STRANGER: And there is a still more ridiculous consequence, that the

king is found running about with the herd and in close competition with

the bird-catcher, who of all mankind is most of an adept at the airy

life. (Plato is here introducing a new subdivision, i.e. that of bipeds

into men and birds. Others however refer the passage to the division

into quadrupeds and bipeds, making pigs compete with human beings and

the pig-driver with the king. According to this explanation we must

translate the words above, 'freest and airiest of creation,' 'worthiest

and laziest of creation.')

YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly.

STRANGER: Then here, Socrates, is still clearer evidence of the truth of

what was said in the enquiry about the Sophist? (Compare Sophist.)

YOUNG SOCRATES: What?

STRANGER: That the dialectical method is no respecter of persons, and

does not set the great above the small, but always arrives in her own

way at the truest result.

YOUNG SOCRATES: Clearly.

STRANGER: And now, I will not wait for you to ask, but will of my

own accord take you by the shorter road to the definition of a king.

Statesman