280–281
Stranger
Str. And we separated off the art of making coverings of leather in single pieces and all the arts of making shelters, which we find in house-building and carpentering in general and in other methods of protection against water, and all the arts which furnish protection against theft and acts of violence, the arts, that is to say, of making lids and constructing doors, which are regarded as parts of the joiner’s art; and we cut off the armorer’s art, which is a section of the great and various function of making defences; and at the very beginning we cut off the whole art of magic which is concerned with antidotes and spells, and we have left, as it would seem, just the art we were seeking, which furnishes protection from the weather, manufactures a defence of wool, and is called the art of weaving.
Younger Socrates
Y. Soc. That seems to be the case.
Stranger
Str. But, my boy, this is not yet completely stated; for the man who is engaged in the first part of the making of clothes appears to do something the opposite of weaving.
Younger Socrates
Y. Soc. How so?
Stranger
Str. The process of weaving is, I take it, a kind of joining together.
Younger Socrates
Y. Soc. Yes.
Stranger
Str. But the first part I refer to is a separation of what is combined and matted together.
5
Younger Socrates
Y. Soc. What do you mean?
Stranger
Str. The work of the carder’s art. Or shall we have the face to say that carding is weaving and the carder is a weaver?
Younger Socrates
Y. Soc. No, certainly not.
