Jowett: wizard

Fearing that there would be high words, I again endeavoured to soothe Ctesippus, and said to him : To you, Ctesippus, I must repeat what I said before to Cleinias — that you do not understand the ways of these philosophers from abroad. They are not serious, but, like the Egyptian wizard, Proteus, they take different forms and deceive us by their enchantments : and let us, like Menelaus, refuse to let them go until they show themselves to us in earnest. When they begin to be in earnest their full beauty will appear : let us then beg and entreat and beseech them to shine forth. And I think that I had better once more exhibit the form in which I pray to behold them ; it might be a guide to them. I will go on therefore where I left off, as well as I can, in the hope that I may touch their hearts and move them to pity, and that when they see me deeply serious and interested, they also may be serious. You, Cleinias, I said, shall remind me at what point we left off. Did we not agree that philosophy should be studied ? and was not that our conclusion ? EUTHYDEMUS  

He must be a wizard and no mistake. THE REPUBLIC   BOOK X

And whenever anyone informs us that he has found a man who knows all the arts, and all things else that anybody knows, and every single thing with a higher degree of accuracy than any other man — whoever tells us this, I think that we can only imagine him to be a simple creature who is likely to have been deceived by some wizard or actor whom he met, and whom he thought all-knowing, because he himself was unable to analyze the nature of knowledge and ignorance and imitation. THE REPUBLIC BOOK X