Then the second matter for diligent practice
concerns our own answers ; to these the chatterer
must pay very close attention : in the first place, that
he may not inadvertently give a serious answer to
those who provoke him to talk merely that they may
insolently ridicule him.
1 For some persons who require no information, but merely to divert and amuse
themselves, devise questions and put them to men of
this sort to set going their foolish twaddle. Against
this talkers should be on their guard and not leap
upon a subject quickly, or as though grateful that it
is offered to them, but should first consider both the
character of the questioner and the necessity for the
question. And when it appears that the questioner
is really anxious to learn, the babbler must accustom
himself to stop and leave between the question and
the answer an interval, in which the asker may add
anything he wishes and he himself may reflect upon
his reply instead of overrunning and obscuring the
question by giving a long string of answers in a
hurry while the question is still being asked. For
although the Pythian priestess is accustomed to
[p. 455]
deliver some oracles on the instant, even before the
question is put-for the god whom she serves
Understands the dumb and hears when no man speaks2-
yet the man who wishes to make a careful answer
must wait to apprehend exactly the sense and the
intent of him who asks the question, lest it befall, as
the proverb
3 has it,
They asked for buckets, but tubs were refused.
In any case this ravenous hunger for talking must be
checked so that it may not seem as though a stream
which has long been pressing hard upon the tongue
were being gladly discharged at the instance of the
question. Socrates, in fact, used to control his thirst
in this manner-he would not allow himself to drink
after exercise until he had drawn up and poured out
the first bucketful, so that his irrational part might
be trained to await the time dictated by reason.
