I replied: I will begin again at the same point, Protagoras, and tell you
once more the purport of my visit: this is my friend Hippocrates, who is
desirous of making your acquaintance; he would like to know what will
happen to him if he associates with you. I have no more to say.
Protagoras answered: Young man, if you associate with me, on the very
first day you will return home a better man than you came, and better on
the second day than on the first, and better every day than you were on the
day before.
When I heard this, I said: Protagoras, I do not at all wonder at hearing
you say this; even at your age, and with all your wisdom, if any one were
to teach you what you did not know before, you would become better no
doubt: but please to answer in a different way--I will explain how by an
example. Let me suppose that Hippocrates, instead of desiring your
acquaintance, wished to become acquainted with the young man Zeuxippus of
Heraclea, who has lately been in Athens, and he had come to him as he has
come to you, and had heard him say, as he has heard you say, that every day
he would grow and become better if he associated with him: and then
suppose that he were to ask him, 'In what shall I become better, and in
what shall I grow?'--Zeuxippus would answer, 'In painting.
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