209
Socrates
SOC. Then so long as I had merely opinion, I did not grasp in my thought any of the points in which you differ from others?
5
Theaetetus
THEAET. Apparently not.
Socrates
SOC. Therefore I was thinking of some one of the common traits which you possess no more than other men.
Theaetetus
THEAET. You must have been.
Socrates
SOC. For heaven’s sake! How in the world could I in that case have any opinion about you more than about anyone else? Suppose that I thought That is Theaetetus which is a man and has nose and eyes and mouth and so forth, mentioning all the parts. Can this thought make me think of Theaetetus any more than of Theodorus or of the meanest of the Mysians, The Mysians were despised as especially effeminate and worthless as the saying is?
Theaetetus
THEAET. Of course not.
10
Socrates
SOC. But if I think not only of a man with nose and eyes, but of one with snub nose and protruding eyes, shall I then have an opinion of you any more than of myself and all others like me?
Theaetetus
THEAET. Not at all.
Socrates
SOC. No; I fancy Theaetetus will not be the object of opinion in me until this snubnosedness of yours has stamped and deposited in my mind a memorial different from those of the other examples of snubnosedness that I have seen, and the other traits that make up your personality have done the like. Then that memorial, if I meet you again tomorrow, will awaken my memory and make me have right opinion about you.
Theaetetus
THEAET. Very true.
Socrates
SOC. Then right opinion also would have to do with differences in any given instance?
15
Theaetetus
THEAET. At any rate, it seems so.
