Hippocrates, Vol. IV (Loeb Classical Library)

...utterances rather than reasoned arguments, taking their tone from the complexity of their subject matter. However, prose remained relatively free from intentional obscurity; lyric poetry, on the other hand—at any rate, the choral lyric—seems to have been particularly prone to it. In the Alexandrian period, obscure writing became a fad among literary pedants, and Lycophron serves as a warning example of how foolish this can be when carried to extremes.

There must have been something in the Greek mentality to account for the persistence of this curious habit, which appears all the more strange when we remember how fond the Greeks were of clear-cut outlines in all forms of art. The reason is probably found in the restless activity of the Greek mind, which never had enough material to occupy it fully. The modern person perhaps has too much to think about, but before books and other forms of mental recreation became common, men were led into all sorts of abnormalities and extravagances. The unoccupied mind broods, often becoming fanciful, bizarre, or morbid. To quote but two instances out of many: the "tradition" condemned by Jesus in the Gospels, and the elaborate dogmas expounded at tedious length by the early Church Fathers, were at least partly caused by active brains being deprived of suitable material. It is a tribute to the genius of the Greeks that they found so much healthy occupation in applying thought to everyday things, thus escaping many of the dangers that arise when the mind is insufficiently fed. A tendency toward idle speculation is the only serious fault to be found with the Greek mentality; the indulgence in intentional obscurity is perhaps a fault, but only...