Euthydemus (294)

Soc.

So you know everything, I asked, since you know anything?

he replied; Good Heavens, I cried, what a wonderful statement! What a great blessing to boast of! And the rest of mankind, do they know everything or nothing? he said, But what then? I asked. he replied, In the name of goodness, Dionysodorus, I said—for now I can see both of you are serious; before, I could hardly prevail on you to be so—do you yourselves really know everything? Carpentry, for instance, and shoe-making? he said. And you are good hands at leather-stitching? he said. And are you good also at such things as counting the stars, and the sand? he said: Here Ctesippus broke in: he asked. he rejoined, he replied: Well, as they supposed we were making fun of them, they would not do it: only they agreed that they knew all subjects, when questioned on them, one after the other, by Ctesippus; who, before he had done with them, asked them if they knew every kind of thing, even the most unseemly, without the least reserve; while they most valiantly encountered his questions, agreeing that they had the knowledge in each case, like boars when driven up to face the spears: so that I for my part, Crito, became quite incredulous,and had to ask in the end if Dionysodorus knew also how to dance. To which he replied: I do not suppose, I said, that you have attained such a degree of skill as to do sword-dancing, or be whirled about on a wheel, at your time of life? he said, Then tell me, I went on, do you know everything at present only, or for ever? he said. And when you were children, and were just born, you knew? they both replied together.