Complete Works (40 page)

Despite its lively and intellectually playful Socrates, reminiscent of the ‘Socratic’
dialogues,
Theaetetus
is a difficult work of abstract philosophical theory.
The American logician and philosopher C. S. Peirce counted it, along with
Parmenides,
as Plato’s greatest work, and more recently it has attracted favorable
attention from such major philosophers as Ludwig Wittgenstein and Gilbert Ryle.

J.M.C.

[142]
E
UCLIDES
: Are you only just in from the country, Terpsion? Or have you been here some time?

T
ERPSION
: I’ve been here a good while. In fact, I have been looking for you in the market-place and wondering that I couldn’t find you.

E
UCLIDES
: Well, you couldn’t, because I was not in the city.

T
ERPSION
: Where have you been, then?

E
UCLIDES
: I went down to the harbor; and as I was going, I met Theaetetus, being taken to Athens from the camp at Corinth.

T
ERPSION
: Alive or dead?

[b] E
UCLIDES
: Alive; but that’s about all one could say. Badly wounded for one thing; but the real trouble is this sickness that has broken out in the army.

T
ERPSION
: Dysentery?

E
UCLIDES
: Yes.

T
ERPSION
: What a man to lose!

E
UCLIDES
: Yes. A fine man, Terpsion. Only just now I was listening to some people singing his praises for the way he behaved in the battle.

T
ERPSION
: Well, there’s nothing extraordinary about that. Much more to [c] be wondered at if he hadn’t distinguished himself. But why didn’t he put up here at Megara?

E
UCLIDES
: He was in a hurry to get home. I kept asking him myself, and advising him; but he wouldn’t. So I saw him on his way. And as I was coming back, I thought of Socrates and what a remarkably good prophet he was—as usual—about Theaetetus. It was not long before his death, if I remember rightly, that he came across Theaetetus, who was a boy at the time. Socrates met him and had a talk with him, and was very much struck with his natural ability; and when I went to Athens, he repeated to me the discussion they had had, which was well worth listening to. And he [d] said to me then that we should inevitably hear more of Theaetetus, if he lived to grow up.

T
ERPSION
: Well, he appears to have been right enough.—But what was this discussion? Could you tell it to me?

E
UCLIDES
: Good Lord, no. Not from memory, anyway. But I made some
[143]
notes of it at the time, as soon as I got home; then afterwards I recalled it at my leisure and wrote it out, and whenever I went to Athens, I used to ask Socrates about the points I couldn’t remember, and correct my version when I got home. The result is that I have got pretty well the whole discussion in writing.

T
ERPSION
: Yes, of course. I have heard you say that before, and I have always been meaning to ask you to show it to me, though I have been so long about it. But is there any reason why we shouldn’t go through it now? I want a rest, in any case, after my journey in from the country.

E
UCLIDES
: Well, I shouldn’t mind sitting down either. I saw Theaetetus as [b] far as Erineum. Come along. We will get the slave to read it to us while we rest.

T
ERPSION
: Right.

E
UCLIDES
: This is the book, Terpsion. You see, I have written it out like this: I have not made Socrates relate the conversation as he related it to me, but I represent him as speaking directly to the persons with whom he said he had this conversation. (These were, he told me, Theodorus the geometer and Theaetetus.) I wanted, in the written version, to avoid the [c] bother of having the bits of narrative in between the speeches—I mean, when Socrates, whenever he mentions his own part in the discussion, says ‘And I maintained’ or ‘I said,’ or, of the person answering, ‘He agreed’ or ‘He would not admit this.’ That is why I have made him talk directly to them and have left out these formulae.

T
ERPSION
: Well, that’s quite in order, Euclides.

E
UCLIDES
: Now, boy, let us have it.

S
OCRATES
: If Cyrene were first in my affections, Theodorus, I should be [d] asking you how things are there, and whether any of your young people are taking up geometry or any other branch of philosophy. But, as it is, I love Athens better than Cyrene, and so I’m more anxious to know which of our young men show signs of turning out well. That, of course, is what I am always trying to find out myself, as best I can; and I keep asking other people too—anyone round whom I see the young men are inclined to gather. Now you, of course, are very much sought after, and with good [e] reason; your geometry alone entitles you to it, and that is not your only claim. So if you have come across anyone worth mentioning, I should be glad to hear.

T
HEODORUS
: Well, Socrates, I think you ought to be told, and I think I ought to tell you, about a remarkable boy I have met here, one of your fellow countrymen. And if he were beautiful, I should be extremely nervous of speaking of him with enthusiasm, for fear I might be suspected of being in love with him. But as a matter of fact—if you’ll excuse my saying such a thing—he is not beautiful at all, but is rather like you, snub-nosed, with eyes that stick out; though these features are not quite so pronounced in
[144]
him. I speak without any qualms; and I assure you that among all the people I have ever met—and I have got to know a good many in my time—I have never yet seen anyone so amazingly gifted. Along with a quickness beyond the capacity of most people, he has an unusually gentle temper; and, to crown it all, he is as manly a boy as any of his fellows. I never thought such a combination could exist; I don’t see it arising elsewhere. People as acute and keen and retentive as he is are apt to be very [b] unbalanced. They get swept along with a rush, like ships without ballast; what stands for courage in their makeup is a kind of mad excitement; while, on the other hand, the steadier sort of people are apt to come to their studies with minds that are sluggish, somehow—freighted with a bad memory. But this boy approaches his studies in a smooth, sure, effective way, and with great good temper; it reminds one of the quiet flow of a stream of oil. The result is that it is astonishing to see how he gets through his work, at his age.

S
OCRATES
: That is good news. And he is an Athenian—whose son is he?

[c] T
HEODORUS
: I have heard the name, but I don’t remember it. But he is the middle one of this group coming toward us. He and his companions were greasing themselves outside just now; it looks as if they have finished and are coming in here. But look and see if you recognize him.

S
OCRATES
: Yes, I know him. He’s the son of Euphronius of Sunium—very much the kind of person, my friend, that you tell me his son is. A distinguished man in many ways; he left a considerable property too. But I don’t know the boy’s name.

[d] T
HEODORUS
: His name, Socrates, is Theaetetus. As for the property, that, I think, has been made away with by trustees. All the same, he is wonderfully open-handed about money, Socrates.

S
OCRATES
: A thoroughbred, evidently. I wish you would ask him to come and sit with us over here.

T
HEODORUS
: All right. Theaetetus, come here beside Socrates.

S
OCRATES
: Yes, come along, Theaetetus. I want to see for myself what [e] sort of a face I have. Theodorus says I am like you. But look. If you and I had each had a lyre, and Theodorus had told us that they were both similarly tuned, should we have taken his word for it straightaway? Or should we have tried to find out if he was speaking with any expert knowledge of music?

T
HEAETETUS
: Oh, we should have inquired into that.

S
OCRATES
: And if we had found that he was a musician, we should have believed what he said; but if we found he had no such qualification, we should have put no faith in him.

T
HEAETETUS
: Yes, that’s true.

S
OCRATES
: And now, I suppose, if we are interested in this question of our faces being alike, we ought to consider whether he is speaking with
[145]
any knowledge of drawing or not?

T
HEAETETUS
: Yes, I should think so.

S
OCRATES
: Then is Theodorus an artist?

T
HEAETETUS
: No, not so far as I know.

S
OCRATES
: Nor a geometer, either?

T
HEAETETUS
: Oh, there’s no doubt about his being that, Socrates.

S
OCRATES
: And isn’t he also a master of astronomy and arithmetic and music—of all that an educated man should know?

T
HEAETETUS
: Well, he seems to me to be.

S
OCRATES
: Then if he asserts that there is some physical resemblance between us—whether complimenting us or the reverse—one ought not to pay much attention to him?

T
HEAETETUS
: No, perhaps not.

S
OCRATES
: But supposing it were the soul of one of us that he was [b] praising? Suppose he said one of us was good and wise? Oughtn’t the one who heard that to be very anxious to examine the object of such praise? And oughtn’t the other to be very willing to show himself off?

T
HEAETETUS
: Yes, certainly, Socrates.

S
OCRATES
: Then, my dear Theaetetus, now is the time for you to show yourself and for me to examine you. For although Theodorus often gives me flattering testimonials for people, both Athenians and foreigners, I assure you I have never before heard him praise anybody in the way he [c] has just praised you.

T
HEAETETUS
: That’s all very well, Socrates; but take care he wasn’t saying that for a joke.

S
OCRATES
: That is not Theodorus’ way. Now don’t you try to get out of what we have agreed upon with the pretence that our friend is joking, or you may make it necessary for him to give his evidence—since no charge of perjury is ever likely to be brought against him. So have the pluck to stand by your agreement.

T
HEAETETUS
: All right, I must, then, if that’s what you’ve decided.

S
OCRATES
: Tell me now. You are learning some geometry from Theodorus, I expect?

T
HEAETETUS
: Yes, I am.

S
OCRATES
: And some astronomy and music and arithmetic? [d]

T
HEAETETUS
: Well, I’m very anxious to, anyway.

S
OCRATES
: And so am I, my son—from Theodorus or from anyone who seems to me to know about these things. But although I get on with them pretty well in most ways, I have a small difficulty, which I think ought to be investigated, with your help and that of the rest of the company.—Now isn’t it true that to learn is to become wiser
¹
about the thing one is learning?

T
HEAETETUS
: Yes, of course.

S
OCRATES
: And what makes men wise, I take it, is wisdom?

T
HEAETETUS
: Yes.

[e] S
OCRATES
: And is this in any way different from knowledge?

T
HEAETETUS
: What?

S
OCRATES
: Wisdom. Isn’t it the things which they know that men are wise about?

T
HEAETETUS
: Well, yes.

S
OCRATES
: So knowledge and wisdom will be the same thing?

T
HEAETETUS
: Yes.

S
OCRATES
: Now this is just where my difficulty comes in. I can’t get a
[146]
proper grasp of what on earth knowledge really is. Could we manage to put it into words? What do all of you say? Who’ll speak first? Anyone who makes a mistake shall sit down and be Donkey, as the children say when they are playing ball; and anyone who comes through without a miss shall be King and make us answer any question he likes.—Well, why this silence? Theodorus, I hope my love of argument is not making me forget my manners—just because I’m so anxious to start a discussion and get us all friendly and talkative together?

[b] T
HEODORUS
: No, no, Socrates—that’s the last thing one could call forgetting your manners. But do make one of the young people answer you. I am not used to this kind of discussion, and I’m too old to get into the way of it. But it would be suitable enough for them and they would profit more by it. For youth can always profit, that’s true enough. So do go on; don’t let Theaetetus off but ask him some more questions.

S
OCRATES
: Well, Theaetetus, you hear what Theodorus says. You won’t [c] want to disobey him, I’m sure; and certainly a wise man shouldn’t be disobeyed by his juniors in matters of this kind—it wouldn’t be at all the proper thing. Now give me a good frank answer. What do you think knowledge is?

T
HEAETETUS
: Well, I ought to answer, Socrates, as you and Theodorus tell me to. In any case, you and he will put me right, if I make a mistake.

S
OCRATES
: We certainly will, if we can.

T
HEAETETUS
: Then I think that the things Theodorus teaches are knowledge—[d] I mean geometry and the subjects you enumerated just now. Then again there are the crafts such as cobbling, whether you take them together or separately. They must be knowledge, surely.

S
OCRATES
: That is certainly a frank and indeed a generous answer, my dear lad. I asked you for one thing and you have given me many; I wanted something simple, and I have got a variety.