THEODORUS: You have happened to light, Socrates, almost on the very

question which we were asking our friend before we came hither, and he

excused himself to us, as he does now to you; although he admitted that

the matter had been fully discussed, and that he remembered the answer.

SOCRATES: Then do not, Stranger, deny us the first favour which we ask

of you: I am sure that you will not, and therefore I shall only beg of

you to say whether you like and are accustomed to make a long oration

on a subject which you want to explain to another, or to proceed by

the method of question and answer. I remember hearing a very noble

discussion in which Parmenides employed the latter of the two methods,

when I was a young man, and he was far advanced in years. (Compare

Parm.)

STRANGER: I prefer to talk with another when he responds pleasantly, and

is light in hand; if not, I would rather have my own say.

SOCRATES: Any one of the present company will respond kindly to you, and

you can choose whom you like of them; I should recommend you to take a

young person--Theaetetus, for example--unless you have a preference for

some one else.

STRANGER: I feel ashamed, Socrates, being a new-comer into your society,

instead of talking a little and hearing others talk, to be spinning out

a long soliloquy or address, as if I wanted to show off. For the true

Sophist