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The Gaming Table by Andrew Steinmetz

 CHAPTER XI. page 8

Men of intellect may rest assured that whether they win or lose
at play, it will always be at the cost of their genius; the soul
cannot support two passions together. The passion of play,
although fatigued, is never satiated, and therefore it always
leaves behind protracted agitation. The famous Roman lawyer
Scaevola suffered from playing at backgammon; his head was
always affected by it, especially when he lost the game, in fact,
it seemed to craze him. One day he returned expressly from the
country merely to try and convince his opponent in a game which
he had lost, that if he had played otherwise he would have won!
It seems that on his journey home he mentally went through the
game again, detected his mistake, and could not rest until he
went back and got his adversary to admit the fact--for the sake
of his _amour propre_.[113]

[113] Quinctil., _Instit. Orat_. lib. XI. cap. ii.

`It is rare,' says Rousseau, `that thinkers take much
delight in play, which suspends the habit of thinking or diverts
it upon sterile combinations; and so one of the benefits--perhaps
the only benefit conferred by the taste for the sciences, is that
it somewhat deadens that sordid passion of play.'

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