Plutarch in his apothegms tells us, that a nightingale being, among other things, set before a Lacedemonian for his dinner, when he was about to eat it, observing how very slender the body of the bird was, and comparing it with the strength and beauty of his song, he exclaimed, «Vox es et præterea nihil», you are all voice; the expression hence became proverbial, and is applied to persons who abound in words, but have little sense, «Qui dant sine mente sonum». Cicero therefore says, &à171;Malo indisertam prudentiam quam loquacem stultitiam», give me rather a prudent man, who, though unlearned, is silent, than a loquacious blockhead. For as the poet observes,

«Words are like leaves, and where they most abound,
Much fruit of sense beneath, is rarely found».