Chairephon What mortal, Sokrates, could think
or tell such a thing as that? It is not in our
power so much as to name it. Sokrates And do we not see, even in comparing
men with one another, great differences in ability? Compare, for instance, a man grown with
a young child five or ten days old. It is amazing


 



how they differ in their powers, for almost all the
actions of life, both those that are performed by
means of our ingenious arts and those of the
body and soul; for it seems impossible for them
to enter even into the mind of a child as young
as that. And as for the strength of one adult
man, it surpasses that of a child immeasurably,
for one man could easily overpower any number
of children, since it seems that by nature we have
always in early life a time of perfect helplessness
and impotence.
Now, seeing that man apparently differs from
man to such a degree, how shall we suppose the
whole heaven compares with our powers in the
eyes of those that attain to such vision? It will
probably seem likely to many that the power and
understanding and reason of the universe are as
much in excess of what Sokrates or Chairephon
has as its size surpasses that of our bodies.