And so, Glaucon, I said, we have at last arrived at the myth of Er, the conclusion of our inquiry into justice. Tell me then, is not this the myth that saved us and will save us yet, if we believe it; and we shall safely cross the river of Lethe, and our soul will not be defiled?

Allegory of the Cave: Imagine prisoners chained in a cave since birth, facing a blank wall. They watch shadows projected on the wall from objects passing in front of a fire behind them and give names to these shadows. The shadows are the prisoners' reality, but are not accurate representations of the real world. A philosopher is like a prisoner who is freed from the cave and comes to understand that the shadows on the wall are not the real objects.

"The myth of the cave is Plato's most famous allegory. The chains that keep the prisoners fastened to the wall represent the bonds of ignorance. The shadows they see projected are the false beliefs and prejudices that dominate human understanding. The painful journey into the sunlight represents the philosopher's ascent from ignorance to knowledge, from the world of becoming to the world of being."

"Until philosophers rule as kings or those who are now called kings and leading men genuinely and adequately philosophize, that is, until political power and philosophy entirely coincide, while the many natures who at present pursue either one exclusively are forcibly prevented from doing so, cities will have no rest from evils, nor, I think, will the human race."

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