|
from
Politeia,
* 514a-518d, translated by B. Jowett
* Parts translated by Elpenor in <angle
brackets>
Greek Fonts / Plato Complete works / Plato Concept
And is there anything surprising in one who passes from divine contemplations to the evil state of man, misbehaving himself in a ridiculous manner; if, while his eyes are blinking and before he has become accustomed to the surrounding darkness, he is compelled to fight in courts of law, or in other places, about the images or the shadows of images of justice, and is endeavouring to meet the conceptions of those who have never yet seen absolute justice? Anything but surprising, he replied. Any one who has common sense will remember that the bewilderments of the eyes are of two kinds, and arise from two causes, either from 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 eye; | Τί δέ; τόδε οἴει τι θαυμαστόν͵ εἰ ἀπὸ θείων͵ ἦν δ΄ ἐγώ͵ θεωριῶν ἐπὶ τὰ ἀνθρώπειά τις ἐλθὼν κακὰ ἀσχημονεῖ τε καὶ φαίνεται σφόδρα γελοῖος ἔτι ἀμβλυώττων καὶ πρὶν ἱκανῶς συνήθης γενέσθαι τῷ παρόντι σκότῳ ἀναγκαζόμενος ἐν δικαστηρίοις ἢ ἄλλοθί που ἀγωνίζεσθαι περὶ τῶν τοῦ δικαίου σκιῶν ἢ ἀγαλμάτων ὧν αἱ σκιαί͵ καὶ διαμιλλᾶσθαι περὶ τούτου͵ ὅπῃ ποτὲ ὑπολαμβάνεται ταῦτα ὑπὸ τῶν αὐτὴν δικαιοσύνην μὴ πώποτε ἰδόντων; Οὐδ΄ ὁπωστιοῦν θαυμαστόν͵ ἔφη. Ἀλλ΄ εἰ νοῦν γε ἔχοι τις͵ ἦν δ΄ ἐγώ͵ μεμνῇτ΄ ἂν ὅτι διτταὶ καὶ ἀπὸ διττῶν γίγνονται ἐπιταράξεις ὄμμασιν͵ ἔκ τε φωτὸς εἰς σκότος μεθισταμένων καὶ ἐκ σκότους εἰς φῶς. |
Reference address : https://ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/ancient-greece/plato-paideia-cave.asp?pg=8