ough life
the unerring guides of ourselves and of those who are under us; and we
should not have attempted to do what we did not know, but we should have
found out those who knew, and have handed the business over to them and
trusted in them; nor should we have allowed those who were under us to
do anything which they were not likely to do well; and they would be
likely to do well just that of which they had knowledge; and the house
or state which was ordered or administered under the guidance of wisdom,
and everything else of which wisdom was the lord, would have been well
ordered; for truth guiding, and error having been eliminated, in all
their doings, men would have done well, and would have been happy. Was
not this, Critias, what we spoke of as the great advantage of wisdom--to
know what is known and what is unknown to us?

Very true, he said.

And now you perceive, I said, that no such science is to be found
anywhere.

I perceive, he said.

May we assume then, I said, that wisdom, viewed in this new light merely
as a knowledge of knowledge and ignorance, has this advantage:--that he
who possesses such knowledge will more easily learn anything which he
learns; and that everything will be clearer to him, because, in addition
to the knowledge of individuals, he sees the science, and this also will
better enable him to test the knowledge which others have of what he
knows himself; whereas the enquirer who is without this knowledge may be
supposed to have a feebler and weaker insight? Are not these, my friend,
the real advantages which are to be gained from wisdom? And are not we
looking and seeking after something more than is to be found in her?

That is very likely, he said.

That is very likely, I said; and very likely, too, we have been
enquiring to no purpose; as I am led to infer, because I observe that if
this is wisdom, some strange consequences would follow. Let us, if you
please, assume the possibility of this science of sciences, and further
admit and allow, as was originally suggested, that wisdom is the
knowledge of what we know and do not know. Assuming all this, still,
upon further consideration, I am doubtful, Critias, whether wisdom,
such as this, would do us much good. For we were wrong, I think, in
supposing, as we were saying just now, that such wisdom ordering the
government of house or state would be a great benefit.

How so? he said.

Why, I said, we were far too ready to admit the gre