23. There was a spirit from another earth, who could speak dexterously with them, because he spoke promptly and quickly, but who affected elegance in his discourse. They instantly decided on whatever he spoke, saying of this, that it was too elegant; of that, that it was too polished: so that the sole thing they attended to was, whether they could hear anything from him which they had never known before, rejecting thus the things which caused obscurity, which are especially affectations of elegance of discourse and erudition; for these bide real things, and instead thereof present expressions, which are only material forms of things; for the speaker keeps the attention fixed herein, and is desirous that his expressions should be regarded more than the meaning of them, whereby the ears are more affected than the mind.
