Plato, Sophist, section 252d

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[252d]

Theaetetus
That is a remarkably accurate illustration

Stranger
But what if we ascribe to all things the power of participation in one another?

Theaetetus
Even I can dispose of that assumption.

Stranger
How?

Theaetetus
Because motion itself would be wholly at rest, and rest in turn would itself be in motion, if these two could be joined with one another.

Stranger
But surely this at least is most absolutely impossible, that motion be at rest and rest be in motion?

Theaetetus
Of course.

Stranger
Then only the third possibility is left.

Theaetetus
Yes.

Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 12 translated by Harold N. Fowler. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921.

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