- Source
- Platonis Opera, Tomus I: Tetralogia I-II. Burnet, John, 1863-1928, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905.
- Translation
- AI-generated (gemini-3.5-flash) — machine translation; may contain errors
- Languages
- 日本語 · English · 简体中文 · 한국어
- CTS URN
- urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0059.tlg006.humanitext-grc2:185
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-28
Socrates points out, and Theaetetus agrees, that the recognition of "common terms" such as being, number, and sameness, which integrate information from different sensory organs, is performed by the soul itself through its own activity, rather than through any specific physical organ.
ΣΩ. ἦ καὶ ἐθελήσεις ὁμολογεῖν ἃ διʼ ἑτέρας δυνάμεως αἰσθάνῃ, ἀδύνατον εἶναι διʼ ἄλλης ταῦτʼ αἰσθέσθαι,1 οἷον ἃ διʼ ἀκοῆς, διʼ ὄψεως, ἢ ἃ διʼ ὄψεως, διʼ ἀκοῆς; ΘΕΑΙ. πῶς γὰρ οὐκ ἐθελήσω; ΣΩ. εἴ τι ἄρα περὶ ἀμφοτέρων διανοῇ, οὐκ ἂν διά γε τοῦ ἑτέρου ὀργάνου, οὐδʼ αὖ διὰ τοῦ ἑτέρου περὶ ἀμφοτέρων αἰσθάνοιʼ ἄν. ΘΕΑΙ. οὐ γὰρ οὖν. ΣΩ. περὶ δὴ φωνῆς καὶ περὶ χρόας πρῶτον μὲν αὐτὸ τοῦτο περὶ ἀμφοτέρων ἦ διανοῇ, ὅτι ἀμφοτέρω ἐστόν;2 ΘΕΑΙ. ἔγωγε. ΣΩ. οὐκοῦν καὶ ὅτι ἑκάτερον ἑκατέρου μὲν ἕτερον, ἑαυτῷ δὲ ταὐτόν; ΘΕΑΙ. τί μήν; ΣΩ. καὶ ὅτι ἀμφοτέρω δύο, ἑκάτερον δὲ ἕν; ΘΕΑΙ. καὶ τοῦτο. ΣΩ. οὐκοῦν καὶ εἴτε ἀνομοίω εἴτε ὁμοίω ἀλλήλοιν, δυνατὸς εἶ ἐπισκέψασθαι; ΘΕΑΙ. ἴσως. ΣΩ. ταῦτα δὴ πάντα διὰ τίνος περὶ αὐτοῖν διανοῇ; οὔτε γὰρ διʼ ἀκοῆς οὔτε διʼ ὄψεως οἷόν τε τὸ κοινὸν λαμβάνειν περὶ αὐτῶν. ἔτι δὲ καὶ τόδε τεκμήριον περὶ οὗ λέγομεν· εἰ γὰρ δυνατὸν εἴη ἀμφοτέρω σκέψασθαι ἆρʼ ἐστὸν ἁλμυρὼ ἢ οὔ, οἶσθʼ ὅτι ἕξεις εἰπεῖν ᾧ ἐπισκέψῃ, καὶ τοῦτο οὔτε ὄψις οὔτε ἀκοὴ φαίνεται, ἀλλά τι ἄλλο. ΘΕΑΙ. τί δʼ οὐ μέλλει, ἥ γε διὰ τῆς γλώττης δύναμις; ΣΩ. καλῶς λέγεις. ἡ δὲ δὴ διὰ τίνος δύναμις τό τʼ ἐπὶ πᾶσι κοινὸν καὶ τὸ ἐπὶ τούτοις δηλοῖ σοι, ᾧ τὸ ἔστιν ἐπονομάζεις καὶ τὸ οὐκ ἔστι καὶ ἃ νυνδὴ ἠρωτῶμεν περὶ αὐτῶν; τούτοις πᾶσι ποῖα ἀποδώσεις ὄργανα διʼ ὧν αἰσθάνεται ἡμῶν τὸ αἰσθανόμενον ἕκαστα; ΘΕΑΙ. οὐσίαν λέγεις καὶ τὸ μὴ εἶναι, καὶ ὁμοιότητα καὶ ἀνομοιότητα, καὶ τὸ ταὐτόν τε καὶ ἕτερον, ἔτι δὲ ἕν τε καὶ τὸν ἄλλον ἀριθμὸν περὶ αὐτῶν. δῆλον δὲ ὅτι καὶ ἄρτιόν τε καὶ περιττὸν ἐρωτᾷς, καὶ τἆλλα ὅσα τούτοις ἕπεται, διὰ τίνος ποτὲ τῶν τοῦ σώματος τῇ ψυχῇ αἰσθανόμεθα. ΣΩ. ὑπέρευ, ὦ Θεαίτητε, ἀκολουθεῖς, καὶ ἔστιν ἃ ἐρωτῶ αὐτὰ ταῦτα. ΘΕΑΙ. ἀλλὰ μὰ Δία, ὦ Σώκρατες, ἔγωγε οὐκ ἂν ἔχοιμι εἰπεῖν, πλήν γʼ ὅτι μοι δοκεῖ τὴν ἀρχὴν3 οὐδʼ εἶναι τοιοῦτον οὐδὲν τούτοις ὄργανον ἴδιον ὥσπερ ἐκείνοις, ἀλλʼ αὐτὴ διʼ αὑτῆς ἡ ψυχὴ τὰ κοινά μοι φαίνεται περὶ πάντων ἐπισκοπεῖν. ΣΩ. καλὸς γὰρ εἶ, ὦ Θεαίτητε, καὶ οὐχ, ὡς ἔλεγε Θεόδωρος, αἰσχρός· ὁ γὰρ καλῶς λέγων καλός τε καὶ ἀγαθός. πρὸς δὲ τῷ καλῷ εὖ ἐποίησάς με μάλα συχνοῦ λόγου ἀπαλλάξας, εἰ φαίνεταί σοι τὰ μὲν αὐτὴ διʼ αὑτῆς ἡ ψυχὴ ἐπισκοπεῖν, τὰ δὲ διὰ τῶν τοῦ σώματος δυνάμεων. τοῦτο γὰρ ἦν ὃ καὶ αὐτῷ μοι ἐδόκει, ἐβουλόμην δὲ καὶ σοὶ δόξαι.
SOCRATES: Will you also be willing to agree that it is impossible to perceive through one power what you perceive through another— for example, to perceive through sight what you perceive through hearing, or through hearing what through sight? THEAETETUS: How could I not be willing? SOCRATES: If, then, you think something about both, you could not perceive about both through the one organ, nor again through the other. THEAETETUS: Of course not. SOCRATES: Now, concerning sound and concerning color, first of all, do you think this very thing about both: that they both are? THEAETETUS: I do. SOCRATES: And also that each is other than the other, but the same as itself? THEAETETUS: Of course. SOCRATES: And that both together are two, but each is one? THEAETETUS: That too. SOCRATES: And are you also able to examine whether they are unlike or like each other? THEAETETUS: Perhaps. SOCRATES: Through what, then, do you think all these things about both of them? For it is possible to grasp what is common to them neither through hearing nor through sight. And here is a further proof of what we are saying: if it were possible to examine both as to whether they are salty or not, you know that you would be able to say by what you will examine it, and this appears to be neither sight nor hearing, but something else. THEAETETUS: How could it be otherwise? It is, of course, the power that works through the tongue. SOCRATES: Well said. But now, through what does the power work which reveals to you that which is common to all things as well as to these, to which you apply the terms “is” and “is not,” and the other things about which we were just asking? For all these, what organs will you assign through which that part of us which perceives perceives each of them? THEAETETUS: You mean “being” and “not being,” “likeness” and “unlikeness,” “sameness” and “difference,” and further ”one” and any other “number” applied to them. And it is clear that you are also asking about “even” and “odd,” and all other things that follow from these, through which of the bodily organs we perceive them with the soul. SOCRATES: Excellent, Theaetetus! You follow me perfectly, and those are the very things I am asking about. THEAETETUS: But by Zeus, Socrates, I would not be able to say, except that it seems to me that in the first place there is no such special organ for these as there is for those, but rather the soul itself, by means of itself, appears to me to examine the things that are common to all. SOCRATES: For you are beautiful, Theaetetus, and not, as Theodorus said, ugly; for he who speaks beautifully is beautiful and good. And besides being beautiful, you have done me a great favor by releasing me from a very long argument, if it appears to you that some things the soul examines itself by means of itself, and others through the powers of the body. For this was what seemed to me too, and I wanted it to seem so to you as well.
- 185ἃ διʼ ἑτέρας δυνάμεως αἰσθάνῃ, ἀδύνατον εἶναι διʼ ἄλλης ταῦτʼ αἰσθέσθαι
In the accusative with infinitive construction ἀδύνατον εἶναι ... αἰσθέσθαι, the relative clause starting with ἃ is in apposition to the demonstrative pronoun ταῦτα which anticipates or reiterates it. This structure clearly emphasizes the proposition that "what you perceive through one power, it is impossible to perceive through another."
- 185aὅτι ἀμφοτέρω ἐστόν
This ὅτι clause is a noun clause in apposition to the preceding demonstrative phrase αὐτὸ τοῦτο (this very thing), specifying its content. The structural skeleton is: "Do you think this very thing about both: that they both are?"
- 185dτὴν ἀρχὴν
An adverbial accusative of the noun ἀρχή (beginning, principle). Used in combination with the negative οὐδὲ, it functions to express a strong negation meaning "not at all" or "in the first place... not."