360 BC

                                   STATESMAN

                                    by Plato

                         translated by Benjamin Jowett
STATESMAN

  PERSONS OF THE DIALOGUE: THEODORUS; SOCRATES; THE ELEATIC STRANGER;

  THE YOUNGER SOCRATES

  Socrates. I owe you many thanks, indeed, Theodorus, for the
acquaintance both of Theaetetus and of the Stranger.

  Theodorus. And in a little while, Socrates, you will owe me three
times as many, when they have completed for you the delineation of the
Statesman and of the Philosopher, as well as of the Sophist.

  Soc. Sophist, statesman, philosopher! O my dear Theodorus, do my
ears truly witness that this is the estimate formed of them by the
great calculator and geometrician?

  Theod. What do you mean, Socrates?

  Soc. I mean that you rate them all at the same value, whereas they
are really separated by an interval, which no geometrical ratio can
express.

  Theod. By Ammon, the god of Cyrene, Socrates, that is a very fair
hit; and shows that you have not forgotten your geometry. I will
retaliate on you at some other time, but I must now ask the
Stranger, who will not, I hope, tire of his goodness to us, to proceed
either with the Statesman or with the Philosopher, whichever he
prefers.

  Stranger. That is my duty, Theodorus; having begun I must go on, and
not leave the work unfinished. But what shall be done with Theaetetus?

  Theod. In what respect?

  Str. Shall we relieve him, and take his companion, the Young
Socrates, instead of him? What do you advise?

  Theod. Yes, give the other a turn, as you propose. The young
always do better when they have intervals of rest.

  Soc. I think, Stranger, that both of them may be said to be in
some way related to me; for the one, as you affirm, has the cut of
my ugly face, the other is called by my name. And we should always
be on the look-out to recognize a kinsman by the style of his
conversation. I myself was discoursing with Theaetetus yesterday,
and I have just been listening to his answers; my namesake I have
not yet examined, but I must. Another time will, do for me; to-day let
him answer you.

  Str. Very good. Young Socrates, do you hear what the elder
Socrates is proposing?

  Young Socrates. I do.

  Str. And do you agree to his proposal?

  Y. Soc. Certainly.

  Str. As you do not object, still less can I. After the Sophist,
then, I think that the Statesman naturally follows next in the order
of enquiry. And please to say, whether he, too, should be ranked among
those who have science.

  Y. Soc. Yes.

  Str. Then the sciences must be divided as before?

  Y. Soc. I dare say.

  Str. But yet the division will not be the same?

  Y. Soc. How then?

  Str. They will be divided at some other point.

  Y. Soc. Yes.

  Str. Where shall we discover the path of the Statesman? We must find
and separate off, and set our seal upon this, and we will set the mark
of another class upon all diverging paths. Thus the soul will conceive
of ail kinds of knowledge under two classes.

  Y. Soc. To find the path is your business, Stranger, and not mine.

  Str. Yes, Socrates, but the discovery, when once made, must be yours
as well as mine.

  Y. Soc. Very good.

  Str. Well, and are not arithmetic and certain other kindred arts,
merely abstract knowledge, wholly separated from action?