t see those who are fond of liberal studies and arts regard
neither their health nor their estate? and endure everything because they
are charmed with the intrinsic beauty of knowledge and science? and that
they put the pleasures which they derive from learning in the scale
against the greatest care and labour? And Homer himself appears to me to
have had some such feeling as this, which he has developed in what he has
said about the songs of the Sirens: for they do not seem to have been
accustomed to attract those who were sailing by with the sweetness of
their voices, or with any novelty or variety in their song, but the
profession which they made of possessing great knowledge; so that men
clung to their rocks from a desire of learning. For thus they invite
Ulysses, (for I have translated several passages of Homer, and this among
them)--

Oh stay, O pride of Greece! Ulysses, stay!
Oh, cease thy course, and listen to our lay!
Blest is the man ordain'd our voice to hear:
Our song instructs the soul and charms the ear.
Approach, thy soul shall into raptures rise;
Approach, and learn new wisdom from the wise.
We know whate'er the kings of mighty name
Achieved at Ilium in the field of fame;
Whate'er beneath the sun's bright journey lies--
Oh stay, and learn new wisdom from the wise.(49)

Homer saw that the story would not be probable if he represented so great
a man as caught by mere songs; so they promise him knowledge, which it was
not strange that a man desirous of wisdom should consider dearer than his
country. And, indeed, to wish to know everything of every kind, is natural
to the curious; but, to be attracted by the contemplation of greater
objects, to entertain a general desire for knowledge, ought to be
considered a proof of a great man.

XIX. What ardour for study do you not suppose there must have been in
Archimedes, who was so occupied in drawing some mathematical figures in
the sand, that he was not aware that his city was taken? And what a mighty
genius was that of Aristoxenus which, we see, was devoted to music? What
fondness, too, for study, must have inspired Aristophanes, to dedicate his
whole life to literature! What shall we say of Pythagoras? Why should I
speak of Plato and of Democritus, by whom, we see, that the most distant
countries were travelled over, on account of their desire for learning?
And those who are blind to this have never loved anything v