Thesauros Literature Philosophy Φίληβος

Φίληβος

Φίληβος Plato

17–18

Socrates
Soc. But, my friend, when you have grasped the number and quality of the intervals of the voice in respect to high and low pitch, and the limits of the intervals, and all the combinations derived from them, which the men of former times discovered and handed down to us, their successors, with the traditional name of harmonies, and also the corresponding effects in the movements of the body, which they say are measured by numbers and must be called rhythms and measures—and they say that we must also understand that every one and many should be considered in this way— when you have thus grasped the facts, you have become a musician, and when by considering it in this way you have obtained a grasp of any other unity of all those which exist, you have become wise in respect to that unity. But the infinite number of individuals and the infinite number in each of them makes you in every instance indefinite in thought and of no account and not to be considered among the wise, so long as you have never fixed your eye upon any definite number in anything.
Protarchus
Pro. I think, Philebus, that what Socrates has said is excellent.
Philebus
Phi. So do I; it is excellent in itself, but why has he said it now to us, and what purpose is there in it?
Socrates
Soc. Protarchus, that is a very proper question which Philebus has asked us.
Protarchus
Pro. Certainly it is, so please answer it.

nav.navigate

nav.identity

common.settings

common.language
TR EN
common.theme