Note 41 — Chapter XXXII · PHILEBUS.
Reading edition
Plato, Philêbus, pp. 38 E, 39. δοκεῖ μοι τότε ἡμῶν ἡ ψυχὴ βιβλίῳ τινὶ προσεοικέναι … ἡ μνήμη ταῖς αἰσθήσεσι ξυμπίπτουσα εἰς ταὐτόν, κἀκεῖνα ἂ περὶ ταῦτά ἐστι τὰ παθήματα, φαίνονταί μοι σχεδὸν οἷον γράφειν ἡμῶν ἐν ταῖς ψυχαῖς τότε λόγους.…
Ἀποδέχου δὴ καὶ ἕτερον δημιουργὸν ἡμῶν ἐν ταῖς ψυχαῖς ἐν τῷ τότε χρόνῳ γιγνόμενον … Ζωγράφον, ὃς μετὰ τὸν γραμματιστὴν τῶν λεγομένων εἰκόνας ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ τούτων γράφει.
It seems odd that Plato here puts the painter after the scribe, and not before him. The images or phantasm of sense must be painted on the mind before any words are written upon it if we are to adopt both these metaphors).
The comparison of the mind to a sheet of paper or a book begins with the poets (Æschyl. Prometh. 790), and passes into philosophy with Plato.