Apology

by Plato

The Apology of Plato is not the report of what Socrates said, but an elaborate composition, quite as much so in fact as one of the Dialogues.

On the whole we arrive at the conclusion that the Apology is true to the character of Socrates, but we cannot show that any single sentence in it was actually spoken by him.

Crito

Must read this dialogue between Socrates and his wealthy friend Crito, wherein the arguement happens regarding 'justice' and how 'injustice' must be responded to.

Gorgias,

Another dialogue, beteen Socrtaes and sophists seeking the true definition of rhetoric.

'to suffer is better than to do evil;'

nameless accuser—public opinion.

Chaerephon

asked the oracle if there was any man wiser than Socrates; and the answer was, that there was no man wiser.

that he who knew nothing, and knew that he knew nothing, should be declared by the oracl...

pretended wisdom of mankind;

Besides, he is not so overwise as to imagine that he knows whether death is a good or an evil; and he is certain that desertion of his duty is an evil.

Twice in public matters he has risked his life for the sake of justice—once at the trial of the generals; and again in resistance to the tyrannical commands of the Thirty.

Do Backgroumd research on these incidents.

Or why should he propose any counter-penalty when he does not know whether death, which Anytus proposes, is a good or an evil?

Nothing evil can happen to the good man either in life or death, and his own death has been permitted by the gods, because it was better for him to depart; and therefore he forgives his judges because they have done him no harm, although they never meant to do him any good.

(ouch os authadizomenos touto lego).

at my time of life I ought not to be appearing before you, O men of Athens, in the character of a juvenile orator—let

but think only of the truth of my words, and give heed to that: let the speaker speak truly and the judge decide justly.

'Socrates is an evil-doer, and a curious person, who searches into things under the earth and in heaven, and he makes the worse appear the better cause; and he teaches the aforesaid doctrines to others.'

although I do not suppose that either of us knows anything really beautiful and good, I am better off than he is,—for he knows nothing, and thinks that he knows; I neither know nor think that I know.

I found that the men most in repute were all but the most foolish; and that others less esteemed were really wiser and better.

Then I knew that not by wisdom do poets write poetry, but by a sort of genius and inspiration; they are like diviners or soothsayers who also say many fine things, but do not understand the meaning of them.

whether I would like to be as I was, neither having their knowledge nor their ignorance,

O men of Athens, that God only is wise; and by his answer he intends to show that the wisdom of men is worth little or nothing; he is not speaking of Socrates, he is only using my name by way of illustration, as if he said, He, O men, is the wisest, who, like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing.

assure you, judges, that he does not: for he says that the sun is stone, and the moon earth.

It's pre-Galileo word. The Earth is aparently still considered the center of the universe. Also worth noticing is the popular, yet over the time totally falsified, theory of the moon being part of earth.

man who is good for anything ought not to calculate the chance of living or dying; he ought only to consider whether in doing anything he is doing right or wrong—acting the part of a good man or of a bad.

fancying that I was wise when I was not wise. For the fear of death is indeed the pretence of wisdom, and not real wisdom, being a pretence of knowing the unknown; and no one knows whether death, which men in their fear apprehend to be the greatest evil, may not be the greatest good.

Men of Athens, I honour and love you; but I shall obey God rather than you, and while I have life and strength I shall never cease from the practice and teaching of philosophy, exhorting any one whom I meet and saying to him after my manner: You, my friend,—a citizen of the great and mighty and wise city of Athens,—are you not ashamed of heaping up the greatest amount of money and honour and reputation, and caring so little about wisdom and truth and the greatest improvement of the soul, which you never regard or heed at all?

I tell you that virtue is not given by money, but that from virtue comes money and every other good of man, public as well as private.

I do not deny that Anytus may, perhaps, kill him, or drive him into exile, or deprive him of civil rights; and he may imagine, and others may imagine, that he is inflicting a great injury upon him: but there I do not agree. For the evil of doing as he is doing—the evil of unjustly taking away the life of another—is

greater far.

And I have a sufficient witness to the truth of what I say—my poverty.

For I am certain, O men of Athens, that if I had engaged in politics, I should have perished long ago,

for the truth is, that no man who goes to war with you or any other multitude, honestly striving against the many lawless and unrighteous deeds which are done in a state, will save his life; he who will fight for the right, if he would live even for a brief space, must have a private station and not a public one.

There

This Isthe part he says after he had been voted guilty. Now the arguement is about, what shoud be the punishment.

must look to himself, and seek virtue and wisdom before he looks to his private interests, and look to the state before he looks to the interests of the state;

What would be a reward suitable to a poor man who is your benefactor, and who desires leisure that he may instruct you? There can be no reward so fitting as maintenance in the Prytaneum, O men of Athens, a reward which he deserves far more than the citizen who has won the prize at Olympia in the horse or chariot race, whether the chariots were drawn by two horses or by many. For I am in want, and he has enough; and he only gives you the appearance of happiness, and I give you the reality. And if I am to estimate the penalty fairly, I should say that maintenance in the Prytaneum is the just return. Perhaps you think that I am braving you in what I am saying now, as in what I said before about the tears and prayers. But this is not so. I speak rather because I am convinced that I never intentionally wronged any one, although I cannot convince you—the time has been too short; if there were a law at Athens, as there is in other cities, that a capital cause should not be decided in one day, then I believe that I should have convinced you. But I cannot in a moment refute great slanders; and, as I am convinced that I never wronged another, I will assuredly not wrong myself. I will not say of myself that I deserve any evil, or propose any penalty. Why should I? because I am afraid of the penalty of death which Meletus proposes? When I do not know whether death is a good or an evil, why should I propose a penalty which would certainly be an evil? Shall I say imprisonment? And why s...

Not

This is the part he said after death penalty had been fixed for him.

the deficiency which led to my conviction was not of words—certainly not. But I had not the boldness or impudence or inclination to address you as you would have liked me to do, weeping and wailing and lamenting, and saying and doing many things which you have been accustomed to hear from others, and which, as I maintain, are unworthy of me.

I would rather die having spoken after my manner, than speak in your manner and live.

The difficulty, my friends, is not to avoid death, but to avoid unrighteousness; for that runs faster than death.

The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our ways—I to die, and you to live. Which is better God only knows.