Tres Orationes

τὴν ἀντιπάθειαν sympathy/antipathy, which is unknown to man, and therefore should be left to those who take risks with such things. Somewhere he laughs at the ambition of his teacher, Pelops, who boasted that he knew the causes of all things. If Fabius referring to Quintilian deemed it to be numbered among the virtues of a grammarian to be ignorant of some things, how much more will it be, I will not say necessary, but at least a matter of greater pardon for us to be ignorant of some things in the investigation of such recondite matters? But that other future life will be blessed, which will teach us all things: for now, it is the boundary of our intellect.

You have heard of the antiquity of this doctrine: now hear the rest. All things, in the contemplation of which some effort and study are placed, are comprised in the category of the necessary, the useful, or the delightful. The power of individuals in compelling the minds of men is certainly great, but especially that of utility, by the mere appearance of which we happen to be moved at once, and with that taken away, as much strength and vitality as exists in anyone's mind languishes and is extinguished. For who is there who avoids useful things, or rather, who is there who does not most studiously pursue them? But how necessary the science of herbs is, and how useful for health (without which there is nothing safe for man), whether to maintain what is present or to recover what has been lost, is surely clearer than that which requires many words at present;