§257ΞΕ. οὐκοῦν καὶ τὸ ὂν αὐτὸ τῶν ἄλλων ἕτερον εἶναι λεκτέον.
STR. Therefore, must we not also say that being itself is other than the others?
ΘΕΑΙ. ἀνάγκη.
THEAE. Necessarily.
ΞΕ. καὶ τὸ ὂν ἄρʼ ἡμῖν, ὅσαπέρ ἐστι τὰ ἄλλα, κατὰ τοσαῦτα οὐκ ἔστιν· ἐκεῖνα γὰρ οὐκ ὂν ἓν μὲν αὐτό ἐστιν, ἀπέραντα δὲ τὸν ἀριθμὸν τἆλλα οὐκ ἔστιν αὖ.
STR. And being, then, for us, as many as the other things are, in respect of so many is not; for not being those, it is itself one, but in turn it is not the other things, which are unlimited in number.
ΘΕΑΙ. σχεδὸν οὕτως.
THEAE. Pretty much so.
ΞΕ. οὐκοῦν δὴ καὶ ταῦτα οὐ δυσχεραντέον, ἐπείπερ ἔχει κοινωνίαν ἀλλήλοις ἡ τῶν γενῶν φύσις.
STR. Therefore indeed, we must not be troubled by these things either, since the nature of the genera has association with one another.
εἰ δέ τις ταῦτα μὴ συγχωρεῖ, πείσας ἡμῶν τοὺς ἔμπροσθεν λόγους οὕτω πειθέτω τὰ μετὰ ταῦτα.
And if anyone does not agree to these things, let him convince our previous arguments and so convince what comes after them.
ΘΕΑΙ. δικαιότατα εἴρηκας.
THEAE. Most justly spoken.
ΞΕ. ἴδωμεν δὴ καὶ τόδε.
STR. Let us look also at this.
ΘΕΑΙ. τὸ ποῖον;
THEAE. What sort of thing?
ΞΕ. ὁπόταν τὸ μὴ ὂν λέγωμεν, ὡς ἔοικεν, οὐκ ἐναντίον τι λέγομεν τοῦ ὄντος ἀλλʼ ἕτερον μόνον.
STR. Whenever we say 'not-being', as it seems, we do not speak of something opposite to being, but only other.
ΘΕΑΙ. πῶς;
THEAE. How?
ΞΕ. οἷον ὅταν εἴπωμέν τι μὴ μέγα, τότε μᾶλλόν τί σοι φαινόμεθα τὸ σμικρὸν ἢ τὸ ἴσον δηλοῦν τῷ ῥήματι;
STR. For example, when we call something 'not large', do we then seem to you to indicate by that expression 'the small' any more than 'the equal'?
ΘΕΑΙ. καὶ πῶς;
THEAE. How indeed?
ΞΕ. οὐκ ἄρʼ, ἐναντίον ὅταν ἀπόφασις λέγηται σημαίνειν, συγχωρησόμεθα, τοσοῦτον δὲ μόνον, ὅτι τῶν ἄλλων τὶ μηνύει τὸ μὴ καὶ τὸ οὒ προτιθέμενα τῶν ἐπιόντων ὀνομάτων, μᾶλλον δὲ τῶν πραγμάτων περὶ ἅττʼ ἂν κέηται τὰ ἐπιφθεγγόμενα ὕστερον τῆς ἀποφάσεως ὀνόματα.
STR. We shall not agree, then, when a negation is said to signify an opposite, but only this much, that 'not' and 'no' placed before the succeeding names indicate something of other things, or rather, of the things concerning which the names uttered after the negation are placed.
ΘΕΑΙ. παντάπασι μὲν οὖν.
THEAE. Completely so.
ΞΕ. τόδε δὲ διανοηθῶμεν, εἰ καὶ σοὶ συνδοκεῖ.
STR. And let us consider this, if you agree too.
ΘΕΑΙ. τὸ ποῖον;
THEAE. What sort of thing?
ΞΕ. ἡ θατέρου μοι φύσις φαίνεται κατακεκερματίσθαι καθάπερ ἐπιστήμη.
STR. The nature of 'the other' seems to me to have been chopped up, just like knowledge.
ΘΕΑΙ. πῶς;
THEAE. How?
ΞΕ. μία μέν ἐστί που καὶ ἐκείνη, τὸ δʼ ἐπί τῳ γιγνόμενον μέρος αὐτῆς ἕκαστον ἀφορισθὲν ἐπωνυμίαν ἴσχει τινὰ ἑαυτῆς ἰδίαν· διὸ πολλαὶ τέχναι τʼ εἰσὶ λεγόμεναι καὶ ἐπιστῆμαι.
STR. That too is surely one, but each part of it that is applied to something, being set apart, gets a certain name peculiar to itself; therefore there are said to be many arts and knowledges.
ΘΕΑΙ. πάνυ μὲν οὖν.
THEAE. Quite so.
ΞΕ. οὐκοῦν καὶ τὰ τῆς θατέρου φύσεως μόρια μιᾶς οὔσης ταὐτὸν πέπονθε τοῦτο.
STR. Then have not the parts of the nature of 'the other', though it is one, also suffered this same thing?
ΘΕΑΙ. τάχʼ ἄν· ἀλλʼ ὅπῃ δὴ λέγωμεν;
THEAE. Perhaps; but in what way do we say so?
ΞΕ. ἔστι τῷ καλῷ τι θατέρου μόριον ἀντιτιθέμενον;
STR. Is there some part of 'the other' opposed to 'the beautiful'?
ΘΕΑΙ. ἔστιν.
THEAE. There is.
ΞΕ. τοῦτʼ οὖν ἀνώνυμον ἐροῦμεν ἤ τινʼ ἔχον ἐπωνυμίαν;
STR. Shall we say then that this is nameless, or has it a certain name?
ΘΕΑΙ. ἔχον· ὃ γὰρ μὴ καλὸν ἑκάστοτε φθεγγόμεθα, τοῦτο οὐκ ἄλλου τινὸς ἕτερόν ἐστιν ἢ τῆς τοῦ καλοῦ φύσεως.
THEAE. It has one; for what we utter on each occasion as 'not beautiful' is other than nothing else but the nature of 'the beautiful'.
ΞΕ. ἴθι νυν τόδε μοι λέγε.
STR. Come then, tell me this.
ΘΕΑΙ. τὸ ποῖον;
THEAE. What sort of thing?
ΞΕ. ἄλλο τι τῶν ὄντων τινὸς ἑνὸς γένους ἀφορισθὲν καὶ πρός τι τῶν ὄντων αὖ πάλιν ἀντιτεθὲν οὕτω συμβέβηκεν εἶναι τὸ μὴ καλόν;
STR. Is it anything else than being set apart from some one class of beings, and in turn set in opposition to one of the beings, that the 'not beautiful' has turned out to be?
ΘΕΑΙ. οὕτως.
THEAE. Just so.
ΞΕ. ὄντος δὴ πρὸς ὂν ἀντίθεσις, ὡς ἔοικʼ, εἶναί τις συμβαίνει τὸ μὴ καλόν.
STR. It turns out, then, as it seems, that the 'not beautiful' is a certain opposition of being to being.
ΘΕΑΙ. ὀρθότατα.
THEAE. Most correctly.
ΞΕ. τί οὖν;
STR. What then?
κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν λόγον ἆρα μᾶλλον μὲν τὸ καλὸν ἡμῖν ἐστι τῶν ὄντων, ἧττον δὲ τὸ μὴ καλόν;
According to this argument, is 'the beautiful' any more among beings for us, and 'the not beautiful' any less?
ΘΕΑΙ. οὐδέν.
THEAE. Not at all.
§258ΞΕ. ὁμοίως ἄρα τὸ μὴ μέγα καὶ τὸ μέγα αὐτὸ εἶναι λεκτέον;
STR. Then must we say that 'the not large' and 'the large' itself exist in the same way?
ΘΕΑΙ. ὁμοίως.
THEAE. In the same way.
ΞΕ. οὐκοῦν καὶ τὸ μὴ δίκαιον τῷ δικαίῳ κατὰ ταὐτὰ θετέον πρὸς τὸ μηδέν τι μᾶλλον εἶναι θάτερον θατέρου;
STR. Therefore must we not also place 'the not just' on the same footing as 'the just', in respect of the one being not a bit more than the other?
ΘΕΑΙ. τί μήν;
THEAE. Why indeed not?
ΞΕ. καὶ τἆλλα δὴ ταύτῃ λέξομεν, ἐπείπερ ἡ θατέρου φύσις ἐφάνη τῶν ὄντων οὖσα, ἐκείνης δὲ οὔσης ἀνάγκη δὴ καὶ τὰ μόρια αὐτῆς μηδενὸς ἧττον ὄντα τιθέναι.
STR. And we shall speak of the other things too in this way, since the nature of 'the other' has appeared to be among beings; and since it exists, it is necessary to set down its parts also as being no less than anything else.
ΘΕΑΙ. πῶς γὰρ οὔ;
THEAE. Of course.
ΞΕ. οὐκοῦν, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἡ τῆς θατέρου μορίου φύσεως καὶ τῆς τοῦ ὄντος πρὸς ἄλληλα ἀντικειμένων ἀντίθεσις οὐδὲν ἧττον, εἰ θέμις εἰπεῖν, αὐτοῦ τοῦ ὄντος οὐσία ἐστίν, οὐκ ἐναντίον ἐκείνῳ σημαίνουσα ἀλλὰ τοσοῦτον μόνον, ἕτερον ἐκείνου.
STR. Therefore, as it seems, the opposition of the nature of a part of 'the other' and of 'being', set against each other, is no less, if it is permitted to say so, the very essence of being, not signifying an opposite to it but only this much, other than it.
ΘΕΑΙ. σαφέστατά γε.
THEAE. Most clearly indeed.
ΞΕ. τίνʼ οὖν αὐτὴν προσείπωμεν;
STR. What then shall we call it?
ΘΕΑΙ. δῆλον ὅτι τὸ μὴ ὄν, ὃ διὰ τὸν σοφιστὴν ἐζητοῦμεν, αὐτό ἐστι τοῦτο.
THEAE. Clearly, this is that very 'not-being' which we were seeking for the sake of the sophist.
ΞΕ. πότερον οὖν, ὥσπερ εἶπες, ἔστιν οὐδενὸς τῶν ἄλλων οὐσίας ἐλλειπόμενον, καὶ δεῖ θαρροῦντα ἤδη λέγειν ὅτι τὸ μὴ ὂν βεβαίως ἐστὶ τὴν αὑτοῦ φύσιν ἔχον, ὥσπερ τὸ μέγα ἦν μέγα καὶ τὸ καλὸν ἦν καλὸν καὶ τὸ μὴ μέγα μὴ μέγα καὶ τὸ μὴ καλὸν μὴ καλόν, οὕτω δὲ καὶ τὸ μὴ ὂν κατὰ ταὐτὸν ἦν τε καὶ ἔστι μὴ ὄν, ἐνάριθμον τῶν πολλῶν ὄντων εἶδος ἕν;
STR. Is it then, as you said, lacking in essence in no way compared to the others, and must one now confidently say that 'not-being' is securely possessing its own nature, just as 'the large' was large, 'the beautiful' was beautiful, 'the not large' was not large, and 'the not beautiful' was not beautiful, so also in the same way 'not-being' was and is not-being, as one form numbered among the many beings?
ἤ τινα ἔτι πρὸς αὐτό, ὦ Θεαίτητε, ἀπιστίαν ἔχομεν;
Or do we still have any disbelief towards it, Theaetetus?
ΘΕΑΙ. οὐδεμίαν.
THEAE. None at all.
ΞΕ. οἶσθʼ οὖν ὅτι Παρμενίδῃ μακροτέρως τῆς ἀπορρήσεως ἠπιστήκαμεν;
STR. Do you know, then, that we have disobeyed Parmenides far beyond his prohibition?
ΘΕΑΙ. τί δή;
THEAE. Why so?
ΞΕ. πλεῖον ἢ ʼκεῖνος ἀπεῖπε σκοπεῖν, ἡμεῖς εἰς τὸ πρόσθεν ἔτι ζητήσαντες ἀπεδείξαμεν αὐτῷ.
STR. Having searched further forward than what he forbade us to examine, we have demonstrated it to him.
ΘΕΑΙ. πῶς;
THEAE. How?
ΞΕ. ὅτι ὁ μέν πού φησιν—
"
οὐ γὰρ μήποτε τοῦτο δαμῇ, εἶναι μὴ ἐόντα,
ἀλλὰ σὺ τῆσδʼ ἀφʼ ὁδοῦ διζήσιος εἶργε νόημα.
STR. Because he surely says: "For never shall this be forced, that things that are not exist; but do you keep your thought away from this way of inquiry." THEAE.
"
ΘΕΑΙ. λέγει γὰρ οὖν οὕτως.
Indeed he speaks thus.
ΞΕ. ἡμεῖς δέ γε οὐ μόνον τὰ μὴ ὄντα ὡς ἔστιν ἀπεδείξαμεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ εἶδος ὃ τυγχάνει ὂν τοῦ μὴ ὄντος ἀπεφηνάμεθα·
STR. But we have not only demonstrated that not-beings exist, but we have also declared the form which turns out to be that of not-being.
τὴν γὰρ θατέρου φύσιν ἀποδείξαντες οὖσάν τε καὶ κατακεκερματισμένην ἐπὶ πάντα τὰ ὄντα πρὸς ἄλληλα, τὸ πρὸς τὸ ὂν ἕκαστον μόριον αὐτῆς ἀντιτιθέμενον ἐτολμήσαμεν εἰπεῖν ὡς αὐτὸ τοῦτό ἐστιν ὄντως τὸ μὴ ὄν.
For having demonstrated that the nature of 'the other' exists and is chopped up over all beings in relation to one another, we dared to say that each part of it opposed to being is precisely this: really not-being.
ΘΕΑΙ. καὶ παντάπασί γε, ὦ ξένε, ἀληθέστατά μοι δοκοῦμεν εἰρηκέναι.
THEAE. And completely indeed, stranger, we seem to me to have spoken most truly.