Book 13
92
Do I not then deservedly detest all you philosophers, since you are all haters of philology,—men whom not only did Lysimachus the king banish from his own dominions, as Carystius tells us in his Historic Reminiscenses, but the Athenians did so too. At all events, Alexis, in his Horse, says— Is this the Academy; is this Xenocrates? May the gods greatly bless Demetrius And all the lawgivers; for, as men say, They've driven out of Attica with disgrace All those who do profess to teach the youth Learning and science. And a certain man named Sophocles, passed a decree to banish all the philosophers from Attica. And Philo, the friend of Aristotle, wrote an oration against him; and Demochares, on the other hand, who was the cousin of Demosthenes, composed a defence for Sophocles. And the Romans, who are in every respect the best of men, banished all the sophists from Rome, on the ground of their corrupting the youth of the city, though, at a subsequent time, somehow or other, they admitted them. And Anaxippus the comic poet declares your folly in his Man struck by Lightning, speaking thus— Alas, you're a philosopher; but I Do think philosophers are only wise In quibbling about words; in deeds they are, As far as I can see, completely foolish.
