139
Soc. Well then, do you hold the same view about wisdom and unwisdom?
139
Alc. How do you mean?
139
Soc. Tell me, do you think it is only possible to be either wise or unwise, or is there some third condition between these, which makes a man neither wise nor unwise?
139
Alc. No, there is not.
139
Soc. So he must needs be in one or the other of these two conditions.
139
Alc. I agree.
139
Soc. And you remember that you admitted that madness is the opposite of wisdom?
139
Alc. I do.
139
Soc. And further, that there is no third condition between these, which makes a man neither wise nor unwise?
139
Alc. Yes, I admitted that.
139
Soc. Well now, can there possibly be two opposites of one thing?
139
Alc. By no means.
139
Soc. Then it looks as though unwisdom and madness were the same.
139
Alc. Yes, apparently.
139
Soc. So we shall be right, Alcibiades, in saying that all unwise persons are mad; for example, such of your contemporaries as happen to be unwise—some such there are—and of your elders, even: for tell me, in Heaven’s name, do you not think that in our city the wise people are but few, whereas the majority are unwise, and these you call mad?
139
Alc. I do.
139
Soc. Well, do you suppose we could safely live with so many madmen as our fellow-citizens, and should not long ago have paid the penalty for it in knocks and blows at their hands, and all the usual proceedings of madmen? Consider now, my wonderful friend, whether the case is not quite different?
139
Alc. Well, it must be, Socrates. For it looks as though it were not as I thought.
139
Soc. And I think so too. But there is another way of regarding it.
139
Alc. I wonder what way you mean.
139
Soc. Well, I will tell you. We conceive there are some who are sick, do we not?
139
Alc. We do, to be sure.
139
Soc. And do you believe that a sick man must necessarily have the gout, or a fever, or ophthalmia? Do you not think that, although he may be afflicted in none of these ways, he may be suffering from some other disease? For surely there are many of them: these are not the only ones.
139
Alc. I agree.
