'And what does he gain who possesses the good?'
'Happiness,' I replied; 'there is less difficulty in answering that
question.' 'Yes,' she said, 'the happy are made happy by the acquisition
of good things. Nor is there any need to ask why a man desires happiness;
the answer is already final.' 'You are right.' I said. 'And is this wish
and this desire common to all? and do all men always desire their own good,
or only some men?--what say you?' 'All men,' I replied; 'the desire is
common to all.' 'Why, then,' she rejoined, 'are not all men, Socrates,
said to love, but only some of them? whereas you say that all men are
always loving the same things.' 'I myself wonder,' I said, 'why this is.'
'There is nothing to wonder at,' she replied; 'the reason is that one part
of love is separated off and receives the name of the whole, but the other
parts have other names.' 'Give an illustration,' I said. She answered me
as follows: 'There is poetry, which, as you know, is complex and manifold.
All creation or passage of non-being into being is poetry or making, and
the processes of all art are creative; and the masters of arts are all
poets or makers.
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