosopher, nor suffer another to call you so; but say, He is mistaken; for
my desires are not different from what they were;
nor my pursuits directed to other objects; nor my
assents otherwise given; nor have I at all made any
change from my former condition in the use of things
as they appear. Think and speak thus of yourself, if
you would think as you ought; if not, act at random,
and do as you do; for it is appropriate to you.
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