Miscellanies 6.8.65

Let these things be so. But the one who knows must be very learned. And since the Greeks say, following Protagoras who began it, that to every argument an argument is opposed, it is fitting that he be prepared for such arguments too. For Scripture says: “He who says much will also hear in return.” “And who will understand the Lord's parable, except one who is wise and understanding and loves his Lord?” Let such a one, then, be faithful; let him be able to express knowledge; let him be wise in the discernment of words; let him be vigorous in deeds; let him be pure. “For the greater he seems to be, the more humble-minded he ought to be,” says Clement in the letter to the Corinthians. Such a man is able to obey that precept: “And some snatch out of the fire, but on those who doubt have mercy.” The pruning hook, of course, was made primarily for pruning, but with it we also separate tangled branches and cut the thorns that grow along with the vines, which are hard to get at; yet all these relate to pruning. Again, man was made primarily for the knowledge of God, but he also farms, measures land, and philosophizes: the first for living, the second for living well, and the third for studying things that admit of demonstration.