Page - 799 - in The Complete Plato

STRANGER: And there are images of them, which are not them, but which correspond to them; and these are also the creation of a wonderful skill. THEAETETUS: What are they? STRANGER: The appearances which spring up of themselves in sleep or by day, such as a shadow when darkness arises in a fire, or the reflection which is produced when the light in bright and smooth objects meets on their surface with an external light, and creates a perception the opposite of our ordinary sight. THEAETETUS: Yes; and the images as well as the creation are equally the work of a divine hand. STRANGER: And what shall we say of human art? Do we not make one house by the art of building, and another by the art of drawing, which is a sort of dream created by man for those who are awake? THEAETETUS: Quite true. STRANGER: And other products of human creation are also twofold and go in pairs; there is the thing, with which the art of making the thing is concerned, and the image, with which imitation is concerned. THEAETETUS: Now I begin to understand, and am ready to acknowledge that there are two kinds of production, and each of them twofold; in the lateral division there is both a divine and a human production; in the vertical there are realities and a creation of a kind of similitudes. STRANGER: And let us not forget that of the imitative class the one part was to have been likeness-making, and the other phantastic, if it could be shown that falsehood is a reality and belongs to the class of real being. THEAETETUS: Yes. STRANGER: And this appeared to be the case; and therefore now, without hesitation, we shall number the different kinds as two. THEAETETUS: True. STRANGER: Then, now, let us again divide the phantastic art. THEAETETUS: Where shall we make the division? STRANGER: There is one kind which is produced by an instrument, and another in which the creator of the appearance is himself the instrument. THEAETETUS: What do you mean? STRANGER: When any one makes himself appear like another in his figure or his voice, imitation is the name for this part of the phantastic art. 799