388
Socrates
Socrates. Right. A name also, then, is a kind of instrument.
Hermogenes
Hermogenes. Certainly.
Socrates
Socrates. Then if I were to ask What instrument is the shuttle? Is it not that with which we weave?
10
Hermogenes
Hermogenes. Yes.
Socrates
Socrates. And what do we do when we weave? Do we not separate the mingled threads of warp and woof?
Hermogenes
Hermogenes. Yes.
Socrates
Socrates. And you could give a similar answer about the borer and the rest, could you not?
Hermogenes
Hermogenes. Certainly.
15
Socrates
Socrates. And can you say something of the same kind about a name? The name being an instrument, what do we do with it when we name?
Hermogenes
Hermogenes. I cannot tell.
Socrates
Socrates. Do we not teach one another something, and separate things according to their natures?
Hermogenes
Hermogenes. Certainly.
Socrates
Socrates. A name is, then, an instrument of teaching and of separating reality, as a shuttle is an instrument of separating the web?
20
Hermogenes
Hermogenes. Yes.
Socrates
Socrates. But the shuttle is an instrument of weaving?
Hermogenes
Hermogenes. Of course.
Socrates
Socrates. The weaver, then, will use the shuttle well, and well means like a weaver; and a teacher will use a name well, and well means like a teacher.
Hermogenes
Hermogenes. Yes.
25
Socrates
Socrates. Whose work will the weaver use well when he uses the shuttle?
Hermogenes
Hermogenes. The carpenter’s.
