304
Stranger
Str. And how about this? Shall we say that there is another science connected with those, which tells whether we ought or ought not to learn any one of then?
Younger Socrates
Y. Soc. Yes, we shall say that there is.
Stranger
Str. And shall we agree that this is different from those?
Younger Socrates
Y. Soc. Yes.
10
Stranger
Str. And shall we say that none of them ought to have control of any other, or that those sciences should control this one, or that this should control and rule all the others?
Younger Socrates
Y. Soc. This should control those others.
Stranger
Str. You mean that the science which decides whether we ought to learn or not should control the science which is learnt or teaches?
Younger Socrates
Y. Soc. Emphatically.
Stranger
Str. And the science which decides whether to persuade or not should control that which can persuade?
15
Younger Socrates
Y. Soc. Certainly.
Stranger
Str. Well, then, to what science shall we assign the power of persuading a multitude or a mob by telling edifying stories, not by teaching?
Younger Socrates
Y. Soc. It is, I think, clear that this must be added to rhetoric.
Stranger
Str. But the power of deciding whether some action, no matter what, should be taken, either by persuasion or by some exercise of force, in relation to any person, or whether to take no action at all—to what science is that to be assigned?
Younger Socrates
Y. Soc. To the science which controls the sciences of persuasion and speech.
20
Stranger
Str. And that would, I think, be no other than the function of the statesman.
Younger Socrates
Y. Soc. A most excellent conclusion.
