255–256
Theaetetus
Theaet. Certainly.
20
Stranger
Str. Then shall we call the other a fifth class? Or must we conceive of this and being as two names for one class?
Theaetetus
Theaet. May be.
Stranger
Str. But I fancy you admit that among the entities some are always conceived as absolute, and some as relative.
Theaetetus
Theaet. Of course.
Stranger
Str. And other is always relative to other, is it not?
25
Stranger
Str. It would not be so, if being and the other were not utterly different. If the other, like being, partook of both absolute and relative existence, there would be also among the others that exist another not in relation to any other; but as it is, we find that whatever is other is just what it is through compulsion of some other.
Theaetetus
Theaet. The facts are as you say.
Stranger
Str. Then we must place the nature of the other as a fifth among the classes in which we select our examples.
Theaetetus
Theaet. Yes.
30
Stranger
Str. And we shall say that it permeates them all; for each of them is other than the rest, not by reason of its own nature, but because it partakes of the idea of the other.
Theaetetus
Theaet. Exactly.
Stranger
Str. Let us now state our conclusions, taking up the five classes one at a time.
Stranger
Str. Take motion first; we say that it is entirely other than rest, do we not?
35
Theaetetus
Theaet. We do.
Stranger
Str. Then it is not rest.
Theaetetus
Theaet. Not at all.
Stranger
Str. But it exists, by reason of its participation in being.
