not yet
parted off or distinguished; (2) the existence of a Divine Power,
or life or idea or cause or reason, not yet conceived or no longer
conceived as in the Timaeus and elsewhere under the form of a person;
(3) the recognition of the hypothetical and conditional character of the
mathematical sciences, and in a measure of every science when isolated
from the rest; (4) the conviction of a truth which is invisible, and of
a law, though hardly a law of nature, which permeates the intellectual
rather than the visible world.

The method of Socrates is hesitating and tentative, awaiting the fuller
explanation of the idea of good, and of the nature of dialectic in the
seventh book. The imperfect intelligence of Glaucon, and the reluctance
of Socrates to make a beginning, mark the difficulty of the subject.
The allusion to Theages' bridle, and to the internal oracle, or demonic
sign, of Socrates, which here, as always in Plato, is only prohibitory;
the remark that the salvation of any remnant of good in the present evil
state of the world is due to God only; the reference to a future state
of existence, which is unknown to Glaucon in the tenth book, and in
which the discussions of Socrates and his disciples would be resumed;
the surprise in the answers; the fanciful irony of Socrates, where
he pretends that he can only describe the strange position of the
philosopher in a figure of speech; the original observation that the
Sophists, after all, are only the representatives and not the leaders
of public opinion; the picture of the philosopher standing aside in the
shower of sleet under a wall; the figure of 'the great beast' followed
by the expression of good-will towards the common people who would not
have rejected the philosopher if they had known him; the 'right noble
thought' that the highest truths demand the greatest exactness; the
hesitation of Socrates in returning once more to his well-worn theme of
the idea of good; the ludicrous earnestness of Glaucon; the comparison
of philosophy to a deserted maiden who marries beneath her--are some of
the most interesting characteristics of the sixth book.

Yet a few more words may be added, on the old theme, which was so
oft discussed in the Socratic circle, of which we, like Glaucon and
Adeimantus, would fain, if possible, have a clearer notion. Like them,
we are dissatisfied when we are told that the idea of good can only be
revealed to a student of the mathematical sciences