§155ΣΩ. καὶ μὴν ἐγώ.
SOCRATES: And indeed I do.
ὅτε δʼ οὕτως ἔχει, ἄλλο τι ἢ ἠρέμα, ὡς πάνυ πολλὴν σχολὴν ἄγοντες, πάλιν ἐπανασκεψόμεθα, οὐ δυσκολαίνοντες ἀλλὰ τῷ ὄντι ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς ἐξετάζοντες, ἅττα ποτʼ ἐστὶ ταῦτα τὰ φάσματα ἐν ἡμῖν;
Since this is so, shall we not quietly examine again, as if having plenty of leisure, not being peevish but truly testing ourselves, what on earth these appearances in us are?
ὧν πρῶτον ἐπισκοποῦντες φήσομεν, ὡς ἐγὼ οἶμαι, μηδέποτε μηδὲν ἂν μεῖζον μηδὲ ἔλαττον γενέσθαι μήτε ὄγκῳ μήτε ἀριθμῷ, ἕως ἴσον εἴη αὐτὸ ἑαυτῷ.
In inspecting them, we shall say first, as I think, that nothing could ever become greater or smaller, either in bulk or in number, as long as it remains equal to itself.
οὐχ οὕτως;
Is it not so?
ΘΕΑΙ. ναί.
THEAETETUS: Yes.
ΣΩ. δεύτερον δέ γε, ᾧ μήτε προστιθοῖτο μήτε ἀφαιροῖτο, τοῦτο μήτε αὐξάνεσθαί ποτε μήτε φθίνειν, ἀεὶ δὲ ἴσον εἶναι.
SOCRATES: And secondly, that to which nothing is added and from which nothing is subtracted, this neither ever increases nor decreases, but is always equal.
ΘΕΑΙ. κομιδῇ μὲν οὖν.
THEAETETUS: Absolutely.
ΣΩ. ἆρʼ οὖν οὐ καὶ τρίτον, ὃ μὴ πρότερον ἦν, ὕστερον ἀλλὰ τοῦτο εἶναι ἄνευ τοῦ γενέσθαι καὶ γίγνεσθαι ἀδύνατον;
SOCRATES: And thirdly, is it not also the case that what was not previously, but is later, cannot possibly be so without having become and becoming?
ΘΕΑΙ. δοκεῖ γε δή.
THEAETETUS: It certainly seems so.
ΣΩ. ταῦτα δή, οἴομαι, ὁμολογήματα τρία μάχεται αὐτὰ αὑτοῖς ἐν τῇ ἡμετέρᾳ ψυχῇ, ὅταν τὰ περὶ τῶν ἀστραγάλων λέγωμεν, ἢ ὅταν φῶμεν ἐμὲ τηλικόνδε ὄντα, μήτε αὐξηθέντα μήτε τοὐναντίον παθόντα, ἐν ἐνιαυτῷ σοῦ τοῦ νέου νῦν μὲν μείζω εἶναι, ὕστερον δὲ ἐλάττω, μηδὲν τοῦ ἐμοῦ ὄγκου ἀφαιρεθέντος ἀλλὰ σοῦ αὐξηθέντος.
SOCRATES: These three admissions, I think, fight with one another in our soul when we speak of the dice, or when we say that I, being of this age, having neither increased nor undergone the opposite, within a year am now larger than you, who are young, and later will be smaller, though nothing of my bulk has been taken away, but you have increased.
εἰμὶ γὰρ δὴ ὕστερον ὃ πρότερον οὐκ ἦ, οὐ γενόμενος· ἄνευ γὰρ τοῦ γίγνεσθαι γενέσθαι ἀδύνατον, μηδὲν δὲ ἀπολλὺς τοῦ ὄγκου οὐκ ἄν ποτε ἐγιγνόμην ἐλάττων.
For I am later what I was not previously, without having become so; for without becoming, it is impossible to have become, and since I lost nothing of my bulk, I could never have been becoming smaller.
καὶ ἄλλα δὴ μυρία ἐπὶ μυρίοις οὕτως ἔχει, εἴπερ καὶ ταῦτα παραδεξόμεθα.
And ten thousand other things in ten thousand ways are like this, if we are to accept these points.
ἕπῃ γάρ που, ὦ Θεαίτητε· δοκεῖς γοῦν μοι οὐκ ἄπειρος τῶν τοιούτων εἶναι.
For you follow, I suppose, Theaetetus; at least you seem to me not to be inexperienced in such matters.
ΘΕΑΙ. καὶ νὴ τοὺς θεούς γε, ὦ Σώκρατες, ὑπερφυῶς ὡς θαυμάζω τί ποτʼ ἐστὶ ταῦτα, καὶ ἐνίοτε ὡς ἀληθῶς βλέπων εἰς αὐτὰ σκοτοδινιῶ.
THEAETETUS: By the gods, Socrates, I wonder exceedingly what these things are, and sometimes, when looking at them, I truly get dizzy.
ΣΩ. Θεόδωρος γάρ, ὦ φίλε, φαίνεται οὐ κακῶς τοπάζειν περὶ τῆς φύσεώς σου.
SOCRATES: For Theodorus, my friend, seems not to have guessed badly about your nature.
μάλα γὰρ φιλοσόφου τοῦτο τὸ πάθος, τὸ θαυμάζειν· οὐ γὰρ ἄλλη ἀρχὴ φιλοσοφίας ἢ αὕτη, καὶ ἔοικεν ὁ τὴν Ἶριν Θαύμαντος ἔκγονον φήσας οὐ κακῶς γενεαλογεῖν.
For this feeling, wondering, is very much that of a philosopher; for there is no other beginning of philosophy than this, and he who said that Iris is the offspring of Thaumas seems not to have genealogized badly.
ἀλλὰ πότερον μανθάνεις ἤδη διʼ ὃ ταῦτα τοιαῦτʼ ἐστὶν ἐξ ὧν τὸν Πρωταγόραν φαμὲν λέγειν, ἢ οὔπω;
But do you already understand why these things are so from what we say Protagoras means, or not yet?
ΘΕΑΙ. οὔπω μοι δοκῶ.
THEAETETUS: I do not think so yet.
ΣΩ. χάριν οὖν μοι εἴσῃ ἐάν σοι ἀνδρός, μᾶλλον δὲ ἀνδρῶν ὀνομαστῶν τῆς διανοίας τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἀποκεκρυμμένην συνεξερευνήσωμαι αὐτῶν;
SOCRATES: Will you be grateful to me, then, if I search out with you the hidden truth of the thought of a man, or rather of famous men?
ΘΕΑΙ. πῶς γὰρ οὐκ εἴσομαι, καὶ πάνυ γε πολλήν;
THEAETETUS: How should I not be grateful, and very much so indeed?
ΣΩ. ἄθρει δὴ περισκοπῶν μή τις τῶν ἀμυήτων ἐπακούῃ.
SOCRATES: Look around then, lest some of the uninitiated should overhear.
εἰσὶν δὲ οὗτοι οἱ οὐδὲν ἄλλο οἰόμενοι εἶναι ἢ οὗ ἂν δύνωνται ἀπρὶξ τοῖν χεροῖν λαβέσθαι, πράξεις δὲ καὶ γενέσεις καὶ πᾶν τὸ ἀόρατον οὐκ ἀποδεχόμενοι ὡς ἐν οὐσίας μέρει.
These are those who think nothing else exists except what they can grasp tightly with their hands, but actions and generations and all that is invisible they do not accept as having a share in reality.
§156ΘΕΑΙ. καὶ μὲν δή, ὦ Σώκρατες, σκληρούς γε λέγεις καὶ ἀντιτύπους ἀνθρώπους.
THEAETETUS: Indeed, Socrates, you speak of hard and resistant men.
ΣΩ. εἰσὶν γάρ, ὦ παῖ, μάλʼ εὖ ἄμουσοι·
SOCRATES: For they are, my boy, very much without the Muses.
ἇλλοι δὲ πολὺ κομψότεροι, ὧν μέλλω σοι τὰ μυστήρια λέγειν.
But there are others far more clever, whose mysteries I am about to tell you.
ἀρχὴ δέ, ἐξ ἧς καὶ ἃ νυνδὴ ἐλέγομεν πάντα ἤρτηται, ἥδε αὐτῶν, ὡς τὸ πᾶν κίνησις ἦν καὶ ἄλλο παρὰ τοῦτο οὐδέν, τῆς δὲ κινήσεως δύο εἴδη, πλήθει μὲν ἄπειρον ἑκάτερον, δύναμιν δὲ τὸ μὲν ποιεῖν ἔχον, τὸ δὲ πάσχειν.
Their principle, upon which all the things we just mentioned are suspended, is this: that the universe is motion, and there is nothing else besides this; and of motion there are two kinds, each infinite in number, but one having the power to act, and the other to be acted upon.
ἐκ δὲ τῆς τούτων ὁμιλίας τε καὶ τρίψεως πρὸς ἄλληλα γίγνεται ἔκγονα πλήθει μὲν ἄπειρα, δίδυμα δέ, τὸ μὲν αἰσθητόν, τὸ δὲ αἴσθησις, ἀεὶ συνεκπίπτουσα καὶ γεννωμένη μετὰ τοῦ αἰσθητοῦ.
And from the intercourse and friction of these with one another, offspring are generated, infinite in number but twins, the one being the perceived, and the other perception, which always erupts and is born along with the perceived.
αἱ μὲν οὖν αἰσθήσεις τὰ τοιάδε ἡμῖν ἔχουσιν ὀνόματα, ὄψεις τε καὶ ἀκοαὶ καὶ ὀσφρήσεις καὶ ψύξεις τε καὶ καύσεις καὶ ἡδοναί γε δὴ καὶ λῦπαι καὶ ἐπιθυμίαι καὶ φόβοι κεκλημέναι καὶ ἄλλαι, ἀπέραντοι μὲν αἱ ἀνώνυμοι, παμπληθεῖς δὲ αἱ ὠνομασμέναι·
Now the perceptions have such names for us: sight, hearing, smell, cold and heat, pleasures and pains, desires and fears, and others, the nameless ones being infinite, and the named ones being very many.
τὸ δʼ αὖ αἰσθητὸν γένος τούτων ἑκάσταις ὁμόγονον, ὄψεσι μὲν χρώματα παντοδαπαῖς παντοδαπά, ἀκοαῖς δὲ ὡσαύτως φωναί, καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις αἰσθήσεσι τὰ ἄλλα αἰσθητὰ συγγενῆ γιγνόμενα.
And on the other hand, the class of perceived things is of the same birth as each of these, colors of all kinds for sights of all kinds, and voices in the same way for hearings, and the other perceived things becoming akin to the other perceptions.
τί δὴ οὖν ἡμῖν βούλεται οὗτος ὁ μῦθος, ὦ Θεαίτητε, πρὸς τὰ πρότερα;
What then, Theaetetus, does this myth mean for us in relation to the former points?
ἆρα ἐννοεῖς;
Do you understand?
ΘΕΑΙ. οὐ πάνυ, ὦ Σώκρατες.
THEAETETUS: Not quite, Socrates.
ΣΩ. ἀλλʼ ἄθρει ἐάν πως ἀποτελεσθῇ.
SOCRATES: But watch if somehow it may be completed.
βούλεται γὰρ δὴ λέγειν ὡς ταῦτα πάντα μὲν ὥσπερ λέγομεν κινεῖται, τάχος δὲ καὶ βραδυτὴς ἔνι τῇ κινήσει αὐτῶν.
For it means to say that all these things, as we say, are in motion, and there is speed and slowness in their motion.
ὅσον μὲν οὖν βραδύ, ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ καὶ πρὸς τὰ πλησιάζοντα τὴν κίνησιν ἴσχει καὶ οὕτω δὴ γεννᾷ, τὰ δὲ γεννώμενα οὕτω δὴ θάττω ἐστίν.
Now, as much of it as is slow keeps its motion in the same place and in relation to what is near and thus generates, but the things generated in this way are faster.
φέρεται γὰρ καὶ ἐν φορᾷ αὐτῶν ἡ κίνησις πέφυκεν.
For their motion is carried and natural in locomotion.
ἐπειδὰν οὖν ὄμμα καὶ ἄλλο τι τῶν τούτῳ συμμέτρων πλησιάσαν γεννήσῃ τὴν λευκότητά τε καὶ αἴσθησιν αὐτῇ σύμφυτον, ἃ οὐκ ἄν ποτε ἐγένετο ἑκατέρου ἐκείνων πρὸς ἄλλο ἐλθόντος, τότε δὴ μεταξὺ φερομένων τῆς μὲν ὄψεως πρὸς τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν, τῆς δὲ λευκότητος πρὸς τοῦ συναποτίκτοντος τὸ χρῶμα, ὁ μὲν ὀφθαλμὸς ἄρα ὄψεως ἔμπλεως ἐγένετο καὶ ὁρᾷ δὴ τότε καὶ ἐγένετο οὔ τι ὄψις ἀλλʼ ὀφθαλμὸς ὁρῶν, τὸ δὲ συγγεννῆσαν τὸ χρῶμα λευκότητος περιεπλήσθη καὶ ἐγένετο οὐ λευκότης αὖ ἀλλὰ λευκόν, εἴτε ξύλον εἴτε λίθος εἴτε ὁτῳοῦν συνέβη χρῆμα χρωσθῆναι τῷ τοιούτῳ χρώματι.
Whenever, therefore, an eye and some other of the things commensurate with it come near and generate whiteness and the perception connate with it, which would never have occurred if either of them had gone to anything else, then, while they are moving in the intermediate space, sight from the eyes and whiteness from the thing that co-begets the color, the eye becomes full of sight and then sees and becomes not sight itself, but an seeing eye, and the thing that co-begat the color is filled with whiteness and becomes not whiteness itself, but white, whether it be wood or stone or whatever object happened to be colored with such a color.