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Str. And do they not say that each soul becomes just by the possession and presence of justice, and the opposite by the possession and presence of the opposite?
247
Theaet. Yes, they agree to this also.
247
Str. But surely they will say that that which is capable of becoming present or absent exists.
247
Theaet. Yes, they say that.
247
Str. Granting, then, that justice and wisdom and virtue in general and their opposites exist, and also, of course, the soul in which they become present, do they say that any of these is visible and tangible, or that they are all invisible?
247
Theaet. That none of them is visible, or pretty nearly that.
247
Str. Now here are some other questions. Do they say they possess any body?
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Theaet. They no longer answer the whole of that question in the same way. They say they believe the soul itself has a sort of body, but as to wisdom and the other several qualities about which you ask, they have not the face either to confess that they have no existence or to assert that they are all bodies.
247
Str. It is clear, Theaetetus, that our men have grown better; for the aboriginal sons of the dragon’s teeth This refers to the story of Cadmus, who killed a dragon and then sowed its teeth, from which sprang fierce warriors to be his companions. Born of the dragon’s teeth and of earth, they would naturally be of the earth, earthy. among them would not shrink from any such utterance; they would maintain that nothing which they cannot squeeze with their hands has any existence at all.
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Theaet. That is pretty nearly what they believe.
