lieve them to be real? Will not their eyes be dazzled, and will they
not try to get away from the light to something which they are able to
behold without blinking? And suppose further, that they are dragged up
a steep and rugged ascent into the presence of the sun himself, will not
their sight be darkened with the excess of light? Some time will pass
before they get the habit of perceiving at all; and at first they will
be able to perceive only shadows and reflections in the water; then they
will recognize the moon and the stars, and will at length behold the sun
in his own proper place as he is. Last of all they will conclude:--This
is he who gives us the year and the seasons, and is the author of all
that we see. How will they rejoice in passing from darkness to light!
How worthless to them will seem the honours and glories of the den! But
now imagine further, that they descend into their old habitations;--in
that underground dwelling they will not see as well as their fellows,
and will not be able to compete with them in the measurement of the
shadows on the wall; there will be many jokes about the man who went on
a visit to the sun and lost his eyes, and if they find anybody trying to
set free and enlighten one of their number, they will put him to death,
if they can catch him. Now the cave or den is the world of sight, the
fire is the sun, the way upwards is the way to knowledge, and in the
world of knowledge the idea of good is last seen and with difficulty,
but when seen is inferred to be the author of good and right--parent of
the lord of light in this world, and of truth and understanding in the
other. He who attains to the beatific vision is always going upwards; he
is unwilling to descend into political assemblies and courts of law; for
his eyes are apt to blink at the images or shadows of images which they
behold in them--he cannot enter into the ideas of those who have never
in their lives understood the relation of the shadow to the substance.
But blindness is of two kinds, and may be caused either by passing out
of darkness into light or out of light into darkness, and a man of sense
will distinguish between them, and will not laugh equally at both of
them, but the blindness which arises from fulness of light he will deem
blessed, and pity the other; or if he laugh at the puzzled soul looking
at the sun, he will have more reason to laugh than the inhabitants
of the den at those who descend from above. There