"I have it," he replied.
"Also, figure to yourself a number of persons walking behind this wall, and carrying with them statues of men, and images of other animals, wrought in wood, stone, and all kinds of materials, together with various other articles, which overtop the wall; and, as you might expect, let some of the passers-by be talking, and others silent"
"You are describing a strange scene, and strange prisoners."
"They resemble us," I replied. "For let me ask you, in the first place, whether persons so confined could have seen anything of themselves or of each other, beyond the shadows thrown by the fire upon the part of the cavern facing them."
"Certainly not, if you suppose them to have been compelled all their lifetime to keep their heads unmoved."
"And is not their knowledge of the things carried past them equally limited?"
"Unquestionably it is."
"And if they were able to converse with one another, do you not think that they would be in the habit of giving names to the objects which they saw before them?"
"Doubtless they would."
"Again: if their prison house returned an echo from the part facing them, whenever one of the passers-by opened his lips, to what, let me ask you, could they refer the voice, if not to the shadow which was passing?"