The Erotic Essay (41-45)

And yet, since intelligence commands the province of speaking and deliberating, and philosophy confers facility in each of these, what reason can there be why we should refuse to get a firm grasp of this study, through which we shall become masters of both alike? Because life may then too be expected to make a great advance for us when we reach out for the things of supreme importance and find ourselves able to secure by rule and precept such as can be taught and the rest by practice and habituation.

It certainly is not permissible to make the assertion that it is not through acquired knowledge that we surpass one another in sound judgement; for, speaking generally, all natural ability is improved by the addition of the appropriate education,[*] and this is especially true of talents which at the outset are inherently superior to the rest, because the one kind is capable only of improving upon itself while the other may also surpass the rest.

Be well assured also that the facility acquired solely from practical experience is treacherous and useless for subsequent needs of life, but the education secured through the pursuit of philosophy is happily blended in all these needs. There is no denying, of course, that in the past some men who got practical training just by good luck in action have won admiration, but for you the proper thing is to disregard these men and to take yourself seriously in hand. For in matters of the utmost importance you should not be extemporizing instead of really knowing what to do or in emergencies be studying your arguments instead of really knowing how to debate an issue on its merits.

Be convinced too that all philosophical learning confers precious benefits upon those who take advantage of it, but especially is this true of the knowledge that deals with practical affairs and political discussions. No doubt it is disgraceful to be quite ignorant of geometry and other such subjects of study, but to become a topmost contender in this field is too low an ambition for merit like yours.[*] In that kind of philosophy, however, not only is it a worthy ambition to excel, but to remain ignorant is altogether ridiculous.

You may infer this to be true on many other grounds and especially by scanning the careers of those who have become eminent before your time. You will hear first that Pericles, who is thought to have far surpassed all men of his age in intellectual grasp, addressed himself to Anaxagoras of Clazomenae and only after being his pupil[*] acquired this power of judgement. You will next discover that Alcibiades, though his natural disposition was far inferior in respect to virtue and it was his pleasure to behave himself now arrogantly, now obsequiously,[*] now licentiously, yet, as a fruit of his association with Socrates, he made correction of many errors of his life and over the rest drew a veil of oblivion by the greatness of his later achievements.