48
Pro. I do not quite understand.
48
Soc. Indeed it is by no means easy, Protarchus, to understand such a condition under those circumstances.
48
Pro. No at least I do not find it so.
48
Soc. Well, then, let us take this under consideration, all the more because of its obscurity; then we can more readily understand the mixture of pain and pleasure in other cases.
48
Pro. Please go on.
48
Soc. Would you say that envy, which was mentioned just now, was a pain of the soul, or not?
48
Pro. I say it is.
48
Soc. But certainly we see the envious man rejoicing in the misfortunes of his neighbors.
48
Pro. Yes, very much so.
48
Soc. Surely ignorance is an evil, as is also what we call stupidity.
48
Pro. Surely.
48
Soc. Next, then, consider the nature of the ridiculous.
48
Pro. Please proceed.
48
Soc. The ridiculous is in its main aspect a kind of vice which gives its name to a condition; and it is that part of vice in general which involves the opposite of the condition mentioned in the inscription at Delphi.
48
Pro. You mean Know thyself, Socrates?
48
Soc. Yes; and the opposite of that, in the language of the inscription, would evidently be not to know oneself at all.
48
Pro. Of course.
48
Soc. Protarchus, try to divide this into three.
48
Pro. How do you mean? I am afraid I can never do it.
48
Soc. Then you say that I must now make the division?
48
Pro. Yes, I say so, and I beg you to do so, besides.
48
Soc. Must not all those who do not know themselves be affected by their condition in one of three ways?
48
Pro. How is that?
48
Soc. First in regard to wealth; such a man thinks he is richer than he is.
48
Pro. Certainly a good many are affected in that way.
48
Soc. And there are still more who think they are taller and handsomer than they are and that they possess better physical qualities in general than is the case.
48
Pro. Certainly.
49
Soc. But by far the greatest number, I fancy, err in the third way, about the qualities of, the soul, thinking that they excel in virtue when they do not.
49
Pro. Yes, most decidedly.
