THEAETETUS: 'Yes.'

STRANGER: And is being the same as one, and do you apply two names to

the same thing?

THEAETETUS: What will be their answer, Stranger?

STRANGER: It is clear, Theaetetus, that he who asserts the unity of

being will find a difficulty in answering this or any other question.

THEAETETUS: Why so?

STRANGER: To admit of two names, and to affirm that there is nothing but

unity, is surely ridiculous?

THEAETETUS: Certainly.

STRANGER: And equally irrational to admit that a name is anything?

THEAETETUS: How so?

STRANGER: To distinguish the name from the thing, implies duality.

THEAETETUS: Yes.

STRANGER: And yet he who identifies the name with the thing will be

compelled to say that it is the name of nothing, or if he says that it

is the name of something, even then the name will only be the name of a

name, and of nothing else.

THEAETETUS: True.

STRANGER: And the one will turn out to be only one of one, and being

absolute unity, will represent a mere name.

THEAETETUS: Certainly.

STRANGER: And would they say that the whole is other than the one that

is, or the same with it?

THEAETETUS: To be sure they would, and they actually say so.