414 PLATO
more reason in this than in the laugh which greets him who returns from above out of the light into the den.
That, he said, is a very just distinction.
But then, if I am right, certain professors of edu- cation must be wrong when they say that they can put a knowledge into the soul which was not there before, like sight into blind eyes.
They undoubtedly say this, he replied.
Whereas, our argument shows that the power and capacity of learning exists in the soul already ; and that just as the eye was unable to turn from dark- ness to light without the whole body, so too the in- strument of knowledge can only by the movement of the whole soul be turned from the world of becom- ing into that of being, and learn by degrees to en- dure the sight of being, and of the brightest and best of being, or in other words, of the good.
Very true.
And must there not be some art which will effect conversion in the easiest and quickest manner ; not implanting the faculty of sight, for that exists already, but has been turned in the wrong direction, and is looking away from the truth ?
Yes, he said, such an art may be presumed.
And whereas the other so-called virtues of the soul seem to be akin to bodily qualities, for even when they are not originally innate they can be implanted later by habit and exercise, the virtue of wisdom more than anything else contains a divine element which always remains, and by this conversion is ren- dered useful and profitable ; or on the other hand, hurtful and useless. Did you never observe the nar- row intelligence flashing from the keen eye of a clever
