Moral Letters to Lucilius Section 33

Excidit porro vobis eundem Democritum invenisse, quemadmodum ebur molliretur, quemadmodum decoctus calculus in zmaragdum converteretur, qua hodieque coctum inventi lapides in hoc utiles colorantur. Ista sapiens licet invenerit, non qua sapiens erat, invenit; multa enim facit, quae ab inprudentissimis aut aeque fieri videmus aut peritius atque exercitatius.

« Avez-vous oublié, me dit-on, que ce même Démocrite trouva l’art d’amollir l’ivoire, de convertir par la cuisson le caillou en émeraude, procédé qui aujourd’hui encore sert à colorer certaines pierres qui s’y prêtent ? » Oui : mais bien qu’un sage ait trouvé ces secrets, ce n’est pas en tant que sage qu’il les a trouvés ;

It seems to have quite slipped your memory that this same Democritus discovered how ivory could be softened, how, by boiling, a pebble could be transformed into an emerald, - the same process used even to-day for colouring stones which are found to be amenable to this treatment! It may have been a wise man who discovered all such things, but he did not discover them by virtue of being a wise man; for he does many things which we see done just as well, or even more skilfully and dexterously, by men who are utterly lacking in sagacity.