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Sextus Empiricus

Against the Professors, Books I-VI of Against the Learned Section 34

Section 34 of 757

Canonical reference 1.34

Ancient Greek

Hermann Mutschmann and Jürgen Mau, editors · adversus-grc

ἄτεχνος μὲν γὰρ ὢν ὅμοιός ἐστι τῷ ἐκ γενετῆς τυφλῷ ἢ κωφῷ, καὶ ὃν τρόπον οὗτος οὐδέποτε ἢ εἰς χρωμάτων εἰς φωνῶν ἐλθεῖν ἔννοιαν πέφυκεν, οὕτως οὐδὲ ὁ ἄτεχνος, ἐφʼ ὅσον ἐστὶν ἄτεχνος, τετυ- φλωμένος καὶ κεκωφωμένος πρὸς τὰ τεχνικὰ θεωρή- ματα οὔτε ἰδεῖν οὔτε ἀκοῦσαί τι τούτων οἷός τε ἐστίν τεχνίτης δὲ γενόμενος οὐκέτι διδάσκεται ἄλλὰ δεδί- δακται.

English AI-generated translation, non-official

Codex gpt-5.6-sol · Non-official working translation · 2026-09-11

For while unskilled he resembles one blind or deaf from birth. Just as such a person is by nature never able to arrive at a conception of colors or sounds, so the unskilled person, so long as he is unskilled, is blind and deaf to technical principles and can neither see nor hear any of them. Once he has become expert, he is no longer being taught, but has been taught.

French AI-generated translation, non-official

Codex gpt-5.6-sol · Non-official working translation · 2026-09-11

Lorsqu’il est sans art, il ressemble à l’aveugle ou au sourd de naissance. De même que celui-ci n’est naturellement capable de former aucune notion des couleurs ou des sons, de même l’homme sans art, tant qu’il est sans art, aveugle et sourd aux théorèmes techniques, ne peut ni voir ni entendre quoi que ce soit de ces théorèmes. Mais une fois devenu homme de l’art, il n’est plus en train d’être enseigné : il a été enseigné.

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