[515c]
such prisoners would deem reality to be nothing else than
the shadows of the artificial objects.” “Quite
inevitably,” he said. “Consider, then, what would be the
manner of the release1 and healing from these bonds and this folly if in the
course of nature2 something of this sort should happen to
them: When one was freed from his fetters and compelled to stand up suddenly and
turn his head around and walk and to lift up his eyes to the light, and in doing
all this felt pain and, because of the dazzle and glitter of the light, was
unable to discern the objects whose shadows he formerly saw,
Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vols. 5 & 6 translated by Paul Shorey. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1969.
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