The following illustration also, the Teacher went on, might be very properly added to those already brought forward, to show that the soul has not need of much teaching in order to distinguish its own from the alien amongst the atoms. Imagine a potter with a supply of clay; and let the supply be a large one; and let part of it have been already moulded to form finished vessels, while the rest is still waiting to be moulded; and suppose the vessels themselves not to be all of similar shape, but one to be a jug, for instance, and another a wine-jar, another a plate, another a cup or any other useful vessel; and further, let not one owner possess them all, but let us fancy for each a special owner. Now as long as these vessels are unbroken they are of course recognizable by their owners, and none the less so, even should they be broken in pieces; for from those pieces each will know, for instance, that this belongs to a jar77    Reading ὅτι τὸ μὲν τὸ ἐκ τοῦ πίθου, ποῖον δὲ τὸ ἐκ τοῦ ποτηρίου, κ. τ. λ., and, again, what sort of fragment belongs to a cup. And if they are plunged again into the unworked clay, the discernment between what has been already worked and that clay will be a more unerring one still. The individual man is as such a vessel; he has been moulded out of the universal matter, owing to the concourse of his atoms; and he exhibits in a form peculiarly his own a marked distinction from his kind; and when that form has gone to pieces the soul that has been mistress of this particular vessel will have an exact knowledge of it, derived even from its fragments; nor will she leave this property, either, in the common blending with all the other fragments, or if it be plunged into the still formless part of the matter from which the atoms have come78    πρὸς τὸ ἀκατέργαστον τῆς τῶν στοιχείων ὕλης. There is the same sort of distinction above, 215 A, i.e. between the kindred dust first, and then the universe (τὸ πᾶν) into which the atoms may stream back.; she always remembers her own as it was when compact in bodily form, and after dissolution she never makes any mistake about it, led by marks still clinging to the remains.

_Μ. Ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦτο τὸ ὑπόδειγμα, φησὶν ἡ διδάσκαλος, εἰκότως ἂν προστεθείη τοῖς ἐξητασμένοις εἰς ἀπόδειξιν τοῦ μὴ πολλὴν εἶναι τῇ ψυχῇ τὴν διδασκαλίαν ἐν τοῖς στοιχείοις διακρίνειν τοῦ ἀλλοτρίου τὸ ἴδιον. Προκείσθω γὰρ τῷ κεραμεύοντι πηλὸς καθ' ὑπόθεσιν, πολὺς δὲ οὗτος εἶναι δεδόσθω, οὗ τὸ μέν τοι πρὸς τὴν τῶν σκευῶν ἀπεργασίαν ἤδη τετύπωται, τὸ δὲ μέλλον. Τὰ δὲ σκεύη πάντα μὴ ὁμοειδῶς ἀλλήλοις διεσχηματίσθω, ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν πίθος, τὸ δὲ ἀμφορεὺς, ἕτερον δὲ πινάκιον, ἢ τριβλίον, ἢ ἄλλο τι τῶν κατὰ τὴν χρῆσιν ἐπιτηδείων ἔστω, ταῦτα δὲ πάντα μὴ εἷς κεκτήσθω, ἀλλ' ἴδιον ἑκάστου δεσπότου, ὑποκείσθω τῷ λόγῳ.
Οὐκοῦν ἕως ἂν συνεστήκει, ταῦτα φανερά τε τοῖς ἔχουσι γίνεται: κἂν συντριβείη πάλιν, οὐδὲν ἧττον γνώριμα ἀπὸ τῶν συντριμμάτων τοῖς κεκτημένοις ἔσται, τὸ μὲν τὸ ἐκ τοῦ πίθου, ποῖον δὲ τὸ ἐκ τοῦ ποτηρίου τρύφος ἐστίν. Εἰ δὲ καὶ πρὸς τὸν ἀκατέργαστον καταμιχθείη πηλὸν, πολὺ μᾶλλον ἀπλανὴς ἡ διάγνωσις τῶν ἤδη κατειργασμένων ἀπ' ἐκείνου γίνεται. Οὕτως οἷόν τι σκεῦος, ὁ καθ' ἕκαστόν ἐστιν ἄνθρωπος, ἐκ τῆς συνδρομῆς τῶν στοιχείων ἀπὸ τῆς κοινῆς ὕλης ἀνατετυπωμένος, ἐν ἰδιάζοντι πάντως τῷ σχήματι πολλὴν πρὸς τὸ ὁμογενὲς τὴν διαφορὰν ἔχων. Οὗ διαλυθέντος οὐδὲν ἧττον καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν λειψάνων ἡ κεκτημένη τὸ σκεῦος ψυχὴ τὸ οἰκεῖον ἐπιγινώσκει, οὔτε ἐν τῇ κοινωνίᾳ τῶν συντριμμάτων, οὔτε εἰ πρὸς τὸ ἀκατέργαστον τῆς τῶν στοιχείων ὕλης καταμιχθείη, τοῦ οἰκείου ἀφισταμένη, ἀλλ' ἀεὶ ἐπισταμένη τὸ ἴδιον, οἷόν τε συνεστὼς ἐν τῷ σχήματι ἦν, καὶ μετὰ τὴν διάλυσιν ἐκ τῶν ἀπομεινάντων σημείων τοῖς λειψάνοις οὐ πλανωμένη περὶ τὸ ἴδιον.