[287a]
but he must also show that there is ground for the belief that if they had been briefer they would have made their hearers better dialecticians and quicker to discover through reason the truth of realities. About other people and the praise or blame they direct towards other qualities in discourse, we need not be concerned; we need not even appear to hear them. But enough of this, if you feel about it as I do; so let us go back to the statesman
[287b]
and apply to him the example of weaving that we spoke of a while ago.Younger Socrates
Very well; let us do so.Stranger
The art of the king, then, has been separated from most of the kindred arts, or rather from all the arts that have to do with herds. There remain, however, the arts that have to do with the state itself. These are both causes and contingent causes, and our first duty is to separate them from one another.Younger Socrates
Quite right.Stranger
It is not easy to divide them into halves, you know. [287c] But I think the reason will nevertheless be clear as we go on.Younger Socrates
Then we had better divide in another way.Stranger
Let us divide them, then, like an animal that is sacrificed, by joints, since we cannot bisect them; for we must always divide into a number of parts as near two as possible.Younger Socrates
How shall we do it in the present instance?Stranger
Just as in the previous case, you know, we classed all the arts which furnished tools for weaving as contingent causes.Younger Socrates
Yes.Stranger
So now we must do the same thing, but it is even more imperative. [287d] For all the arts which furnish any implement, great or small, for the state, must be classed as contingent causes; for without them neither state nor statesmanship could ever exist, and yet I do not suppose we shall reckon any of them as the work of the kingly art.Younger Socrates
No.Stranger
We shall certainly be undertaking a hard task in separating this class from the rest; for it might be said that everything that exists is the instrument of something or other, and the statement seems plausible. But there are possessions of another kind in the state, [287e] about which I wish to say something.Younger Socrates
What do you wish to say?Stranger
That they do not possess this instrumental function. For they are not, like tools or instruments, made for the purpose of being causes of production, but exist for the preservation of that which has been produced.Younger Socrates
What is this class of possessions?Stranger
That very various class which is made with dry and wet materials and such as are wrought by fire and without fire; it is called collectively the class of receptacles; it is a very large class and has, so far as I can see,
Very well; let us do so.Stranger
The art of the king, then, has been separated from most of the kindred arts, or rather from all the arts that have to do with herds. There remain, however, the arts that have to do with the state itself. These are both causes and contingent causes, and our first duty is to separate them from one another.Younger Socrates
Quite right.Stranger
It is not easy to divide them into halves, you know. [287c] But I think the reason will nevertheless be clear as we go on.Younger Socrates
Then we had better divide in another way.Stranger
Let us divide them, then, like an animal that is sacrificed, by joints, since we cannot bisect them; for we must always divide into a number of parts as near two as possible.Younger Socrates
How shall we do it in the present instance?Stranger
Just as in the previous case, you know, we classed all the arts which furnished tools for weaving as contingent causes.Younger Socrates
Yes.Stranger
So now we must do the same thing, but it is even more imperative. [287d] For all the arts which furnish any implement, great or small, for the state, must be classed as contingent causes; for without them neither state nor statesmanship could ever exist, and yet I do not suppose we shall reckon any of them as the work of the kingly art.Younger Socrates
No.Stranger
We shall certainly be undertaking a hard task in separating this class from the rest; for it might be said that everything that exists is the instrument of something or other, and the statement seems plausible. But there are possessions of another kind in the state, [287e] about which I wish to say something.Younger Socrates
What do you wish to say?Stranger
That they do not possess this instrumental function. For they are not, like tools or instruments, made for the purpose of being causes of production, but exist for the preservation of that which has been produced.Younger Socrates
What is this class of possessions?Stranger
That very various class which is made with dry and wet materials and such as are wrought by fire and without fire; it is called collectively the class of receptacles; it is a very large class and has, so far as I can see,
