On True Wisdom

Orator. I possess great wisdom. Layman. I might perhaps have thought so if you had remained silent. But now you have warned me; for where there is greater boasting, there is usually less wisdom, as your Cicero original: "cicero"; Marcus Tullius Cicero, the Roman orator and philosopher whom the Orator would hold in high regard says:

He who boasts of himself, he says, immediately finds a mocker; indeed, he finds as many mockers as he has listeners.

Orator. I am counted among the wise. p...ch?

Layman. Perhaps you are one of that flock whose number is many and great, for whom it is more precious to seem wise and not be, than to be wise and not even seem so. So also there are many who prefer to seem just and not be, rather than to be just and not appear so.
Aristotle original: "aristotiles" calls the first group sophists original: "sophistas"; teachers who used clever but fallacious arguments, often for show or profit and the second group hypocrites original: "ypocritas". The effect of both is to deceive, and first of all to deceive themselves. Some show themselves to be just and wise through words, others through gestures, and others through a combination of nods, gestures, and words; yet they are perverse in their conduct, habits, and life.
Moreover, if you were wise, you certainly would not say so.

For the wise man does not presume, he is not puffed up; rather, he groans within himself. He does not boast, but always weighs what he lacks; he thinks not of what he has achieved, but of what is still to be acquired.

For everything is lacking to him who thinks nothing is lacking to him regarding wisdom. Therefore, if you wish to become wise: do not—as I have already said—consider yourself wise. Orator. Nevertheless, I am judged wise by the consensus of everyone. Layman. No one can arrive at true wisdom who has been deceived by false wisdom. It is necessary, therefore, that you become a fool, so that you might be able to be wise. Proceed, then, until you...