On True Wisdom

...blessed. original: "beat." abbreviated for "beatus." This continues the thought from the previous page regarding the "blessed" man who attains wisdom. Nothing is further from the truth than common opinion.

ORATOR. Everyone declares me to be wise.

LAYMAN. Perhaps in terms of reputation; in terms of wisdom original: "sapientiam", nothing at all. I notice, however, in the addresses and titles of letters—than which nothing is more generous—that it is not enough to make those who are not wise "wise"; instead, they make them "eminent," "distinguished," and "reverend." They make them "most serene," moreover, and "illustrious," so that now the simple title of "wisdom" is a cause for shame. Since that title suits so few people anyway, it is a wonder.

Do you wish, however, to know how wise you are? Turn your eyes back. Recall how many times in this course of life you have stumbled; how many times you have fallen back with a tripped foot. How many shameful things, how many sorrowful things, how many things to be repented for you have committed. Then, if you dare, call yourself wise. I believe, however, that you will not dare.

ORATOR. I know I am wise.

LAYMAN. Perhaps you mean "wise in letters." The Layman distinguishes between book-learning (literacy) and true existential wisdom. For there are clearly some who are literate, though they are few; but wise people are almost none. It is one thing to speak wisely, another to live wisely; one thing to be called wise, another to be wise. There were those who said that no one is wise. Whether that is true or false, I do not argue; certainly, that opinion is too steep and prone to despair.

I hear things opposed to wisdom. The Hebrews proclaim their Solomon to be wise. How "wise" he was is attested by the multitude of his wives and concubines, and even more so by the worship he showed to foreign gods. A reference to King Solomon's later life as described in 1 Kings 11, where he turned away from God.

ORATOR. But Rome had the wise Laelius Gaius Laelius Sapiens, a Roman statesman known for his friendship with Scipio Aemilianus and Cato likely referring to Cato the Elder or Cato the Younger, both symbols of Roman moral rigor. Greece herself, while she flourished, is said to have had seven wise men. The "Seven Sages of Greece," a group of 6th-century BCE philosophers and statesmen including Solon and Thales.

LAYMAN. These were about ancient wise men. Our age is more fortunate...