"If any one wish to converse with the meanest of the Lacedaemonians, he will at first find him, for the most part, apparently despicable in conversation; but afterwards, when a proper opportunity presents itself, this same mean person, like a _skilful jaculator, will hurl a sentence_, worthy of attention, _short and contorted_; so that he who converses with him will appear to be in no respect superior to a boy! That _to laconise_, therefore, consists much more in philosophising than in the love of exercise, is understood by some of the present age, and was known to the ancients, they being persuaded that the ability of _uttering such sentences_ as these is the province of a man perfectly learned. The seven sages were emulators, lovers, and disciples of the _Lacedaemonian erudition_. Their wisdom was a thing of this kind, viz. _short sentences uttered by each, and worthy to be remembered_. These men, assembling together, consecrated to Apollo the first fruits of their wisdom; writing in the Temple of Apollo, at Delphi, those sentences which are celebrated by all men, viz. _Know thyself!_ and _Nothing too much!_ But on what account do I mention these things? To show that _the mode of philosophy among the ancients was a certain laconic diction_."[29] The "laconisms" of the Lacedaemonians evidently partook of the proverbial style: they were, no doubt, often proverbs themselves. The very instances which Plato supplies of this "laconising" are two most venerable proverbs. All this elevates the science of PROVERBS, and indicates that these abridgments of knowledge convey great results, with a parsimony of words prodigal of sense. They have, therefore, preserved many "a short sentence, NOT repeated by the people."