STRANGER: And we must not quarrel with this result, since it is of the

nature of classes to have communion with one another; and if any one

denies our present statement [viz., that being is not, etc.], let him

first argue with our former conclusion [i.e., respecting the communion

of ideas], and then he may proceed to argue with what follows.

THEAETETUS: Nothing can be fairer.

STRANGER: Let me ask you to consider a further question.

THEAETETUS: What question?

STRANGER: When we speak of not-being, we speak, I suppose, not of

something opposed to being, but only different.

THEAETETUS: What do you mean?

STRANGER: When we speak of something as not great, does the expression

seem to you to imply what is little any more than what is equal?

THEAETETUS: Certainly not.

STRANGER: The negative particles, ou and me, when prefixed to words,

do not imply opposition, but only difference from the words, or more

correctly from the things represented by the words, which follow them.

108

Sophist