262 ///-1 to ///-3
42 .... He was, though, modest enough to advise his pupils to attend
the lectures of others too. When some Chian youth was not satisfied
with his approach, preferring that of the above-mentioned Hieronymus,
Arcesilaus himself led him to that philosopher and introduced him,
advising him to behave himself.
- There is also this pleasant story about him. When asked by someone
why people were defecting to the Epicurean school from the others, but
never the other way around, he said, "Because eunuchs are made from
men, not men from eunuchs." ...
44 .... According to Hermippus, he died having indulged in too much
unmixed wine, which made him mad. He was already 75 years old by
this time and had been accepted by the Athenians as no one else had been.
Numenius in Eusebius Prep. Ev. bk. xiv, ch.
vi, 730b-731c
[III-2](730b) No one knew about Arcesilaus' stand any more than they knew
about which side the son of Tydaeus was on/-about whom Homer said
that no one knew whether he sided with the Trojans or the Achaeans.
(730c) He did not have it in him ever to express one and the same
position nor, for that matter, did he think such a thing at all worthy of
a shrewd man. And that is why he was called a "clever sophist, cutthroat
of novices." For just like the Empusae,^3 he was enchanting and bewitching
with his verbal apparitions, as a result of careful preparation and practice,
and he would not allow that he or anyone else was in a position to know
anything. He terrified and confused [others], and indeed took first prize
for sophistical arguments and argumentative fraud, delighting in the
charge, and priding himself marvellously on not knowing whether some-
thing is shameful or honourable, good or bad; (730d) but he would say
whatever came into his head and then immediately reversing himself he
would knock down that view in more ways than he had used to set it up.
Like a hydra, he decapitated himself and was decapitated by himself,
not distinguishing which was which and with no consideration for propri-
ety. Still, he satisfied his hearers, who could observe his handsome face
while he lectured. He was therefore most pleasing to hear and see, at
least once they became accustomed to hearing the words come from his
beautiful face and mouth (not to mention the kindness in his eyes).
Don't think that this is a trivial matter, since he was like this from
the very beginning. (731a) For when he was a boy he fell in with Theo-
- Iliad 5.801 ff.
- Bogey-women of antiquity.