much of it as is digested; so that only a small part of it
is assimilated, and the remainder passes away; and thus
to eat more than we can assimilate is useless and injurious.
It is precisely the same with what we read. Only so far
as it gives food for thought does it increase our insight
and true knowledge. Therefore Heracleitus says:
"(
Greek characters)"
(multiscitia non dat intellectum).
It seems, however, to me that learning may be compared
to a heavy suit of armour, which certainly makes the
strong man quite invincible, but to the weak man is a
burden under which he sinks altogether.
The exposition given in our third book of the knowledge of the (Platonic) Ideas, as the highest attainable by man, and at the same time entirely perceptive or intuitive knowledge, is a proof that the source of true wisdom does not lie in abstract rational knowledge, but in the clear and profound apprehension of the world in perception. Therefore wise men may live in any age, and those of the past remain wise men for all succeeding generations. Learning, on the contrary, is relative; the learned men of the past are for the most part children as compared with us, and require indulgence.
But to him who studies in order to gain insight books and studies are only steps of the ladder by which he climbs to the summit of knowledge. As soon as a round of the ladder has raised him a step, he leaves it behind him. The many, on the other hand, who study in order to fill their memory do not use the rounds of the ladder to mount by, but take them off, and load themselves with them to carry them away, rejoicing at the increasing weight of the burden. They remain always below, because they bear what ought to have borne them.
Upon the truth set forth here, that the kernel of all knowledge is the perceptive or intuitive apprehension, depends the true and profound remark of Helvetius, that the really characteristic and original views of which a gifted individual is capable, and the working up, develop-
