25
Then you are not a stone, because you are a living creature.
25
Thank you. My legs were getting lifeless already and stiff, like Niobe's. But I am certainly going to buy you. What is his price?
25
Two hundred and forty dollars.
25
Here it is.
25
Are you the sole purchaser?
25
Dear me, no. All these people are with me.
25
There are plenty of them, and strong in the shoulder. They are fit for "the Mower."
26
Don't waste time. Call up another, the Peripatetic.
26
You are the man I want-the handsome, the rich one. Come now, buy the most intelligent life-the one whose forte is omniscience!
26
What sort of a person is he?
26
He leads a reasonable, well-ordered life, never doing either too much or too little. Most important of all, he is double.
26
What do you mean?
26
It seems that his visible man is one person and his inward man another; so, if you buy him, remember to call the one "exoteric," the other "esoteric."
26
What does he know best?
26
That there are three classes of goods, relating to the soul, the body, and to externals.
26
He thinks like a human being. What is his price?
26
Three hundred and seventy-five dollars.
26
That is high.
26
No, my good fellow, for he seems to have some money himself, so you can't buy him too quickly. Moreover, you will presently learn from him how long the gnat lives, how far down the sea is lighted by the sun, and the nature of the soul of the oyster.
26
Herakles! there's precision for you.
26
What would you say if you should hear things a great deal shrewder than these— how man is a laughing animal, but the ass neither a laughing, nor a house-building, nor a seafaring animal?
26
Edifying and profitable knowledge! I will take him for four hundred dollars.
27
Done.
27
Whom have we still left?
27
The sceptic here. Come forward, Pyrrhias, and be published as fast as you can. Most of the people have already stolen away, and there will be few buyers. All the same, who wants this fellow, too?
27
I do. But first tell me, what is your line of knowledge?
27
Nothing.
27
What do you mean by that?
27
That in my opinion nothing at all exists.
