L LETTER ALPHA~}; which
Fannius says Africanus also was in the habit of indulging in, and that
that ought not be considered a bad habit in him, as it was a favourite
practice of Socrates.

VI. But, however, we will allow, if you like, that all those things were
unknown to the ancients:--was nothing effected then, by their being
thoroughly investigated, after that Arcesilas, disparaging Zeno, (for that
is supposed to have been his object,) as discovering nothing new, but only
correcting previous changes of names, while seeking to upset his
definitions, had attempted to envelop the clearest possible matters in
darkness? And his system, which was at first not at all approved of,
although it was illustrated both by acute genius and by an admirable
wittiness of language, was in the next generation adopted by no one but
Lacydes; but subsequently it was perfected by Carneades, who was the
fourth in succession from Arcesilas; for he was the pupil of Hegesinus,
who had been the pupil of Evander, the disciple of Lacydes, and Lacydes
himself had been the pupil of Arcesilas; but Carneades maintained it for a
long time, for he lived ninety years; and those who had been his pupils
had a very high reputation, of whom Clitomachus displayed the most
industry, as the number of books which he composed testifies; nor was
there less brilliancy of genius in him than there was of eloquence in
Charmadas, or of sweetness in Melanthius of Rhodes. But Metrodorus of
Stratonice was thought to be the one who had the most thorough
understanding of Carneades. And your friend Philo attended the lectures of
Clitomachus for many years; but as long as Philo was alive the Academy was
never in want of a head.

But the business that we now propose to ourselves, of arguing against the
Academicians, appears to some philosophers, and those, too, men of no
ordinary calibre, to be a thing that ought not to be done at all; and they
think that there is no sense at all in, and no method of disputing with
men who approve of nothing; and they blame Antipater, the Stoic, who was
very fond of doing so, and say that there is no need of laying down exact
definitions of what knowledge is, or perception, or, if we want to render
word for word, comprehension, which they call {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PSI~}{~GRE