Krey—John of Salisbury and the Classics. 959 
“Though among those who live by themselves or lead a seri¬ 
ous life, a man of this kind would most truly seem useless, yet 
amidst a crowd which delights in anything that affords material 
for hilarity and joyful jokes, he is very fit, for he is the best 
instrument for raising laughter, being more efficacious in this 
than a pantomime. To escape his poison you must lend patience 
to your ears and remain with the crazy man who spares no one 
and if perchance, you wish him to desist, beseech him most 
kindly to put more thought into his teaching and disputation, 
and to make up for this increase of thought by a decrease in the 
number of words. 
“He who tempers words i with knowledge and who suits his 
discussions to opportune occasions possesses the most temperate 
law of all eloquence and abundance of words gain praise from 
him alone in whom truth joins with virtue and kind words 
with all duties. To make many statements and make them 
falsely is a characteristic of a dealer in feminine fineries and of 
a man who has no regards for his reputation, for he gains thereby 
only the hatred and contempt of all serious-minded men. The 
spirit of wisdom is authority for the statement that he who 
speaks sophistically is odious; nevertheless a man must under¬ 
stand how to pierce these importuning sophisms, for without a 
knowledge of them he would proceed to the examination of 
truth and knowledge like an untried soldier who marches, un¬ 
armed, against an able and experienced enemy. It may be 
permissible, occasionally, for him who is acquiring training in 
disputation to make false statements, just as it is for a recruit 
to practice sportive battle among civilians. Where on the other 
hand, it is the intention of the disputants to enter upon a sober 
philosophical discussion, they lay aside all sophisms and if by 
chance, any do occur on either side, they are assailed by wise 
men just as in a state malignant treachery or trickery is coerced 
when it is shown in a fight between different parties. 
“But the ability to temper words with knowledge, discussion 
with the opportunity of time, and to argue prudently any fal¬ 
lacies that may arise, is not to be acquired in a few days nor is 
it an easy task. Wherefore very many that strive after it go 
away again and, preferring the smallest fragment of philosophy’s 
