As if this had the least face of truth, that Nature that was so solicitously watchful in the production of gnats, herbs, and flowers should have so slept when she made man, that he should have need to be helped by sciences, which that old devil Theuth, the evil genius of mankind, first invented for his destruction, and are so little conducive to happiness that they rather obstruct it; to which purpose they are properly said to be first found out, as that wise king in Plato argues touching the invention of letters.
Egiantzen bat izango duelakoan, naturak, eltxoen kasuan, eta halaber belar eta loretxoenetan ere, hain ardura handiz jokatu eta gizakiaren kasuan gero lo egitea, zientzien premia izateraino; hauek Teutusek, gizateriaren etsaia zen jeinu hark, asmatu zituen gizakia zeharo hondatzeko xedeaz eta, izan ere, hain gutxi balio dute zorionerako, non esan ohi denez, egiatan sortu zituen helburua bera betetzeko ere kaltegarri diren, Platonen idazkietan errege guztiz zogi hark letren asmaketari buruz hitz egitean, dotore argudiatzen duen bezala.