2
Chairephon Yes; this certainly seems to be a halcyon day, and yesterday was just such another. But tell me, Sokrates, how in the name of the gods can we possibly believe those old stories that tell of birds changing into women or women into birds? All those things seem to the last degree impossible.
3
Sokrates My dear Chairephon, I suspect that we are altogether too dull of vision to judge of the possible and the impossible; for we reason according to our human ability, which cannot know or see or be believed. And many things, even easy ones, seem difficult to us, and accessible things seem out of reach, often because our minds are inexperienced, and often, too, because they are childish. For every man, even if he be very old, seems like a child, since certainly our life is a tiny thing, and short as childhood in comparison with all time. And how, my friend, can men, who are ignorant of the powers of the gods and other divine beings, affirm whether any such thing is possible or impossible? You saw, Chairephon, what a storm there was three days ago. It actually terrifies one even to recall those flashes of lightning and peals of thunder and the extraordinary violence of the wind. One would have thought the whole world was on the eve of dissolution.
