You also must show the unlearned man the truth, and you will see that he will follow. But so long as you do not show it him, you should not mock, but rather feel your own incapacity.

LXIV

It was the first and most striking characteristic of Socrates never to become heated in discourse, never to utter an injurious or insulting word — on the contrary, he persistently bore insult from others and thus put an end to the fray. If you care to know the extent of his power in this direction, read Xenophon’s Banquet, and you will see how many quarrels he put an end to. That is why the Poets are right in so highly commending this faculty: —

Quickly and wisely withal even bitter feuds would he settle.