59
Socrates
Soc. In saying that, did you bear in mind that the arts in general, and the men who devote themselves to them, make use of opinion and persistently investigate things which have to do with opinion? And even if they think they are studying nature, they are spending their lives in the study of the things of this world, the manner of their production, their action, and the forces to which they are subjected. Is not that true?
Protarchus
Pro. Yes, it is.
Socrates
Soc. Such thinkers, then, toil to discover, not eternal verities, but transient productions of the present, the future, or the past?
Protarchus
Pro. Perfectly true.
Socrates
Soc. And can we say that any of these things becomes certain, if tested by the touchstone of strictest truth, since none of them ever was, will be, or is in the same state?
5
Protarchus
Pro. Of course not.
Socrates
Soc. How can we gain anything fixed whatsoever about things which have no fixedness whatsoever?
Protarchus
Pro. In no way, as it seems to me.
Socrates
Soc. Then no mind or science which is occupied with them possesses the most perfect truth.
Protarchus
Pro. No, it naturally does not.
10
Socrates
Soc. Then we must dismiss the thought of you and me and Gorgias and Philebus, and make this solemn declaration on the part of our argument.
Protarchus
Pro. What is the solemn declaration?
Socrates
Soc. That fixed and pure and true and what we call unalloyed knowledge has to do with the things which are eternally the same without change or mixture, or with that which is most akin to them; and all other things are to be regarded as secondary and inferior.
Protarchus
Pro. Very true.
