It could be said that they just cut off the allegory at an artfully chosen point. I had in mind a martyrdom for the one who comes back to the cave to share the Truth, because the Truth would be so alienating and belittling and too much to take. Skimming through the link, I see my memory was too dark. The one who comes back should only be wary of being too quick about trying to share the Truth. This is the passage that comes to the point:
“Now if he should be required to contend with these perpetual prisoners in ‘evaluating’ these shadows while his vision was still dim and before his eyes were accustomed to the dark—and this time required for habituation would not be very short—would he not provoke laughter, and would it not be said of him that he had returned from his journey aloft with his eyes ruined and that it was not worth while even to attempt the ascent? And if it were possible to lay hands on and to kill the man who tried to release them and lead them up, would they not kill him?” (link (http://kainani.hpu.edu/hwood/HawPacFilm/Ploto%20Allegory%20cave.pdf))
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2014-02-17 07:52 pm (UTC)“Now if he should be required to contend with these perpetual prisoners in
‘evaluating’ these shadows while his vision was still dim and before his eyes were
accustomed to the dark—and this time required for habituation would not be very
short—would he not provoke laughter, and would it not be said of him that he had
returned from his journey aloft with his eyes ruined and that it was not worth while
even to attempt the ascent? And if it were possible to lay hands on and to kill the
man who tried to release them and lead them up, would they not kill him?” (link (http://kainani.hpu.edu/hwood/HawPacFilm/Ploto%20Allegory%20cave.pdf))