Behold! human beings living in a underground den; here they have been
from their childhood, and have their legs and necks chained so that
they cannot move, and can only see before them .... Above and behind
them a fire is blazing at a distance, and between the fire and the
prisoners there is a raised way; and a low wall built along the way,
men passing along the wall carrying all sorts of vessels, and statues
and figures of animals made of wood and stone and various materials,
which appear over the wall. The prisoners see only their own shadows,
or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the opposite
wall of the cave. And of the objects which are being carried in like
manner they would only see the shadows. To them, the truth would be
literally nothing but the shadows of the images.
