Republic

​Therefore, concerning the same implement, the maker will have right belief about its beauty and badness, by associating with the one who knows and being compelled to listen to the one who knows, whereas the user will have knowledge. Certainly. But will the imitator have knowledge about the things he paints—whether they are beautiful and correct or not—from using them, or will he have correct opinion because of necessarily associating with the one who knows and being instructed as to how he ought to paint? Neither. Therefore, the imitator will neither know nor have correct opinion about the things he imitates, in respect to their beauty or badness. It doesn’t seem so. A fine thing, then, would be the imitator in poetry in respect to wisdom about the things he makes. Not very. But nevertheless, he will imitate, not knowing about each thing in what way it is bad or useful; but, as it seems, whatever appears to be beautiful to the many who know nothing, this is what he will imitate. For what else? These things then, as it seems, have been fairly well agreed upon by us: that the imitator knows nothing worth mentioning about the things he imitates, but that imitation is a kind of play and not a serious pursuit, and that those who take up tragic poetry in iambics and in epic meters are all imitators to the highest possible degree. By all means. ”By Zeus,” I said, “but is not this imitating concerned with something that is third from the truth? Is it not?” “Yes.” “But to what kind of part among those of human beings does it appeal, having the power that it has?” “What kind of part do you mean?” “The following: the same magnitude, I suppose, does not appear equal to us through our sight from near and from far.” “Indeed not.” “And the same things appear bent and straight when seen in water and out of it, and concave and convex because of the illusion of sight concerning colors, and every such confusion is clearly present in our soul. Shadow-painting, by preying upon this affection of our nature, falls nothing short of magic, as do puppetry and many other such devices.” “True.” “Have not, then, measuring, counting, and weighing appeared as the most welcome aids against these things, so that what rules in us is not the appearance of being larger or smaller, or more or heavier, but that which has calculated, measured, or weighed?” “How could it be otherwise?” ”But this, surely, would be the work of the calculating part in the soul.” “Indeed, of that part.” “And to this part, though it has measured many times and indicates that some things are larger or smaller than others or equal, the opposites appear at the same time concerning the same things.” “Yes.” “Now, did we not say that it is impossible for the same part to hold opposite opinions at the same time about the same things?” “And we were right to say so.”