Anddoyounotknowalsothatalthoughtheymakeuseofthevisibleformsandreasonaboutthem，theyarethinkingnotofthese，butoftheidealswhichtheyresemble；notofthefigureswhichtheydraw，butoftheabsolutesquareandtheabsolutediameter，andsoon——theformswhichtheydrawormake，andwhichhaveshadowsandreflectionsinwateroftheirown，areconvertedbythemintoimages，buttheyarereallyseekingtobeholdthethingsthemselves，whichcanonlybeseenwiththeeyeofthemind？
Thatistrue。
AndofthiskindIspokeastheintelligible，althoughinthesearchafteritthesouliscompelledtousehypotheses；notascendingtoafirstprinciple，becausesheisunabletoriseabovetheregionofhypothesis，butemployingtheobjectsofwhichtheshadowsbelowareresemblancesintheirturnasimages，theyhavinginrelationtotheshadowsandreflectionsofthemagreaterdistinctness，andthereforeahighervalue。
Iunderstand，hesaid，thatyouarespeakingoftheprovinceofgeometryandthesisterarts。
AndwhenIspeakoftheotherdivisionoftheintelligible，youwillunderstandmetospeakofthatothersortofknowledgewhichreasonherselfattainsbythepowerofdialectic，usingthehypothesesnotasfirstprinciples，butonlyashypotheses——thatistosay，asstepsandpointsofdepartureintoaworldwhichisabovehypotheses，inorderthatshemaysoarbeyondthemtothefirstprincipleofthewhole；andclingingtothisandthentothatwhichdependsonthis，bysuccessivestepsshedescendsagainwithouttheaidofanysensibleobject，fromideas，throughideas，andinideassheends。