Theaet. Certainly.

  Soc. And is truth or falsehood to be determined by duration of time?

  Theaet. That would be in many ways ridiculous.

  Soc. But can you certainly determine: by any other means which of
these opinions is true?

  Theaet. I do not think that I can.

  Soc. Listen, then to a statement of the other side of the
argument, which is made by the champions of appearance. They would
say, as I imagine-can that which is wholly other than something,
have the same quality as that from which it differs? and observe,
-Theaetetus, that the word "other" means not "partially," but
"wholly other."

  Theaet. Certainly, putting the question as you do, that which is
wholly other cannot either potentially or in any other way be the
same.

  Soc. And must therefore be admitted to be unlike?

  Theaet. True.

  Soc. If, then, anything happens to become like or unlike itself or
another, when it becomes like we call it the same-when unlike, other?

  Theaet. Certainly.

  Soc. Were we not saying that there. are agents many and infinite,
and patients many and infinite?

  Theaet. Yes.

  Soc. And also that different combinations will produce results which
are not the same, but different?

  Theaet. Certainly.

  Soc. Let us take you and me, or anything as an example:-There is
Socrates in health, and Socrates sick-Are they like or unlike?

  Theaet. You mean to, compare Socrates in health as a whole, and
Socrates in sickness as a whole?

  Soc. Exactly; that is my meaning.

  Theaet. I answer, they are unlike.