throwing in the sponge

"Why do people become Sceptics and refuse to commit themselves? Because, according to Sextus, they have found that a welcome wave of tranquillity tends to follow in the wake of such open-mindedness. This discovery was, he thinks, first made by accident. The earliest Sceptics, says Sextus, were hoping to find tranquillity by finding out the truth about things. They were unable to find the truth, so they gave up and suspended judgement—whereupon they instantly started to feel better. Thus it turns out to be the suspension of judgement, and not the pursuit of inquiry, which brings contentment. Sextus illustrated the point with an anecdote about a painter called Apelles. Apelles was painting a horse and wanted to show foam at the animal’s mouth. He tried all sorts of brush techniques until he lost his temper, picked up a sponge that he used to wipe his brushes, and flung it at the picture. Lo and behold, the impact of the sponge produced exactly the effect he had been trying for. Just so with the Sceptics: throwing in the sponge turned out to do the trick. ‘When they suspended judgement, tranquillity followed as it were fortuitously, as a shadow follows a body.’"

"The Dream of Reason: A History of Western Philosophy from the Greeks to the Renaissance by Anthony Gottlieb https://a.co/azSRK5j