[517b]
likening the region revealed through
sight to the habitation of the prison, and the light of the fire in it to the
power of the sun. And if you assume that the ascent and the contemplation of the
things above is the soul's ascension to the intelligible region,1 you will not miss my surmise, since that is what you desire
to hear. But God knows2 whether it is true. But, at any
rate, my dream as it appears to me is that in the region of the known the last
thing to be seen and hardly seen is the idea of good,
1 Cf. 508 B-C, where Arnou (Le Désir de dieu dans la philos. de Plotin, p. 48 and Robin (La Théorie plat. de l'amour, pp. 83-84) make τόπος νοητός refer to le ciel astronomique as opposed to the ὑπερουράνιος τόπος of the Phaedrus 247 A-E, 248 B, 248 D-249 A. The phrase νοητὸς κόσμος, often attributed to Plato, does not occur in his writings.
2 Plato was much less prodigal of affirmation about metaphysical ultimates than interpreters who take his myths literally have supposed. Cf. What Plato Said, p. 515, on Meno 86 B.
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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