Letter 90 — On the Part Played by Philosophy in the Progress of Man (§11)

“On another point also I differ from Posidonius, when he holds that mechanical tools were the invention of wise men. For on that basis one might maintain that those were wise who taught the arts Of setting traps for game, and liming twigs For birds, and girdling mighty woods with dogs. It was man’s ingenuity, not his wisdom, that discovered all these devices.”