_Soc._: Now let us suppose that the cleverer of the two finds that he will have to clean his corps clothes during the twenty minutes between breakfast and chapel. He will feel himself bound in honour, and also by fear, to translate the passage to the third party, but he will obviously be unable to do it in person. Is it not likely, therefore, that he will write out the meaning of the passage and hand it to the third party? Would such conduct be unacceptable to you?
_Soc._: But, surely in your own mind you have clearly defined the line that separates what is honest from what is dishonest. Surely that is your profession--to teach the young to distinguish between what is good and what is not good?
_Soc._: Then do you see any real difference between hearing a translation and reading a translation? Is there any difference between a meaning that is apprehended through the ear and a meaning that is apprehended through the eyes; for are not both eyes and ears channels through which meanings are carried to the brain?
_Mr. F._: It would seem so, and, when you put it that way, I can distinguish no essential difference.
_Soc._: Very good: then we have established that it is fair for a boy to come to his study after breakfast, find in his hand a written translation of his Virgil, and, with that written translation, prepare in twenty minutes his morning's lesson.
_Soc._: If, however, he were to take from his drawer a printed translation of Virgil, and with that prepare his morning's lesson, you would consider him capable of dishonest behaviour and you would report him to the head master.
_Soc._: In what, then, lies the essential difference between the printed translation and the one that was copied out for him by his companion?
_Soc._: It is not to me, and it is for this reason that I seek enlightenment of you. For to me it seems that the work produced in form by the boy who has studied the printed translation is every bit as much the result of solitary and unaided labour as that which is informed by the study of a written translation. But is it that you appreciate a difference between the written and the printed word?
_Soc._: Then would you allow a boy during the holidays to copy out one of Dr. Giles's aids to the classics?