[487c]
so they
are finally blocked and have their mouths stopped by this other game of
draughts played not with counters but with words; yet the truth is not
affected by that outcome.1 I say this with reference
to the present case, for in this instance one might say that he is unable in
words to contend against you at each question, but that when it comes to
facts2 he sees that
of those who turn to philosophy,3 not merely touching upon it
to complete their education4
1 Cf. Hipp. Minor 369 B-C and Grote ii. p. 64 “Though Hippias admits each successive step he still mistrusts the conclusion” also Apelt, p. 492, 357 A-B and Laws 903 Aβιάζεσθαι τοῖς λόγοις, and also Hipparchus 232 B for the idea that dialectic constrains rather than persuades. In the Ion, 533 C, Ion says he cannot ἀντιλέγειν, but the fact remains that he knows Homer but not other poets. Cf. also 536 D. The passage virtually anticipates Bacon's Novum Organum,App. XIII. “(syllogismus) . . . assensum itaque constringit, non res.” Cf. Cic.De fin. iv. 3, Tusc. i. 8. 16, and the proverbial οὐ γὰρ πείσεις, οὐδ᾽ ἢν πείσῃς,, Aristoph.Plutus 600.
2 See Soph. 234 E for a different application of the same idea. There is no change of opinion. The commonplace Greek contrast of word and deed, theory and fact, is valid against eristic but not against dialectic. See What Plato Said, p. 534 on Phaedo 99 E, and on 473 A; also What Plato Said, p. 625 on Laws 636 A. A favorite formula of Aristotle runs, “This is true in theory and is confirmed by facts.” Cf. Eth. Nic. 1099 b 25, 1123 b 22, 1131 a 13, Pol. 1323 a 39-b 6, 1326 a 25 and 29, 1334 a 5-6.
3 Scholars in politics cut a sorry figure. For this popular view of philosophers Cf. Theaet. 173 C ff., 174 C-D, Gorg. 484-486 C, Phaedo 64 B. Cf. also Isoc. passim, e. g.Antid. 250, 312.
4 The perfect tense is ironical in Crat. 384 B, serious in Laws 670 A-B. In Gorg. 485 A it is replaced by ὅσον παιδείας χάριν.
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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