34. C. Acad. 3.15.34 (CCL 29:54–55); my trans., based on Kavanagh, FOTC 5:207–9.
The Philosopher 51 joices. As the stranger approaches, the traveler greets him, indicates his purpose, seeks advice about the road. What's more, he tells him the reason for his delay, and by stressing his preference for him over the shepherd, he tries to render him good-willed.32 But the horseman happened to be one of those who are commonly called Samardacs,33 and the rascal spontaneously followed his usual practice—and did it for free. "Go this way," he said, "for I've just come from there." So he deceived him and went on his way. But how could the hyper-cautious traveler be deceived? "I do not," he says, "accept that information as true. I accept it as 'truth-like.' And since this leisure is neither appropriate nor useful, I shall take to the road." Meanwhile, the first traveler, who had erred by assenting when he so quickly believed that the shepherd's words were true, had already rested and refreshed himself at the place they had set out for. But the one who had avoided error by following the "probable" ended up wandering around a forest of some kind. In fact, he still has not yet found anyone who even knows the place he had proposed going to.
Let me tell you that, when I thought about those arguments of the Academics, I could not keep from laughing. According to the Academics' own words, it ends up somehow or other that one is seen to be in error when one follows the right path by mere chance, but that the one who is led by the "probable" is seen as free from error even though he was led on through trackless mountains and never ends up finding the place he was seeking. While I would censure the practice of assenting rashly, it is more appropriate to say that both of these two were in error than to say that only the latter avoided it. Because of this, I became much more wary with regard to the assertions of the Academics, and I began to reflect on people's deeds and lifestyle. Then I discovered so many and such fundamental arguments against the Academics that I could no longer laugh at them. I began to loathe them and mourn the fact that such sharp-witted and learned men had fallen headlong into such scandalous and shameful opinions.34
32. "Render him good-willed" (benevolentiorem reddat): Augustine's educated audience would immediately recognize that this phrase refers to the orator's first task in any speech: to win over the audience's good will. Augustine portrays the skeptical traveler as a good Ciceronian orator who tries to win over the elegant gentleman; the gentleman is not won over but ironically ends up duping the traveler.
33. "Samardacs": an African word of unknown origin. John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Epistle to the Ephesians 17, uses it in the sense of "comedian" or "clown."
34. C. Acad. 3.15.34 (CCL 29:54–55); my trans., based on Kavanagh, FOTC 5:207–9.