[530e]
“Then,” said I, since the task
is, so great, shall we not inquire of them1 what their
opinion is and whether they have anything to add? And we in all this2 will be on the watch for what
concerns us.” “What is that?” “To
prevent our fosterlings from attempting to learn anything that does not conduce
to the end3 we have in view, and does not always
come out at what we said ought to be the goal of everything, as we were just now
saying about astronomy.
1 For the reference to experts Cf. 400 B, 424 C. Cf. also What Plato Said, p. 484, on Laches 184 D-E.
2 παρά of course here means “throughout” and not “contrary.”
3 I take the word ἀτελές etymologically (cf. pp. 66-67, note b, on 500 A), with reference to the end in view. Others take it in the ordinary Greek sense, “imperfect,” “incomplete.”
Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vols. 5 & 6 translated by Paul Shorey. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1969.
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