THEAETETUS: Of course.

STRANGER: And may we not fairly call the sort of art, which produces an

appearance and not an image, phantastic art?

THEAETETUS: Most fairly.

STRANGER: These then are the two kinds of image-making--the art of

making likenesses, and phantastic or the art of making appearances?

THEAETETUS: True.

STRANGER: I was doubtful before in which of them I should place the

Sophist, nor am I even now able to see clearly; verily he is a wonderful

and inscrutable creature. And now in the cleverest manner he has got

into an impossible place.

THEAETETUS: Yes, he has.

STRANGER: Do you speak advisedly, or are you carried away at the moment

by the habit of assenting into giving a hasty answer?

THEAETETUS: May I ask to what you are referring?

STRANGER: My dear friend, we are engaged in a very difficult

speculation--there can be no doubt of that; for how a thing can appear