The Poet and the Clown
A certain countryman, who was engaged in sowing his field, saw a man of letters, who was also a Poet, approaching:
“Sir,” said the Clown to him, “how can you study, as you do, in solitude?”
“I am a Poet,” replied the other; “at first I studied in company with others, but now I go on in my education alone.”
The uneducated man who begins by seeking the society of the learned, in this way becomes educated. In time he grows capable of finishing his education, unaided by others.