Alcibiades : But you have instanced a madman, Socrates : why, do you suppose that anyone could bring himself, while he was in a sound state, to utter such a prayer ?
Socrates : Do you regard madness as the opposite of wisdom ?
Alcibiades : Certainly I do.
[138d] Socrates : And there are some men whom you regard as unwise, and others as wise ?Alcibiades : Why, yes.
Socrates : Come then, let us consider who these people are. We have admitted that some are unwise, some wise, and others mad.
Alcibiades : Yes, we have.
Socrates : And again, there are some in sound health ?
Alcibiades : There are.
Socrates : And others also who are in ill-health ?
[139a] Alcibiades : Quite so.Socrates : And they are not the same ?
Alcibiades : No, indeed.
Socrates : And are there any others besides, who are found to be in neither state ?
Alcibiades : No, to be sure.
Socrates : For a human being must needs be either sick or not sick.
Alcibiades : I agree.
Socrates : Well then, do you hold the same view about wisdom and unwisdom ?
Alcibiades : How do you mean ?
Socrates : Tell me, do you think it is only possible to be either wise or unwise, or is there some third condition between these, which makes [139b] a man neither wise nor unwise ?
Alcibiades : No, there is not.
Socrates : So he must needs be in one or the other of these two conditions.
Alcibiades : I agree.
Socrates : And you remember that you admitted that madness is the opposite of wisdom ?
Alcibiades : I do.
Socrates : And further, that there is no third condition between these, which makes a man neither wise nor unwise ?
Alcibiades : Yes, I admitted that.
Socrates : Well now, can there possibly be two opposites of one thing ?
[139c] Alcibiades : By no means.Socrates : Then it looks as though unwisdom and madness were the same.
Alcibiades : Yes, apparently.
Socrates : So we shall be right, Alcibiades, in saying that all unwise persons are mad ; for example, such of your contemporaries as happen to be unwise — some such there are — and of your elders, even : for tell me, in Heaven’s name, do you not think that in our city the wise people are but few, whereas the majority are unwise, and these you call mad ?
Alcibiades : I do.
Socrates : Well, do you suppose we could safely live with so many [139d] madmen as our fellow-citizens, and should not long ago have paid the penalty for it in knocks and blows at their hands, and all the usual proceedings of madmen ? Consider now, my wonderful friend, whether the case is not quite different ?
Alcibiades : Well, it must be, Socrates. For it looks as though it were not as I thought.