"sophist" - читать интересную книгу автора (Plato)

Theaet. I do not think that I shall tire, and if I do, I shall get
my friend here, young Socrates, the namesake of the elder Socrates, to
help; he is about my own age, and my partner at the gymnasium, and
is constantly accustomed to work with me.

Str. Very good; you can decide about that for yourself as we
proceed. Meanwhile you and I will begin together and enquire into
the nature of the Sophist, first of the three: I should like you to
make out what he is and bring him to light in a discussion; for at
present we are only agreed about the name, but of the thing to which
we both apply the name possibly you have one notion and I another;
whereas we ought always to come to an understanding about the thing
itself in terms of a definition, and not merely about the name minus
the definition. Now the tribe of Sophists which we are investigating
is not easily caught or defined; and the world has long ago agreed,
that if great subjects are to be adequately treated, they must be
studied in the lesser and easier instances of them before we proceed
to the greatest of all. And as I know that the tribe of Sophists is
troublesome and hard to be caught, I should recommend that we practise
beforehand the method which is to be applied to him on some simple and
smaller thing, unless you can suggest a better way.

Theaet. Indeed I cannot.

Str. Then suppose that we work out some lesser example which will be
a pattern of the greater?

Theaet. Good.

Str. What is there which is well known and not great, and is yet
as susceptible of definition as any larger thing? Shall I say an
angler? He is familiar to all of us, and not a very interesting or
important person.

Theaet. He is not.

Str. Yet I suspect that he will furnish us with the sort of
definition and line of enquiry which we want.

Theaet. Very good.

Str. Let us begin by asking whether he is a man having art or not
having art, but some other power.

Theaet. He is clearly a man of art.

Str. And of arts there are two kinds?

Theaet. What are they?