art of composition which is employed in the working of wool forms a web

by the regular intertexture of warp and woof, the entire woven substance

is called by us a woollen garment, and the art which presides over this

is the art of weaving.

YOUNG SOCRATES: Very true.

STRANGER: But why did we not say at once that weaving is the art of

entwining warp and woof, instead of making a long and useless circuit?

YOUNG SOCRATES: I thought, Stranger, that there was nothing useless in

what was said.

STRANGER: Very likely, but you may not always think so, my sweet friend;

and in case any feeling of dissatisfaction should hereafter arise in

your mind, as it very well may, let me lay down a principle which will

apply to arguments in general.

YOUNG SOCRATES: Proceed.

STRANGER: Let us begin by considering the whole nature of excess and

defect, and then we shall have a rational ground on which we may praise

or blame too much length or too much shortness in discussions of this

kind.

YOUNG SOCRATES: Let us do so.

Statesman