them as the models or archetypes according to which the Deity fabricates all things. The speakers are discoursing on the subject of imitation.[1]
"What is imitation? We are accustomed to say that all the things which have the same name belong to one kind. Take anything for an example. There are many chairs and many tables; but there is only one idea of a chair and one idea of a table. And the artificer who makes each of these pieces of furniture looks to his idea of a chair or a table, and so makes the chairs and the tables which we use. The man does not make the idea, he only copies it.
"But now, what do you call an artificer who makes all the things which any of the (kinds of) handicraftsmen make, and not only all articles of furniture, but all the plants which grow out of the earth, all animals, and himself; and moreover the earth, the heavens, the gods, and all that is in heaven, and all that is in Hades under the earth? You think this must be a wonderful artist? There may be a workman who can make all these things in a certain sense, and in a certain sense cannot. You yourself might make all these things in a certain sense; for instance, if you take a looking-glass, and turn it on all sides, you may forthwith make the sun and the sky, and the earth, and yourself, and animals, and plants, and articles of furniture, such as we have been speaking of. You say that you make their
- ↑ Rep. x. 598; Whewell, iii. 327.
