ce.
Thus things are tested and weighed when the rules are ready. And to
philosophize is this, to examine and confirm the rules; and then to use
them when they are known is the act of a wise and good man.

* * * * *

OF DISPUTATION OR DISCUSSION.--What things a man must learn in order to
be able to apply the art of disputation, has been accurately shown by
our philosophers (the Stoics); but with respect to the proper use of the
things, we are entirely without practice. Only give to any of us, whom
you please, an illiterate man to discuss with, and he cannot discover
how to deal with the man. But when he has moved the man a little, if he
answers beside the purpose, he does not know how to treat him, but he
then either abuses or ridicules him, and says, He is an illiterate man;
it is not possible to do anything with him. Now a guide, when he has
found a man out of the road, leads him into the right way; he does not
ridicule or abuse him and then leave him. Do you also show the
illiterate man the truth, and you will see that he follows. But so long
as you do not show him the truth, do not ridicule him, but rather feel
your own incapacity.

Now this was the first and chief peculiarity of Socrates, never to be
irritated in argument, never to utter anything abusive, anything
insulting, but to bear with abusive persons and to put an end to the
quarrel. If you would know what great power he had in this way, read the
Symposium of Xenophon, and you will see how many quarrels he put an end
to. Hence with good reason in the poets also this power is most highly
praised:

Quickly with skill he settles great disputes.
Hesiod, Theogony, v. 87.

* * * * *

ON ANXIETY (SOLICITUDE).--When I see a man anxious, I say, What does
this man want? If he did not want something which is not in his power,
how could he be anxious? For this reason a lute player when he is
singing by himself has no anxiety, but when he enters the theatre, he is
anxious, even if he has a good voice and plays well on the lute; for he
not only wishes to sing well, but also to obtain applause: but this is
not in his power. Accordingly, where he has skill, there he has
confidence. Bring any single person who knows nothing of music, and the
musician does not care for him. But in the matter where a man knows
nothing and has not been practised, there he is anxious. What matter is
this? He knows not what