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And the second is that we must apply our reasoning powers to the effects of the opposite behaviour, always hearing and remembering and keeping close at hand the praises bestowed on reticence, and the solemn, holy, and mysteriousCf. 504 a, 505 f, supra. character of silence, remembering also that terse and pithy speakers and those who can pack much sense into a short speech are more admired and loved, and are considered to be wiser, than these unbridled and headstrong talkers. Plato,Cf.Protagoras, 342 e. in fact, commends such pithy men, declaring that they are like skilful throwers of the javelin, for what they say is crisp, solid, and compact.That is, they speak, as the acontist throws, with the sure aim which puts the adversary to rout with a single cast. And Lycurgus,Cf.Life of Lycurgus, xix. (51 d-e). constraining his fellowcitizens from their earliest childhood to acquire this clever habit by means of silence, made them concise and terse in speech. For just as the CeltiberiansCf. Diodorus, v. 33. 4. make steel from iron by burying it in the earth and then cleaning off the large earthy accumulation, so the speech of Spartans has no dross, but being disciplined by the removal of all superfluities, it is tempered to complete efficiency; for this capacity of theirs for aphoristic speech and for quickness and the ability to turn out a neat phrase in repartee is the fruit of much silence.
