【The Republic（866）】

【中译】
“他们是和我们一样的人，”我说，“首先，你认为这样的人，除了火光投射到他们对面洞壁上的影子（他们自己和同伴们的影子）之外，还能看到别的什么？”
“怎样可能呢？”他说，“如果他们一辈子被迫无法转头的话。”

【英译（Allan Bloom译本）】
“They’re like us,”I said. “For in the first place, do you suppose such men would have seen anything of themselves and one another other than the shadows cast by the fire on the side of the cave facing them?”
“How could they,” he said, “if they had been compelled to keep their heads motionless throughout life?”

【原文】
515a-b
Ὁμοίους ἡμῖν, ἦν δ᾽ ἐγώ· τοὺς γὰρ τοιούτους πρῶτον μὲν ἑαυτῶν τε καὶ ἀλλήλων οἴει ἄν τι ἑωρακέναι ἄλλο πλὴν τὰς σκιὰς τὰς ὑπὸ τοῦ πυρὸς εἰς τὸ καταντικρὺ αὐτῶν τοῦ σπηλαίου προσπιπτούσας;
Πῶς γάρ, ἔφη, εἰ ἀκινήτους γε τὰς κεφαλὰς ἔχειν ἠναγκασμένοι εἶεν διὰ βίου;