s, "Assent is like this."
Afterwards, when he had completely closed his hand, and held forth his
fist, that, he said, was comprehension. From which simile he also gave
that state a name which it had not before, and called it {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PSI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}. But
when he brought his left hand against his right, and with it took a firm
and tight hold of his fist, knowledge, he said, was of that character; and
that was what none but a wise man possessed. But even those who are
themselves wise men do not venture to say so, nor any one who has ever
lived and been a wise man. According to that theory, you, Catulus, do not
know that it is daylight; and you, Hortensius, are ignorant that we are
now in your villa.

Now, are these arguments less formidable than yours? They are not,
perhaps, very refined; and those others show more acuteness. But, just as
you said, that if nothing could be comprehended, all the arts were
destroyed at once, and would not grant that mere probability was a
sufficient foundation for art; so I now reply to you, that art cannot
exist without knowledge. Would Zeuxis, or Phidias, or Polycletus allow
that they knew nothing, when they were men of such marvellous skill? But
if any one had explained to them how much power knowledge was said to
have, they would cease to be angry; they would not even be offended with
us, when they had learnt that we were only putting an end to what did not
exist anywhere; but that we left them what was quite sufficient for them.

And this doctrine is confirmed also by the diligence of our ancestors, who
ordained, in the first place, that every one should swear "according to
the opinion of his own mind;" secondly, that he should be accounted guilty
"if he knowingly swore falsely," because there was a great deal of
ignorance in life; thirdly, that the man who was giving his evidence
should say that "he thought," even in a case where he was speaking of what
he had actually seen himself. And that when the judges were giving their
decision on their evidence, they should say, not that such and such a
thing had been done, but that such and such a thing appeared to them.

XLVIII. But since the sailor is making signals, and the west wind is
showing us too, by its