Theaetetus | Page 4

which
Theaetetus is said to have fallen or to have been wounded, and which
may have taken place any time during the Corinthian war, between the
years 390-387. The later date which has been suggested, 369, when the
Athenians and Lacedaemonians disputed the Isthmus with
Epaminondas, would make the age of Theaetetus at his death forty-five
or forty-six. This a little impairs the beauty of Socrates' remark, that 'he
would be a great man if he lived.'
In this uncertainty about the place of the Theaetetus, it seemed better,
as in the case of the Republic, Timaeus, Critias, to retain the order in
which Plato himself has arranged this and the two companion dialogues.
We cannot exclude the possibility which has been already noticed in
reference to other works of Plato, that the Theaetetus may not have
been all written continuously; or the probability that the Sophist and
Politicus, which differ greatly in style, were only appended after a long
interval of time. The allusion to Parmenides compared with the Sophist,
would probably imply that the dialogue which is called by his name
was already in existence; unless, indeed, we suppose the passage in
which the allusion occurs to have been inserted afterwards. Again, the

Theaetetus may be connected with the Gorgias, either dialogue from
different points of view containing an analysis of the real and apparent
(Schleiermacher); and both may be brought into relation with the
Apology as illustrating the personal life of Socrates. The Philebus, too,
may with equal reason be placed either after or before what, in the
language of Thrasyllus, may be called the Second Platonic Trilogy.
Both the Parmenides and the Sophist, and still more the Theaetetus,
have points of affinity with the Cratylus, in which the principles of rest
and motion are again contrasted, and the Sophistical or Protagorean
theory of language is opposed to that which is attributed to the disciple
of Heracleitus, not to speak of lesser resemblances in thought and
language. The Parmenides, again, has been thought by some to hold an
intermediate position between the Theaetetus and the Sophist; upon this
view, the Sophist may be regarded as the answer to the problems about
One and Being which have been raised in the Parmenides. Any of these
arrangements may suggest new views to the student of Plato; none of
them can lay claim to an exclusive probability in its favour.
The Theaetetus is one of the narrated dialogues of Plato, and is the only
one which is supposed to have been written down. In a short
introductory scene, Euclides and Terpsion are described as meeting
before the door of Euclides' house in Megara. This may have been a
spot familiar to Plato (for Megara was within a walk of Athens), but no
importance can be attached to the accidental introduction of the founder
of the Megarian philosophy. The real intention of the preface is to
create an interest about the person of Theaetetus, who has just been
carried up from the army at Corinth in a dying state. The expectation of
his death recalls the promise of his youth, and especially the famous
conversation which Socrates had with him when he was quite young, a
few days before his own trial and death, as we are once more reminded
at the end of the dialogue. Yet we may observe that Plato has himself
forgotten this, when he represents Euclides as from time to time
coming to Athens and correcting the copy from Socrates' own mouth.
The narrative, having introduced Theaetetus, and having guaranteed the
authenticity of the dialogue (compare Symposium, Phaedo,
Parmenides), is then dropped. No further use is made of the device. As
Plato himself remarks, who in this as in some other minute points is
imitated by Cicero (De Amicitia), the interlocutory words are omitted.

Theaetetus, the hero of the battle of Corinth and of the dialogue, is a
disciple of Theodorus, the great geometrician, whose science is thus
indicated to be the propaedeutic to philosophy. An interest has been
already excited about him by his approaching death, and now he is
introduced to us anew by the praises of his master Theodorus. He is a
youthful Socrates, and exhibits the same contrast of the fair soul and
the ungainly face and frame, the Silenus mask and the god within,
which are described in the Symposium. The picture which Theodorus
gives of his courage and patience and intelligence and modesty is
verified in the course of the dialogue. His courage is shown by his
behaviour in the battle, and his other qualities shine forth as the
argument proceeds. Socrates takes an evident delight in 'the wise
Theaetetus,' who has more in him than 'many bearded men'; he is quite
inspired by his answers. At first the youth is lost in