dispute the exclusive prerogative of weaving, and though assigning alarger sphere to that, will still reserve a considerable field forthemselves.
Y. Soc.
Very true.
Str.
Besides these, there are the arts which make tools andinstruments of weaving, and which will claim at least to becooperative causes in every work of the weaver.
Y. Soc.
Most true.
Str.
Well, then, suppose that we define weaving, or rather that partof it which has been selected by us, to be the greatest and noblest ofarts which are concerned with woollen garments-shall we be right? Isnot the definition, although true, wanting in clearness andcompleteness; for do not all those other arts require to be firstcleared away? Y. Soc.
True.
Str.
Then the next thing will be to separate them, in order that theargument may proceed in a regular manner? Y. Soc.
By all means.
Str.
Let us consider, in the first place, that there are two kindsof arts entering into everything which we do.
Y. Soc.
What are they? Str.
The one kind is the conditional or cooperative, the other theprincipal cause.
Y. Soc.
What do you mean? Str.
The arts which do not manufacture the actual thing, but whichfurnish the necessary tools for the manufacture, without which theseveral arts could not fulfil their appointed work, areco-operative; but those which make the things themselves are causal.
Y. Soc.
A very reasonable distinction.
Str.
Thus the arts which make spindles, combs, and other instrumentsof the production of clothes may be called co-operative, and thosewhich treat and fabricate the things themselves, causal.
Y. Soc.
Very true.
Str.
The arts of washing and mending, and the other preparatory artswhich belong to the causal class, and form a division of the great artof adornment, may be all comprehended under what we call thefuller's art.
Y. Soc.
Very good.
Str.
Carding and spinning threads and all the parts of the processwhich are concerned with the actual manufacture of a woollen garmentform a single art, which is one of thow universally acknowledged-theart of working in wool.
Y. Soc.
To be sure.
Str.
Of working in wool again, there are two divisions, and boththese are parts of two arts at once.
Y. Soc.
How is that? Str.
Carding and one half of the use of the comb, and the otherprocesses of wool-working which separate the composite, may be classedtogether as belonging both to the art of woolworking, and also toone of the two great arts which are of universal application-the artof composition and the art of division.
Y. Soc.
Yes.
Str.
To the latter belong carding and the other processes of which Iwas just now speaking the art of discernment or division in wool andyarn, which is effected in one manner with the comb and in anotherwith the hands, is variously described under all the names which Ijust now mentioned.
Y. Soc.
Very true.
Str.
Again, let us take some process of woolworking which is alsoa portion of the art of composition, and, dismissing the elements ofdivision which we found there, make two halves, one on the principleof composition, and the other on the principle of division.
Y. Soc.
Let that be done.
Str.
And once more, Socrates, we must divide the part whichbelongs at once both to woolworking and composition, if we are ever todiscover satisfactorily the aforesaid art of weaving.
Y. Soc.
We must.
Str.
Yes, certainly, and let us call one part of the art the artof twisting threads, the other the art of combining them.
Y. Soc.
Do I understand you, in speaking of twisting, to bereferring to manufacture of the warp? Str.
Yes, and of the woof too; how, if not by twisting, is thewoof made? Y. Soc.
There is no other waY. Str.
Then suppose that you define the warp and the woof, for I thinkthat the definition will be of use to you.
Y. Soc.
How shall I define them? Str.
As thus: A piece of carded wool which is drawn out lengthwiseand breadth-wise is said to be pulled out.
Y. Soc.
Yes.
Str.
And the wool thus prepared when twisted by the spindle, andmade into a firm thread, is called the warp, And the art whichregulates these operations the art of spinning the warp.
Y. Soc.
True.
Str.
And the threads which are more loosely spun, having asoftness proportioned to the intertexture of the warp and to thedegree of force used in dressing the cloth-the threads which arethus spun are called the woof, and the art which is set over themmay be called the art of spinning the woof.
Y. Soc.
Very true.
Str.
And, now, there can be no mistake about the nature of thepart of weaving which we have undertaken to define.
For when that partof the art of composition which is employed in the working of woolforms a web by the regular intertexture of warp and woof, the entirewoven substance is called by us a woollen garment, and the art whichpresides over this is the art of weaving.
Y. Soc.
Very true.
Str.
But why did we not say at once that weaving is the art ofentwining warp and woof, instead of making a long and useless circuit? Y. Soc.
I thought, Stranger, that there was nothing useless inwhat was said.
Str.
Very likely, but you may not always think so, my sweetfriend; and in case any feeling of dissatisfaction should hereafterarise in your mind, as it very well may, let me lay down a principlewhich will apply to arguments in general.
Y. Soc.
Proceed.
Str.
Let us begin by considering the whole nature of excess anddefect, and then we shall have a rational ground on which we maypraise or blame too much length or too much shortness in discussionsof this kind.
Y. Soc.
Let us do so.
Str.
The points on which I think that we ought to dwell are thefollowing:- Y. Soc.
What? Str.
Length and shortness, excess and defect; with all of these theart of measurement is conversant.
Y. Soc.
Yes.
Str.
And the art of measurement has to be divided into two parts,with a view to our present purpose.
Y. Soc.
Where would you make the division? Str.
As thus: I would make two parts, one having regard to therelativity of greatness and smallness to each other; and there isanother, without which the existence of production would beimpossible.
Y. Soc.
What do you mean? Str.
Do you not think that it is only natural for the greater tobe called greater with reference to the less alone, and the lessreference to the greater alone? Y. Soc.
Yes.
Str.
Well, but is there not also something exceeding and exceeded bythe principle of the mean, both in speech and action, and is notthis a reality, and the chief mark of difference between good andbad men? Y. Soc.
PlainlY. Str.
Then we must suppose that the great and small exist and arediscerned in both these ways, and not, as we were saying before,only relatively to one another, but there must also be anothercomparison of them with the mean or ideal standard; would you liketo hear the reason why? Y. Soc.
CertainlY. Str.
If we assume the greater to exist only in relation to the less,there will never be any comparison of either with the mean.
Y. Soc.
True.
Str.
And would not this doctrine be the ruin of all the arts andtheir creations; would not the art of the Statesman and theaforesaid art of weaving disappear? For all these arts are on thewatch against excess and defect, not as unrealities, but as realevils, which occasion a difficulty in action; and the excellence ofbeauty of every work of art is due to this observance of measure.
Y. Soc.
CertainlY.