Four years at his _probations_ and his _negations_--the fine statue still lying in the middle of the marble block, --and nothing done, but his tools sharpened to hew it out! --'Tis a piteous delay! --Was not the great _Julius Scaliger_ within an ace of never getting his tools sharpened at all? ------Forty-four years old was he before he could manage his Greek; --and _Peter Damianus_, lord bishop of _Ostia_, as all the world knows, could not so much as read, when he was of man's estate. --And _Baldus_ himself, as eminent as he turned out after, entered upon the law so late in life, that everybody imagined he intended to be an advocate in the other world: no wonder, when _Eudamidas_, the son of _Archidamas_, heard _Xenocrates_ at seventy-five disputing about _wisdom_, that he asked gravely, --_If the old man be yet disputing and enquiring concerning wisdom, --what time will he have to make use of it?_

'Four years at his probations and negations - with the fine statue still lying in the middle of the marble block, and nothing done, except his tools sharpened to hew it out! 'Tis a piteous delay! Was not the great Julius Scaliger within an ace of never getting his tools sharpened at all? Forty-four years old was he before he could manage Greek; and Peter Damianus, bishop of Ostia, as all the world knows, could not read even when he was full-grown. Baldus entered the law so late in life, that everybody imagined he intended to be an advocate in the other world.
'No wonder that, when Eudamidas heard Xenocrates at seventy-five discussing wisdom, he asked gravely, "If the old man is still disputing wisdom, what time will he have to make use of it?"'
