Vita

When I approached the light my eyes were dazzled, and I was not able to see anything at all of what are now called realities. I required to grow accustomed to the sight of the upper world. And first I saw the shadows best, next the reflections of men and other objects in the water, and then the objects themselves; then I gazed upon the light of the moon and the stars and the spangled heaven; and I saw the sky and the stars by night better than the sun or the light of the sun by day.

Last of all I was able to see the sun, and not mere reflections of him in the water, but I saw him in his own proper place, and not in another; and I contemplated him as he is.