Litterati

To theſe Apollo anſwered, That the onely means whereby to make the way to the Liberal Arts eaſie, was the fervent love of learning, the taking delight in reading the fruitful labours of his Litterati, and to ſtudy out of pleaſure; […]

Pray do not betray my ignorance: the reviewers and such litterati have called me a learned and ingenious gentleman.

Save in the rare and limited instances of invention in the plastic arts, or in mathematics, the individual cannot think and communicate his thought, the governor and legislator cannot act effectively or frame his laws, without words, and the solidity and validity of these words is in the care of the damned and despised litterati.

Their critique of the zuhhad ascetics whose showy and at times gruesome austerities certainly did win popular support suggests that if anything the likes of Kharraz and Muhasibi beforehand represented a distinctly anti-popularist circle of urbane litterati who sought dignity in mastering their books rather than their bodies.