agent

Consider again : — Where there is an AGENT, must there not also be a patient ? GORGIAS

And will not the patient suffer that which the AGENT does, and will not the suffering have the quality of the action ? GORGIAS

Then you would agree generally to the universal proposition which I was just now asserting : that the affection of the patient answers to the affection of the AGENT ? GORGIAS

And suffering implies an AGENT ? GORGIAS

generated by motion in their intercourse with one another ; for of the AGENT and patient, as existing in separation, no trustworthy conception, as they say, can be formed, for the AGENT has no existence until united ; with the patient, and the patient has no existence until united with the AGENT ; and that which by uniting with something becomes an AGENT, by meeting with some other thing is converted into a patient. THEAETETUS

And I who am the patient, and that which is the AGENT, will produce something different in each of the two cases ? THEAETETUS

For, as has been already acknowledged, the patient and AGENT meet together and produce sweetness and a perception of sweetness, which are in simultaneous motion, and the perception which comes from the patient makes the tongue percipient, and the quality of sweetness which arises out of and is moving about the wine, makes the wine, both to be and to appear sweet to the healthy tongue. THEAETETUS

Then the inference is, that we [the AGENT and patient] are or become in relation to one another ; there is a law which binds us one to the other, but not to any other existence, nor each of us to himself ; and therefore we can only be bound to one another ; so that whether a person says that a thing is or becomes, he must say that it is or becomes to or of or in relation to something else ; but he must not say or allow any one else to say that anything is or becomes absolutely : — such is our conclusion. THEAETETUS

Consider a further point : did we not understand them to explain the generation of heat, whiteness, or anything else, in some such manner as the following : — were they not saying that each of them is moving between the AGENT and the patient, together with a perception, and that the patient ceases to be a perceiving power and becomes a percipient, and the AGENT a quale instead of a quality ? THEAETETUS

Then I will take concrete instances : I mean to say that the producing power or AGENT becomes neither heat nor whiteness but hot and white, and the like of other things. THEAETETUS

For I must repeat what I said before, that neither the AGENT nor patient have any absolute existence, but when they come together and generate sensations and their objects, the one becomes a thing a certain quality, and the other a percipient. THEAETETUS

A body which is of a nature to be easily moved, on receiving an impression however slight, spreads abroad the motion in a circle, the parts communicating with each other, until at last, reaching the principle of mind, they announce the quality of the AGENT. TIMAEUS

But bodies formed of larger particles yield to the AGENT only with a struggle ; and then they impart their motions to the whole and cause pleasure and pain — pain when alienated from their natural conditions, and pleasure when restored to them. TIMAEUS

And is not the AGENT the same as the cause in all except name ; the AGENT and the cause may be rightly called one ? PHILEBUS

The AGENT or cause always naturally leads, and the patient or effect naturally follows it ? PHILEBUS

And if one slay another with his own hand, but unintentionally, whether he be unarmed or have some instrument or dart in his hand ; or if he kill him by administering food or drink or by the application of fire or cold, or by suffocating him, whether he do the deed by his own hand, or by the agency of others, he shall be deemed the AGENT, and shall suffer one of the following penalties : — If he kill the slave of another in the belief that he is his own, he shall bear the master of the dead man harmless from loss, or shall pay a penalty of twice the value of the dead man, which the judges shall assess ; but purifications must be used greater and more numerous than for those who committed homicide at the games ; — what they are to be, the interpreters whom the God appoints shall be authorized to declare. LAWS IX

The AGENT of a dishonest or untrustworthy seller shall himself be responsible ; both the AGENT and the principal shall be equally liable. LAWS XII

Then now, I said, you will understand what our object was in selecting our soldiers, and educating them in music and gymnastics ; we were contriving influences which would prepare them to take the dye of the laws in perfection, and the color of their opinion about dangers and of every other opinion was to be indelibly fixed by their nurture and training, not to be washed away by such potent lyes as pleasure — mightier AGENT far in washing the soul than any soda or lye ; or by sorrow, fear, and desire, the mightiest of all other solvents. THE REPUBLIC IV

 

are AGENTS many and infinite, and patients many and infinite ? THEAETETUS

All AGENTS have a different patient in Socrates, accordingly as he is well or ill. THEAETETUS

Or, again, when you say “lion,” “stag,” “horse,” or any other words which denote AGENTS — neither in this way of stringing words together do you attain to discourse ; for there is no expression of action or inaction, or of the existence of existence or non-existence indicated by the sounds, until verbs are mingled with nouns ; then the words fit, and the smallest combination of them forms language, and is the simplest and least form of discourse. SOPHIST

Thus have we discussed the general affections of the whole body, and the names of the AGENTS which produce them. TIMAEUS

And now I will endeavour to speak of the affections of particular parts, and the causes and AGENTS of them, as far as I am able. TIMAEUS

The AGENTS who bring you the reports every time are unwilling to report anything which they think entails an expense, as being likely to bring them odium. LETTERS 13

In the occurrence of an action, matter serves as substrate to the AGENT; it remains within him without itself entering into action; for that is not that which is sought by the AGENT. Tratado 12, 12

One action does not change into another, and consequently has no need of containing matter; it is the AGENT who passes from one action to another, and who, consequently, serves as matter to the actions (as thought Aristotle). Tratado 12, 12

If such longer contemplation resulted in a clearer idea thereof, the length of time has served some useful purpose; but if the AGENT contemplated it in the same manner for the whole extent of time, he possesses no advantage over him who contemplated it only once. Tratado 36, 3

But, first of all, who is the AGENT, who feels? Tratado 53, 1

If, however, sensation, which is no more than a corporeal emotion, finds its term in the soul, the soul must surely feel sensation; therefore it does not occur as an effect of the presence of the faculty of sensation, for this ignores the feeling AGENT back of it. Tratado 53, 6

 

The influence of the course of the stars does not destroy our liberty, for, if every action in us were determined by the exterior influence of such AGENTS, everything would go on as these AGENTS desired it; consequently, men would not commit any actions contrary to the will of these AGENTS. Tratado 47, 10

For if everything be well, how can there be AGENTS who are unjust, and who sin? Tratado 47, 16