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Sextus Empiricus

Against the Professors, Books I-VI of Against the Learned Section 13

Section 702 of 757

Canonical reference 6.13

Ancient Greek

Hermann Mutschmann and Jürgen Mau, editors · adversus-grc

οἵ τε μέγα δυνηθέντες ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ, κα- θάπερ καὶ Πλάτων, τὸν σοφὸν ὅμοιόν φασιν εἶναι τῷ μουσικῷ, τὴν ψυχὴν ἡρμοσμένην ἔχοντα. καθὸ καὶ Σω- κράτης καίπερ βαθυγήρως ἤδη γεγονὼς οὐκ ᾐδεῖτο πρὸς Λάμπωνα τὸν κιθαριστὴν φοιτῶν, καὶ πρὸς τὸν ἐπὶ τού- τῳ ὀνειδίσαντα λέγειν ὅτι κρεῖττόν ἐστιν ἀψιμαθῆ μᾶλλον | ἢ ἀμαθῆ διαβάλλεσθαι.

English AI-generated translation, non-official

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

Those who have achieved great distinction in philosophy, Plato among them, say that the wise person resembles the musician in having a harmoniously ordered soul. Accordingly, Socrates, though already very old, was not ashamed to attend the lyre-player Lampon and to tell the person who reproached him for it that it is better to be accused of learning late than of remaining ignorant.

French AI-generated translation, non-official

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

Ceux qui ont acquis une grande autorité en philosophie, parmi lesquels Platon, disent que le sage ressemble au musicien, parce qu’il possède une âme accordée. C’est pourquoi Socrate, bien qu’il fût déjà d’un âge très avancé, n’avait pas honte de fréquenter Lampon le cithariste et de répondre à celui qui le lui reprochait qu’il vaut mieux être accusé d’apprendre tard que de rester ignorant.

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