The Good Book_ A Secular Bible - A. C. Grayling [26]
8. And Charicles asked him what he knew of philosophy, and the stranger said, ‘Nothing.’
9. And Charicles asked him what he knew of history, and the stranger said, ‘Nothing.’
10. And Charicles asked him what he knew of literature, and the stranger said, ‘Nothing.’
11. And Charicles asked him what he knew of this subject and that, and every time the stranger said, ‘Nothing.’
12. Eventually Charicles said, ‘How can you claim to know the half of all knowledge, which is something not even the wisest man would claim?
13. ‘For it is clear that when I ask you on any subject we study in the schools, you know nothing at all.’
14. To which the stranger replied, ‘Exactly so; for Aristotle says, “He who says, I do not know, has already attained the half of all knowledge.”’
Chapter 12
1. ‘And yet,’ said the stranger, ‘if only you will consider the questions you asked to test my knowledge, and what answers any man could give.
2. ‘He could answer that he knows medicine, because he can say that if a man is buried, he was formerly ill or had an accident;
3. ‘He knows astronomy, for he can tell that it is day when the sun shines, and night when he sees stars;
4. ‘He knows arithmetic, because he can ask for a second pot of beer to follow the first;
5. ‘He knows measurement, because he can tell whether his belly has grown bigger with feeding;
6. ‘He knows music, for he can tell the difference between the barking of a dog and the braying of an ass.
7. ‘What is the worth of mere words, if their true meanings make no difference to what a man does?
8. ‘In my land, to which I am taking you, though you feared to come with me, every stone has a story to tell of times past, and in every garden the roses bloom.
9. ‘The city sits on a hill, on whose slopes the vineyards flourish, and it overlooks a valley, where the vegetable plots are full of ripeness, and a river flows with clear waters.
10. ‘On the walls of our city, so pleasant and in a land so fruitful, we have inscribed the teachings of our sages.
11. ‘On the walls by the great gates we have placed the teachings of Tibon, who wrote to his son,
12. ‘“Plant your garden of flowers and herbs by the river; but let your bookshelves also be gardens and pleasure grounds;
13. ‘“Pluck the fruit that grows there, gather the spices and myrrh. If your heart grows weary, go from garden to garden of your bookshelves,
14. ‘“From flower bed to flower bed, scene to scene; and refresh yourself;
15. ‘“For how shall the heart not grow new when there are words of scholarship to teach it, and poetry to delight it,
16. ‘“And comedy to bring it laughter, and stories of love to make it yearn, and books of sorrows to unburden the tears of things that lie waiting within us all?
17. ‘“The greatest joy is when you pluck a flower from this garden of bookshelves, and carry it into the garden you have planted by the river,
18. ‘“There in the summer evening to read even while the music of the water flows quietly around you.
19. ‘“Then shall desire for the good renew itself in you, and your heart will be rich with manifold delight.”
20. ‘This is what our sage Tibon wrote to his son; and the words are carved on the walls so that everyone can learn them by heart.’
21. Charicles was impressed by this, and at last looked forward to seeing the stranger’s homeland, which at first he had been so reluctant to visit.
Chapter 13
1. Charicles said, ‘Now I am eager to visit your city on its hill, and its gardens, and to reading the wise words inscribed on its walls.
2. ‘I was nervous to accompany you at first, a stranger; but you tell me good things; and the idea of gardens of flowers and books inspires me.’
3. The stranger said, ‘In ancient Athens the philosophers thought out their best ideas walking up and down their groves; nature sobers us, and instructs us.
4. ‘When we look up at the night sky we are giddied by its vastness, and the immense distance of the stars;
5. ‘And when we look down the steeps of a mountain into the abyss below, we nearly fall;
6. ‘And when the moon paints everything silver