The Apology of Socrates. Plato

Transcription

1 Plato The Apology of Socrates

2 Context The Apology (which in Greek meant defense ) claims to be a record of the actual speech that Socrates delivered in his own defense at the trial. This claim makes the question of its historical accuracy more acute than in Plato s dialogues. Unlike the dialogues, here we are dealing with a speech that Socrates made as a matter of history. How far is Plat s account accurate? Well, we should always remember that the ancients did not always expect historical accuracy in the way that we do. On the other hand, Plato makes it clear that he was present at the trial. Moreover, if, as is generally believed, The Apology was written not long after the event, many Athenians would remember the actual speech, and it would have been a poor way for Plato to vindicate the master (which is the obvious intent) if a completely different speech was put into his mouth. Some liberties could no doubt be allowed, but the main arguments and the general tone of the defense must surely be faithful to the original. The beauty of language and style is certainly Plato s, but the serene, spiritual and moral beauty of character belong to Socrates. It is a powerful combination. Socrates had been accused of breaking the broadly defined law against impiety. The indictment included three specific charges. Meletus, a young Athenian poet who was probably something of religious fanatic, swore the official charges which ran something like this: Socrates does wrong by not recognizing the gods that the city recognizes, but he introduces new spiritual entities. Socrates also does wrong by corrupting the youth. The penalty demanded is death. Athenian juries were very large, in this case 500. They combined the duties of jury and judge as we know them by both convicting and sentencing. Obviously, it would have been virtually impossible for so large a body to discuss various penalties and decide on one. This problem was resolved rather neatly, however, by having the prosecutor propose a penalty he thought appropriate, followed by a counter-proposal by the defendant. The jury would then decide between the two proposals. This procedure generally made for 1

3 moderation on both sides. Thus, The Apology is in three parts. The first and major part is the main speech, followed by Socrates counter-proposal for a penalty and finally, Socrates last words to the jury, both to those who voted for the death sentence and those who voted for his acquittal. Translators used: G.M. Grube and Benjamin Jowet 2

4 Socrates' Defense Speech Oh, Men of Athens! How you must have felt at hearing the speeches of my accusers, I cannot tell, but for my part their persuasive words almost made me forget who I was! Such was the effect of them. And yet these men have hardly spoken a word of truth. But many as their falsehoods were, there was one of them in particular which quite amazed me. I refer to when they cautioned you to be on your guard against me, not to let yourselves be deceived by the force of my eloquence. They ought to have been ashamed of saying this, because they have immediately proved wrong, as soon as I opened my mouth just now and showed my lack of accomplishment in speaking. These men certainly did appear to be most shameless in saying this about me. Unless, of course, by the force of eloquence my accusers mean the force of truth, for I do indeed admit that I am eloquent in that sense. But how my eloquence, then, is so different from theirs! Well, as I was saying, my accusers have hardly uttered a word of truth. But you shall hear the whole truth from me not, by Zeus, delivered in their style, in a carefully planned speech duly ornamented with words and phrases. No, indeed. But I shall use the words and arguments which occur to me at the moment. For I am certain that this is the right way to proceed. I am certain that at my age I ought not to be appearing before you, Men of Athens, in the character of a juvenile. Let no one expect this of me. Now, I must beg of you to grant me one favor, which is this: if you hear me talking during my defense in my habitual way of talking, the way I speak when you have heard me in the agora [the public marketplace and social center of Ancient Athens] or at the tables of the money-changers, or anywhere else if you hear me talking that way, I would ask you not to be surprised at this and to please not interrupt me. For I am more than seventy years of age, and this is the first time I have ever appeared in a court of law, and I am quite a stranger to the ways of this place. Therefore, I would prefer you regard me as if I were really 3

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6 a stranger, whom you would excuse if he spoke in his native tongue, and after the fashion of his own country. This, I think, is not an unfair request. Never mind the manner of my speech, which may or may not be good, but concentrate your attention on whether what I say is just or not, for the excellence of a judge lies in this, just as the excellence of a speaker lies in telling the truth. First, I have to reply to the older charges and to my first and earlier accusers, and then I will go to the later ones. You see, I have had many accusers, and their false charges have accumulated over many years. In fact, I am more afraid of these earlier accusers than of Anytus [one of Socrates current prosecutors and a prominent political figure in Athens] and his associates, who are dangerous, too, in their own way. But far more dangerous are my earlier accusers. They began accusing me when you were children, and they took possession of your minds with their falsehoods, telling you of Socrates, a wise man who speculated about heavenly matters above and searched into the earth beneath and who would make the worse argument appear the better. 1 These are the accusers whom I dread. For they circulate these rumors, and their hearers are prone to believe that speculators of this sort do not believe in the gods. These earlier accusers are dangerous, and they are many, and their charges against me are of an ancient date. They made their accusation in days when you were impressionable in childhood or perhaps in youth and those charges, when you heard them, were accepted by default, for there was none there to challenge them. Hardest of all is that their names I do not know, except in the case of a certain comic poet [Socrates refers here to the comic playwright Aristophanes who wrote a famous play parodying Socrates]. But those earlier accusers who through malice and slander persuaded you, who in turn persuaded many others they, I say, are most difficult accusers to deal with. For I cannot have them up here to examine, and 1 These are accusations that Socrates engaged in a natural philosophy, i.e., that he abandoned religious explanations for natural phenomena, in favor of rational or scientific explanations. 5

7 therefore I must simply fight with shadows in my own defense. So be it. I will ask you then to assume with me, as I was saying, that my opponents here are of two kinds: one recent, the other ancient. And I hope that you will understand that it is more appropriate that I answer the ancient accusers first, for these are the accusations that you have heard long before the later accusations and much more often. Very well, then, Men of Athens. I will make my defense. And I will attempt, in the short time which is allowed, to uproot from your minds the slander that has resided there so long. I hope I may succeed and that my words find favor with you. But I know that accomplishing this task will not be easy. Let the event be as the god wills. In obedience to the law, I make my defense. I will begin at the beginning and confront the earlier accusations which have given rise to the slander against me, and which has encouraged Meletus [Socrates primary accuser] to proceed against me. What did the earlier slanderers say? Imagine they are my prosecutors now; I will sum up their words in an affidavit: "Socrates is an evil-doer and a dangerously curious person who searches into the meaning of things under the earth and in the heavens, and he makes the worse argument appear the stronger; and he teaches others to do the same." That is the nature of the accusation, and that is what you have seen yourselves in the comedy of Aristophanes. His play introduced a man whom he calls Socrates, going about saying that he can walk in the air and talking a great deal of nonsense concerning matters of which I do not pretend to know either much or little not that I mean to say anything disparaging of anyone who is a student of natural philosophy. I should be very sorry if Meletus also charged me with engaging in natural philosophy, but the simple truth is, Men of Athens, I have nothing to do with those studies. Very many of those present here are witnesses to the truth of this, and to them I make my appeal. Speak then, you who have heard me practicing philosophy, 6

8 and tell your neighbors whether any of you have ever known me to discuss such subjects.... You hear their answer. Now, if you have heard from anyone that I undertake to teach people and charge them a fee for it, that is not true either. And there is, like the others, no basis for this accusation. Although, if a man is able to teach, I honor him for being paid. There is Gorgias of Leontium, and Prodicus of Ceos, and Hippias of Elis these are sophists [paid teachers] who move around from city to city persuading the young men there to leave their own citizens, by whom they might be taught free of charge, and instead learn from the sophists, whom they not only pay but are thankful that they get to pay! There is in fact one of these teachers from Paros who is residing here in Athens; I have heard a great deal about him. I came to hear about him in this way. I met a man who spent a world of money on the Sophists Callias was his name. Now, I knew that Callias had sons, so I asked him, Callias, if your two sons were colts or calves, there would be no difficulty finding someone to train them; we would simply hire a trainer of horses who would improve and perfect them in their own proper virtue and excellence. But seeing as how your sons are human beings, and not little calves, whom are you thinking of placing over them as a supervisor and trainer? Is there anyone who understands human virtue, and political virtue, and social virtue? You must have thought about this as you have sons. Is there anyone? Indeed, there is such a person, he replied. Who is he? I responded, and from what country does he come here? And what does he charge? 7

9 He is Evenus from Paros Callias answered, and his charge is five minas. 2 Well Happy is Evenus! I said to myself, if he really has this sort of wisdom and teaches for such a charge. Had I such knowledge, I should have been very proud and conceited. But the truth is, Men of Athens, I have no such knowledge of that kind. I dare say that someone among you will reply: How could this be Socrates? For what then is the origin of these earlier accusations against you? For there must have been something strange you have been doing. This wild reputation and fame about you would never have spread throughout the land had you been like other men. Tell us, then, Socrates, what exactly is it about you that we should know, so that we may be sorry for having judged you so hastily. Now I regard this as a fair challenge. And so I will attempt to explain to you the origin of the label wise that has been attached to me along with an evil fame. Listen then, and although very soon some of you may think I am being a jester, I declare that I will tell you the entire truth and nothing besides. Men of Athens, this reputation of mine has come from a certain sort of wisdom which I do possess. If you ask me what sort of wisdom it is, I shall reply that it is human wisdom. To the extent that I am in fact wise, it is because I possess human wisdom, which is altogether different from the sort of superhuman wisdom that is apparently possessed by those teachers and sophists I have just mentioned a superhuman wisdom that would be difficult for me to describe since I do not possess it. Now, anyone who says that I possess (or pretend to possess) this sort of superhuman wisdom speaks falsely of me and slanders my character. And here, Men of Athens, I must beg you not to interrupt me or create a disturbance, even if I seem to say extravagant things and come off as wild and vain. For the story that I am about to tell does not originate with me. I will refer you to a 2 A unit of currency in Greece, and in this case a very considerable amount of money. 8

10 witness who is worthy of the greatest honor and respect and who will tell you about my wisdom whether I have any and of what sort it is. The witness whom I call is the god of Delphi. 3 Now, you must have known Chaerephon. He was an early friend of mine and also a friend of yours; for he shared your exile from the city and your return. 4 Chaerephon, as many of you know, was very impulsive in all his doings. And one day he went to Delphi and boldly asked the oracle to tell him whether and remember, please do not interrupt to tell him whether or not there was anyone in Greece who wiser than Socrates. And the Pythian prophetess answered that there was no man wiser than Socrates. Now, Chaerephon is dead himself, but his brother who is present here will confirm the truth of this story. Why do I recall this story which begins with the oracle? Because it is essential if you are to understand why I have acquired such an evil reputation. Well, as you can imagine, when I heard the oracle s answer, I said to myself, What can the god possibly mean, and what is the interpretation of this riddle? For I know that I possessed no wisdom, small or great. And further, the god is good; it would be illegitimate, impossible even, for the god to lie. It would be against his nature. So after a long consideration, I devised a method for discovering the meaning of the riddle. I realized that if I could only find a man who was wiser, then I might go to the god with a refutation in my hand and say, Look, here is a man who is wiser than I am. So what is your meaning in saying that I am the wisest. 3 Socrates, literally, calls on the god to be his witness, and this would have been perceived as shockingly arrogant. 4 Many Athenian citizens (who were proponents of Athens democracy) were driven from the city during a year-long oligarchic coup, a few years before Socrates trial. Socrates was not an advocate for the Athenian style of democracy and was very critical of the city s democratic institutions. 9

11 At the temple of Apollo at Delphi, the Pythia sat atop a gilded tripod, beneath which was a chasm in the rock at the base of the temple. Falling into a trance under the influence of vapors, which came from the chasm, the Pythia would channel the God Apollo and speak prophecies or give counsel to those who came to see her (pilgrims who traveled from every corner of Greece). Explanations for the Pythia's inspiration usually refer to possible vapors from the spring waters that flowed under the temple. These vapors may have been hallucinogenic gases, like ethylene. Emissions of ethylene gas from a chasm in the rock could have inspired the Delphic Oracle to connect with the divine, as traces of ethylene have been found in the waters of the Castallian Spring. Left. The remains of the temple of Apollo in modern Delphi Right. A digital recreation of the Temple of Apollo. Carved into the entrance of the Delphic temple was the maxim: gnōthi seauton, Know Thyself νῶθι σεαυτόν 10

12 Thus, I sought out the man who had a great reputation for wisdom, and I observed him. His name I need not mention; but he was a politician whom I selected for examination. The result was as follows: when I began to talk with this wise politician, I could not help but think that he was not really wise at all, although he was thought to be wise by many, many people and wiser still by himself. And so I calmly tried to explain to the politician that, while he thought himself very wise, he was in fact not wise. And, of course, the consequences of this were that the wise politician came to hate me quite fiercely, and his animosity was shared by several others who were present and heard me examine him. So I left the wise politician, saying to myself as I went away: Well, although I do not suppose that either of us knows anything really beautiful and good, at I least am better off than this man, for he knows nothing yet still believes that he knows. But for myself: I neither know nor do I think that I know. And in this latter aspect, I seem to have a slight advantage over him. That is, unlike this most wise politician, at least I am aware of my ignorance. So, then I went to another person, someone who had even higher philosophical pretensions. And after examining him, I drew the same conclusion. Here was a man with a great reputation for wisdom who was not only in fact ignorant, but deeply unaware of his ignorance. However, by demonstrating this fact to him, I made for myself another enemy and many other enemies besides him. After this, I went to one man after another, proceeding systematically. Now, I was not unconscious of the enmity and malice which I was provoking. And, yes, I did fear this, but a sort of divine necessity had been laid upon me. For the word of the god, I thought, ought to be considered first and foremost. And so I said to myself, I must go to all those who appear to be wise, I must question them, and thus decipher the meaning of the oracle s words. And I swear to you, Men of Athens by the god, I swear, for I must tell you the truth the result of my mission was just this: I found that the men who had the highest reputation for knowledge and wisdom were all but the most foolish among us. And that many inferior men were really wiser and better. I will tell you the tale of my 11

13 wanderings and of the Herculean labors, as I call them, which I endured only to find at last that the oracle was irrefutable. When I left the politicians, I went next to the poets, the tragic poets, the dithyrambic poets, and all the other sorts of poets. And there, I said to myself, you will be reconciled to the god, Socrates. Here, you will find out that you are more ignorant than they are. Accordingly, I brought to them some of the most elaborate passages in their own writings, and I asked them about the meaning of those elaborate passages, thinking that they would teach me something about their own poetry. Will you believe me? I am almost ashamed to say this, but still I must. There is hardly a person present who could not have talked better about their poetry than did the actual poets! This showed me in an instant that it is not by wisdom that poets write poetry, but by a sort of divine inspiration. They are like the diviners and the soothsayers who also say many fine things, but do not understand the meaning of their own words. The poets appeared to be very similar to those soothsayers. I further observed that upon the strength of their poetry, these poets imagined themselves to be the wisest of men concerning other areas about which they were also not wise. So I departed from the poets, recognizing myself to be superior to the poets for the same reason that I was superior to the politicians. At last, I went to the artisans and the craftsmen, for I was conscious that I knew nothing at all, as I have said, and I was sure that they knew many fine things. And here I was not mistaken, for the artisans and the craftsmen did know many things about which I was ignorant, and in this they were certainly wiser than I was. But I observed that even the good artisans fell into the same error as the poets. That is, because they were good workmen they thought that they had knowledge of all sorts of higher matters, and this defect in them actually overshadowed the knowledge they did possess. Therefore, I asked myself whether I would like to be as I was, neither having their knowledge nor their ignorance, or to be like them in both. And I concluded that I was better off as I was. 12

14 Now, this wandering investigation of mine has led to my having many enemies of the worst and most dangerous sort powerful enemies. And the investigation itself became a great burden to me. And the reason I am called wise is that the people who hear me always imagine that I myself must possess the wisdom which I find lacking in others. But the truth, Men of Athens, is this: the god only is wise. And that what the oracle meant was that human wisdom is worth little or nothing at all. And so when the oracle says that Socrates is wise, she is simply using my name as an example, as if the god were saying: The wisest man among you mortals is the man who, like Socrates, understands that his wisdom is worthless. And so I go my own way being obedient to the god inquiring into the wisdom of anyone, whether citizen or stranger, who appears to be wise. And if he is not wise, then in order to vindicate the oracle, I show him that he is not wise. And this occupation quite absorbs me. I have no time to give either to any public matter of interest nor to any concern of my own. And I am in utter poverty by reason of my devotion to the god. There is another thing to add. Young men of the richer classes, who do not have very much to do, come about and follow me of their own accord. They like to hear the pretentious ones examined, and they often imitate me, and examine others themselves. And there are plenty of persons in Athens, as these young men soon discover, who think that they know something but really know very little or in fact know nothing at all. And when these pretentious types are examined by them, instead of becoming angry with themselves, they become angry with me. This confounded Socrates, they say, this is a pestilential fellow who pollutes and corrupts the youth! And then if somebody asks them, why? What evil does Socrates practice or teach? They do not know, and cannot tell. But in order that they may not appear to be at a loss, they repeat the ready-made charges which are always marshaled against philosophers, namely, that philosophers teach about things up in the clouds and under the earth, that they 13

15 teach against the gods, and that they make the worse argument appear the stronger one. They make use of these ready-made slanders because the masses of people do not like to confess that their pretense of knowledge has been detected, which in fact is exactly what has happened. These sorts of people are as ambitious and violent as they are numerous. They are all in the battle fray. And they all have persuasive tongues. They have, for a long time now, filled your ears with their vehement slanders against me. And this is the reason why my three accusers, Meletus, Anytus, and Lycon have set upon me now. You see, Meletus has a quarrel with me on behalf of the poets; Anytus, on behalf of the craftsmen; Lycon, on behalf of the rhetoricians. And as I said at the beginning, I cannot expect to get rid of this mass slander in only a moment. And this, Men of Athens, is the truth and the whole truth. I have concealed nothing. I have dissembled nothing. And yet I know that this plainness of speech makes them hate me. But what is their hatred but a proof that I am speaking the truth? This is the occasion and reason for their slandering me, as you will discover either in this or in a future inquiry. I have said enough in my defense against my earlier accusers. I turn now to the second class of accusers, who are led by Meletus, that good and patriotic man, as he likes to calls himself. And now I will try to defend myself against them. Now, my new accusers must also have their affidavit read. What do they say? Something of this sort: Socrates is guilty of corrupting the youth, of not recognizing the city s gods but in other new spiritual entities of his own creation. That is the charge. And now let us examine the particular counts. Meletus says that I am a doer of evil, who corrupts the youth. But I say that Meletus is the doer of evil, and the evil he does is to make a joke of a serious matter. He is so eager to bring other men to trial because of a pretended patriotic zeal and interest about matters of 14

16 which he really has never had the smallest bit of interest. And the truth of this I will endeavor to prove. Come hither, Meletus, and let me ask a question of you. You think a great deal about the improvement of youth? Yes, I do. 5 Tell the judges, then, who is their improver? You must know, as you have taken the pains to discover their corrupter, and are accusing me before them. Speak, then, and tell the judges who their improver is. Observe, Meletus, that you are silent, and have nothing to say. But isn t this rather disgraceful and a very considerable proof of what I was saying, that you have no interest in the matter? Speak up, friend, tell us who their improver is. The laws. But that, my good sir, is not my meaning. I want to know who the person is who, in the first place, knows the laws. The judges, Socrates, who are present in court. What do you mean to say, Meletus, that the judges here are able to instruct and improve youth? Certainly they are. What, all of them, or only some and not others? All of them. By the goddess. What good news! There are plenty of improvers, then. And what do you say of the audience here, do they improve the youth? 5 Over the next several pages, Meletus answers are in italics. 15

17 Yes, they do. And the councilmen? Yes, the councilmen improve them. But perhaps the members of the citizen assembly corrupt them? Or do they too improve the young people of Athens as well? They improve them, also. Then every Athenian improves and elevates the youth with the exception of myself. I alone am the corrupter of the youth? Is that what you affirm to be the case, Meletus? That is most definitely what I mean. I am very unfortunate if that is true. But suppose I ask you a question: Would you say that this also holds true in the case of horses? Does one man do them harm while the rest of the world does them good? Is not the exact opposite of this the case? One man is able to do them good, or at least not very many. The trainer of horses, that is to say, does them good and others who are not horse trainers who engage with them usually injure them instead? Is not that true, Meletus, of horses, or any other animals? Yes, certainly that s true. Whether you and Anytus say so or not. Oh, happy indeed would be the condition of youth if they had one corrupter only and all the rest of the world were their improvers. And you, Meletus, have sufficiently shown that you have never so much as given a single thought about the education of the young. Your carelessness is seen in your not caring about the actual matters brought up in the very indictment. And now, Meletus, I must ask you another question: Which is better, to live among bad citizens or among good ones? Answer, friend. Indeed, this is a question which may be easily answered. Do not the good do their neighbors good, and the bad do them evil? 16

18 Certainly. And is there anyone who would rather be injured than benefited by those who live with him? Answer, my good friend. The law requires you to answer. Does anyone like to be injured? Certainly not. And when you accuse me of corrupting and polluting the youth, do you allege that I corrupt them intentionally or unintentionally? Intentionally, I say. But you have just admitted that the good do their neighbors good and the evil do them evil. Now is that a truth which your superior wisdom has recognized this early in life, while I at my old age live in such darkness and ignorance as not to know that if a man with whom I have to live is corrupted by me, then I am very likely to be harmed by him in turn, and yet I corrupt him anyway, and so intentionally, too? That is what you are saying. But you will never persuade me or any other human being of that. Either I do not corrupt my fellow citizens, or I corrupt them unintentionally, so that on either view of the case you lie. If my corruption is unintentional, the law does not require that I be brought to court for an unintentional offense. You ought to have taken me aside privately and warned me, admonished me. For if I had been better advised, I should have left off doing what I had only been doing unintentionally no doubt I would have. Instead, because you hate to converse with me or teach me, you indicted me in a court, which is not a place of instruction, but rather a place of punishment. I have shown, Men of Athens, as I was saying, that Meletus has no care at all, great or small, about these matters. But still I should like to know. Meletus, in what way do I corrupt the young people of Athens? I suppose you mean, as I infer from your indictment, that I teach them not to acknowledge the gods which the state acknowledges but some 17

19 other new spiritual entities instead of the state s gods. And these are the lessons which corrupt the youth, as you say. Yes, that I say emphatically. Then, by the gods, Meletus! About whom, exactly, are we speaking? Tell me and this court, in plain terms, what you mean! For I do not as yet understand whether you mean that I teach others to acknowledge some gods, and therefore do believe in gods and am not entirely an atheist, but simply that my gods are not the gods in whom the city believes. Or, on the other hand, do you mean to say that I am simply an atheist and a teacher of atheism? I mean the latter, Socrates, that you do not believe in gods at all. That is an extraordinary statement, Meletus. Why do you say that? Do you mean that I do not believe in the godhead of the sun or moon, which is the common creed of all men? I assure you, judges, that he does not believe in them. He says that the sun is stone and the moon is rock. Friend Meletus, you must think that you are accusing Anaxagoras. 6 And you have a bad opinion of the judges, if you imagine them ignorant to such a degree as not to know that those doctrines are found in the books of Anaxagoras. And yet these are the doctrines which the youth are said to learn from Socrates, when these doctrines are frequently exhibited in front of them at the theatre (price of admission one drachma at the most). And they might cheaply purchase them, and laugh at Socrates if he pretends to be father such eccentric theories. And so, Meletus, you really think that I do not believe in any god? I swear by Zeus that you believe absolutely in none at all. 6 Anaxagoras was a pre-socratic natural philosopher who, among other things, argued that the sun was a fiery mass. He was charged with impiety by the Athenians and exiled. 18

20 You are a liar, Meletus, not believed even by yourself. For I cannot help thinking, Men of Athens, that Meletus is reckless and uncontrolled and that he has written this indictment of me in a spirit of insolence, violence, and youthful zeal. Has is like one who has composed a riddle and is now trying it out. It s like he has said to himself, I shall see whether this wise Socrates will discover my ingenious contradiction or whether I shall be able to deceive him and others as well. For Meletus certainly does appear to contradict himself in the indictment as much as if he said that Socrates is guilty of not believing in the gods and yet of believing in them. But this is surely the work of a jester. I should like you, Men of Athens, to join me in examining what I perceive to be Meletus inconsistency. So, answer us Meletus. And I must remind you that you are not to interrupt me if I speak in my habitual style. Does any man, Meletus, believe in the existence of human activities and yet not believe in human beings?... I wish, Men of Athens, that he would answer and not always try to provoke an interruption from you. Did ever any man believe in horsemanship and not in horses? Or in flute-playing and not in fluteplayers? No, my friend. I will answer for you and to the court, as you refuse to answer for yourself. There is no man who ever did. But now please answer the next question: Can a man believe in spiritual and divine activities, and not in spirits or demigods? He cannot. I am glad that I have extracted that answer, by the assistance of the court. Nevertheless you swear in the indictment that I teach and believe in divine or spiritual beings new or old, it doesn t matter, but at any rate, I believe in spiritual beings, as you say and swear in the affidavit. But if I believe in divine beings, then I must believe in spirits or demigods. Is that not true? Yes, that is true, for I may assume that your silence gives assent. Now what are spirits or 19

21 demigods 7? Are they not either gods or the children of gods? Is that true? Yes, that is true. But this is just the ingenious riddle of which I am speaking. The demigods or spirits are gods. And you say first in this courtroom that I do not believe in gods, and then again, in the indictment, you say that I do believe in gods; that is, in demigods. For if the demigods are the children of gods, whether a Nymph or something else be their mothers, then that would necessarily imply the existence of their parents, gods. It would be as if someone could affirm the existence of mules and yet deny the existence of horses and donkeys. 8 Such nonsense, Meletus, could only have been intended by you. You have put this nonsense contradiction into the indictment because you had nothing real of which to accuse me. But no one who has a particle of intelligence will ever be convinced by you that the same man can believe in divine and superhuman things, and yet at the same time not believe that there are gods and demigods and heroes. I have said enough in answer to the charge of Meletus. An elaborate defense is unnecessary. But as I was saying before, I have very many enemies, and this is what will be the cause of my destruction if I am to be destroyed today. Of that I am certain. Not because of Meletus, nor even because of Anytus, but the envy and the slander of the many will be responsible for my demise. The slander and envy of the many 7 The offspring of a union between god and mortal, or some other divine being. 8 A mule is the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse. Socrates argues that just as it would be contradictory for someone to believe in the existence of mules but not in the existence of horses, it would be equally contradictory for someone to believe in divine or spiritual beings (like demigods) but not believe in the existence of gods (which are parents to demigods and all other divine beings). Socrates accuses Meletus of peddling this contradiction, because he is a jester, and has nothing real to accuse Socrates of. 20

22 have resulted in the death of many good men, and they will continue to do so. There is no danger that this will stop with me. Someone will say, but are you not ashamed, Socrates, of a course of life which is likely to bring you to such an untimely end? To him I may fairly answer like this: there you are mistaken, because a man who is good for anything ought not to calculate the chance of living or dying before he engages in an activity. 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 one. Whereas, according to your view, the heroes who fell at Troy must not have been good for much also the son of Thetis [Achilles] who more than anyone feared being disgraced much more than he feared dying. And when his goddessmother said to him, in his eagerness to slay Hector, that if he avenged his companion Patroclus and slew Hector, then he would die himself Fate, as she said, waits upon you next after Hector Achilles, having heard this, and because he utterly despised death instead of fearing it, fearing rather to live in the dishonor he would suffer from not avenging his friend, replied to his mother: Let me die next then and be avenged of my enemy, rather than abide here by the ships, as a scorn and a burden of the earth. For wherever a man's station is, whether it is a station which he has chosen or that station in which he has been placed by a commander, there he ought to remain in the hour of danger. He should not think of death or of anything else, but only of disgrace. And this, Men of Athens, is a true saying. Now, when I was ordered by the generals, whom you chose to command me, to remain at my post in Potidaea and Amphipolis and Delium, 9 I did indeed remain where they placed me, like any other man, facing death. 10 So, how strange it would be if, 9 City-states that were either Athenian colonies subjects of the Athenian Empire. Many of Athen s subject cities revolted during the Peloponessian War. 10 Socrates fought in the early phases of the Peloponnesian War and was praised for his bravery (according to a few different sources). Athenian 21

23 when the god orders me to fulfill the philosopher's mission of examining myself and other men, I desert my post instead through a fear of death forsake the divine mission I was given. That would indeed be strange! And I might, only then, be justly arraigned in this court for denying the existence of the gods, for I would be guilty of disobeying the oracle out of a fear of death, thinking that I were wise when I was not. For the fear of death is merely the pretense of wisdom and not real wisdom. Fear of death is the appearance of knowing the unknown. No one knows whether death which many, in their fear, imagine to be the greatest evil may not instead be the greatest good. Is there not in the fear of death a pretense of knowledge, which is a disgraceful sort of ignorance? And this is the reason, as I think, I am superior to men in general, and in which I might perhaps fancy myself wiser than other men. Because unlike them, I do not pretend that I know the nature of the underworld, when in fact I know nothing of it. But I do know this. I know that doing injustice and disobedience to one s better, whether it is a god or man, is evil and dishonorable. And I will never fear a possible good more than fearing a certain evil. And therefore, if you let me go now, and reject the counsels of Anytus, who said that if I were not put to death I ought not to have been prosecuted; who said that if you let me escape, then your sons will all be utterly ruined by listening to my words; If you do not listen to Anytus and instead decide to let me go, and say to me, Socrates, this time we will not listen to Anytus, and we will let you go, but only on one condition, that you no longer inquire and that you no longer practice philosophy, and that if you are caught doing this again you shall die. If this were the condition on which you would let me go, I should reply thus, Men of Athens, I honor you and I love you, but I shall obey the god rather than obey you. And while I have life and strength, I shall never cease from the practice and teaching of philosophy, of examining anyone I general Laches is quoted as saying If all the Athenians had fought as bravely as Socrates, the Boeotians would have erected no (victory) statues. 22

24 meet in my usual ways and set to convince them, saying, oh, my friend, why do you, who are a citizen of the great and mighty and wise city of Athens, care so much about accumulating the greatest amount of money and honor and reputation, and yet care so little about wisdom and truth and the improvement of your soul, which you have never regarded or heeded at all? Are you not ashamed of this? And if the person with whom I am arguing says, yes, but I do care, then I will not simply depart or let him depart. Rather, I will interrogate him and examine him, and cross-examine him. And if I think that he has no virtue, but only says that he has, then I will reproach him and charge him having undervalued the greater and overvaluing the lesser. And this I should say to everyone whom I meet, young and old, citizen and foreigner, but especially the Athenian citizens, for they are my brethren. For this is the command given to me by the god, as I would have you know. And listen carefully Athenians, for I believe this: that to this day no greater good has ever been given to the city of Athens than my service to the god. For I do nothing but go about persuading you all, old and young alike, not to give consideration for your persons and your properties, but first and chiefly to care about the greatest improvement of your soul. I tell you that virtue is not granted by money, but that from virtue comes money and every other good of man, public as well as private. This is my teaching, and if this is the doctrine which corrupts the youth, my influence is ruinous indeed. But if anyone says that this is not my teaching, he is speaking lies. Therefore, Men of Athens, I say to you, do as Anytus bids or not as Anytus bids, and either acquit me or not. But know this, whatever you do, I shall never alter my ways, not even if it requires that I die many times over. [Socrates causes uproar among audience] Men of Athens, do not interrupt, but hear me. We had an agreement that you should hear me out without interruptions. And I think that what I am going to say will do you some good, for I have even more 23

25 Ancient Athens, circa 400 BC 24

26 to say, and again you will be inclined to cry out. But I beg you not to do this. Listen to me now. You must understand that if you kill such a person as I am, then you will injure yourselves more than you will injure me. Meletus and Anytus will not injure me. They cannot injure me. For it is not in the nature of things that a bad man can injure one who is his better. I do not deny that a worse man may, perhaps, kill a better man, or drive him into an exile, or deprive him of his civil rights. And here the worst man may imagine, and others may imagine, that he is doing the better man a great injury, but in that I do not agree with him. For the evil that Anytus is doing here of unjustly snatching away another man's life causes a much greater harm to himself than to me. And listen to this also, Athenians. The defense that I have been giving is more for your sake than my own. My defense is an attempt to save you from sinning against the god, or from lightly rejecting his gift to you. For I am the god s gift to Athens. And if you kill me, you will not easily find another like me. I am, if I may use such a ludicrous figure of speech, a sort of gadfly that has been attached to the state by the god. And the state is like a great and noble steed who is sluggish because of its size and thus requires to be stirred into life by a gadfly. I am that gadfly which god has given the state. And all day long, and in all places, I am always fastening upon you, arousing and persuading and reproaching you. And as you will not easily find another like me, I would advise you to spare me. I understand that you may feel irritated at being suddenly awakened when you are caught slumbering through life, and you may think that if you were to strike me dead, as Anytus advises, which you very well might do, that you then would be able to sleep on for the remainder of your lives unless God, in his care for you, gives you another gadfly. That I am given to you by God is proved by this: If I had been like other men, I should not have neglected all my own concerns, while choosing instead to attend to your soul, coming to you individually, 25

27 like a father or elder brother, exhorting you to regard virtue. This form of life is not quite recognizable as human nature. And had I gained anything, or if my philosophizing with you had resulted in pay, there would have been some sense in living life in such a way. But now, as you will perceive, not even the impudence of my accusers dares to say that I have ever exacted or sought to receive pay from anyone. They have no witness of that. And I have a witness of the truth of what I say, for my poverty is a sufficient witness. Someone may wonder why I go about in private, giving advice and busying myself with the concerns of others, but refuse to come forward in public and advise the state during our assemblies 11. I will tell you the reason of this. You have often heard me speak of an oracle or divine sign which comes to me, and is the divinity [daimon] which Meletus ridicules in the indictment. This sign I have had ever since I was a child. The sign is a voice which comes to me and always forbids me to do something which I might otherwise have an inclination to do, but it never commands me to do anything, and this is what stands in the way of my engaging in formal politics. And rightly, as I think. For I am certain, Men of Athens, that if I had engaged in politics, I should have perished long ago and done no good either to you or to myself. And don't be offended at my telling you the truth. For the truth is that no man who opposes you, or any other multitude, in the struggle for justice against the commission of injustice by the State will survive for very long. He who will really fight for the right and the good if he would like to live even for a little while must engage politics privately and not publicly. I can give you as proofs of this, not words only, but also deeds, which you value more than words. Let me describe to you another passage of my own life which will prove to you that I did not yield to injustice out of a fear of death, and that if I had not yielded to injustice that I should have died at 11 Athens was a direct democracy and major decisions were made by the citizens themselves who discussed matters and voted in large democratic assemblies. 26

28 once. I will tell you a story tasteless, perhaps, and commonplace but nevertheless true. The only office of state which I ever held, Men of Athens, was that of member of the council [the democratic council of Athens], from the tribe Antiochis, which is my tribe. Our tribe was presiding at the trial of the generals who had not taken up the bodies of the slain after the battle of Arginusae. And you proposed to try them all together, which was illegal, as you all thought afterwards. But at the time I was the only member of the committee who was opposed to this illegality, and I gave my vote against you. And when the orators threatened to impeach and arrest me and have me taken away, and when you screamed and shouted at me, I made up my mind that I would run the risk, having law and justice on my side, rather than take part in your injustice because I feared imprisonment and death. This happened in the days of the democracy. Similarly, when the oligarchy of the Thirty Tyrants was in power, they sent for me and four others, commanding us to bring them Leon from Salamis, as they wanted to execute him. This was the sort of command which they were always giving; the purpose of course was to implicate as many people as possible in their crimes. And then I showed, not in words only, but in deeds that, if I may be allowed to use such an expression, I cared not a straw for death and that my only fear was the fear of doing an unrighteous or impious thing. For the strong arm of the state s oppressive power did not frighten me into doing wrong. And when we came out of the rotunda, the other four went to Salamis and fetched Leon, but I went quietly home. And for this, I might have lost my life, had not the Thirty Tyrants not been overthrown shortly after the ordeal. And to this fact, many will witness. Now, do you really imagine that I could have survived all these years if I had led a public life, supposing that like a good man I had always supported the right and had made justice, as I ought, the first thing to consider in politics? No, indeed, Men of Athens, neither I nor any other could have survived. But I have always been the same in all my actions, public as well as private. And never have I been an 27

29 accomplice to those who are slanderously termed my disciples 12 or to any other. For the truth is that I have no disciples. But if anyone likes to come and hear me while I am pursuing my mission, whether he be young or old, he may freely come. Nor do I converse only with those who pay, neglecting those who would not pay. But anyone, whether he be rich or poor, may ask and answer me and listen to my words. And whether he turns out to be a bad man or a good one that cannot be justly laid at my feet, for I never taught him anything. And if anyone says that he has ever learned or heard anything from me in private which all the world has not heard, I should like you to know that he is speaking an untruth. But I shall be asked, Socrates, why do people delight in continually conversing with you? I have told you already, Men of Athens, the whole truth about this. They like to hear the cross-examination of those prominent Athenians who pretend to be wise. There is amusement in this. And this is a duty which the God has laid upon me. I am assured of this fact by oracles, visions, and in every sort of way in which the will of divine power has ever been communicated to anyone. This is true, Men of Athens. Or, if not true, it would be soon refuted. For if I am really corrupting the youth, and have corrupted some of them already, those of them who have grown up and have become sensible that I gave them bad advice in the days of their youth should come forward as accusers and take their revenge. And if they do not want to come themselves, then some of their relatives, fathers, brothers, or other kinsmen, should say what evil their families suffered at my hands. Now is their time. Many of them I see here in court. There is Crito, 12 Socrates refers to a few Athenians who were traitors to Athens, especially Critias (leader of the Thirty Tyrants) and Alcibiades (a prominent Athenian general who defected to Sparta during the Peloponnesian War). Both were associates of Socrates, but the extent to which these figures were his students or disciples meaning that he actively trained them in politics and philosophy is disputed. 28

30 Top. Alcibiades being Taught by Socrates, 1776 by François-André Vincent. In his youth, Alcibiades was a follower of Socrates and the two were friends who may also have also been engaged in a love affair. Socrates saved Alcibiades life in Potidaea and they fought together in other battles. Later in his thirties, when he was made a high ranking Athenian general, Alcibiades became a traitor to Athens, defecting to the Spartans in the final years of the Peloponnesian War. Alcibiades was good looking and rich one of the golden youth of the Athenian Aristocracy but also notorious for his extravagant lifestyle and loose morals. In fact, Socrates may have taken such an interest in the youth because he believed he could change Alcibiades from his uncontrolled, vain behavior. Sometimes described as the most gifted Athenian of his generation, Alcibiades possessed great charm and brilliant political and military abilities, but there is agreement among classical historians that Alcibiades was also a narcissistic sociopath. And his shifting of allegiances during the Peloponnesian War earned him a reputation for cunning and treachery. Alcibiades ruthless ambition and self-absorption, coupled with his treasons against Athens, strengthened the argument that Socrates was a corrupter of the youth. Bottom. Critias. In addition to being a talented poet and sophist in Athens, Critias, who had pro- Spartan sympathies, was another follower of Socrates in his youth. Later in life, Critias became leader of a ruthless group of oligarchic dictators known as the Thirty Tyrants who were installed by Sparta as the rulers of Athens at the conclusion of the Peloponnesian War. Amongst other atrocities, the Thirty killed off 5 percent of the Athenians population; their rule, however, was as short as it was violent, lasting for only 8 months before the restoration of Athenian democracy in 403 BC. Socrates was brought to trial on charges of impiety and corrupting the youth a few years later. 29

31 who is of the same age and of the same deme [tribe] with myself. And there is Critobulus his son, whom I also see. Then again there is Lysanias of Sphettus, who is the father of Aeschines he is present. And also there is Antiphon of Cephisus, who is the father of Epignes. And there are the brothers of several who have associated with me. There is Nicostratus the son of Theosdotides, and the brother of Theodotus (now Theodotus himself is dead, and therefore he, at any rate, will not seek to stop him). And there is Paralus the son of Demodocus, who had a brother Theages; and Adeimantus the son of Ariston, whose brother Plato 13 is present. And Aeantodorus, who is the brother of Apollodorus, whom I also see. I might mention a great many others, any of whom Meletus should have produced as witnesses in the course of his speech; and let him still produce them, if he has forgotten, I will make way for him to produce witness of my evil character. No, Men of Athens, the very opposite is the truth. For all these men are ready to witness on behalf of the corrupter, of the ruiner of their fellows, as Meletus and Anytus call me. Not only have the so-called corrupted youth refused to testify against me for there might have been a motive for not doing so but their uncorrupted elders and relatives have not come forward. Why should they too support me with their testimony? Why, indeed, except for the sake of truth and justice and because they know that I am speaking the truth and that Meletus is lying. Well, dear Athenians, this is nearly all the defense which I have to offer. Yet just a word more. Perhaps there may be someone who is offended at me, because he calls to mind how he himself, on a similar or even a less serious occasion, decided to supplicate the jury with many tears, and how he produced his children in the court, which was a moving spectacle together with a posse of his relations and friends. Whereas I, who am probably in danger of my life, am doing none of these things in order to seduce mercy. Perhaps this may come into his 13 Socrates numbers Plato as one of his followers. Plato (who recorded Socrates Apology) is undoubtedly including this reference to himself to assure the reader of the veracity of this record. 30

32 mind, and he may be set against me, and vote in anger because he is displeased at my lack of groveling. Now if there be such a person among you, and I am not affirming there is, but if there is, I may fairly reply to him: my friend, I am a man. And like other men, I am a creature of flesh and blood and not of wood or stone, as Homer says. And, yes, I have a family and sons. Athenians, I have three sons in number, one of whom is growing up, and the two others are still young. And yet I will not display them in order to petition you for an acquittal. And why not? My reason for not displaying my family in front of you simply is that I feel such conduct is beneath me. To do so would disgrace myself, as well as you, and even the state. One who has reached my years, and who has a reputation for wisdom, whether deserved or not, ought not to debase himself. At any rate, the world has decided that Socrates is in some way superior to other men. And if those among you who are also said to be superior in wisdom and courage, or any other virtue, demean themselves in this way, how shameful becomes their conduct! I have actually seen men of reputation, when they have been condemned in court, proceed to behave in the strangest and most wild manners. They seemed to fancy that they were going to suffer something dreadful if they were to die, as though they would be immortal if only you allowed them to live. And I think that they became a dishonor to the state. And more, any stranger coming in, seeing them like this, would say of them that the most eminent men of Athens to whom the Athenians themselves give great honor and command are really no better than women. 14 And so I say that these things ought not to be done by those of us who have reputations for greatness. And if these sorts of disgraces are done by others, you ought to be quick in not permitting them. You ought rather to show that you are more inclined to condemn not the man who is quiet, but rather the man who puts up 14 Socrates misogyny is quite evident here. Athens (and much of the Greek world) did not recognize the dignity of women and neither did Athens afford women with social or formal equality to men. 31

33 a woeful scene of begging for his life and thus makes the city appear ridiculous. But, setting aside the question of dishonor, there seems to be something wrong in petitioning a judge like this procuring an acquittal through pity instead of informing and convincing the judge. For the duty of a judge is not to make a gift of justice, but to give judgment. And he has sworn that he will judge according to the laws and not according to his own good pleasure. And neither he nor we should get into the habit of perjuring ourselves. There can be no piety in that. Do not then require or expect of me to do what I consider dishonorable and impious and wrong, especially now, when I am being tried for impiety on the indictment of Meletus. In fact, Men of Athens, if on force of persuasion and entreaty, I could overpower the oaths you have taken, then I should be teaching you to believe that there are no gods, and thus convict myself, in my own defense, of not believing in them. But that is not the case. For I do believe that there are gods, and I believe in the gods more profoundly than do any of my accusers believe in them! And so to you, and to the god, I commit my cause to be determined by you as is best for you and me. The jury finds Socrates guilty. There are many reasons why I am not grieved, Men of Athens, at the vote of conviction. I expected it. Indeed, I am quite surprised that the votes were so nearly equal. I had figured that the majority against me would have been far larger than it was. But had just thirty votes gone over to the other side, then I should have been acquitted, 15 and I would have been able to say that I had escaped Meletus. But I may say more. Without the assistance of Anytus and Lycon, Meletus would not have won even a fifth of the votes (as the law requires), in 15 Given that there 50 jurors, the vote was incredibly close, 280 found him guilty, while 220 found him innocent. 32

34 which case Meletus would have incurred a fine of a thousand drachmae. Counter-Proposal for Sentencing And so Meletus proposes death as the penalty. And what shall I propose on my part, Men of Athens? Clearly, I should propose that which I am due. And what is that I am due? What ought I pay or receive? What should be done to the man who has never had the wit to be idle during his whole life, but has cared precious little about those things which the multitude care about: wealth, family interests, military offices, speaking in the assembly, and plots, and parties, and gossip, and trivialities. Understanding that I was really too authentic of a man to follow that manner of living, I did not go where I could do no good to you or to myself. But to those places where I could do the greatest good, to every one of you, there I went and sought to persuade every man among you that he must look and understand himself, seeking virtue and wisdom before he looks to his private interests. He must look to the state before he looks to the possessions of the state. And that this should be the order which he observes in all his actions; that is what I sought to persuade him of. So, what shall be done with such a man as me? Doubtless some good thing, Men of Athens. He should be rewarded. And the good should be something appropriate to him. Now, what then would be a reward suitable to a poor man who is your benefactor, who desires leisure so that he may have time to instruct you? There can be no more fitting reward for such a man than to feed and house him in the Prytaneum. Oh, Men of Athens, such a man would be far more deserving of this than the citizen who wins the prize at Olympia in the horse or chariot race. For I am in want, and the athlete has plenty. And he only gives you the appearance of happiness, where I give you the reality of it. 33

35 And so if I am to estimate the penalty justly, I say this of what I deserve: free meals in the Prytaneum. 16 Perhaps you may think that I am speaking arrogantly by saying this, as in what I said before about the tears and prayers. But that is not the case. I speak like this rather because I am convinced that I never intentionally wronged anyone, although I cannot convince you of that, for we have had a short conversation only. But if there were a law in Athens, such as there is in other cities, that a capital offense should not be decided in one day only, then I believe that I should have convinced you. But now the time is too short; I cannot in a moment refute a mass of lies and slanders. And, because I have never wronged anyone, I will surely not start now by wronging myself. I will not say of myself that I deserve any evil, or propose any penalty for myself. Why should I? Because I am afraid of the penalty of death which Meletus has proposed? If I do not even know whether death is a good or an evil thing, why then should I propose a penalty which would certainly be an evil? Shall I say imprisonment? And why should I live in prison and be the slave of the magistrates of the year, of the Eleven? 17 Or shall the penalty be a fine, and imprisonment until the fine is paid? There is the same objection. I should have to lie in prison, for I have no money, and I cannot pay. And if I say exile (and this may possibly be the penalty which you will choose), I must indeed be blinded by a love of life if I were to consider that when you, my own citizens, cannot endure my words and have found them so grievous and odious that you have chosen to snuff me out that others in different cities would be likely to endure me. No, indeed, Men of Athens, that is not very likely. And what sort of life 16 The Prytaneum was a large public town-hall in Ancient Greek city-states. Before the abolition of the monarchies, it was where the King-archons resided. At this time, it would have been used to hosts ambassadors, distinguished foreigners, and Olympic athletes. 17 Through a random lottery, Athens elected 700 city magistrates among the civilians, officers who administered the city s various legal institutions. Included among the 700 magistrates were eleven men in charge of the prison who were called, simply, the Eleven. 34

36 should I lead at my age, wandering from city to city, living in everchanging exiles, and always being driven out! For I am quite sure that into whatever place I go, as here so also there, the young men will come to me. And if I drive them away, their elders will drive me out at their desire. And yet if I let them come, their fathers and friends will drive me out for their sakes. Someone will say, yes, Socrates, but can t you just hold your tongue, and then you will be able to move into a foreign city, and no one will interfere with you? Now, I will have great difficulty in making you understand my answer to this. For if I tell you that staying quiet would mean disobeying a divine command, and that therefore I cannot hold my tongue, you will not believe that I am serious. And if I say again that the greatest good for a man is daily to converse about virtue and how to live well, then you will again not believe that I am being sincere. And further, if say still that all those things about which you hear me examining myself are of the most importance in life and moreover if I say, putting it simply, that the unexamined life is not worth living well, that you are still less likely to believe. And yet what I say here is the truth, although it is difficult for me to persuade you of these things. Moreover, I am not accustomed to thinking that I deserve any punishment. Now, had I money, I might have proposed to give you what I had, and I would have been none the worse for it. But you see that I have no money, and can only ask you to proportion the fine to my means. However, I think that I could afford one minae. Therefore, I propose that as a penalty. Ah, Plato, Crito, Critobulus, and Apollodorus, my friends here, bid me say thirty minae, and they will be the guarantors. Well then, thirty minae. Let that be the penalty. The jury condemns Socrates to death. 35

37 36

38 Socrates' Comments on His Sentence Not much time will be gained, Men of Athens, in return for the evil reputation you will receive from this city s critics. They will say that you have killed Socrates, a wise man. For they will call me wise even though I am not wise when they want to reproach you. If you had waited just a little while longer, your desire would have been fulfilled in the course of nature. For I am far advanced in years, as you may perceive, and not far from death already. 18 I am speaking now only to those of you who have condemned me to death. And I have another thing to say to you. You think that I was convicted through deficiency of words that if I had thought fit to leave nothing undone, nothing unsaid, that I might have gained an acquittal. Not so. The deficiency which led to my conviction was not of words certainly not. Rather I did not demonstrate the impudence or the inclination to address you as you would have liked to been addressed, with me weeping and wailing and lamenting and all the rest, saying and doing many things which you have been accustomed to hear from others and which, as I say, are beneath me. 19 But I thought that I ought not do anything common or disgraceful here in the hour of danger. Nor do I regret the manner of my defense. I would rather die having behaved and spoken in my own manner, than behave in your manner and live. For neither in war nor in law ought 18 One ancient historian wrote that a larger majority of jurors voted to put Socrates to death than voted for Socrates' initial conviction. 280 jurors originally voted to convict Socrates of impiety, but after the guilty verdict (when the jury was to vote on punishment) 360 voted for kill him. So, after listening to Socrates post-conviction remarks, 80 additional jurors who had just moments before believed that Socrates was innocent (or at least not proven to be guilty) changed their minds and then voted to put him to death instead of allowing him to pay a fine! 19 Pleading the jurors for mercy, and bringing ones family before them, was very common at trial. Socrates, of course, ridicules that sort of behavior as beneath him. Far from begging for his life, Socrates proposes, after all, that for his punishment he be permanently fed and housed by the state in one of its most sacred public buildings. 37

39 any man to use every means in order to escape death. For often in battle there is no doubt that if a man will throw away his arms and fall on his knees before his enemies that he may escape death. And in other dangers there are other ways of escaping death, that is, if a man is willing to say and do anything to stay alive. The difficulty, my friends, is not in avoiding death, but in avoiding wickedness. For wickedness runs faster than death. I am old and I move slowly, and thus the slower runner has overtaken me. But my accusers are keen and quick, and it is the faster runner, wickedness, who has overtaken them. And now I depart, condemned by you to suffer the penalty of death. And they, too, go their ways, condemned by the truth to suffer the penalty of wickedness. I must abide by my award. Let them abide by theirs. I suppose that these things may be regarded as fated. And I think that they are fated well. And now, men who have condemned me, I would offer a prophesy to you. For I am about to die, and that is the hour in which men are gifted with prophetic power. And I prophesy to you, you men who are my murderers: immediately after my death punishment, consequences far heavier than what you have inflicted on me will surely await you. You have killed me because you wanted to escape having to give an account of your life. But that will not be as you suppose far from it, in fact. For I say that there will be more examiners of you than there are now, examiners and inquirers and young philosophers whom hitherto I have restrained. And because they are younger, they will be more severe with you, and you will be more offended by them. For if you think that just by killing men off you can avoid philosophers challenging how you live your life then you gravely mistaken. That is not a way of escape which is either possible or honorable. The easiest and noblest way is not to crush others, but to improve yourselves. To the men who have murdered me, this is the prophecy which I utter before my departure. Friends, who would have acquitted me, I would like also to talk with you about this thing which has happened, while the magistrates are 38

40 busy and before I go to the place where I must die. Stay then a while, for we may as well talk with one another while there is still time. You are my friends, and I should like to show you the meaning of this event which has happened to me. Oh, my judges for you I may truly call judges I should like to tell you of a wonderful circumstance. Hitherto the familiar sign [daimon] 20 within me has constantly been in the habit of opposing me, even about trivial things, whenever I was in danger of making a slip or error about something. And now, as you see, there has come upon me that thing which is generally believed to be the last and worst evil. But the sign has made no show of opposition, neither when I was leaving my house and going out in the morning or when I was going up into this court, nor while I was speaking. And yet I have often been stopped right in the middle of a speech by the sign of the god. But now, nowhere during this trial, not from anything I sad or did, has the god opposed me. What do I take to be the explanation of this? I will tell you. I regard this as a proof that what has happened to me is a good, and that those of us who think that death is an evil are in error. This is a great proof to me of what I am saying, for my sign would surely have opposed me had I been heading in the direction of an evil and not a good. Now, let us reflect in another way, and we shall see that there is very good reason to hope that death is a good. Either death is a state of nothingness and utter unconsciousness or, as men say, there is a change and migration of the soul from this world to another. Now, if you suppose that there is no consciousness, but rather a deep sleep like the sleep of he who is undisturbed even by the sight of dreams, death will be an unspeakable gain. For if a person were to select the night in which his sleep was undisturbed even by dreams, and were to compare this with the other days and nights of his life, and if he were then to tell us how many days and nights he had passed in the course 20 Socrates once again refers to his daimon Greek for spirit. It is his spiritual connection to the gods. Socrates says that his daimon functions as a sort of sign that comes to him whenever he is about to engage in something that he should not engage in. 39

41 of his life that were better and more pleasant than this one, I think that any man, even a great king, will not find many. Now if death is like this, I say that to die is a gain. For eternity is then only a single night. But if death is the journey to another place where as men say all the dead are together then what thing, my friends and judges, could be greater than this? If indeed when the pilgrim arrives in the world below, if he is delivered from the appearance of justice in this world and finds the true judges there Minos and Rhadamanthus and Aeacus and Triptolemus and other sons of gods who were righteous in their own life then that pilgrimage will be worth making. What would a man not give if he might converse with Orpheus and Musaeus and Hesiod and Homer? Nay, if this be true, let me die again and again. I too shall have a wonderful interest in a place where I can converse with Palamedes, and Ajax the son of Telamon, and other heroes of old, who have also suffered death through an unjust judgment. And there will be no small pleasure, as I think, in comparing my own sufferings with theirs. Above all, I shall be able to continue my search into true and false knowledge. As in this world, so also in that. I shall find out who is wise, and who merely pretends to be wise but is not. What would a man not give, oh judges, to be able to examine the leader of the great Trojan expedition, or Odysseus or Sisyphus, or numberless other men and women too! What infinite delight would there be in conversing with them and asking them questions! For in that world they do not put a man to death for this! Certainly not. For besides being happier in that world than in this, they will be immortal, if what is said is true. Therefore, oh judges, be of good cheer about death, and know this truth: that no evil can happen to a good man, either in life or after death. Good men are not neglected by the gods. Nor has my own approaching end happened by mere chance. But I see clearly that to die and be released from life was better for me. And therefore the god gave me no sign. For this reason also, I am not angry with my 40

42 accusers, or my condemners. They have done me no harm, although neither of them meant to do me any good. And for this I may gently blame them. Still I have a favor to ask of them. When my sons are grown up, I would ask you to punish them. And I would have you trouble them, as I have troubled you, if they seem to care about riches or anything else more than they care about virtue. Or if they pretend to be something when they are really nothing, then you shall reproach them, as I have reproached you, for not caring about that for which they ought to care, and thinking that they are something when they are really nothing. And if you do this, I and my sons will have received justice at your hands. The hour of departure has arrived and now we go our separate ways I to die and you to live. Which is better, only the god knows. THE END 41

43 Socrates was sentenced to death by hemlock, a highly poisonous herb that Socrates drank as a tea. There is some debate over how painful this would have been. According to Plato s account of Socrates death in the Phaedo (another of Plato s philosophical works), after drinking the poison, Socrates was instructed to walk around his cell until he lost feeling in his legs. After Socrates laid down, the numbness slowly crept up his body until it reached his heart, killing the philosopher. 42