VIII. He seems to have been a great admirer of Plato, and he possessed all his writings. He also, according to some authorities, had a very high opinion of Pyrrho.
IX. He also studied dialectics, and the discussions of the Eretrian school; on which account Ariston said of him:—
And Timon speaks thus of him:—
And presently afterwards he represents him as saying:—
X. He was exceedingly fond of employing axioms, very concise in his diction, and when speaking he laid an emphasis on each separate word.
XI. He was also very fond of attacking others, and very free spoken, on which account Timon in another passage speaks of him thus:—
Once, when a young man was arguing against him with more boldness than usual, he said, “Will no one stop his mouth with the knout?”2
And to a man who lay under the general imputation of low debauchery, and who argued with him that one thing was not greater than another, he asked him whether a cup holding two pints was not larger than one which held only one.
There was a certain Chian named Hemon, exceedingly ugly, but who fancied himself good looking, and always went about in fine clothes; this man asked him one day, “If he thought that a wise man could feel attachment to him;” “Why should he not,” said he, “when they love even those who are less handsome than you, and not so well-dressed either?” and when the man, though one of the vilest characters possible, said to Arcesilaus as if he were addressing a very rigid man:—
Arcesilaus replied:—