33
And with that, being in the act of drinking, he flung on the pair all that was left in the cup, and it was about half full! Ion also got the benefit of his nearness to them, and he quite deserved it. Well, Hermon, bending forward, began wiping the wine from his head and calling the guests to witness what had been done to him. But Cleodemus, not having a cup, whirled about and spat on Zenothemis; then, taking him by the beard with his left hand, he was about to hit him in the face, and would have’ killed the old man if Aristaenetus had not stayed his hand, stepped over Zenothemis and lain down between them, to separate them and make them keep the peace with him for a dividing-wall.
34
While all this was going -on, Philo, various thoughts were in my mind; for example, the very obvious one that it is no good knowing the liberal arts if one doesn’t improve his way of living, too. At any rate, the men I have mentioned, though clever in words, were getting laughed at, I saw, for their deeds. And then I could not help wondering whether what everyone says might not after all be true, that education leads men away from right thinking, since they persist in having no regard for anything but books and the thoughts in them. At any rate, though so many philosophers were present, there really was not a single one to be seen who was devoid of fault, but some acted disgracefully and some talked still more disgracefully; and I could not lay what was going on to the wine, considering what Hetoemocles had written without having had either food or drink.
