Panathenaicus (247-248)

you will object, I say, that, whereas you have chosen to do this, yet I have not allowed any of this to stand as you resolved that it should, but that I fail to see that in seeking both to explain the force of your words and to expound your real thoughts I thereby lessen the reputation of the discourse in proportion as I make it more patent and intelligible to its readers; for by implanting understanding in those who are without knowledge I render the discourse naked and strip it of the honor which would otherwise attach to it through those who study hard and are willing to take pains.

“But, while I acknowledge that my own intelligence is vastly inferior to your own, yet as surely as I appreciate this fact so surely do I know that in times when your city deliberates on matters of the greatest import those who are reputed to be the wisest some times miss the expedient course of action, whereas now and then some chance person from the ranks of men who are deemed of no account and are regarded with contempt hits upon the right course and is thought to give the best advice.