Page - 883 - in The Complete Plato

smaller, and all that in the preceding argument we placed under the unity of more and less. PROTARCHUS: In the class of the infinite, you mean? SOCRATES: Yes; and now mingle this with the other. PROTARCHUS: What is the other. SOCRATES: The class of the finite which we ought to have brought together as we did the infinite; but, perhaps, it will come to the same thing if we do so now;—when the two are combined, a third will appear. PROTARCHUS: What do you mean by the class of the finite? SOCRATES: The class of the equal and the double, and any class which puts an end to difference and opposition, and by introducing number creates harmony and proportion among the different elements. PROTARCHUS: I understand; you seem to me to mean that the various opposites, when you mingle with them the class of the finite, takes certain forms. SOCRATES: Yes, that is my meaning. PROTARCHUS: Proceed. SOCRATES: Does not the right participation in the finite give health—in disease, for instance? PROTARCHUS: Certainly. SOCRATES: And whereas the high and low, the swift and the slow are infinite or unlimited, does not the addition of the principles aforesaid introduce a limit, and perfect the whole frame of music? PROTARCHUS: Yes, certainly. SOCRATES: Or, again, when cold and heat prevail, does not the introduction of them take away excess and indefiniteness, and infuse moderation and harmony? PROTARCHUS: Certainly. SOCRATES: And from a like admixture of the finite and infinite come the seasons, and all the delights of life? PROTARCHUS: Most true. SOCRATES: I omit ten thousand other things, such as beauty and health and strength, and the many beauties and high perfections of the soul: O my beautiful Philebus, the goddess, methinks, seeing the universal wantonness 883