Page:The Deipnosophists (Volume 3).djvu/166

 give a list of the companions of Ulysses, and say who they were who were devoured by the Cyclops, or by the Læstrygonians, and whether they were really devoured or not. And you do not even know this, in spite of your frequent mention of Phylarchus, that in the cities of the Ceans it is not possible to see either courtesans or female flute-players. And Myrtilus said,—But where has Phylarchus stated this? For I have read through all his history. And when he said,—In the twenty-third book; Myrtilus said—

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.

It is, therefore, with good reason that many cities, and especially the city of the Lacedæmonians, as Chamæleon says in his book on Simonides, will not admit either rhetoric or philosophy, on account of the jealousy, and strife, and profitless discussions to which they give rise; owing to which it was that Socrates was put to death; he, who argued