264
Stranger
Str. Then since speech, as we found, is true and false, and we saw that thought is conversation of the soul with itself, and opinion is the final result of thought, and what we mean when we say it seems is a mixture of sensation and opinion, it is inevitable that, since these are all akin to speech, some of them must sometimes be false.
5
Theaetetus
Theaet. Certainly.
Stranger
Str. Do you see, then, that false opinion and false discourse were found sooner than we expected when we feared a few moments ago that in looking for them we were undertaking an endless task?
Theaetetus
Theaet. Yes, I see.
Stranger
Str. Then let us not be discouraged about the rest of our search, either; for now that these points are settled, we have only to revert to our previous divisions into classes.
Theaetetus
Theaet. What divisions?
10
Stranger
Str. We made two classes of image-making, the likeness-making and the fantastic. See Plat. Theaet. 235d ff
Stranger
Str. And we said that we did not know to which of the two the sophist should be assigned.
Theaetetus
Theaet. You are right.
Stranger
Str. And in the midst of our perplexity about that, we were overwhelmed by a still greater dizziness when the doctrine appeared which challenges everybody and asserts that neither likeness nor image nor appearance exists at all, because falsehood never exists anywhere in any way.
15
Stranger
Str. But now, since the existence of false speech and false opinion has been proved, it is possible for imitations of realities to exist and for an art of deception to arise from this condition of mind.
