Now, when Myrtilus had said all this in a connected statement; and when all were marvelling at his memory, Cynulcus said—
Your multifarious learning I do wonder at—says Hippon the Atheist. But the divine Heraclitus also says—“A great variety of information does not usually give wisdom.” And Timon said—
Though there is not a thing more vain and useless,
There is great ostentation and paradeFor what is the use of so many names, my good grammarian, which are more calculated to overwhelm the hearers than to do them any good? And if any one were to inquire of you, who they were who were shut up in the wooden horse, you would perhaps be able to tell the names of one or two; and even this you would not do out of the verses of Stesichorus, (for that could hardly be,) but out of the Storming of Troy, by Sacadas the Argive; for he has given a catalogue of a great number of names. Nor indeed could you properly [p. 974] 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—
Of multifarious learning, than which nothing
Can be more vain or useless.
