Book 17
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NOT only the sophists of old, but the philosophers as well, took up ignoble subjects, See Pease, Things without Honor, Class. Phil. xxi. pp. 27 ff. An example is Erasmus' Praise of Folly. or if you prefer, unexpected ones, a)/docoi u(poqe/seis, as the Greeks call them; and our friend Favorinus took a great deal of pleasure in descending to such subjects, Frag. 65, Marres. either thinking them suitable for stimulating his thoughts or exercising his cleverness or overcoming difficulties by practice. For example, when he attempted to praise Thersites and pronounced a eulogy upon the quartan ague, See note 1, p. 252. he said many clever and ingenious things on both topics, which he has left written in his works.
