Now this is
exactly our case: for we are dwelling in a hollow of the earth, and
fancy that we are on the surface; and the air we call the heaven,
and in this we imagine that the stars move. But this is also owing
to our feebleness and sluggishness, which prevent our reaching the
surface of the air: for if any man could arrive at the exterior limit,
or take the wings of a bird and fly upward, like a fish who puts his
head out and sees this world, he would see a world beyond; and, if the
nature of man could sustain the sight, he would acknowledge that
this was the place of the true heaven and the true light and the
true stars. For this earth, and the stones, and the entire region
which surrounds us, are spoilt and corroded, like the things in the
sea which are corroded by the brine; for in the sea too there is
hardly any noble or perfect growth, but clefts only, and sand, and
an endless slough of mud: and even the shore is not to be compared
to the fairer sights of this world. And greater far is the superiority
of the other. Now of that upper earth which is under the heaven, I can
tell you a charming tale, Simmias, which is well worth hearing.
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