Taking advantage of my consternation he added: You wish him no longer to
be what he is, which can only mean that you wish him to perish. Pretty
lovers and friends they must be who want their favourite not to be, or
to perish!
When Ctesippus heard this he got very angry (as a lover well might) and
said: Stranger of Thurii--if politeness would allow me I should say,
A plague upon you! What can make you tell such a lie about me and
the others, which I hardly like to repeat, as that I wish Cleinias to
perish?
Euthydemus replied: And do you think, Ctesippus, that it is possible to
tell a lie?
Yes, said Ctesippus; I should be mad to say anything else.
And in telling a lie, do you tell the thing of which you speak or not?
You tell the thing of which you speak.
And he who tells, tells that thing which he tells, and no other?
Yes, said Ctesippus.
And that is a distinct thing apart from other things?
Certainly.
And he who says that thing says that which is?
Yes.
And he who says that which is, says the truth. And therefore
Dionysodorus, if he says that which is, says the truth of you and no
lie.
Yes, Euthydemus, said Ctesippus; but in saying this, he says what is
not.
Euthydemus answered: And that which is not is not?
True.
And that which is not is nowhere?
Nowhere.
And can any one do anything about that which has no existence, or do to
Cleinias that which is not and is nowhere?