Furthermore, those who wish to be successful in
the other arts eat little and drink little, like invalids, and it is impossible to learn them while one
is rejoicing the inner man with plenty of food and
plenty of wine.
 

The other arts, moreover, cannot be of use to their
possessor without tools, for it is impossible to pipe
without a pipe or to strum without a lyre or to ride
without a horse ; but this one is so genial and presents so little difficulty to the artisan that even one
who has no tools can follow it.
 

And we pay, it is likely, for our lessons in the
other arts, but get paid in this one.

 
Besides, the
other arts have teachers, but Parasitic has none;
like the Art of Poetry according to the definition
of Socrates, it comes by some divine dispensation. Plato, Ion 534 B-c. 

 
Reflect, too, that we cannot exercise the other arts



 

while on a journey or a voyage, but this one can
be plied both on the road and at sea.