23. There was a spirit from another world who could talk with them with dexterity, because he spoke so readily and quickly, but he made a point of elegance in his discourse. They arrived at instant judgments about what he said, saying one expression was too elegant, another too clever. But in doing so, they only paid attention to whether they heard anything from him they did not already know. In that way they rejected anything that caused obscurity, especially efforts at elegant discourse and displays of learning, since these conceal the real ideas, substituting for them words which are the expressions of material objects. For the speaker concentrates on these and wants his words to be listened to rather than what the words mean, so that he has more effect on the other's hearing than on his mind.