The Problem
I’m reading Thomas Hoby’s translation of The Book of the Courtier, the first English translation of Baltasare Castiglione’s Italian Renaissance manual. In his prefatory letter to Lord Henry Hastings, Hoby explains why he’s decided to print his translation.
And he said wel that was asked the question, How much the learned differed from the unlearned. ‘So much’ (quoth he) ‘as the wel broken and ready horses, from the unbroken.’ wherfore I wote not how our learned men in this case can avoide the saying of Isocrates, to one that amonge soundrye learned discourses at Table spake never a woorde: ‘Yf thou bee unlearned, thou dooest wiselye: but yf thou bee learned, unwyselye,’ as who should saye, learnyng is yll bestowed where others bee not profited by it.
In this passage, Hoby articulate the distinction between those who are learned and unlearned. What exactly is it?
The Solution
If you’re unlearned, you keep your mouth shut because you don’t know anything. So if a student who doesn’t know anything never speaks in class, Isocrates would say, “thou dooest wiselye.”
If you’re learned, you must talk because the right use of learning is sharing your knowledge with others so that they can get something out of it. “[L]earnyng is yll bestowed where others bee not profited by it,” Isocrates explains.
Application
What do you know, and is it worth sharing?