37.
Why?
Because this unseemly pursuit of the liberal arts makes men troublesome, wordy, tactless, self-satisfied bores, who fail to learn the essentials just because they have learned the non-essentials.
Didymus the scholar wrote four thousand books.
I should feel pity for him if he had only read the same number of superfluous volumes.
In these books he investigates Homer’s birthplace, who was really the mother of Aeneas, whether Anacreon was more of a rake or more of a drunkard, whether Sappho was a bad lot, and other problems the answers to which, if found, were forthwith to be forgotten.
Come now, do not tell me that life is long!
Book: Moral Letters Vol II
Subtitle: Seneca's timeless letters of advice and wisdom.
Author: Seneca
Chapter: On liberal and vocational studies
Location: Chapter 88, Section 37
Content:
37.
Why?
Because this unseemly pursuit of the liberal arts makes men troublesome, wordy, tactless, self-satisfied bores, who fail to learn the essentials just because they have learned the non-essentials.
Didymus the scholar wrote four thousand books.
I should feel pity for him if he had only read the same number of superfluous volumes.
In these books he investigates Homer’s birthplace, who was really the mother of Aeneas, whether Anacreon was more of a rake or more of a drunkard, whether Sappho was a bad lot, and other problems the answers to which, if found, were forthwith to be forgotten.
Come now, do not tell me that life is long!