Further, it must surely in a sort partake of being?
How so?
It must be so, for if not, then we should not speak the truth in
saying that the one is not. But if we speak the truth, clearly we must
say what is. Am I not right?
Yes.
And since we affirm that we speak truly, we must also affirm that we
say what is?
Certainly.
Then, as would appear, the one, when it is not, is; for if it were
not to be when it is not, but were to relinquish something of being,
so as to become not-being, it would at once be.
Quite true.
Then the one which is not, if it is to maintain itself, must have
the being of not-being as the bond of not-being, just as being must
have as a bond the not-being of not-being in order to perfect its
own being; for the truest assertion of the being of being and of the
not-being of not being is when being partakes of the being of being,
and not of the being of not-being-that is, the perfection of being;
and when not-being does not partake of the not-being of not-being
but of the being of not-being-that is the perfection of not-being.
Most true.
Since then what is partakes of not-being, and what is not of
being, must not the one also partake of being in order not to be?
Certainly.
Then the one, if it is not, clearly has being?
Clearly.
And has not-being also, if it is not?
Of course.
But can anything which is in a certain state not be in that state
without changing?
Impossible.
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