all.

STRANGER: The members of all these States, with the exception of the

one which has knowledge, may be set aside as being not Statesmen but

partisans,--upholders of the most monstrous idols, and themselves idols;

and, being the greatest imitators and magicians, they are also the

greatest of Sophists.

YOUNG SOCRATES: The name of Sophist after many windings in the argument

appears to have been most justly fixed upon the politicians, as they are

termed.

STRANGER: And so our satyric drama has been played out; and the troop of

Centaurs and Satyrs, however unwilling to leave the stage, have at last

been separated from the political science.

YOUNG SOCRATES: So I perceive.

STRANGER: There remain, however, natures still more troublesome, because

they are more nearly akin to the king, and more difficult to discern;

the examination of them may be compared to the process of refining gold.

YOUNG SOCRATES: What is your meaning?

STRANGER: The workmen begin by sifting away the earth and stones and

the like; there remain in a confused mass the valuable elements akin to

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