Phaedrus — Plato
The text is shown on its own: no facing layer is held for this issue.
p. 321flections 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 ?
Clearly, he said, he would come to the other first and to this afterwards. And when he remembered his old habitation, and the wisdom of the den and his fellow-prisoners, do you not suppose that he would felicitate himself on the change, and pity them ? Certainly, he would.
And if they were in the habit of conferring honors on those who were quickest to observe and remember and foretell which of the shadows went before, and which followed after, and which were together, do you think that he would care for such honors and glories, or envy the possessors of them? Would he not say with Homer, — ** Better to be a poor man, and have a poor master," and endure anything, rather than to think and live after their manner ?
Yes, he said, I think that he would rather suffer anything than live after their manner. Imagine once more, I said, that such an one coming suddenly out of the sun were to be replaced in his old situation, is he not certain to have his eyes full of darkness ? Very true, he said.
And if there were a contest, and he had to compete in measuring the shadows with the prisoners who have never moved out of the den, during the time that his sight is weak, and before his eyes are steady (and the time which would be needed to acquire this new habit of sight might be very considerable), would he not be ridiculous ?
Men would say of him that up he went and down he comes without his eyes ; and that there was no use in even thinking of ascending : and if any one tried to loose another and lead him up to the light, let them only catch the offender in the act, and they would put him to death. 21
p. 322No 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 also inferred to be the universal author of all things beautiful and right, parent of light and the lord of light in this 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 surprising in one who pass^ from divine contemplations to human things, misbehaving m|nself in a ridiculous manner ; if, while his eyes are blinking and before he has become accustomed to the darkness visible, he is comj^lled to fight in courts of law, or in other places, about the images or shadows of images of justice, and is endeavoring to meet the conceptions of those who ha\'e never yet seen the absolute justice ?
There is nothing surprising in that, he replied.
Any one who has common sense will remember that the g bewilderments of the eyes are of t^-o kinds, and arise ^ from t^^o causes, either fironi coming out of the light or from going into the light, which is true of the mind's eye, quite as much as of the bodily cjt ; and he who remembers this when he sees the soul of any one whose vision is perplexed and ^*eak. will not be too ready to laiigh ; he will first ask whether that soul has come out of the brighter life, and is unable to see because unaccustomed to the dark, or having p. 323turned from darkness to the day is dazzled by excess of light. And then he will count the one happy in his condition and state of being, and he will pity the other ; or, if he have a mind to laugh at the soul which comes from below into the light, there will be more reason in this than in the laugh which greets the other from the den. That, he said, is a very just remark.
But if this is true, then certain professors of education must be mistaken in saying that they can put a knowledge into the soul which was not there before, like giving eyes to the blind. Yes, that is what they say, he replied.
Whereas, I said, our argument shows that the power is already in the soul ; and that as the eye cannot turn from darkness to light without the whole body, so too, when the eye of the soul is turned round, the whole soul must be turned from the world of generation into that of being, and become able to endure the sight of being, and of the brightest and best of being — that is to say, of the good. Very true.
And this is conversion ; and the art will be how to accomplish this as easily and completely as possible ; not implanting eyes, for they exist already, but giving them a right direction, which they have not. Yes, he said, that may be assumed.
And hence while the other qualities seem to be akin to the body, being infused by habit and exercise and not originally innate, the virtue of wisdom is part of a divine essence, and has a power which is everlasting, and by this conversion is rendered useful and profitable, and is also capable of becoming hurtful and useless.
Did you never observe the narrow intelligence flashing from the keen eye of a clever rogue * — how eager he is, how clearly his paltry soul sees the way to his end ; he is the reverse of blind, but his keen eyesight is taken into the service of evil, and he is dangerous in proportion to his intelligence ? Very true, he said.
But what if there had been a circtmicision of such natures in the days of their youth ; and they had been severed from the leaden weights, as I may call them, with which they are born into the world, which hang on to sensual pleasures, such as
No commentary for this page under the selected tracks.
There is commentary on page 1.