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[7]
How shall we describe it? Tell me, does it seem to you that the wise are wise about what they know, or are some wise about what they do not know?
About what they know, obviously; for how can a man be wise about the things he doesn’t know?
The wise, then, are wise by knowledge?
How else can a man be wise if not by knowledge?
Do you think that wisdom is anything but that by which men are wise?
No.
It follows that Wisdom is Knowledge?
I think so.
Then do you think it possible for a man to know all things?
Of course not — nor even a fraction of them.
So an all-wise man is an impossibility?
Of course, of course.
Consequently everyone is wise just in so far as he knows?
I think so.
About what they know, obviously; for how can a man be wise about the things he doesn’t know?
The wise, then, are wise by knowledge?
How else can a man be wise if not by knowledge?
Do you think that wisdom is anything but that by which men are wise?
No.
It follows that Wisdom is Knowledge?
I think so.
Then do you think it possible for a man to know all things?
Of course not — nor even a fraction of them.
So an all-wise man is an impossibility?
Of course, of course.
Consequently everyone is wise just in so far as he knows?
I think so.
Memorabilia. Xenophon. Edgar Carew Marchant (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1923.
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