[413a]
Voluntary is the departure of the false belief from one who learns better,
involuntary that of every true belief.” “The
voluntary,” he said, “I understand, but I need
instruction about the involuntary.” “How now,”
said I, “don't you agree with me in thinking that men are
unwillingly deprived of good things but willingly of evil? Or is it not an
evil to be deceived in respect of the truth and a good to possess truth? And
don't you think that to opine the things that are is to possess the
truth?” “Why, yes,” said he, “you
are right, and I agree that men are unwillingly deprived of true
opinions.1” “And doesn't this happen to them by theft,
by the spells of sorcery or by force?” “I don't
understand now either,” he said. “I must be talking in
high tragic style,2” I said;
Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vols. 5 & 6 translated by Paul Shorey. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1969.
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