has been debarred from studies? But for you in deep old age, what share is there of education? Who of all people has known you, as far as I know, after your hair turned white, to have spoken as a rhetor or philosophized or brought forth noble arguments or engaged with anyone dialectically or established anything beyond doubt? But if, because you knew arguments about dowries after your prime, for this reason shall I honor you for your old age and count time as the chief cause of your education? For that this also contributes a great part to the learner, I think no one would deny; but it is not always so, nor does deep time give good things all at once to all, but nature too plays the youth and has more power than time. For Socrates too was wise not only in old age, when he conversed with Theaetetus and Timaeus, but also in his youth, when Zeno was with Parmenides, and listening to the arguments about the Forms, he wonderfully objected and took the old men to task. And Theaetetus himself was considered by the philosopher to be much better than those who had long beards. But as Plato says in jest, the wax of the soul is the cause; for there is in each person a wax, as it were, receiving the impressions of learning. Do you not hear the poet, often calling the soul fate, so that I too might add a little jest—a word which might be derived from wax, from whence if not from some other place? But this is not the same in all, but in some it is moist and easily melted, in others it is firm and compact, and in others it has hardened and is unyielding to any impression whatsoever. Those, therefore, who have received the moist wax are easily impressed by education, but those with the compact wax, less so than these, yet for them time is a great factor in their comprehension; but those with the third kind, among whom I would class you yourself, are likened to beasts as far as education is concerned, being helped neither by time nor by nature. What then, if the one having the moist wax readily received the principles of education, his nature smoothly accepting the lessons, while you, having the hard and uncuttable wax, remained forever unimprinted, unless perhaps you have inscribed some superficial lines, as if your nature, being a kind of rock, was hollowed out to some extent by the daily persistence of reading? If, then, you through dullness of sight have never gazed upon the rays of the sun, but in time and by some method have managed to perceive some small beam, while another through the strength of his optic spirit immediately took in the whole sun, is not the latter's nature for this reason to be praised and honored, or would he be maligned because he was not like you, and be judged by your afflictions, by you, the afflicted judge? Why do you not also malign Socrates, or rather, reject the chief opportunity of philosophy, he who gathered most of his learning, or rather all of it, while he was young? And do you not hear of Aristotle, the 'Mind' in Plato's school, who, when he was part of the Academy, contradicted Plato himself, for which reason some wittily nicknamed him 'the Foal'? But surely the man is not to be rejected from philosophy because of his age; rather he is to be preferred, and one should give many thanks to nature for having embraced him from childhood, nor indeed of his writings, is it the case that those which he produced in old age have force and prevail, while those from the prime of his life have for this reason become unacceptable to some; nor, when they are scrutinized by Porphyry and Proclus the Platonists, would they appear to be approved or refuted by time, but by reason and by whether they are incorrect or are correctly stated. And where will you place Zoroaster the Egyptian or Hermes Trismegistus, who they say were even self-taught, as the soul alone opened up their learning for them as if from some hidden vein? But not even the long-lived nymphs, if one must believe Plato, for whom the capacity for intellect and knowledge has been added to the definition of man, had transmissible knowledge from conversing with other wise men, but the Homeridae

μαθημάτων ἀποκεκήρυκται; σοὶ δὲ ἐν βαθεῖ γήρᾳ ποία μετουσία παιδεύσεως; τίς δέ σε τῶν πάντω ἔγνω, ὅσα ἐμὲ εἰδέναι, μετὰ τὴν λευκὴν τρίχα ῥητορεύσαντα ἢ φιλοσοφήσαντα ἢ λόγους γενναίους ἀπογεννήσαντα ἢ τισὶ συμπλακέντα διαλεκτικῶς ἢ ἀναμφίβολόν τι κατασκευάσαντα; εἰ δ' ὅτι τοὺς περὶ προικὸς μετὰ τὴν παρακμὴν ᾔδεις λόγους, διὰ τοῦτό σε τοῦ γήρως τιμήσομαι καὶ τὸν χρόνον λογίσομαι αἰτιώτατον τῆς παιδεύσεως; ὅτι μὲν γὰρ καὶ οὗτος μέγα μέρος συμβάλλεται τῷ μανθάνοντι, οὐδένα ἀντειπεῖν οἶμαι· οὐχ οὕτως δὲ ἔχει ἀεί, οὐδὲ πᾶσιν ὁ βαθὺς χρόνος ἀθρόα δίδωσι τὰ καλά, ἀλλά τι καὶ ἡ φύσις νεανιεύεται καὶ τοῦ χρόνου μᾶλλον κρατεῖ. Καὶ Σωκράτης γὰρ οὐκ ἐν γήρᾳ μόνον σοφός, ὅτε Θεαιτήτῳ ὡμίλει καὶ Τίμαίῳ, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν νεότητι, ὅτε Ζήνων Παρμενίδῃ παρεγένετο, καὶ τῶν περὶ τῶν ἰδεῶν λόγων ἐπακροώμενος, θαυμασίως ἀντέπιπτε καὶ τῶν γερόντων ἐπελαμβάνετο. καὶ αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ Νεοθεαίτητος πολὺ κρείττων τῷ φιλοσόφῳ τῶν μακροὺς ἐχόντων τοὺς πώγωνας ἐλογίζετο. ἀλλ' ὅπερ παίζων ὁ Πλάτων φησίν, ὁ τῆς ψυχῆς κηρὸς αἴτιος· ἔστι γὰρ ἐν ἑκάστῳ κηρὸς ὥσπερ τύπους δεχόμενος τὰ μαθήματα. οὐκ ἀκούεις τοῦ ποιητοῦ, κῆρα πολλάκις τὴν ψυχὴν λέγοντος, ἵνα τι καὶ αὐτὸς προσπαίζω μικρόν, ὅπερ ἀπὸ τοῦ κηροῦ παραχθείη πόθεν καὶ ἄλλοθεν; ἀλλ' οὗτος οὐ πᾶσιν ὁμοίως ὑπόκειται, ἀλλὰ τοῖς μὲν ὑγρός ἐστι καὶ εὐδιάλυτος, τοῖς δὲ στερρός τε καὶ συνεστηκώς, τοῖς δὲ ἀπεσκλήρωται καὶ πρὸς ὁντιναοῦν τύπον ἐστὶν ἀνένδοτος. οἱ μὲν οὖν τὸν ὑγρὸν λαχόντες κηρὸν ῥᾳδίως ἐντυποῦνται τὴν παίδευσιν, οἱ δὲ τὸν συνεστηκότα, τούτων μὲν ἔλαττον, μέγα δὲ μέρος τούτοις ὁ χρόνος ἐστὶ πρὸς ἀνάληψιν· οἱ δὲ τὸν τρίτον, μεθ' ὧν σε αὐτὸς τάττοιμι, κτήνεσιν ὅσον εἰς παίδευσιν ἀπεικάζονται, μήθ' ὑπὸ χρόνου μήθ' ὑπὸ φύσεως βοηθούμενοι. τί οὖν, εἰ ὁ μὲν τὸν ὑγρὸν ἔχων κηρόν, ῥᾳδίως τοὺς τῆς παιδεύσεως λόγους ἐδέξατο, δεχομένης τῆς φύσεως ὁμαλῶς τὰ μαθήματα, σὺ δὲ τὸν σκληρόν τε καὶ ἄτμητον, μέχρι παντὸς ἀδιατύπωτος ἔμεινας, εἰ μή που ἐπιπολαίους τινὰς κατεγράφης γραμμάς, οἷά τινός σοι πέτρας ἐπὶ ποσὸν κοιλανθείσης τῆς φύσεως πρὸς τὴν πολυήμερον τῆς ἀναγνώσεως ἐνδελέχειαν; Εἰ οὖν σὺ μὲν δι' ἀμβλύτητος ὄψεως οὐδέποτε ταῖς ἡλιακαῖς αὐγαῖς ἐνητένισας, χρόνῳ δέ τινι καὶ μεθόδῳ βραχεῖάν που κατιδεῖν ἀκτῖνα ἐνίσχυσας, ὁ δὲ διὰ ῥώμην τοῦ ὀπτικοῦ πνεύματος ὅλον ἐκ τοῦ εὐθός τὸν ἥλιον εἰσεδέξατο, οὐ διὰ τοῦτο μᾶλλον ἐπαινετέος καὶ τημτέος τῆς φύσεως, ἢ καικίζοιτ' ἂν ὅτι μή σοι ἀπεικάζετο, καὶ τοῖς σοῖς κρίνεται πάθεσι παρά σοι τῷ πεπονθότι κριτῇ. τί δὲ μὴ καὶ Σωκράτην κακίζοις, μᾶλλον τοῦ τῆς φιλοσοφίας τὸν κορυφαῖον ἀποβάλλεις καιροῦ, ὃς τὰ πλεῖστα τῶν μαθημάτων, μᾶλλον δὲ πάντα νέος ὢν ἀνελέξατο; Ἀριστοτέλην δὲ οὐκ ἀκούεις τὸν παρὰ Πλάτωνι νοῦν, ὅτε τῆς ἐν Ἀκαδεμίᾳ μετεῖχε σχολῆς αὐτῷ Πλάτωνι ἀντιλέγοντα, ὃν καὶ πῶλον διὰ τοῦτο χαριεντιζόμενοί τινες κατωνόμαζον; ἀλλ' οὐ δήπου διὰ τὸν χρόνον οὐκ ἐγκριτέος ὁ ἀνὴρ τῇ φιλοσοφίᾳ, προκριτέος δὲ μᾶλλον καὶ τῇ φύσει πολλὰ χαρίσαιτο, ὅτι παιδόθεν αὐτὸν ἐνηγκαλίσατο, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τῶν συγγραμμάτων αὐτοῦ, ἃ μὲν ἐν γήρᾳ ἐξενηνόχει ἰσχύει καὶ κρατεῖ, ἃ δὲ ἐν ἀκμαζούσῃ τῇ ἡλικίᾳ ἀπαράδεκτά τισι διὰ τοῦτο γεγόνασιν, οὐδὲ Πορφυρίῳ καὶ Πρόκλῳ τοῖς Πλατωνικοῖς εὐθυνόμενα, τῷ χρόνῳ φαίνοιτ' ἂν ἐγκρινόμενα ἢ ἐλεγχόμενα, ἀλλὰ τῷ λόγῳ καὶ τῷ μὴ ὀρθῶς ἔχειν ἢ κατ' ὀρθὸν φέρεσθαι. Ζωροάστρην δὲ ποῦ θήσεις τὸν Αἰγύπτιον ἢ Ἑρμῆν τὸν Τρισμέγιστον, οὓς καὶ φασὶν αὐτοδιδάκτους γενέσθαι, τῆς ψυχῆς μόνης ὥσπερ ἔκ τινος κεκρυμμένης φλεβὸς ἀναστομωσάσης αὐτοῖς τὰ μαθήματα; ἀλλ' οὐ δ' αἱ μακρόβιοι νύμφαι, εἰ δεῖ πιστεύειν τῷ Πλάτωνι, δι' ἃς τὸ νοῦ καὶ ἐπιστήμης δεκτικὸν τῷ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ὅρῳ προστέθειται, διαδόσιμον ἔσχον τὴν γνῶσιν ἑτέροις σοφοῖς ὁμιλήσασαι, ἀλλ' Ὁμηρίδας