THEAETETUS: Exactly.

STRANGER: A resemblance, then, is not really real, if, as you say, not

true?

THEAETETUS: Nay, but it is in a certain sense.

STRANGER: You mean to say, not in a true sense?

THEAETETUS: Yes; it is in reality only an image.

STRANGER: Then what we call an image is in reality really unreal.

THEAETETUS: In what a strange complication of being and not-being we are

involved!

STRANGER: Strange! I should think so. See how, by his reciprocation of

opposites, the many-headed Sophist has compelled us, quite against our

will, to admit the existence of not-being.

THEAETETUS: Yes, indeed, I see.

STRANGER: The difficulty is how to define his art without falling into a

contradiction.

THEAETETUS: How do you mean? And where does the danger lie?