Dialogues

which will claim at least to be cooperative causes in every work of the weaver. Young Socrates Most true. Stranger Well, then, suppose that we define weaving, or rather that part of it which has been selected by us, to be the greatest and noblest of arts which are concerned with woollen garments⁠—shall we be right? Is not the definition, although true, wanting in clearness and completeness; for do not all those other arts require to be first cleared away? Young Socrates True. Stranger Then the next thing will be to separate them, in order that the argument may proceed in a regular manner? Young Socrates By all means. Stranger Let us consider, in the first place, that there are two kinds of arts entering into everything which we do. Young Socrates What are they? Stranger The one kind is the conditional or cooperative, the other the principal cause. Young Socrates What do you mean? Stranger The arts which do not manufacture the actual thing, but which furnish the necessary tools for the manufacture, without which the several arts could not fulfil their appointed work, are cooperative; but those which make the things themselves are causal. Young Socrates A very reasonable distinction. Stranger Thus the arts which make spindles, combs, and other instruments of the production of clothes, may be called cooperative, and those which treat and fabricate the things themselves, causal. Young Socrates Very true. Stranger The arts of washing and mending, and the other preparatory arts which belong to the causal class, and form a division of the great art of adornment, may be all comprehended under what we call the fuller’s art. Young Socrates Very good. Stranger Carding and spinning threads and all the parts of the process which are concerned with the actual manufacture of a woollen garment form a single art, which is one of those universally acknowledged⁠—the art of working in wool. Young Socrates To be sure. Stranger Of working in wool, again, there are two divisions, and both these are parts of two arts at once. Young Socrates How is that? Stranger Carding and one half of the use of the comb, and the other processes of wool-working which separate the composite, may be classed together as belonging both to the art of wool-working, and also to one of the two great arts which are of universal application⁠—the art of composition and the art of division. Young Socrates Yes. Stranger To the latter belong carding and the other processes of which I was just now speaking; the art of discernment or division in wool and yarn, which is effected in one manner with the comb and in another with the hands, is variously described under all the names which I just now mentioned. Young Socrates Very true. Stranger Again, let us take some process of wool-working which is also a portion of the art of composition, and, dismissing the elements of division which we found there,343 make two halves, one on the principle of composition, and the other on the principle of division. Young Socrates Let that be done. Stranger And once more, Socrates, we must divide the part which belongs at once both to wool-working and composition, if we are ever to discover satisfactorily the aforesaid art of weaving. Young Socrates We must. Stranger Yes, certainly, and let us call one part of the art the art of twisting threads, the other the art of combining them. Young Socrates Do I understand you, in speaking of twisting, to be referring to manufacture of the warp? Stranger Yes, and of the woof too; how, if not by twisting, is the woof made? Young Socrates There is no other way. Stranger Then suppose that you define the warp and the woof, for I think that the definition will be of use to you. Young Socrates How shall I define them? Stranger As thus: A piece of carded wool which is drawn out lengthwise and breadthwise is said to be pulled out. Young Socrates Yes. Stranger And the wool thus prepared, when twisted by the spindle, and made into a firm thread, is called the warp, and the art which regulates these operations the art of spinning the warp. Young Socrates True. Stranger And the threads which are more loosely spun, having a softness proportioned to the intertexture of the warp and to the degree of force used in dressing the cloth⁠—the threads which are thus spun are called the woof, and the art which is set over them may be called the art of spinning the woof. Young Socrates Very true. Stranger And, now, there can be no mistake about the nature of the part of weaving which we have undertaken to define. For when that part of the art of composition which is employed in the working of wool forms a web by the regular intertexture of warp and woof, the entire woven substance is called by us a woollen garment, and the art which presides over this is the art of weaving. Young Socrates Very true. Stranger But why did we not say at once that weaving is the art of entwining warp and woof, instead of making a long and useless circuit? Young Socrates I thought, Stranger, that there was nothing useless in what was said. Stranger Very likely, but you may not always think so, my sweet friend; and in case any feeling of dissatisfaction should hereafter arise in your mind, as it very well may, let me lay down a principle which will apply to arguments in general. Young Socrates Proceed. Stranger Let us begin by considering the whole nature of excess and defect, and then we shall have a rational ground on which we may praise or blame too much length or too much shortness in discussions of this kind. Young Socrates Let us do so. Stranger The points on which I think that we ought to dwell are the following:⁠— Young Socrates What? Stranger Length and shortness, excess and defect; with all of these the art of measurement is conversant. Young Socrates Yes. Stranger And the art of measurement has to be divided into two parts, with a view to our present purpose. Young Socrates Where would you make the division? Stranger As thus: I would