sophist   

children's play?
Str. Then we must place him in the class of magicians and mimics.
Theaet. Certainly we must.
Str. And now our business is not to let the animal out, for we
have got him in a sort of dialectical net, and there is one thing
which he decidedly will not escape.
Theaet. What is that?
Str. The inference that he is a juggler.
Theaet. Precisely my own opinion of him.
Str. Then, clearly, we ought as soon as possible to divide the
image-making art, and go down into the net, and, if the Sophist does
not run away from us, to seize him according to orders and
deliver him
over to reason, who is the lord of the hunt, and proclaim the
capture of him; and if he creeps into the recesses of the imitative
art, and secretes himself in one of them, to divide again and follow
him up until in some sub-section of imitation he is caught. For our
method of tackling each and all is one which neither he nor any
other creature will ever escape in triumph.
Theaet. Well said; and let us do as you propose.
Str. Well, then, pursuing the same analytic method as before, I
think that I can discern two divisions of the imitative art, but I
am not as yet able to see in which of them the desired form is to be
found.
Theaet. Will you tell me first what are two divisions of which you
are speaking?
Str. One is the art of likeness-making;-generally a likeness of
anything is made by producing a copy which is executed according to
the proportions of the original, similar in length and breadth and
depth, each thing receiving also its appropriate colour.
Theaet. Is not this always the aim of imitation?
Str. Not always; in works either of sculpture or of painting,
which are of any magnitude, there is a certain degree of deception;
-for artists were to give the true proportions of their fair works,
the upper part, which is farther off, would appear to be out of
proportion in comparison with the lower, which is nearer; and so
they give up the truth in their images and make only the proportions
which appear to be beautiful, disregarding the real ones.
Theaet. Quite true.
Str. And that which being other is also like, may we not
fairly call
a likeness or image?
Theaet. Yes.
Str. And may we not, as I did just now, call that part of the
imitative art which is concerned with making such images the art of
likeness making?
Theaet. Let that be the name.
Str. And what shall we call those resemblances of the beautiful,
which appear such owing to the unfavourable position of the
spectator,
whereas if a person had the power of getting a correct view of works
of such magnitude, they would appear not even like that to which
they profess to be like? May we not call these "appearances," since
they appear only and are not really like?
Theaet. Certainly.
Str. There is a great deal of this kind of thing in
painting, and in
all imitation.
Theaet. Of course.
Str. And may we not fairly call the sort of art, which produces an
appearance and not an image, phantastic art?
Theaet. Most fairly.
Str. These then are the two kinds of image making-the art of
making likenesses, and phantastic or the art of making appearances?