The Dead Come to Life, or the Fisherman (49-50)

See! Here comes another fish that looks like a plate,[*] as if he were sliced lengthways, a sort of flatfish, opening his mouth for the hook. He has swallowed it; he is caught. Up with him! What is he?

The kind that styles itself Platonic.

So you came to get the gold too, confound you? What do vou say, Plato? What are we to do with him?

Over the same cliff with him! Let down for another.

Ah, I see a very handsome one coming up, as far as can be judged in the deep water; of many colours, with golden stripes on his back.[*] Do you see him, Investigation?

He is the kind that claims the name of Aristotle.

He came up and then swam away again. He is making a careful survey. Now he has come back again; he has opened his mouth; he is caught. Up with him.

Don’t ask me about him, Frankness. I don’t know who he is.

Then he too shall go over the cliff, Aristotle.