philebus   

Pro. Certainly not.

Soc. And in the divine nature of Zeus would you not say that there

is the soul and mind of a king, because there is in him the power of

the cause? And other gods have other attributes, by which they are

pleased to be called.

Pro. Very true.

Soc. Do not then suppose that these words are rashly spoken by us, O

Protarchus, for they are in harmony with the testimony of those who

said of old time that mind rules the universe.

Pro. True.

Soc. And they furnish an answer to my enquiry; for they imply that

mind is the parent of that class of the four which we called the cause

of all; and I think that you now have my answer.

Pro. I have indeed, and yet I did not observe that you had answered.

Soc. A jest is sometimes refreshing, Protarchus, when it

interrupts earnest.

Pro. Very true.

Soc. I think, friend, that we have now pretty clearly set forth

the class to which mind belongs and what is the power of mind.

Pro. True.

Soc. And the class to which pleasure belongs has also been long

ago discovered?

Pro. Yes.

Soc. And let us remember, too, of both of them, (1) that mind was

akin to the cause and of this family; and (2) that pleasure is

infinite and belongs to the class which neither has, nor ever will

have in itself, a beginning, middle, or end of its own.

Pro. I shall be sure to remember.

Soc. We must next examine what is their place and under what

conditions they are generated. And we will begin with pleasure,

since her class was first examined; and yet pleasure cannot be rightly

tested apart from pain ever