3–4
SIMON Come now, first of all, if it please you, let us consider what an art is in general; for in that way we can go on to the individual] arts and see if they truly come under that head. TYCHIADES What on earth is an art, then? Surely you know.
TYCHIADES Then do not hesitate to tell, if you do know.
SIMON An art, I remember to have heard a learned man say,The particular learned man who said it first is not known to us. It is the orthodox Stoic definition, quoted repeatedly by Sextus Empiricus. Cf. Quint. 2,17, 41: ille ab omnibus fere probatus finis ... artem constare ex perceptionibus consentientibus et coexercitatis ad finem utilem vitae. is a complex of knowledges exercised in combination to some end useful to the world.
TYCHIADES He was quite right in what he said, and you in your recollection of it.
SIMON If Parasitic satisfies this definition completely, what other conclusion could there be than that it is an art?
TYCHIADES It would be an art, of course, if it should really be like that.