Miscellanies 1.8.41

“Often a man caught by lack of eloquence, though he says what is just, fares worse than the eloquent. But now with flowing mouths they steal the truest things, so that what ought to seem right does not seem so,” says the tragedy. Such are these contentious people, whether they pursue heresies or practice dialectical tricks: those who pull down the finished work and weave nothing, says Scripture, zealous for futile labor, which the apostle called “the dice-playing of men” and “craftiness,” suited “to the scheming of error.” “For there are,” he says, “many insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers.” So it was not said to all, “You are the salt of the earth.” For there are some even among those who have heard the word who are like sea fish, which, though reared from birth in brine, still need salt for cooking. I, at any rate, fully accept the tragedy that says: “My child, false words may be well spoken, and by the beauties of verse may conquer the truth; but this is not the most exact thing, but nature and what is right; he who conquers by eloquence is clever, but I always consider deeds better than words.” So we must never aim to please the many. For what pleases them we do not practice, and what we know is far from their disposition. “Let us not become vainglorious,” says the apostle, “provoking one another, envying one another.”