202
Theaetetus
THEAET. That was it exactly.
Socrates
SOC. Are you satisfied, then, and do you state it in this way, that true opinion accompanied by reason is knowledge?
Theaetetus
THEAET. Precisely.
Socrates
SOC. Can it be, Theaetetus, that we now, in this casual manner, have found out on this day what many wise men have long been seeking and have grown grey in the search?
5
Theaetetus
THEAET. I, at any rate, Socrates, think our present statement is good.
Socrates
SOC. Probably this particular statement is so; for what knowledge could there still be apart from reason and right opinion? One point, however, in what has been said is unsatisfactory to me.
Theaetetus
THEAET. What point?
Socrates
SOC. Just that which seems to be the cleverest; the assertion that the elements are unknowable and the class of combinations is knowable.
Theaetetus
THEAET. Is that not right?
10
Socrates
SOC. We are sure to find out, for we have as hostages the examples which he who said all this used in his argument.
Theaetetus
THEAET. What examples?
Socrates
SOC. The elements in writing, the letters of the alphabet, and their combinations, the syllables Στοιχεῖον and συλλαβή originally general terms for element and combination, became the common words for letter and syllable.; or do you think the author of the statements we are discussing had something else in view?
Theaetetus
THEAET. No; those are what he had in view.
