38–39
Socrates
Soc. And if some one is with him, he might repeat aloud to his companion what he had said to himself, and thus that which we called an opinion now becomes a statement?
Protarchus
Pro. Certainly.
Socrates
Soc. But if he is alone when he has this thought, he sometimes carries it about in his mind for a long time.
30
Protarchus
Pro. Undoubtedly.
Socrates
Soc. Well, is your view about what takes place in such cases the same as mine?
Protarchus
Pro. What is yours?
Socrates
Soc. I think the soul at such a time is like a book.
Protarchus
Pro. How is that?
35
Socrates
Soc. Memory unites with the senses, and they and the feelings which are connected with them seem to me almost to write words in our souls; and when the feeling in question writes the truth, true opinions and true statements are produced in us; but when the writer within us writes falsehoods, the resulting opinions and statements are the opposite of true.
Protarchus
Pro. That is my view completely, and I accept it as stated.
Socrates
Soc. Then accept also the presence of another workman in our souls at such a time.
Protarchus
Pro. What workman?
Socrates
Soc. A painter, who paints in our souls pictures to illustrate the words which the writer has written.
5
Protarchus
Pro. But how do we say he does this, and when?
Socrates
Soc. When a man receives from sight or some other sense the opinions and utterances of the moment and afterwards beholds in his own mind the images of those opinions and utterances. That happens to us often enough, does it not?
Protarchus
Pro. It certainly does.
Socrates
Soc. And the images of the true opinions are true, and those of the false are false?
Protarchus
Pro. Assuredly.
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