SOCRATES: And the same holds of other instruments: when a man has
discovered the instrument which is naturally adapted to each work, he must
express this natural form, and not others which he fancies, in the
material, whatever it may be, which he employs; for example, he ought to
know how to put into iron the forms of awls adapted by nature to their
several uses?

HERMOGENES: Certainly.

SOCRATES: And how to put into wood forms of shuttles adapted by nature to
their uses?

HERMOGENES: True.

SOCRATES: For the several forms of shuttles naturally answer to the
several kinds of webs; and this is true of instruments in general.

HERMOGENES: Yes.

SOCRATES: Then, as to names: ought not our legislator also to know how to
put the true natural name of each thing into sounds and syllables, and to
make and give all names with a view to the ideal name, if he is to be a
namer in any true sense? And we must remember that different legislators
will not use the same syllables. For neither does every smith, although he
may be making the same instrument for the same purpose, make them all of
the same iron. The form must be the same, but the material may vary, and
still the instrument may be equally good of whatever iron made, whether in
Hellas or in a foreign country;--there is no difference.