[8]
Simon
Moreover, sponging is not to be classed with beauty and strength, and so called a quality instead of an art?Tychiades
No.Simon
And, in the sphere of art, it does not denote the negative condition, of unskilfulness. ‘That never brings its owner prosperity. Take an instance: if a man who did not understand navigation took charge of a ship in a stormy sea, would he be safe?Tychiades
Not he.Simon
Why, now? Because he wants the art which would enable him to save his life?Tychiades
Exactly.Simon
It follows that, if sponging was the negative of art, the sponger would not save his life by its means?Tychiades
Yes.Simon
A man is saved by art, not by the absence of it?Tychiades
Quite so.Simon
So sponging is an art?Tychiades
Apparently.Simon
Let me add that I have often known even good navigators and skilful drivers come to grief, resulting with the latter in bruises and with the former in death; but no one will tell you of a sponger who ever made shipwreck. Very well, then, sponging is neither the negative of art, nor is it a quality; but it is a body of perceptions regularly employed. So it emerges from the present discussion an art.De parasito sive artem esse parasiticam. Lucian. Henry Watson Fowler (Translator), Francis George Fowler (Translator). Medford, MA, USA. 2023-08-01.
Sponsored by Tufts University.
Funding provided by National Endowment for the Humanities.