114 ESSAYS IN NATIONAL IDEALISM.

according as he appeared to say well or ill, he either
praised or blamed him. Now Thanms is reported to have
tsaid many things to Theuth respecting each art, both for
and against it, which it would be tedious to relate. But
when°they came to the letters, " This knowledge, 0
3dn°" " said Theuth, " will ma,ke the Egyptians wiser, and
better able to remember ; for it has been invented as a
medicine for memory and wisdom." But the king replied,
•«« O most ingenious Theuth, one person is able to give
birth to art, another to judge of what amount of detri-
ment or advantage it will be to those who are to use it,
=and now you, as being the father of letters, out of fond-
ness have attributed to them the contrary effect to that
-which they will have. For this invention will produce
f orgetf ulness in the minds of those who learn it through
the neglect of memory, for that, through trusting to
writing, they will remember outwardly by means of
foreign marks, and not inwardly by means of their own
faculties. So that you have not discovered a medicine for
memory, but for recollection. And you are providing for
your disciples the appearance and not the reality of

wisdom,"

The distinction between wisdom an'd knowledge must
never be forgotten. It is wisdom which is the true end
of education ; in comparison with it, knowledge is a small
It is not a question of a useful as against a
fancy " education. It is one of point of view. Culture
in the East has been only secondarily connected with
books and writing ; it has been a part of life itself. Knox
tells us, in a passage which I have already quoted,*
of 17th century Ceylon, that the " ordinary Plow-
men and Husbandmen do speak elegantly, and