I recollected that after the defeat of Nicias at Syracuse the captive Athenians obtained a livelihood by reciting the poems of Homer.

The use I made of this erudition to ward off misery was to exercise my happy memory by learning all the poets by rote.
I had another expedient, not less solid, in the game of chess, to which I regularly dedicated, at Maugis, the evenings on which I did not go to the theatre.

I became acquainted with M.de Legal, M.Husson, Philidor, and all the great chess players of the day, without making the least improvement in the game.

However, I had no doubt but, in the end, I should become superior to them all, and this, in my own opinion, was a sufficient resource.

The same manner of reasoning served me in every folly to which I felt myself inclined.