§262ΞΕ. τὸ μὲν ὀνόματα, τὸ δὲ ῥήματα κληθέν.
STR. One is called names, and the other verbs.
ΘΕΑΙ. εἰπὲ ἑκάτερον.
THEAE. Speak of each.
ΞΕ. τὸ μὲν ἐπὶ ταῖς πράξεσιν ὂν δήλωμα ῥῆμά που λέγομεν.
STR. The indication which is applied to actions we call, I suppose, a verb.
ΘΕΑΙ. ναί.
THEAE. Yes.
ΞΕ. τὸ δέ γʼ ἐπʼ αὐτοῖς τοῖς ἐκείνας πράττουσι σημεῖον τῆς φωνῆς ἐπιτεθὲν ὄνομα.
STR. And the vocal sign applied to those who perform those actions is a name.
ΘΕΑΙ. κομιδῇ μὲν οὖν.
THEAE. Exactly so.
ΞΕ. οὐκοῦν ἐξ ὀνομάτων μὲν μόνων συνεχῶς λεγομένων οὐκ ἔστι ποτὲ λόγος, οὐδʼ αὖ ῥημάτων χωρὶς ὀνομάτων λεχθέντων.
STR. Therefore, a statement is never formed from names alone spoken in succession, nor again from verbs spoken without names.
ΘΕΑΙ. ταῦτʼ οὐκ ἔμαθον.
THEAE. I did not understand this.
ΞΕ. δῆλον γὰρ ὡς πρὸς ἕτερόν τι βλέπων ἄρτι συνωμολόγεις· ἐπεὶ τοῦτʼ αὐτὸ ἐβουλόμην εἰπεῖν, ὅτι συνεχῶς ὧδε λεγόμενα ταῦτα οὐκ ἔστι λόγος.
STR. For it is clear that you agreed just now while looking at something else; since this is the very thing I wanted to say, that these things spoken in succession in this way do not make a statement.
ΘΕΑΙ. πῶς;
THEAE. How so?
ΞΕ. οἷον
βαδίζει
τρέχει
καθεύδει,
καὶ τἆλλα ὅσα πράξεις σημαίνει ῥήματα, κἂν πάντα τις ἐφεξῆς αὔτʼ εἴπῃ, λόγον οὐδέν τι μᾶλλον ἀπεργάζεται.
STR. For instance, walks runs sleeps, and all other verbs that signify actions, even if someone says them all in succession, he does not produce a statement any the more.
ΘΕΑΙ. πῶς γάρ;
THEAE. For how could he?
ΞΕ. οὐκοῦν καὶ πάλιν ὅταν λέγηται
λέων
ἔλαφος
ἵππος,
ὅσα τε ὀνόματα τῶν τὰς πράξεις αὖ πραττόντων ὠνομάσθη, καὶ κατὰ ταύτην δὴ τὴν συνέχειαν οὐδείς πω συνέστη λόγος·
STR. Therefore, again, when there are spoken lion stag horse, and whatever names have been given to those who perform those actions, in this continuity also no statement has yet been formed.
οὐδεμίαν γὰρ οὔτε οὕτως οὔτʼ ἐκείνως πρᾶξιν οὐδʼ ἀπραξίαν οὐδὲ οὐσίαν ὄντος οὐδὲ μὴ ὄντος δηλοῖ τὰ φωνηθέντα, πρὶν ἄν τις τοῖς ὀνόμασι τὰ ῥήματα κεράσῃ.
For the vocalizations do not indicate any action or inaction, nor the being of what is or what is not, either in this way or in that, until someone mixes verbs with names.
τότε δʼ ἥρμοσέν τε καὶ λόγος ἐγένετο εὐθὺς ἡ πρώτη συμπλοκή, σχεδὸν τῶν λόγων ὁ πρῶτός τε καὶ σμικρότατος.
But then they fit together, and the first combination immediately becomes a statement, which is, one might say, the first and smallest of statements.
ΘΕΑΙ. πῶς ἄρʼ ὧδε λέγεις;
THEAE. How do you mean this?
ΞΕ. ὅταν εἴπῃ τις·
STR.
ἄνθρωπος μανθάνει,
λόγον εἶναι φῂς τοῦτον ἐλάχιστόν τε καὶ πρῶτον;
When someone says: man learns, do you say that this is a statement, the smallest and the first?
ΘΕΑΙ. ἔγωγε.
THEAE. I do.
ΞΕ. δηλοῖ γὰρ ἤδη που τότε περὶ τῶν ὄντων ἢ γιγνομένων ἢ γεγονότων ἢ μελλόντων, καὶ οὐκ ὀνομάζει μόνον ἀλλά τι περαίνει, συμπλέκων τὰ ῥήματα τοῖς ὀνόμασι.
STR. For indeed, at that point it already indicates something about things that are, or are becoming, or have become, or are going to be, and does not merely name, but accomplishes something by weaving verbs with names.
διὸ λέγειν τε αὐτὸν ἀλλʼ οὐ μόνον ὀνομάζειν εἴπομεν, καὶ δὴ καὶ τῷ πλέγματι τούτῳ τὸ ὄνομα ἐφθεγξάμεθα λόγον.
Therefore, we said that he speaks, and does not merely name, and indeed to this weaving we gave the name "statement".
ΘΕΑΙ. ὀρθῶς.
THEAE. Correct.
ΞΕ. οὕτω δὴ καθάπερ τὰ πράγματα τὰ μὲν ἀλλήλοις ἥρμοττεν, τὰ δʼ οὔ, καὶ περὶ τὰ τῆς φωνῆς αὖ σημεῖα τὰ μὲν οὐχ ἁρμόττει, τὰ δὲ ἁρμόττοντα αὐτῶν λόγον ἀπηργάσατο.
STR. Just so, then, as things fit together with one another, and some do not, so too among vocal signs, some do not fit, while those of them that do fit produce a statement.
ΘΕΑΙ. παντάπασι μὲν οὖν.
THEAE. Absolutely so.
ΞΕ. ἔτι δὴ σμικρὸν τόδε.
STR. Still, there is this small point.
ΘΕΑΙ. τὸ ποῖον;
THEAE. What sort of point?
ΞΕ. λόγον ἀναγκαῖον, ὅτανπερ ᾖ, τινὸς εἶναι λόγον, μὴ δὲ τινὸς ἀδύνατον.
STR. It is necessary that a statement, whenever it exists, be about something, and it is impossible for it not to be about something.
ΘΕΑΙ. οὕτως.
THEAE. So it is.
ΞΕ. οὐκοῦν καὶ ποιόν τινα αὐτὸν εἶναι δεῖ;
STR. Therefore, must it not also be of a certain quality?
ΘΕΑΙ. πῶς δʼ οὔ;
THEAE. Of course.
ΞΕ. προσέχωμεν δὴ τὸν νοῦν ἡμῖν αὐτοῖς.
STR. Let us then pay attention to ourselves.
ΘΕΑΙ. δεῖ γοῦν.
THEAE. We certainly must.
ΞΕ. λέξω τοίνυν σοι λόγον συνθεὶς πρᾶγμα πράξει διʼ ὀνόματος καὶ ῥήματος· ὅτου δʼ ἂν ὁ λόγος ᾖ, σύ μοι φράζειν.
STR. I will, then, tell you a statement by combining a thing with an action by means of a name and a verb; and you must tell me whom or what the statement is about.