Free The Good Book by A. C. Grayling Page B

be restored to you, and take this man as your slave.’
     
    Chapter 11
      1. After their long journey, and these tales, Charicles and the stranger were weary, and slept; but they were woken early by the noise of the city, and decided to go on their way before the sun grew hot.
      2. As they rode their asses along the main street, the stranger said, ‘You can ask me anything, for I know the half of all knowledge.’
      3. ‘The half of all knowledge? I cannot believe that,’ said Charicles with a laugh. ‘Who can know the half of all knowledge?’
      4. ‘But I do know it,’ insisted the stranger; ‘I know the half of all knowledge in the world. Test me.’
      5. So Charicles asked the stranger what he knew of medicine, and the stranger said, ‘Nothing.’
      6. And Charicles asked him what he knew of mathematics, and the stranger said, ‘Nothing.’
      7. And Charicles asked him what he knew of astronomy, and the stranger said, ‘Nothing.’
      8. And Charicles asked him what he knew of philosophy, and the stranger said, ‘Nothing.’
      9. And Charicles asked him what he knew of history, and the stranger said, ‘Nothing.’
    10. And Charicles asked him what he knew of literature, and the stranger said, ‘Nothing.’
    11. And Charicles asked him what he knew of this subject and that, and every time the stranger said, ‘Nothing.’
    12. Eventually Charicles said, ‘How can you claim to know the half of all knowledge, which is something not even the wisest man would claim?
    13. ‘For it is clear that when I ask you on any subject we study in the schools, you know nothing at all.’
    14. To which the stranger replied, ‘Exactly so; for Aristotle says, “He who says, I do not know, has already attained the half of all knowledge.”’
     
    Chapter 12
      1. ‘And yet,’ said the stranger, ‘if only you will consider the questions you asked to test my knowledge, and what answers any man could give.
      2. ‘He could answer that he knows medicine, because he can say that if a man is buried, he was formerly ill or had an accident;
      3. ‘He knows astronomy, for he can tell that it is day when the sun shines, and night when he sees stars;
      4. ‘He knows arithmetic, because he can ask for a second pot of beer to follow the first;
      5. ‘He knows measurement, because he can tell whether his belly has grown bigger with feeding;
      6. ‘He knows music, for he can tell the difference between the barking of a dog and the braying of an ass.
      7. ‘What is the worth of mere words, if their true meanings make no difference to what a man does?
      8. ‘In my land, to which I am taking you, though you feared to come with me, every stone has a story to tell of times past, and in every garden the roses bloom.
      9. ‘The city sits on a hill, on whose slopes the vineyards flourish, and it overlooks a valley, where the vegetable plots are full of ripeness, and a river flows with clear waters.
    10. ‘On the walls of our city, so pleasant and in a land so fruitful, we have inscribed the teachings of our sages.
    11. ‘On the walls by the great gates we have placed the teachings of Tibon, who wrote to his son,
    12. ‘“Plant your garden of flowers and herbs by the river; but let your bookshelves also be gardens and pleasure grounds;
    13. ‘“Pluck the fruit that grows there, gather the spices and myrrh. If your heart grows weary, go from garden to garden of your bookshelves,
    14. ‘“From flower bed to flower bed, scene to scene; and refresh yourself;
    15. ‘“For how shall the heart not grow new when there are words of scholarship to teach it, and poetry to delight it,
    16. ‘“And comedy to bring it laughter, and stories of love to make it yearn, and books of sorrows to unburden the tears of things that lie waiting within us all?
    17. ‘“The greatest joy is when you pluck a flower from this garden of bookshelves, and carry it into the garden you have planted by the river,
    18.