[516c]
and is in some sort the cause1 of all these things that they had
seen.” “Obviously,” he said, “that would
be the next step.” “Well then, if he recalled to mind his
first habitation and what passed for wisdom there, and his fellow-bondsmen, do
you not think that he would count himself happy in the change and pity them2?”
“He would indeed.” “And if there had been honors
and commendations among them which they bestowed on one another and prizes for
the man who is quickest to make out the shadows as they pass and best able to
remember their customary precedences,
1 Cf. 508 B, and for the idea of good as the cause of all things cf. on 509 B, and Introd. pp. xxxv-xxxvi. P. Corssen, Philol. Wochenschrift, 1913, pp. 287-299, unnecessarily proposes to emend ὧν σφεῖς ἑώρων to ὧν σκιὰς ἑ. or ὧν σφεῖς σκιὰς ἑ., “ne sol umbrarum, quas videbant, auctor fuisse dicatur, cum potius earum rerum, quarum umbras videbant, fuerit auctor.”
2 Cf. on 486 a, p. 10, note a.
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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