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And the royal road out of the cave into the light, and the

blinking of the eyes at the sun and turning to contemplate the

shadows of reality, not the shadows of an image only-this

progress and gradual acquisition of a new faculty of sight by the

help of the mathematical sciences, is the elevation of the soul

to the contemplation of the highest ideal of being.

'So far, I agree with you. But now, leaving the prelude, let us

proceed to the hymn. What, then, is the nature of dialectic, and

what are the paths which lead thither?' Dear Glaucon, you cannot

follow me here. There can be no revelation of the absolute truth

to one who has not been disciplined in the previous sciences. But

that there is a science of absolute truth, which is attained in

some way very different from those now practised, I am confident.

For all other arts or sciences are relative to human needs and

opinions; and the mathematical sciences are but a dream or

hypothesis of true being, and never analyse their own principles.