YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly.

STRANGER: That one name may be fitly predicated of all of them, for none

of these things have a serious purpose--amusement is their sole aim.

YOUNG SOCRATES: That again I understand.

STRANGER: Then there is a class which provides materials for all these,

out of which and in which the arts already mentioned fabricate their

works;--this manifold class, I say, which is the creation and offspring

of many other arts, may I not rank sixth?

YOUNG SOCRATES: What do you mean?

STRANGER: I am referring to gold, silver, and other metals, and all

that wood-cutting and shearing of every sort provides for the art

of carpentry and plaiting; and there is the process of barking and

stripping the cuticle of plants, and the currier's art, which strips off

the skins of animals, and other similar arts which manufacture corks and

papyri and cords, and provide for the manufacture of composite species

out of simple kinds--the whole class may be termed the primitive and

simple possession of man, and with this the kingly science has no

concern at all.

YOUNG SOCRATES: True.

Statesman