Book 1
15
The acquisition of this knowledge, however, must in a sense result in something which is the reverse of the outlook with which we first approached the inquiry. All begin, as we have said, by wondering that things should be as they are, e.g. with regard to marionettes, or the solstices, or the incommensurabilityi.e. the fact that the diagonal of a square cannot be rationally expressed in terms of the side. of the diagonal of a square; because it seems wonderful to everyone who has not yet perceived the cause that a thing should not be measurable by the smallest unit.
16
But we must end with the contrary and (according to the proverb)i.e. δευτέρον ἀμεινόνων(second thoughts are better). Leutsch and Schneidwin 1.62. the better view, as men do even in these cases when they understand them; for a geometrician would wonder at nothing so much as if the diagonal were to become measurable.
16
Thus we have stated what is the nature of the science which we are seeking, and what is the object which our search and our whole investigation must attain.
