§253ΞΕ. ὅτε δὴ τὰ μὲν ἐθέλει τοῦτο δρᾶν, τὰ δʼ οὔ, σχεδὸν οἷον τὰ γράμματα πεπονθότʼ ἂν εἴη.
STR. Since, then, some are willing to do this and others not, they would be in pretty much the same state as letters.
καὶ γὰρ ἐκείνων τὰ μὲν ἀναρμοστεῖ που πρὸς ἄλληλα, τὰ δὲ συναρμόττει.
For some of those, too, do not fit with one another, while others do.
ΘΕΑΙ. πῶς δʼ οὔ;
THEAE. How could they not?
ΞΕ. τὰ δέ γε φωνήεντα διαφερόντως τῶν ἄλλων οἷον δεσμὸς διὰ πάντων κεχώρηκεν, ὥστε ἄνευ τινὸς αὐτῶν ἀδύνατον ἁρμόττειν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἕτερον ἑτέρῳ.
STR. But vowels, in contrast to the other letters, run through all of them like a bond, so that without one of them it is impossible for any other of the letters to fit one with another.
ΘΕΑΙ. καὶ μάλα γε.
THEAE. Quite so.
ΞΕ. πᾶς οὖν οἶδεν ὁποῖα ὁποίοις δυνατὰ κοινωνεῖν, ἢ τέχνης δεῖ τῷ μέλλοντι δρᾶν ἱκανῶς αὐτό;
STR. Does everyone, then, know what sort of things are capable of communicating with what sort, or does he who is to do this adequately need an art?
ΘΕΑΙ. τέχνης.
THEAE. An art.
ΞΕ. ποίας;
STR. What kind?
ΘΕΑΙ. τῆς γραμματικῆς.
THEAE. Grammar.
ΞΕ. τί δέ;
STR.
περὶ τοὺς τῶν ὀξέων καὶ βαρέων φθόγγους ἆρʼ οὐχ οὕτως;
And what about the sounds of high and low pitch? Is it not the same?
ὁ μὲν τοὺς συγκεραννυμένους τε καὶ μὴ τέχνην ἔχων γιγνώσκειν μουσικός, ὁ δὲ μὴ συνιεὶς ἄμουσος;
Is he who has the art to know which ones mix and which do not musical, and he who does not understand unmusical?
ΘΕΑΙ. οὕτως.
THEAE. Just so.
ΞΕ. καὶ κατὰ τῶν ἄλλων δὴ τεχνῶν καὶ ἀτεχνιῶν τοιαῦτα εὑρήσομεν ἕτερα.
STR. And indeed, in the case of other arts and lack of arts, we shall find other such instances.
ΘΕΑΙ. πῶς δʼ οὔ;
THEAE. Of course.
ΞΕ. τί δʼ;
STR. What then?
ἐπειδὴ καὶ τὰ γένη πρὸς ἄλληλα κατὰ ταὐτὰ μείξεως ἔχειν ὡμολογήκαμεν, ἆρʼ οὐ μετʼ ἐπιστήμης τινὸς ἀναγκαῖον διὰ τῶν λόγων πορεύεσθαι τὸν ὀρθῶς μέλλοντα δείξειν ποῖα ποίοις συμφωνεῖ τῶν γενῶν καὶ ποῖα ἄλληλα οὐ δέχεται;
Since we have agreed that the genera also stand in the same relation of mixing to one another, is it not necessary that he who is to show correctly which of the genera agree with which, and which do not admit one another, should proceed through arguments with some science?
καὶ δὴ καὶ διὰ πάντων εἰ συνέχοντʼ ἄττʼ αὔτʼ ἐστιν, ὥστε συμμείγνυσθαι δυνατὰ εἶναι, καὶ πάλιν ἐν ταῖς διαιρέσεσιν, εἰ διʼ ὅλων ἕτερα τῆς διαιρέσεως αἴτια;
And also, whether there are some elements holding them together through all of them, so that they are capable of mixing, and again in divisions, whether there are other causes of division through the wholes?
ΘΕΑΙ. πῶς γὰρ οὐκ ἐπιστήμης δεῖ, καὶ σχεδόν γε ἴσως τῆς μεγίστης;
THEAE. How indeed could science not be needed, and perhaps pretty much the greatest?
ΞΕ. τίνʼ οὖν αὖ προσεροῦμεν, ὦ Θεαίτητε, ταύτην;
STR. What then, Theaetetus, shall we call this in turn?
ἢ πρὸς Διὸς ἐλάθομεν εἰς τὴν τῶν ἐλευθέρων ἐμπεσόντες ἐπιστήμην, καὶ κινδυνεύομεν ζητοῦντες τὸν σοφιστὴν πρότερον ἀνηυρηκέναι τὸν φιλόσοφον;
Or, by Zeus, have we without noticing stumbled into the science of free men, and do we run the risk, while looking for the sophist, of having found the philosopher first?
ΘΕΑΙ. πῶς λέγεις;
THEAE. How do you mean?
ΞΕ. τὸ κατὰ γένη διαιρεῖσθαι καὶ μήτε ταὐτὸν εἶδος ἕτερον ἡγήσασθαι μήτε ἕτερον ὂν ταὐτὸν μῶν οὐ τῆς διαλεκτικῆς φήσομεν ἐπιστήμης εἶναι;
STR. Shall we not say that dividing according to genera, and neither taking the same form to be different nor a different form to be the same, belongs to the science of dialectic?
ΘΕΑΙ. ναί, φήσομεν.
THEAE. Yes, we shall.
ΞΕ. οὐκοῦν ὅ γε τοῦτο δυνατὸς δρᾶν μίαν ἰδέαν διὰ πολλῶν, ἑνὸς ἑκάστου κειμένου χωρίς, πάντῃ διατεταμένην ἱκανῶς διαισθάνεται, καὶ πολλὰς ἑτέρας ἀλλήλων ὑπὸ μιᾶς ἔξωθεν περιεχομένας, καὶ μίαν αὖ διʼ ὅλων πολλῶν ἐν ἑνὶ συνημμένην, καὶ πολλὰς χωρὶς πάντῃ διωρισμένας·
STR. Then he who is able to do this adequately discerns one idea extended everywhere through many, each of which lies apart, and many ideas different from one another embraced from without by one, and again one idea connected in one through many wholes, and many ideas completely distinguished and set apart.
τοῦτο δʼ ἔστιν, ᾗ τε κοινωνεῖν ἕκαστα δύναται καὶ ὅπῃ μή, διακρίνειν κατὰ γένος ἐπίστασθαι.
And this is, to know how to distinguish according to genus in what way each is able to communicate and in what way not.
ΘΕΑΙ. παντάπασι μὲν οὖν.
THEAE. Entirely so.
ΞΕ. ἀλλὰ μὴν τό γε διαλεκτικὸν οὐκ ἄλλῳ δώσεις, ὡς ἐγᾦμαι, πλὴν τῷ καθαρῶς τε καὶ δικαίως φιλοσοφοῦντι.
STR. But surely you will not grant the dialectical ability, I suppose, to anyone other than him who philosophizes purely and justly.
ΘΕΑΙ. πῶς γὰρ ἂν ἄλλῳ δοίη τις;
THEAE. How indeed could anyone grant it to anyone else?
§254ΞΕ. τὸν μὲν δὴ φιλόσοφον ἐν τοιούτῳ τινὶ τόπῳ καὶ νῦν καὶ ἔπειτα ἀνευρήσομεν ἐὰν ζητῶμεν, ἰδεῖν μὲν χαλεπὸν ἐναργῶς καὶ τοῦτον, ἕτερον μὴν τρόπον ἥ τε τοῦ σοφιστοῦ χαλεπότης ἥ τε τούτου.
STR. The philosopher, then, we shall find both now and later in some such place if we look for him; he, too, is difficult to see clearly, but the difficulty of the sophist and that of the philosopher are of a different kind.
ΘΕΑΙ. πῶς;
THEAE. How?
ΞΕ. ὁ μὲν ἀποδιδράσκων εἰς τὴν τοῦ μὴ ὄντος σκοτεινότητα, τριβῇ προσαπτόμενος αὐτῆς, διὰ τὸ σκοτεινὸν τοῦ τόπου κατανοῆσαι χαλεπός·
STR. The one runs away into the darkness of non-being, attaching himself to it by practice, and because of the darkness of the place he is difficult to perceive; is that not so?
ἦ γάρ;
THEAE.
ΘΕΑΙ. ἔοικεν.
It seems so.
ΞΕ. ὁ δέ γε φιλόσοφος, τῇ τοῦ ὄντος ἀεὶ διὰ λογισμῶν προσκείμενος ἰδέᾳ, διὰ τὸ λαμπρὸν αὖ τῆς χώρας οὐδαμῶς εὐπετὴς ὀφθῆναι· τὰ γὰρ τῆς τῶν πολλῶν ψυχῆς ὄμματα καρτερεῖν πρὸς τὸ θεῖον ἀφορῶντα ἀδύνατα.
STR. But the philosopher, always devoting himself through reasoning to the idea of being, is by no means easy to be seen because of the brightness of the region; for the eyes of the soul of the multitude are unable to endure looking at the divine.
ΘΕΑΙ. καὶ ταῦτα εἰκὸς οὐχ ἧττον ἐκείνων οὕτως ἔχειν.
THEAE. This, too, is reasonable to be so, no less than the other.
ΞΕ. οὐκοῦν περὶ μὲν τούτου καὶ τάχα ἐπισκεψόμεθα σαφέστερον, ἂν ἔτι βουλομένοις ἡμῖν ᾖ·
STR.
περὶ δὲ τοῦ σοφιστοῦ που δῆλον ὡς οὐκ ἀνετέον πρὶν ἂν ἱκανῶς αὐτὸν θεασώμεθα.
Then about him we shall perhaps examine more clearly, if it is still our wish; but about the sophist, I suppose, it is clear that we must not let him go until we have sufficiently beheld him.
ΘΕΑΙ. καλῶς εἶπες.
THEAE. You have spoken well.
ΞΕ. ὅτʼ οὖν δὴ τὰ μὲν ἡμῖν τῶν γενῶν ὡμολόγηται κοινωνεῖν ἐθέλειν ἀλλήλοις, τὰ δὲ μή, καὶ τὰ μὲν ἐπʼ ὀλίγον, τὰ δʼ ἐπὶ πολλά, τὰ δὲ καὶ διὰ πάντων οὐδὲν κωλύειν τοῖς πᾶσι κεκοινωνηκέναι, τὸ δὴ μετὰ τοῦτο συνεπισπώμεθα τῷ λόγῳ τῇδε σκοποῦντες, μὴ περὶ πάντων τῶν εἰδῶν, ἵνα μὴ ταραττώμεθα ἐν πολλοῖς, ἀλλὰ προελόμενοι τῶν μεγίστων λεγομένων ἄττα, πρῶτον μὲν ποῖα ἕκαστά ἐστιν, ἔπειτα κοινωνίας ἀλλήλων πῶς ἔχει δυνάμεως, ἵνα τό τε ὂν καὶ μὴ ὂν εἰ μὴ πάσῃ σαφηνείᾳ δυνάμεθα λαβεῖν, ἀλλʼ οὖν λόγου γε ἐνδεεῖς μηδὲν γιγνώμεθα περὶ αὐτῶν, καθʼ ὅσον ὁ τρόπος ἐνδέχεται τῆς νῦν σκέψεως, ἐὰν ἄρα ἡμῖν πῃ παρεικάθῃ τὸ μὴ ὂν λέγουσιν ὡς ἔστιν ὄντως μὴ ὂν ἀθῴοις ἀπαλλάττειν.
STR. Since, then, we have agreed that some of the genera are willing to communicate with one another and some are not, and some to a small extent, others to a large extent, and others again run through all so that nothing prevents them from communicating with everything, let us next follow up the argument by examining in this way: not about all the forms, so that we may not be confused in a multitude, but choosing some of those called the greatest, let us first see what sort of things each of them is, and then how they stand in terms of their power of communicating with one another. This is so that, even if we are unable to grasp being and non-being with complete clarity, we may at least not be lacking in argument about them, as far as the manner of our present inquiry allows, and see if it is somehow permitted to us to escape unharmed when we say that non-being really is non-being.
ΘΕΑΙ. οὐκοῦν χρή.
THEAE. We must indeed do so.
ΞΕ. μέγιστα μὴν τῶν γενῶν ἃ νυνδὴ διῇμεν τό τε ὂν αὐτὸ καὶ στάσις καὶ κίνησις.
STR. But the greatest of the genera that we just went through are being itself, rest, and motion.
ΘΕΑΙ. πολύ γε.
THEAE. By far.
ΞΕ. καὶ μὴν τώ γε δύο φαμὲν αὐτοῖν ἀμείκτω πρὸς ἀλλήλω.
STR. And indeed, we say that two of them are unmixed with each other.
ΘΕΑΙ. σφόδρα γε.
THEAE. Very much so.
ΞΕ. τὸ δέ γε ὂν μεικτὸν ἀμφοῖν·
STR.
ἐστὸν γὰρ ἄμφω που.
But being is mixable with both; for both of them, surely, are.
ΘΕΑΙ. πῶς δʼ οὔ;
THEAE. How could it not be?
ΞΕ. τρία δὴ γίγνεται ταῦτα.
STR. Then these become three.
ΘΕΑΙ. τί μήν;
THEAE. Of course.
ΞΕ. οὐκοῦν αὐτῶν ἕκαστον τοῖν μὲν δυοῖν ἕτερόν ἐστιν, αὐτὸ δʼ ἑαυτῷ ταὐτόν.
STR. Therefore, each of them is different from the other two, and the same as itself.
ΘΕΑΙ. οὕτως.
THEAE. So it is.