 Socrates emphasizes that learning an epistêmê — what we would call a field of knowledge — entails care, diligence, and practice. He says that idleness does not put knowledge worthy of mention into the soul; one must also have care or diligence (epimeleia) for doing fine and good deeds (II.i.20). Free men (actually gentlemen farmers) who are not idle but exercise diligence (epimelomenous) in those useful things they understand (epistantai) are happiest; work and application (epimeleian) help men to learn what they need to know and to remember what they learn (II.vii.7–8). Near the beginning of the Memorabilia, Socrates argues against those who say that a just man can never become unjust. Rather, he says, those who do not train the soul (askountas) cannot carry out the functions of the soul (I.ii.19–20). Diligence and training, then, are the basis of these skills, not a theoretical grasp of principles.