He will require to get accustomed to the sight of the upper world. And
first he will see the shadows best, next the reflections of men and
other objects in the water, and then the objects themselves; next he
will gaze upon the light of the moon and the stars; and he will see
the sky and the stars by night better than the sun, or the light of
the sun, by day.

Certainly.

And at last he will be able to see the sun, and not mere reflections
of him in the water, but he will see him as he is in his own proper
place, and not in another; and he will contemplate his nature.

Certainly.

And after this, he will reason that the sun is he who gives the
seasons and the years, and is the guardian of all that is in the
visible world, and in a certain way the cause of all things which he
and his fellows have been accustomed to behold....

No question, he said.

This allegory, I said, you may now append to the previous argument;
the prison is the world of sight, the light of the fire is the sun,
the ascent and vision of the things above you may truly regard as the
upward progress of the soul into the intellectual world; that is my
poor belief, to which, at your desire, I have given expression.
Whether I am right or not God only knows; but, whether true or false,
my opinion is that in the world of knowledge the idea of good appears
last of all, and is seen only with an effort; and, when seen, is
inferred also to be the universal author of all things beautiful and
right, parent of light and the lord of light in his world, and the
source of truth and reason in the other; this is the first great cause
which he who would act rationally either in public or private life
must behold.

I agree, he said, as far as I am able to understand you.

I should like to have your agreement in another matter I said. For I
would not have you marvel that those who attain to this beatific
vision are unwilling to descend to human affairs; but their souls are
ever hastening into the upper world in which they desire to dwell; and
this is very natural, if our allegory may be trusted.

Certainly, that is quite natural.

And is there anything surprizing in one who passes from divine
contemplation to human things, misbehaving himself in a ridiculous
manner; if, while his eyes are blinking and before he has become
accustomed to the darkness visible, he is compelled to fight in courts
of law, or in other places, about the images or shadows of images of