Dialogues

I ask, “What sort of instrument is a shuttle?” And you answer, “A weaving instrument.” Hermogenes Well. Socrates And I ask again, “What do we do when we weave?”⁠—The answer is, that we separate or disengage the warp from the woof. Hermogenes Very true. Socrates And may not a similar description be given of an awl, and of instruments in general? Hermogenes To be sure. Socrates And now suppose that I ask a similar question about names: will you answer me? Regarding the name as an instrument, what do we do when we name? Hermogenes I cannot say. Socrates Do we not give information to one another, and distinguish things according to their natures? Hermogenes Certainly we do. Socrates Then a name is an instrument of teaching and of distinguishing natures, as the shuttle is of distinguishing the threads of the web. Hermogenes Yes. Socrates And the shuttle is the instrument of the weaver? Hermogenes Assuredly. Socrates Then the weaver will use the shuttle well⁠—and well means like a weaver? and the teacher will use the name well⁠—and well means like a teacher? Hermogenes Yes. Socrates And when the weaver uses the shuttle, whose work will he be using well? Hermogenes That of the carpenter. Socrates And is every man a carpenter, or the skilled only? Hermogenes Only the skilled. Socrates And when the piercer uses the awl, whose work will he be using well? Hermogenes That of the smith. Socrates And is every man a smith, or only the skilled? Hermogenes The skilled only. Socrates And when the teacher uses the name, whose work will he be using? Hermogenes There again I am puzzled. Socrates Cannot you at least say who gives us the names which we use? Hermogenes Indeed I cannot. Socrates Does not the law seem to you to give us them? Hermogenes Yes, I suppose so. Socrates Then the teacher, when he gives us a name, uses the work of the legislator? Hermogenes I agree. Socrates And is every man a legislator, or the skilled only? Hermogenes The skilled only. Socrates Then, Hermogenes, not every man is able to give a name, but only a maker of names; and this is the legislator, who of all skilled artisans in the world is the rarest. Hermogenes True. Socrates And how does the legislator make names? and to what does he look? Consider this in the light of the previous instances: to what does the carpenter look in making the shuttle? Does he not look to that which is naturally fitted to act as a shuttle? Hermogenes Certainly. Socrates And suppose the shuttle to be broken in making, will he make another, looking to the broken one? or will he look to the form according to which he made the other? Hermogenes To the latter, I should imagine. Socrates Might not that be justly called the true or ideal shuttle? Hermogenes I think so. Socrates And whatever shuttles are wanted, for the manufacture of garments, thin or thick, of flaxen, woollen, or other material, ought all of them to have the true form of the shuttle; and whatever is the shuttle best adapted to each kind of work, that ought to be the form which the maker produces in each case. Hermogenes Yes. Socrates And the same holds of other instruments: when a man has discovered the instrument which is naturally adapted to each work, he must express this natural form, and not others which he fancies, in the material, whatever it may be, which he employs; for example, he ought to know how to put into iron the forms of awls adapted by nature to their several uses? Hermogenes Certainly. Socrates And how to put into wood forms of shuttles adapted by nature to their uses? Hermogenes True. Socrates For the several forms of shuttles naturally answer to the several kinds of webs; and this is true of instruments in general. Hermogenes Yes. Socrates Then, as to names: ought not our legislator also to know how to put the true natural name of each thing into sounds and syllables, and to make and give all names with a view to the ideal name, if he is to be a namer in any true sense? And we must remember that different legislators will not use the same syllables. For neither does every smith, although he may be making the same instrument for the same purpose, make them all of the same iron. The form must be the same, but the material may vary, and still the instrument may be equally good of whatever iron made, whether in Hellas or in a foreign country;⁠—there is no difference. Hermogenes Very true. Socrates And the legislator, whether he be Hellene or barbarian, is not therefore to be deemed by you a worse legislator, provided he gives the true and proper form of the name in whatever syllables; this or that country makes no matter. Hermogenes Quite true. Socrates But who then is to determine whether the proper form is given to the shuttle, whatever sort of wood may be used? the carpenter who makes, or the weaver who is to use them? Hermogenes I should say, he who is to use them, Socrates. Socrates And who uses the work of the lyre-maker? Will not he be the man who knows how to direct what is being done, and who will know also whether the work is being well done or not? Hermogenes Certainly. Socrates And who is he? Hermogenes The player of the lyre. Socrates And who will direct the shipwright? Hermogenes The pilot. Socrates And who will be best able to direct the legislator in his work, and will know whether the work is well done, in this or any other country? Will not the user be the man? Hermogenes Yes. Socrates And this is he who knows how to ask questions? Hermogenes Yes. Socrates And how to answer them? Hermogenes Yes. Socrates And him who knows how to ask and answer you would call a dialectician? Hermogenes Yes; that would be his name. Socrates Then the work of the carpenter is to make a rudder, and the pilot has to direct him, if the rudder is to be well made. Hermogenes True. Socrates And the work of the legislator is to give names, and the dialectician must be his director if the names are to be rightly given?