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by
Plato
Started reading
July 29, 2020
saying that there is a man called Socrates, a wise man, a student of all things in the sky and below the earth, who makes the worse argument the stronger.
Those who spread that rumor, gentlemen, are my dangerous [c] accusers, for their hearers believe that those who study these things do not even believe in the gods.
Moreover, these accusers are numerous, and have been at it a long time; also, they spoke to you at an age when you would most readily believe them, some of you being children and adolescents, and th...
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those who have accused me recently, and the old ones I mention; and to think that I must first defend myself against the latter, for you have also heard their accusations [e] first, and to a much greater extent than the more recent.
Socrates is guilty of wrongdoing in that he busies himself studying things in the sky and below the earth; he makes the worse into the stronger argument, and [c] he teaches these same things to others.
if you did not busy yourself with something out of the common, all these rumors and talk would not have arisen unless you did something other than most people.
What has caused my reputation is none other than a certain kind of wisdom.
am wiser than this man; it is likely that neither of us knows anything worthwhile, but he thinks he knows something when he does not, whereas when I do not know, neither do I think I know; so I am likely to be wiser than he to this small extent, that I do not think I know what I do not know.”
In my investigation in the service of the god I found that those who had the highest reputation were nearly the most deficient,
while those who were thought to be inferior were more knowledgeable.
the young men who follow me around of their own free will, those who have most leisure, the sons of the very rich, take pleasure in hearing people questioned;
“That man Socrates is a pestilential fellow who corrupts the young.”
vehement
vexed
disguised
suffice
Socrates is guilty of corrupting the young and of not believing in the gods in whom the city believes, but in other [c] new spiritual things. Such is their charge. Let us examine it point by point.
frivolously
All the Athenians, it seems, make the young into fine good men, except me, and I alone corrupt them. Is that what you mean? — That is most definitely what I mean.
It would be a very happy state of affairs if only one person corrupted our youth, while the others improved them.
contemptuous
Does any man who does not believe in horses believe in horsemen’s activities?
inevitably
Then since I do believe in spirits, as you admit, if spirits are gods, this is what I mean when I say you speak in riddles and in jest, as you state that I do not believe in gods and then again that I do, since I do believe in spirits. If, on the other hand, the spirits are children of the gods, bastard children of the gods by nymphs or some other mothers, as they are said to be, what man would believe children of the gods to exist, but not gods?
“You are wrong, sir, if you think that a man who is any good at all should take into account the risk of life or death; he should look to this only in his {33} actions, whether what he does is right or wrong, whether he is acting like a good or a bad man.”
he despised death and danger and was much more afraid to live a coward who did [d] not avenge his friends.
“Let me die at once,” he said, “when once I have given the wrongdoer his deserts, rather than remain here, a laughingstock by the curved ships, a burden upon the earth.” Do you think he gave thought to death and danger?
Athens: wherever a man has taken a position that he believes to be best, or has been placed by his commander, there he must I think remain and face danger, without a thought f...
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not. To fear death, gentlemen, is no other than to think oneself wise when one is not, to think one knows what one does not know. No one knows whether death may not be the greatest of all blessings for a man, yet men fear it as if they knew that it is the greatest of evils.
And surely it is the most blameworthy [b] ignorance to believe that one knows what one does not know.
do know, however, that it is wicked and shameful to do wrong, to disobey one’s superior, be he god or man.
I shall never fear or avoid things of which I do not know, whether they may not be good rather than
things that [c] {34} I know...
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acquitted,
“Socrates, we do not believe Anytus now; we acquit you, but only on condition that you spend no more time on this investigation [d] and do not practice philosophy, and if you are caught doing so you will die”; if, as I say, you were to acquit me on those terms, I would say to you: “Men of Athens, I am grateful and I am your friend, but I will obey the god rather than you, and as long as I draw breath and am able, I shall not cease to practice philosophy, to exhort you and in my usual way to point out to any one of you whom I happen to meet: ‘Good Sir, you are an Athenian, a citizen of the
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Wealth does not bring about excellence, but excellence makes wealth and everything else good for men, both individually and collectively.”13
A man who
really fights for justice must lead a private, not a public, life if he is to survive for even a short time.
The orators were ready to prosecute me and take me away, and your shouts were egging them on, but I thought I should run any risk on the side [c] of law and justice rather than join you, for fear of prison or death, when you were engaged in an unjust course.
