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🟡 Apology of Socrates (Alternate Reading) (Full Audiobook) | Plato · Occult & Supernatural Audiobooks: Forbidden Rituals, Esoteric Texts & Paranormal Tales

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  Speaker 1: The Apology of Socrates by Plato in the translation by
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  Speaker 1: Benjamin Jowat. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings
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  Speaker 1: are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Father Zili of Detroit, Michigan.
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  Speaker 1: Part one of the Apology of Socrates by Plato.
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  Speaker 2: How you have felt, o, men of Athens, at hearing
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  Speaker 2: the speeches of my accusers? I cannot tell, but I
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  Speaker 2: know that their persuasive words almost made me forget who
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  Speaker 2: I was. Such was the effect of them. And yet
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  Speaker 2: they have hardly spoken a word of truth. But many
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  Speaker 2: as their falsehoods were, there was one of them which
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  Speaker 2: quite amazed me. I mean, when they told you to
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  Speaker 2: be upon your guard and not to let yourself be
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  Speaker 2: deceived by the force of my eloquence. They ought to
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  Speaker 2: have been ashamed of saying this, because they were sure
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  Speaker 2: to be detected as soon as I opened my lips
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  Speaker 2: and displayed my deficiency. They certainly did appear to be
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  Speaker 2: most shameless in saying this, unless by the force of
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  Speaker 2: eloquence they mean the force of truth. But then I
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  Speaker 2: do indeed admit that I am eloquent, but in how
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  Speaker 2: different a way from theirs. Well, as I was saying,
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  Speaker 2: they have hardly uttered a word, or not more than
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  Speaker 2: a word of truth. But you shall hear from me
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  Speaker 2: the whole truth, not, however, delivered after their manner in
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  Speaker 2: a set oration, duly ornamented with words and phrases. No, indeed,
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  Speaker 2: but I shall use the words and arguments which occurred
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  Speaker 2: to me at the moment. For I am certain that
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  Speaker 2: this is right, that at my time of life, I
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  Speaker 2: ought not to be appearing before you, o men of Athens,
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  Speaker 2: in the character of a juvenile orator. Let no one
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  Speaker 2: expect this of me, and I must beg of you
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  Speaker 2: to grant me one favor, which is this, if you
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  Speaker 2: hear me using the same words in my defense which
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  Speaker 2: I have been in the habit of using, and which
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  Speaker 2: most of you may have heard in the Agorah and
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  Speaker 2: at the tables of the money changers, or anywhere else,
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  Speaker 2: I would ask you not to be surprised at this,
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  Speaker 2: and not to interrupt me, for I am more than
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  Speaker 2: seventy years of age, and this is the first time
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  Speaker 2: that I have ever appeared in a court of law,
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  Speaker 2: and I am quite a stranger to the ways of
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  Speaker 2: the place, and therefore I would have you regard me
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  Speaker 2: as if I were really a stranger, whom you would
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  Speaker 2: if he spoke in his native tongue and after the
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  Speaker 2: fashion of his country. That I think is not an
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  Speaker 2: unfair request. Never mind the manner, which may or may
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  Speaker 2: not be good, but think only of the justice of
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  Speaker 2: my cause, and give heed to that. Let the judge
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  Speaker 2: decide justly, and the speaker speak truly. And first I
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  Speaker 2: have to reply to the older charges and to my
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  Speaker 2: first accusers, and then I will go on to the
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  Speaker 2: later ones. For I have had many accusers who accuse
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  Speaker 2: me of old and their false charges have continued during
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  Speaker 2: many years. I am more afraid of them than of
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  Speaker 2: Antus and his associates, who are dangerous too in their
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  Speaker 2: own way. But far more dangerous are these who began
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  Speaker 2: when you were children and took possession of your minds
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  Speaker 2: with their falsehoods. Telling of one Socrates, a wise man
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  Speaker 2: who speculated about the heavens above, and searched into the
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  Speaker 2: earth beneath, and made the worse appear the better. Cause
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  Speaker 2: these are the accusers whom I dread. So they are
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  Speaker 2: the circulators of this rumor, and their hearers are too
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  Speaker 2: apt to fancy that speculators of this sort do not
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  Speaker 2: believe in the gods. And they are many, and their
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  Speaker 2: charges against me are of ancient date, and they made
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  Speaker 2: them in the days when you were impressible in childhood,
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  Speaker 2: or perhaps in youth, and the cause when heard by default,
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  Speaker 2: for there were none to answer. And hardest of all
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  Speaker 2: their names I do not know, and cannot tell, unless
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  Speaker 2: in the chance of a comic poet. But the main
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  Speaker 2: body of these slanders, who from envy and malice have
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  Speaker 2: brought upon you, and there are some of them who
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  Speaker 2: are convinced themselves and impart their convictions to others. All these,
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  Speaker 2: I say, are most difficult to deal with, for I
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  Speaker 2: cannot have them up here and examine them. And therefore
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  Speaker 2: I must simply fight with shadows in my own defense
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  Speaker 2: and examine. When there is no one who answers. I
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  Speaker 2: will ask you then to assume with me as I
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  Speaker 2: was saying, that my opponents are of two kinds, one recent,
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  Speaker 2: the other ancient. And I hope that you will see
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  Speaker 2: the propriety of my answering the latter first, For these
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  Speaker 2: accusations you heard long before the others, and much oftener. Well,
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  Speaker 2: then I will make my defense. I will endeavor in
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  Speaker 2: the short time which is allowed, to do away with
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  Speaker 2: this evil opinion of me which you have held for
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  Speaker 2: such a long time. And I hope I may succeed
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  Speaker 2: if this be well for you and me, and that
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  Speaker 2: my words may find favor with you. But I know
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  Speaker 2: that to accomplish this is not easy. I quite see
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  Speaker 2: the nature of the task. Let the event be as
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  Speaker 2: God wills. In obedience to the law, I make my defense.
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  Speaker 2: I will begin at the beginning and ask what the
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  Speaker 2: accusation is which has given rise to this slander of me,
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  Speaker 2: and which has encouraged militias to proceed against me. What
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  Speaker 2: do the slanderers say? They shall be my prosecutors, and
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  Speaker 2: I will sum up their words in an affidavit. Socrates
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  Speaker 2: is an evildoer and a curious person who searches into
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  Speaker 2: things under the earth and in heaven, and he makes
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  Speaker 2: the worse appear the better cause, and he teaches the
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  Speaker 2: aforesaid doctrines to others. That is the nature of the accusation,
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  Speaker 2: and that is what you have seen yourselves in the
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  Speaker 2: comedy of Aristophanes, who has introduced a man whom he
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  Speaker 2: calls Socrates going about and saying that he can walk
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  Speaker 2: in the air, and talking a great deal of nonsense
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  Speaker 2: concerning matters of which I do not pretend to know
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  Speaker 2: either much or little. Not that I mean to say
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  Speaker 2: anything disparaging of any one who is a student of
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  Speaker 2: natural philosophy. I should be very sorry if Melitus could
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  Speaker 2: lay that to my charge. But the simple truth is,
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  Speaker 2: o Athenians, that I have nothing to do with these studies.
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  Speaker 2: Very many of those here present are witnesses to the
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  Speaker 2: truth of this, and to them I appeal. Speak, then,
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  Speaker 2: you who have hurt me, and tell your neighbors whether
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  Speaker 2: any of you have ever known me to hold forth
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  Speaker 2: in few words or in many upon matters of this sort.
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  Speaker 2: You hear their answer, and from what they say of
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  Speaker 2: this you will be able to judge of the truth
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  Speaker 2: of the rest. As little foundation is there for the
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  Speaker 2: report that I am a teacher and take money. That
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  Speaker 2: is no more true than the other. Although if a
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  Speaker 2: man is able to teach, I honor him for being paid.
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  Speaker 2: There is Gorgias of Leontium, and Protocus of Chaos, and
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  Speaker 2: Hippeus of Ellis, who go the round of the cities
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  Speaker 2: and are able to persuade the young men to leave
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  Speaker 2: their own citizens by whom they might be taught for nothing,
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  Speaker 2: and come to them, whom they not only pay, but
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  Speaker 2: are thankful if they may be allowed to pay them.
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  Speaker 2: There is actually a hurryan philosopher residing in Athens, of
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  Speaker 2: whom I have heard, and I came to hear of him.
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  Speaker 2: In this way I met a man who has spent
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  Speaker 2: a world of money on the sophists, Callius, the son
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  Speaker 2: of Hipponicus, And knowing that he had sons, I asked him, Callius,
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  Speaker 2: I said, if your two sons were foals or calves,
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  Speaker 2: there would be no difficulty in finding someone to put
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  Speaker 2: over them. We should hire a trainer of horses, or
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  Speaker 2: a farmer, probably, who would improve and perfect them in
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  Speaker 2: their own proper virtue and excellence. But as they are
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  Speaker 2: human beings, whom are you thinking of placing over them?
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  Speaker 2: Is there anyone who understands human and political virtue? You
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  Speaker 2: must have thought about this, as you have sons. Is
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  Speaker 2: there anyone there is? He said? Who is? He said I?
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  Speaker 2: And of what country? And what does he charge? Evanous
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  Speaker 2: the Parian, He replied, he is the man, and his
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  Speaker 2: charge is five My name happy is Evanous, I said
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  Speaker 2: to myself, If he really has this wisdom and teaches
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  Speaker 2: at such a modest charge, had I the same, I
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  Speaker 2: should have been very proud and conceited. But the truth
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  Speaker 2: is that I have no knowledge of the kind o Athenians.
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  Speaker 2: I dare say that someone will ask the question, why
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  Speaker 2: is this Socrates, and what is the origin of these
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  Speaker 2: accusations of you? Or there must have been something strange
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  Speaker 2: which you have been doing all this great fame and
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  Speaker 2: talk about you would never have arisen if you had
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  Speaker 2: been like other men. Tell us then why this is?
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  Speaker 2: As we should be sorry to judge hastily of you.
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  Speaker 2: Now I regard this as a fair challenge, and I
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  Speaker 2: will endeavor to explain to you the origin of this
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  Speaker 2: name of wise and of this evil fame. Please attend then,
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  Speaker 2: And although some of you may think I am joking,
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  Speaker 2: I declare that I will tell you the entire truth.
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  Speaker 2: Men of Athens, This reputation of mine has come of
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  Speaker 2: a certain sort of wisdom which I possess. If you
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  Speaker 2: ask me what kind of wisdom, I reply, such wisdom
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  Speaker 2: as is attainable by man. For to that extent I
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  Speaker 2: am inclined to believe that I am wise, whereas the
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  Speaker 2: persons of whom I was speaking have a superhuman wisdom
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  Speaker 2: which I may fail to describe because I have it
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  Speaker 2: not myself. And he who says that I have speaks
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  Speaker 2: falsely and is taking away my character. And here o,
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  Speaker 2: men of Athens, I must beg you not to interrupt me,
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  Speaker 2: even if I seem to say something extravagant, or the
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  Speaker 2: word which I will speak is not mine. I will
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  Speaker 2: refer you to a witness who is worthy of credit,
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  Speaker 2: and will tell you about my wisdom, whether I have
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  Speaker 2: any and of what sort, And that witness shall be
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  Speaker 2: the God of Delphi. You must have known Caaphon. He
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  Speaker 2: was early a friend of mine and also a friend
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  Speaker 2: of yours, for he shared in the exile of the
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  Speaker 2: people and returned with you.
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  Speaker 1: Well.
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  Speaker 2: Charaphan, as you know, was very impetuous in all his doings,
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  Speaker 2: and he went to Delphi and boldly asked the oracle
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  Speaker 2: to tell him whether, as I was saying, I must
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  Speaker 2: beg you not to interrupt. He asked the oracle to
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  Speaker 2: tell him whether there was anyone wiser than I was,
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  Speaker 2: and the Pythian prophetess answered that there was no man wiser.
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  Speaker 2: Charaphon is dead himself, but his brother, who is in court,
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  Speaker 2: will confirm the truth of this story. Why do I
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  Speaker 2: mention this because I am going to explain to you
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  Speaker 2: why I have such an evil name. When I heard
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  Speaker 2: the answer, I said to myself, what can the God mean?
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  Speaker 2: And what is the interpretation of this riddle? For I
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  Speaker 2: know that I have no wisdom, small or great? What
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  Speaker 2: can he mean when he says that I am the
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  Speaker 2: wisest of men? And yet he is a god and
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  Speaker 2: cannot lie that would be against his nature. After a
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  Speaker 2: long consideration, I at last thought of a method of
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  Speaker 2: trying the question. I reflected that if I could only
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  Speaker 2: find a man wiser than myself, then I might go
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  Speaker 2: to the God with a refutation in my hand. I
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  Speaker 2: should say to him, here is a man who is
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  Speaker 2: wiser than I am, But you said that I was
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  Speaker 2: the wisest. Accordingly, I went to one who had the
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  Speaker 2: reputation of wisdom and observed to him his name. I
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  Speaker 2: need not mention. He was a politician whom I selected
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  Speaker 2: for examination, and the result was as follows. When I
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  Speaker 2: began to talk with him, I could not help thinking
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  Speaker 2: that he was not really wise, Although he was thought
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  Speaker 2: wise by many, and wiser still by himself. And I
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  Speaker 2: went and tried to explain to him that he thought
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  Speaker 2: himself wise but was not really wise. And the consequence
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  Speaker 2: was that he hated me, and his enmity was shared
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  Speaker 2: by several who were present and heard me. So I
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  Speaker 2: left him, saying to myself as I went away, well,
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  Speaker 2: although I do not suppose that either of us knows
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  Speaker 2: anything really beautiful and good, I am better off than
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  Speaker 2: he is, for he knows nothing, and thinks that he knows.
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  Speaker 2: I neither know nor think that I know. In this
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  Speaker 2: latter particular, then I seemed to have slightly the advantage
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  Speaker 2: of him. Then I went to another, who had still
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  Speaker 2: higher philosophical pretensions, and my conclusion was exactly the same.
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  Speaker 2: I made another enemy of him, and of many others
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  Speaker 2: besides him. After this, I went to one man after another,
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  Speaker 2: being not unconscious of the enmity which I provoked. And
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  Speaker 2: I lamented and feared this, But necessity was laid upon me.
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  Speaker 2: The word of God, I thought ought to be considered first,
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  Speaker 2: and I said to myself, go, I must to all
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  Speaker 2: who appear to know and find out the meaning of
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  Speaker 2: the oracle. And I swear to you Athenians, by the
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  Speaker 2: dog I swear, for I must tell you the truth.
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  Speaker 2: The result of my mission was just this. I found
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  Speaker 2: that the men most in repute were all but the
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  Speaker 2: most foolish, and that some inferior men were really wiser
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  Speaker 2: and better. I will tell you the tale of my
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  Speaker 2: wanderings and of the herculean labors, as I may call them,
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  Speaker 2: which I endured, only to find at last the oracle irrefutable.
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  Speaker 2: When I left the politicians, I went to the poets, tragic,
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  Speaker 2: dithyrambic and all sorts. And there I said to myself,
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  Speaker 2: you will be detected. Now you will find out that
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  Speaker 2: you are more ignorant than they. Accordingly, I took them
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  Speaker 2: some of the most elaborate passages in their own writings
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  Speaker 2: and asked what was the meaning of them, thinking that
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  Speaker 2: they would teach me something? Will you believe me? I
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  Speaker 2: am almost ashamed to speak of this, but still I
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  Speaker 2: must say that there is hardly a person present who
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  Speaker 2: would not have talked better about their poetry than they
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  Speaker 2: did themselves. That showed me in an instant that not
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  Speaker 2: by wisdom do poets write poetry, but by a sort
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  Speaker 2: of genius and inspiration. They are like diviners or soothsayers,
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  Speaker 2: who also say many fine things, but do not understand
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  Speaker 2: the meaning of them. And the poets appeared to me
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  Speaker 2: to be much in the same case. And I further
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  Speaker 2: observed that upon the strength of their poetry, they believed
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  Speaker 2: themselves to be the wisest of men in other things
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  Speaker 2: in which they were not wise. So I departed, conceiving
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  Speaker 2: myself to be superior to them, for the same reason
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  Speaker 2: that I was superior to the politicians. At last, I
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  Speaker 2: went to the artisans, for I was conscious that I
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  Speaker 2: knew nothing at all, as I may say, and I
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  Speaker 2: was sure that they knew many fine things. And in
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  Speaker 2: this I was not mistaken, for they did know many
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  Speaker 2: things of which I was ignorant, and in this they
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  Speaker 2: certainly were wiser than I was. But I observed that
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  Speaker 2: even the good artisans fell into the same error as
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  Speaker 2: the poets. Because they were good workmen, they thought that
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  Speaker 2: they also knew all sorts of high matters, and this
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  Speaker 2: defect in them overshadowed their wisdom. Therefore, I asked myself
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  Speaker 2: on behalf of the oracle, whether I would like to
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  Speaker 2: be as I was, neither having their knowledge nor their
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  Speaker 2: ignorance or like them in both, and I made answer
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  Speaker 2: to myself and the oracle that I was better off
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  Speaker 2: as I was. This investigation has led to my having
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  Speaker 2: many enemies of the worst and most dangerous kind, and
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  Speaker 2: has given occasion also to many columnies. And I am
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  Speaker 2: called wise, for my hearers always imagine that I myself
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  Speaker 2: possess the wisdom which I find wanting in others. But
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  Speaker 2: the truth is O Men of Athens, that God only
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  Speaker 2: is wise. And in this oracle he means to say
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  Speaker 2: that the wisdom of men is little or nothing. He
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  Speaker 2: is not speaking of Socrates. He is only using my
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: name as an illustration, as if he said he, O Men,
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  Speaker 2: is the wisest who, like Socrates, knows that that his
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  Speaker 2: wisdom is in truth worth nothing. And so I go
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  Speaker 2: my way, obedient to the God, and make inquisition into
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  Speaker 2: the wisdom of anyone, whether citizen or stranger, who appears
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  Speaker 2: to be wise. And if he is not wise, then,
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  Speaker 2: in vindication of the oracle, I show him that he
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  Speaker 2: is not wise. And this occupation quite absorbs me, and
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  Speaker 2: I have no time to give either to any public
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  Speaker 2: matter of interest or to any concern of my own.
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  Speaker 2: But am in utter poverty by reason of my devotion
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  Speaker 2: to the God.
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  Speaker 1: And of Part one of the Apology of Socrates by
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  Speaker 1: Plato has translated by Benjamin Jowat. Recording by Father Ziley, Detroit, Michigan.
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  Speaker 1: Part two View of the Apology of Socrates by Plato
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  Speaker 1: in the translation by Benjamin Jowat. This is a LibriVox recording.
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  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: by Father Zilee of Detroit, Michigan, June two thousand and seven.
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  Speaker 1: The Apology of Socrates by Plato, translated by Benjamin Jowat,
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  Speaker 1: Part two.
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  Speaker 2: There is another thing. Young men of the richer classes,
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  Speaker 2: who have not much to do, come about me of
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  Speaker 2: their own accord. They like to hear the pretenders examined,
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: and they often imitate me and examine others themselves. There
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: are plenty of persons, as they soon enough discover, who
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: think that they know something, but really little or nothing.
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: And then those who are examined by them, instead of
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  Speaker 2: being angry with themselves, are angry with me. This confounded Socrates,
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  Speaker 2: They say, this villainous misleader of youth and then if
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: somebody asks them, why what evil does he practice or teach?
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  Speaker 2: They do not know and cannot tell. But in order
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: that they may not appear to be at a loss,
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: they repeat the ready made charges which are used against
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: all philosophers, about teaching things up in the clouds and
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: under the earth, and having no gods, and making the
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: worse appear the better cause, for they do not like
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  Speaker 2: to confess that their pretense of knowledge has been detected,
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  Speaker 2: which is the truth. And as they are numerous, and ambitious,
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  Speaker 2: and energetic, and are all in battle array, and have
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: persuasive tongues, they have filled your ears with their loud
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: and inveterate columnies. And this is the reason why my
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: three accusers, Molytus, Anetus, and Lycon have set upon me. Molytus,
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  Speaker 2: who has a quarrel with me on behalf of the poets,
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: anetas On behalf of the craftsman, likan On behalf of
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: the rhetoricians. And as I said at the beginning, I
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: cannot expect to get rid of this mass of calumny
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: in a moment. And this o Men of Athens, is
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: the truth and the whole truth I have concealed nothing.
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: I have dissembled nothing, And yet I know that this
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: plainness of speech makes them hate me. And what is
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: their hate but a proof that I am speaking the truth.
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: This is the occasion and reason of their slander of me,
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: as you will find out, either in this or in
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: any future inquiry. I have said enough in my defense
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: against the first class of my accusers. I turn to
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: the second class, who are headed by Melitus, that good
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: and patriotic man, as he calls himself. And now I
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: will try to defend myself against him. These new accusers
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: must also have their affidavit read. What do they say
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: something of this? That Socrates is a doer of evil
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: and corruptor of the youth, that he does not believe
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: in the gods of the state, and has other new
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: divinities of his own. That is the sort of charge.
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: And now let us examine the particular counts. He says
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: that I am a doer of evil who corrupt the youth.
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: But I say, o, men of Athens, that Meletus is
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: a doer of evil, and the evil is that he
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: makes a joke of a serious matter and is too
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: ready at bringing other men to trial from a pretended
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: zeal and interest about matters in which he really never
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: had the smallest interest. And the truth of this I
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: will endeavor to prove. Come hither, Melitus, and let me
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: ask a question of you. You think a great deal
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: about the improvement of youth? Yes, I do. Tell the
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: judges then, who is their improver? For you must know,
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: as you have taken the pains to discover their corruptor,
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: and are citing and accusing me before them. Speak then
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: and tell the judges who their improver is. Observe Malitus
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: that you are silent and have nothing to say. But
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: is not this rather disgraceful and a very considerable proof
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: of what I was saying, that you have no interest
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: in the matter, Speak up, friend, and tell us who
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: their improver is? The laws? But that, my good sir,
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: is not my meaning. I want to know who the
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: person is who in the first place knows the laws.
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: The judges Socrates, who are present in court. What do
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: you mean to say, Melitus, that they are able to
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: instruct and improve youth? Certainly they are what all of them,
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: or some only and not others, all of them by
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: the Goddess Hera. That is good news. There are plenty
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: of improvers, then, And what do you say of the audience?
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: Do they improve them? Yes? They do? And the senators, Yes,
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: the senators improve them. But perhaps the ecclesiasts corrupt them?
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: Or do they improve them? They improve them? Then every
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: Athenian improves and elevates them all with the exception of myself,
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: and I alone am their corruptor. Is that what you affirm?
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: That is what I stoutly affirm. I am very unfortunate
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: if that is true. But suppose I ask you a question,
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: would you say that this also holds true? In the
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: case of horses? Does one man do them harm and
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: all the world good? Is not the exact opposite of
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: this true? One man is able to do them good,
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: or at least not many the trainer of horses, that
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: is to say, it does them good, and others who
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: have to do with them rather injure them. Is not
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: that true, Melitus? Of horses or any other animals, Yes, certainly,
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: Whether you and Annatus say yes or no, that is
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: no matter. Happy indeed, would be the condition of youth
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: if they had one corruptor only, and all the rest
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: of the world were their improvers. And you, Melitas, have
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: sufficiently shown that you never had a thought about the young.
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: Your carelessness is seen in your not caring about matters
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: spoken of in this very indictment. And now, Melitus, I
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: must ask you another question, which is better to live
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: among bad citizens or among good ones? Answer? Friend, I say,
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: for that is a question which may be easily answered.
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: Do not the good do their neighbors good? And the
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: bad do them evil? Certainly? And is there anyone who
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: would rather be injured than benefited by those who live
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: with them? Answer, my good friend, the law requires you
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: to answer, does anyone like to be injured? Certainly? Not?
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: And when you accuse me of corrupting and deteriorating the youth,
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: do you allege that I corrupt them intentionally or unintentionally? Intentionally?
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: I say, But you have just admitted that the good
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: do their neighbors good, and the evil do them harm?
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: Now is that a truth which your superior wisdom has
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: recognized us early in life? And am I, at my age,
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: in such darkness and ignorance not to know that if
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: a man with whom I have to live is corrupted
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: by me, I am very likely to be harmed by him.
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: And yet I corrupt him and intentionally too. That is
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: what you are saying, and of that you will never
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: persuade me nor any other human being. But either I
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: do not corrupt them, or I corrupt them unintentionally, so
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: that on either view of the case you lie. If
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: my offense is unintentional, the law has no cognizance of
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: unintentional offenses. You ought to have taken me privately and
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: warned and admonished me, for if I had been better advised,
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: I should have left off doing what I only did unintentionally,
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: No doubt I should, whereas you hated to converse with
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: me or teach me, but you indicted me in this court,
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: which is a place not of instruction but of punishment.
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: I have shown Athenians as I was saying, that Meliitus
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: has no care at all, great or small about the matter.
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: But still I should like to know Melitus in what
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: I am affirmed to corrupt the youth. I suppose you mean,
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: as I infer from your indictment, that I teach them
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: not to acknowledge the gods which the state acknowledges, but
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: some other new divinities or spiritual agencies in their stead.
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: These are the lessons which corrupt the youth, as you say,
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: yes that I say emphatically, Then by the gods, Melitus,
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: of whom we are speaking, tell me and the court
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: in somewhat plainer terms what you mean, For I do
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: not as yet understand whether you affirm that I teach
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: others to acknowledge some gods, and therefore do believe in gods,
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: and am not an entire atheist. This you do not
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: lay to my charge, but only that they are not
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: the same gods which the city recognizes. The charge is
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: that they are different gods? Or do mean to say
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: that I am an atheist simply and a teacher of atheism?
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: I mean the latter, that you are a complete atheist.
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: That is an extraordinary statement, Melitus. Why do you say that?
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: Do you mean that I do not believe in the
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: godhead of the sun or moon, which is the common
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: creed of all men? I assure you, judges that he
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: does not believe in them, for he says that the
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: sun is stone and the moon earth. Friend, Melitus, you
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: think you are accusing Anaxagoras, and you have put but
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: a bad opinion of the judges, if you fancy them
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: ignorant to such a degree as not to know that
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: those doctrines are found in the books of Anaxagoras and Klazomenian,
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: who is full of them. And these are the doctrines
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: which the youth are said to learn of Socrates when
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: there are not unfrequently exhibitions of them at the theater
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: price of admission one drachma at the most, and they
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: might cheaply purchase them and laugh at Socrates if he
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: pretends to father such eccentricities. And so, Malitus, you really
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: think that I do not believe in any god. I
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: swear by Zeus that you believe absolutely and none at all.
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: You are a liar Militus, not believed even by yourself.
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: For I cannot help thinking, o Men of Athens, that
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: Militus is reckless and impudent, and that he has written
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: this indictment in a spirit of mere wantonness and youthful bravado.
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: Has he not compounded a riddle? Thinking to try me?
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: He said to himself, I shall see whether this wise
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: Socrates will discover my ingenious contradiction, or whether I shall
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: be able to deceive him and the rest of them,
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: or he certainly does appear to me to contradict himself
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: in the indictment, as much as if he said that
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: Socrates is guilty of not believing in the gods and
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: yet of leaving in them. But this surely is a
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: piece of fun. I should like you, o, men of Athens,
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: to join me in examining what I conceive to be
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: his inconsistency. And do you, Elitus, answer? And I must
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: remind you that you are not to interrupt me if
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: I speak in my accustomed manner. Did ever man Melitus
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: believe in the existence of human things and not of
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: human beings? I wish Men of Athens, that he would
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: answer and not be always trying to get up an interruption.
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: Did ever any man believe in horsemanship and not in horses?
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: Or in flute playing and not in flute players. No,
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: my friend, I will answer to you and to the court.
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: As you refuse to answer for yourself, there is no
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: man who ever did. But now please to answer the
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: next question. Can a man believe in spiritual and divine
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: agencies and not in spirits or demigods? He cannot. I
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: am glad that I have extracted that answer by the
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: assistance of the court. Nevertheless, you swear in the indictment
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: that I teach and believe in divine or spiritual agencies,
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: new or old, no matter, for that at any rate,
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: I believe in spiritual agencies, as you say and swear
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: in the affidavit. But if I believe in divine beings,
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: I must believe in spirits or demigods. Is not that true?
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: Yes?
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: That is true, For I may assume that your silence
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: gives assent to that. Now, what are spirits or demigods?
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: Are they not either gods or the sons of gods?
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: Is that true? Yes, that is true. But this is
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: just the ingenious riddle of which I was speaking. The
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: demigods or spirits are gods. And you say first that
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: I don't believe in gods, and then again that I
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: do believe in gods, that is if I believe in demigods.
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: For if the demigods are the illegitimate sons of gods,
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: whether by the nymphs or by any other mothers, as
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: is thought that as all men will allow, necessarily implies
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: the existence of their parents. You might as well affirm
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: the existence of mules and deny that of horses and asses.
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: Such nonsense militus could only have been intended by you
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: as a trial of me. You have put this into
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: the indictment because you had nothing real of which to
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: accuse me. But no one who has a particle of
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: understanding will ever be convinced by you that the same
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: man can believe in divine and superhuman things and yet
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: not believe that there are gods and demigods and heroes.
• 34:45
  Speaker 2: I have said enough in answer to the charge of belitis.
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: An elaborate defense is unnecessary. But as I was saying before,
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: I certainly have many enemies, and this is what will
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: be my destruction if I am destroyed. Of that, I
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: am certain not militus, nor yet anetus, but the envy
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: and detraction of the world, which has been the death
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: of many good men, and will probably be the death
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: of many more. There is no danger of my being
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: the last of them. Someone will say, are you not ashamed,
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: Socrates of a course of life which is likely to
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: bring you to an untimely end? To him, I may
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: fairly answer, there you are mistaken. A man who is
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: good for anything ought not to calculate the chance of
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: living or dying. He ought only to consider whether in
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: doing anything he is doing right or wrong. Acting the
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: part of a good man or of a bad Whereas,
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: according to your view, the heroes who fell at Troy
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: were not good for much, and the son of Thetis
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: above all, who altogether despise danger in comparison with disgrace.
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: And when his goddess Mother said to him, in his
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: eagerness to slay Hector, that if he avenged his companion
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: Patroclus and slow Hector, he would die himself. Fate, as
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: she said, waits upon you next after Hector. He hearing this,
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: utterly despised danger and death, and instead of fearing them,
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: feared rather to live in dishonor, and not to avenge
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: his friend. Let me die next, he replies, and be
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: avenged of my enemy, rather than abide here by the
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: beacon ships, a scorn and a burden of the earth.
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: At Achilles, that he thought of death and danger. For
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: wherever a man's place is, whether the place which he
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: has chosen or that in which he has been placed
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: by a commander, there he ought to remain in the
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: hour of danger, he should not think of death, or
• 36:49
  Speaker 2: of anything but of disgrace. And this, o Men of Athens,
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: is a true saying. Strange indeed, would be my conduct
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: o men of Athens, If I who, when I was
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: ordered by the generals whom you chose to command me
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: at Potidaea and Amphipolis and Delium, remained where they placed
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: me like any other man facing death. If I say, now,
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: when as I conceive and imagine, God orders me to
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: fulfill the philosopher's mission of searching into myself and other men,
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: I were to desert my post through fear of death
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: or any other fear, that would indeed be strange, and
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: I might justly be arraigned in court for denying the
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: existence of the gods. If I disobeyed the oracle because
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: I was afraid of death, then I should be fancying
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: that I was wise when I was not wise. For
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: this fear of death is indeed the pretense of wisdom,
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: and not real wisdom, being the appearance of knowing the unknown.
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: Since no one knows whether death, which they, in their
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: fear apprehend to be the greatest evil, may not be
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: the greatest good. Is there not here conceit of knowledge,
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: which is a disgraceful sort of ignorance. And this is
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: the point in which, as I think I am superior
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: to men in general, and in which I might perhaps
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: fancy myself wiser than other men. That, whereas I know
• 38:10
  Speaker 2: but little of the work below, I do not suppose
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: that I know. But I do know that in justice
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: and disobedience to a better, whether God or man, is
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: evil and dishonorable. And I will never fear or avoid
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: a possible good rather than a certain evil. And therefore,
• 38:30
  Speaker 2: if you let me go now, and reject the counsels
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: of Anetas, who said that if I were not put
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: to death, I ought not to have been prosecuted, and
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: that if I escape now, your sons will all be
• 38:41
  Speaker 2: utterly ruined by listening to my words. If you say
• 38:45
  Speaker 2: to me Socrates, this time, we will not mind Annetys
• 38:49
  Speaker 2: and will let you off, but upon one condition that
• 38:52
  Speaker 2: you are not to inquire and speculate in this way
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: any more, and that if you are caught doing this again,
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: you shall die. If this was the condition on which
• 39:01
  Speaker 2: you let me go, I should reply, Men of Athens,
• 39:05
  Speaker 2: I honor and love you, but I shall obey God
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: rather than you. And while I have life and strength,
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: I shall never cease from the practice and teaching of philosophy,
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: exhorting anyone whom I meet after my manner and convincing
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: him saying, O, my friend, why do you, who are
• 39:24
  Speaker 2: a citizen of the great and mighty and wise city
• 39:26
  Speaker 2: of Athens, care so much about laying up the greatest
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: amount of money and honor and reputation, and so little
• 39:33
  Speaker 2: about wisdom and truth and the greatest improvement of the soul,
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: which you never regard or heed at all? Are you
• 39:41
  Speaker 2: not ashamed of this? And if the person with whom
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: I am arguing says yes, but I do care, I
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: do not depart or let him go at once. I
• 39:52
  Speaker 2: interrogate and examine and cross examine him. And if I
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: think that he has no virtue, but only says that
• 39:58
  Speaker 2: he has, I approach him with undervaluing the greater and
• 40:03
  Speaker 2: overvaluing the less. And this I should say to everyone
• 40:07
  Speaker 2: whom I meet, young and old, citizen and alien, but
• 40:11
  Speaker 2: especially to the citizens, inasmuch as they are my brethren.
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: For this is the command of God, as I would
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: have you know. And I believe that to this day
• 40:21
  Speaker 2: no greater good has ever happened in the state than
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: my service to the God. For I do nothing but
• 40:27
  Speaker 2: go about persuading you, all old and young alike, not
• 40:31
  Speaker 2: to take thought for your persons and your properties, but
• 40:35
  Speaker 2: first and chiefly, to care about the greatest improvement of
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: the soul. I tell you that virtue is not given
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: by money, but that from virtue come money and every
• 40:45
  Speaker 2: other good of man, public as well as private. This
• 40:49
  Speaker 2: is my teaching. And if this is the doctrine which
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: corrupts the youth, my influence is ruinous. Indeed. But if
• 40:57
  Speaker 2: anyone says that this is not my teaching, he is
• 41:01
  Speaker 2: speaking an untruth. Wherefore, oh men of Athens, I say
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: to you, do as Anatus bids, or not as Anatus bids,
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: and either acquit me or not. But whatever you do,
• 41:15
  Speaker 2: know that I shall never alter my ways, not even
• 41:18
  Speaker 2: if I have to die many times.
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: And of Part two of the Apology of Socrates by
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: Plato in the translation by Benjamin Jowat. Recording by Father Zilee, Detroit, Michigan.
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: Part three of the Apology of Socrates by Plato in
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: the translation of Benjamin Jowat. This is a LibriVox recording.
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: by Father Zilee of Detroit Michigan, June two thousand and seven,
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: Part three of the Apology of Socrates by Plato in
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: the translation by Benjamin Chowitt.
• 42:21
  Speaker 2: Men of Athens, do not interrupt, but hear me. There
• 42:24
  Speaker 2: was an agreement between us that you should hear me out.
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: And I think that what I am going to say
• 42:31
  Speaker 2: will do you good. Or I have something more to
• 42:34
  Speaker 2: say at which you may be inclined to cry out.
• 42:37
  Speaker 2: But I beg that you will not do this. I
• 42:40
  Speaker 2: would have you know that if you kill such a
• 42:43
  Speaker 2: one as I am, you will injure yourselves more than
• 42:46
  Speaker 2: you will injure me. Elitis and Anitus will not injure me.
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: They cannot, or it is not in the nature of
• 42:53
  Speaker 2: things that a bad man should injure a better than himself.
• 42:58
  Speaker 2: I do not deny that he may perhap apps kill him,
• 43:01
  Speaker 2: or drive him into exile, or deprive him of civil rights.
• 43:05
  Speaker 2: And he may imagine, and others may imagine, that he
• 43:09
  Speaker 2: is doing him a great injury. But in that I
• 43:12
  Speaker 2: do not agree with him. For the evil of doing
• 43:15
  Speaker 2: as Anatis is doing, of unjustly taking away another man's life,
• 43:19
  Speaker 2: is greater far. And now, Athenians, I am not going
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: to argue for my own sake, as you may think,
• 43:26
  Speaker 2: but for yours, that you may not sin against the
• 43:29
  Speaker 2: God or lightly reject his wound by condemning me. For
• 43:33
  Speaker 2: if you kill me, you will not easily find another
• 43:37
  Speaker 2: like me. Who, if I may use such a ludicrous
• 43:40
  Speaker 2: figure of speech, am a sort of gadfly given to
• 43:44
  Speaker 2: the state by the God. And the State is like
• 43:47
  Speaker 2: a great and noble steed, who is tardy in his
• 43:50
  Speaker 2: motions owing to his very size, and requires to be
• 43:53
  Speaker 2: stirred into life. I am that gadfly which God has
• 43:58
  Speaker 2: given the State, and all long and in all places,
• 44:01
  Speaker 2: am always fasting upon you, arousing and persuading and reproaching you.
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: And as you will not easily find another like me,
• 44:10
  Speaker 2: I would advise you to spare me. I dare say
• 44:13
  Speaker 2: that you may feel irritated at being suddenly awakened when
• 44:17
  Speaker 2: you are caught napping, and you may think that if
• 44:20
  Speaker 2: you were to strike me dead, as Anatus advises, which
• 44:23
  Speaker 2: you easily might, then you would sleep on for the
• 44:26
  Speaker 2: remainder of your lives, unless God, in his care of you,
• 44:30
  Speaker 2: gives you another gadfly. And that I am given to
• 44:33
  Speaker 2: you by God is proved by this that if I
• 44:37
  Speaker 2: had been like other men, I should not have neglected
• 44:40
  Speaker 2: all my own concerns or patiently seen the neglect of
• 44:44
  Speaker 2: them during all these years, and have been doing yours,
• 44:48
  Speaker 2: coming to you individually like a father or elder brother,
• 44:52
  Speaker 2: exhorting you to regard virtue. This I say would not
• 44:55
  Speaker 2: be like human nature. And had I gained anything, or
• 44:59
  Speaker 2: if if my exhortations had been paid, there would have
• 45:03
  Speaker 2: been some sense in that. But now, as you will perceive,
• 45:07
  Speaker 2: not even the impudence of my accusers dares to say
• 45:10
  Speaker 2: that I have ever exacted or sought any pay of anyone.
• 45:14
  Speaker 2: They have no witnesses of that, And I have a
• 45:17
  Speaker 2: witness of the truth of what I say. My poverty
• 45:21
  Speaker 2: is a sufficient witness. Some one may wonder why I
• 45:25
  Speaker 2: go about in private giving advice and busying myself with
• 45:29
  Speaker 2: the concerns of others, but do not venture to come
• 45:32
  Speaker 2: forward in public and advise the state. I will tell
• 45:35
  Speaker 2: you the reason of this. You have often heard me
• 45:38
  Speaker 2: speak of an oracle or sign, which comes to me,
• 45:42
  Speaker 2: and is the divinity which Malitus ridicules in the indictment.
• 45:46
  Speaker 2: This sign I have had ever since I was a child.
• 45:50
  Speaker 2: The sign is a voice which comes to me and
• 45:53
  Speaker 2: always forbids me to do something which I am going
• 45:55
  Speaker 2: to do, but never commands me to do anything. And
• 45:59
  Speaker 2: this is what stands in the way of my being
• 46:02
  Speaker 2: a politician, and rightly as I think, for I am
• 46:06
  Speaker 2: certain of men of Athens, that if I had engaged
• 46:09
  Speaker 2: in politics, I should have perished long ago and done
• 46:12
  Speaker 2: no good either to you or to myself. And don't
• 46:16
  Speaker 2: be offended at my telling you the truth, for the
• 46:19
  Speaker 2: truth is that no man who goes to war with
• 46:21
  Speaker 2: you or any other multitude, honestly struggling against the commission
• 46:26
  Speaker 2: of unrighteousness and wrong in the state, will save his life.
• 46:30
  Speaker 2: He who will really fight for the right, if he
• 46:33
  Speaker 2: would live even for a little while, must have a
• 46:36
  Speaker 2: private station, and not a public one. I can give
• 46:40
  Speaker 2: you as proofs of this, not words only, but deeds
• 46:43
  Speaker 2: which you value more than words. Let me tell you
• 46:46
  Speaker 2: a passage of my own life which will prove to
• 46:49
  Speaker 2: you that I should never have yielded to injustice from
• 46:52
  Speaker 2: any fear of death, and that if I had not yielded,
• 46:55
  Speaker 2: I would have died at once. I will tell you
• 46:58
  Speaker 2: a story tasteless, perhaps in commonplace, but nevertheless true. The
• 47:04
  Speaker 2: only office of state which I ever held a man
• 47:06
  Speaker 2: of Athens was that of senator. The tribe Antiochus, which
• 47:10
  Speaker 2: is my tribe, had the presidency at the trial of
• 47:14
  Speaker 2: the generals who had not taken up the bodies of
• 47:16
  Speaker 2: the slain after the Battle of Arganzai, and you proposed
• 47:20
  Speaker 2: to try them all together, which was illegal, as you
• 47:24
  Speaker 2: all thought afterwards. But at the time I was the
• 47:27
  Speaker 2: only one of the Ritanes who was opposed to the illegality,
• 47:31
  Speaker 2: and I gave my vote against you. And when the
• 47:34
  Speaker 2: orators threatened to impeach and arrest me and have me
• 47:37
  Speaker 2: taken away, and you called and shouted, I made up
• 47:41
  Speaker 2: my mind that I would run the risk having law
• 47:44
  Speaker 2: and justice with me, rather than take part in your injustice,
• 47:48
  Speaker 2: because I feared imprisonment and death. This happened in the
• 47:52
  Speaker 2: days of the democracy. But when the oligarchy of the
• 47:55
  Speaker 2: thirty was in power, they sent for me and four
• 47:58
  Speaker 2: others into the Rutunda and bade us bring Leon Salaminian
• 48:02
  Speaker 2: from Salamis, as they wanted to execute him. This was
• 48:06
  Speaker 2: a specimen of the sort of commands which they were
• 48:09
  Speaker 2: always giving with the view of implicating as many as
• 48:12
  Speaker 2: possible in their crimes. And then I showed not in
• 48:16
  Speaker 2: words only, but indeed that if I may be allowed
• 48:20
  Speaker 2: to use such an expression, I cared not a straw
• 48:23
  Speaker 2: for death, and that my only fear was the fear
• 48:26
  Speaker 2: of doing an unrighteous or unholy thing. For the strong
• 48:30
  Speaker 2: arm of that oppressive power did not frighten me into
• 48:33
  Speaker 2: doing wrong. And when we came out of the routunda,
• 48:37
  Speaker 2: the other four went to Salamis and fetched leon. But
• 48:40
  Speaker 2: I went quietly home, for which I might have lost
• 48:44
  Speaker 2: my life had not the power of the thirty shortly
• 48:46
  Speaker 2: afterwards come to an end. And to this many will witness.
• 48:52
  Speaker 2: Now do you really imagine that I could have survived
• 48:54
  Speaker 2: all these years if I had led a public life,
• 48:58
  Speaker 2: supposing that like a good man, I had always supported
• 49:01
  Speaker 2: the right and had made justice as I ought the
• 49:05
  Speaker 2: first thing? No, indeed, men of Athens, neither I nor
• 49:08
  Speaker 2: any other, but I have been always the same in
• 49:12
  Speaker 2: all my actions, public as well as private. And never
• 49:15
  Speaker 2: have I yielded any base compliance to those who are
• 49:18
  Speaker 2: slanderously termed my disciples, or to any other. For the
• 49:22
  Speaker 2: truth is that I have no regular disciples. But if
• 49:26
  Speaker 2: anyone likes to come and hear me, while I am
• 49:28
  Speaker 2: pursuing my mission. Whether he be young or old, he
• 49:31
  Speaker 2: may freely come. Nor do I converse with those who
• 49:35
  Speaker 2: pay only, and not with those who do not pay.
• 49:38
  Speaker 2: But any one, whether he be rich or poor, may
• 49:41
  Speaker 2: ask and answer me and listen to my words. And
• 49:44
  Speaker 2: whether he turns out to be a bad man or
• 49:46
  Speaker 2: a good one, that cannot be justly laid to my charge,
• 49:50
  Speaker 2: as I never taught him anything. And if anyone says
• 49:53
  Speaker 2: that he has ever learned or heard anything from me
• 49:56
  Speaker 2: in private, which all the world has not heard, I
• 49:59
  Speaker 2: shall should like you to know that he is speaking
• 50:02
  Speaker 2: an untruth. But I shall be asked, why do people
• 50:07
  Speaker 2: delight in continually conversing with you. I have told you already, Athenians,
• 50:12
  Speaker 2: the whole truth about this. They like to hear the
• 50:16
  Speaker 2: cross examination of the pretenders to wisdom. There is amusement
• 50:20
  Speaker 2: in this, And this is a duty which the God
• 50:23
  Speaker 2: has imposed upon me. As I am assured by oracles, visions,
• 50:28
  Speaker 2: and in every sort of way in which the will
• 50:30
  Speaker 2: of divine power was ever signified to anyone. This is true,
• 50:35
  Speaker 2: O Athenians, or if not true, would be soon refuted.
• 50:40
  Speaker 2: For if I am really corrupting the youth and have
• 50:43
  Speaker 2: corrupted some of them already. Those of them who have
• 50:47
  Speaker 2: grown up and have become sensible that I gave them
• 50:50
  Speaker 2: bad advice in the days of their youth, should come
• 50:53
  Speaker 2: forward as accusers and take their revenge. And if they
• 50:56
  Speaker 2: do not like to come themselves, some of their relatives, fathers, brothers,
• 51:00
  Speaker 2: or other kinsmen should say what evil their families suffered
• 51:03
  Speaker 2: at my hands? Now is their time. Many of them
• 51:06
  Speaker 2: I see in the court. There is Crito, who is
• 51:09
  Speaker 2: of the same age and the same deem with myself.
• 51:12
  Speaker 2: And there is Critobulus, his son, whom I also see.
• 51:16
  Speaker 2: Then again there is Lysanius Asphaetus, who is the father
• 51:20
  Speaker 2: of Aeschines. He is present. And also there is Antiphon
• 51:26
  Speaker 2: of Cesiphus, who is the father of Epigenes. And there
• 51:30
  Speaker 2: are the brothers of several who have associated with me.
• 51:33
  Speaker 2: There is Necostratus, the son of Theosdotideyes and the brother
• 51:37
  Speaker 2: of Theodotus. Now Theodotus himself is dead, and therefore he
• 51:41
  Speaker 2: at any rate will not seek to stop him. And
• 51:44
  Speaker 2: there is Paralus, the son of Demodocus, who had a
• 51:48
  Speaker 2: brother the Ages, and Adeimantus, the son of Ariston, whose
• 51:52
  Speaker 2: brother Plato is present, and Eontodorus, who is the brother
• 51:56
  Speaker 2: of Apollodorus, whom I also see. I might mention a
• 52:00
  Speaker 2: great many others, any of whom Malitus should have produced
• 52:03
  Speaker 2: as witnesses in the course of his speech. And let
• 52:06
  Speaker 2: him still produce them. If he has forgotten, I will
• 52:09
  Speaker 2: make way for him. Let him say if he has
• 52:13
  Speaker 2: any testimony of the sort which he can produce. Nay, Athenians,
• 52:18
  Speaker 2: the very opposite is the truth. For all these are
• 52:21
  Speaker 2: ready to witness on behalf of the corruptor, of the
• 52:24
  Speaker 2: destroyer of their kindred. As Malitus and Annatus call me,
• 52:28
  Speaker 2: not the corrupted youth, only there might have been a
• 52:31
  Speaker 2: motive for that, But their uncorrupted elder relatives. Why would
• 52:35
  Speaker 2: they too support me with their testimony. Why indeed, except
• 52:39
  Speaker 2: for the sake of truth and justice, and because they
• 52:42
  Speaker 2: know that I am speaking the truth and that Malitus
• 52:45
  Speaker 2: is lying well. Athenians, This and the like of this
• 52:49
  Speaker 2: is nearly all the defense which I have to offer.
• 52:53
  Speaker 2: Yet a word more. Perhaps there may be someone who
• 52:57
  Speaker 2: is offended at me when he calls to mind how
• 52:59
  Speaker 2: he himself, on a similar or even a less serious occasion,
• 53:03
  Speaker 2: had recourse to prayers and supplications with many tears, and
• 53:08
  Speaker 2: how he produced his children in court, which was a
• 53:10
  Speaker 2: moving spectacle, together with a posse of his relations and friends.
• 53:15
  Speaker 2: Whereas I, who am probably in danger of my life,
• 53:18
  Speaker 2: will do none of these things. Perhaps this may come
• 53:22
  Speaker 2: into his mind, and he may be set against me
• 53:24
  Speaker 2: and vote in anger, because he is displeased at this. Now,
• 53:28
  Speaker 2: if there be such a person among you, which I
• 53:31
  Speaker 2: am far from affirming, I may fairly reply to him,
• 53:36
  Speaker 2: my friend, I am a man, and like other men,
• 53:39
  Speaker 2: a creature of flesh and blood, and not of water stone,
• 53:43
  Speaker 2: as Homer says. And I have a family, yes, and
• 53:46
  Speaker 2: sons o Athenians three in number, one of whom is
• 53:49
  Speaker 2: growing up, and the two others are still young. And
• 53:53
  Speaker 2: yet I will not bring any of them hither in
• 53:55
  Speaker 2: order to petition you for an acquittal. And why not
• 54:00
  Speaker 2: from any self will or disregard of you. Whether I
• 54:03
  Speaker 2: am or am not afraid of death is another question
• 54:07
  Speaker 2: of which I will not now speak. But my reason
• 54:10
  Speaker 2: simply is that I feel such conduct to be discreditable
• 54:14
  Speaker 2: to myself and you and the whole state. One who
• 54:19
  Speaker 2: has reached my years, and who has a name for wisdom,
• 54:22
  Speaker 2: whether deserved or not, ought not to debase himself at
• 54:27
  Speaker 2: any rate. The world has decided that Socrates is in
• 54:30
  Speaker 2: some way superior to other men. And if those among
• 54:34
  Speaker 2: you who are said to be superior in wisdom and
• 54:36
  Speaker 2: courage and in any other virtue demean themselves in this way,
• 54:40
  Speaker 2: how shameful is their conduct. I have seen men of reputation,
• 54:45
  Speaker 2: when they have been condemned, behaving in the strangest manner.
• 54:49
  Speaker 2: They seemed to fancy that they were going to suffer
• 54:51
  Speaker 2: something dreadful if they died, and that they could be
• 54:55
  Speaker 2: immortal if you only allowed them to live. And I
• 54:58
  Speaker 2: think that they were a dishonor to the state, and
• 55:01
  Speaker 2: that any stranger coming in would say of them that
• 55:04
  Speaker 2: the most eminent men of Athens, to whom the Athenians
• 55:07
  Speaker 2: themselves give honor and command, are no better than women.
• 55:11
  Speaker 2: And I say that these things ought not to be
• 55:14
  Speaker 2: done by those of us who are of reputation. And
• 55:17
  Speaker 2: if they are done, you ought not to permit them.
• 55:20
  Speaker 2: You ought rather to show that you are more inclined
• 55:23
  Speaker 2: to condemn not the man who is quiet, but the
• 55:26
  Speaker 2: man who gets up a doleful scene and makes the
• 55:29
  Speaker 2: city ridiculous. But setting aside the question of dishonor, there
• 55:35
  Speaker 2: seems to be something wrong in petitioning a judge and
• 55:39
  Speaker 2: thus procuring an acquittal instead of informing and convincing him.
• 55:43
  Speaker 2: For his duty is not to make a present of justice,
• 55:47
  Speaker 2: but to give judgment. And he has sworn that he
• 55:51
  Speaker 2: will judge according to the laws and not according to
• 55:54
  Speaker 2: his own good pleasure. And neither he nor we should
• 55:57
  Speaker 2: get into the habit of perjuring ourselves. There can be
• 56:01
  Speaker 2: no piety in that. Do not then require me to
• 56:05
  Speaker 2: do what I consider dishonorable and impious and wrong, especially
• 56:09
  Speaker 2: now when I am being tried for impiety on the
• 56:12
  Speaker 2: indictment of Melitus. For if o men of Athens, by
• 56:15
  Speaker 2: force of persuasion and entreaty, I could overpower your oaths,
• 56:20
  Speaker 2: then I should be teaching you to believe that there
• 56:23
  Speaker 2: are no gods, and convict myself in my own defense
• 56:26
  Speaker 2: of not believing in them. But that is not the case.
• 56:30
  Speaker 2: For I do believe that there are gods, and in
• 56:33
  Speaker 2: a far higher sense than that in which any of
• 56:36
  Speaker 2: my accusers believe in them. And to you and to God,
• 56:40
  Speaker 2: I commit my cause to be determined by you as
• 56:44
  Speaker 2: is best for you and.
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: Me, and of Part three of the Apology of Socrates
• 56:53
  Speaker 1: by Plato in the translation by Benjamin Jowat. Recording by
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: Father Zilah, Detroit, Michigan. Part four of the Apology of
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: Socrates by Plato in the translation by Benjamin Jowatt. This
• 57:17
  Speaker 1: is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the
• 57:21
  Speaker 1: public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: LibriVox dot org. Recording by Father Zilei of Detroit, Michigan,
• 57:34
  Speaker 1: June two thousand and seven. The Apology of Socrates by Plato,
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: Part four.
• 57:42
  Speaker 2: There are many reasons why I am not grieved doment
• 57:45
  Speaker 2: of Athens at the vote of condemnation. I expected this,
• 57:51
  Speaker 2: and am only surprised that the votes are so nearly equal.
• 57:56
  Speaker 2: For I had thought that the majority against me would
• 57:58
  Speaker 2: have been far larger. But now had thirty votes gone
• 58:03
  Speaker 2: over to the other side, I should have been acquitted.
• 58:08
  Speaker 2: And I may say that I have escaped elitis. I
• 58:12
  Speaker 2: may say more, for without the assistance of Anatys and
• 58:16
  Speaker 2: like on, he would not have had a fifth part
• 58:20
  Speaker 2: of the votes, as the law requires, in which case
• 58:24
  Speaker 2: he would have incurred a fine of a thousand drachmae,
• 58:27
  Speaker 2: as is evident, and so he proposes death as the penalty.
• 58:33
  Speaker 2: And what shall I propose on my part, o Men
• 58:36
  Speaker 2: of Athens, clearly that which is my due? And what
• 58:41
  Speaker 2: is that which I ought to pay or receive? What
• 58:46
  Speaker 2: shall be done to the man who has never had
• 58:49
  Speaker 2: the wit to be idle during his whole life, but
• 58:51
  Speaker 2: has been careless of what the many care about, wealth
• 58:55
  Speaker 2: and family interests and military offices, and speaking in the
• 58:59
  Speaker 2: assembly and magic registracies and plots and parties, reflecting that
• 59:04
  Speaker 2: I was really too honest a man to follow in
• 59:06
  Speaker 2: this way and live. I did not go where I
• 59:09
  Speaker 2: could do no good to you or to myself, but
• 59:13
  Speaker 2: where I could do the greatest good privately to every
• 59:16
  Speaker 2: one of you. Thither I went and sought to persuade
• 59:19
  Speaker 2: every man among you that he must look to himself
• 59:23
  Speaker 2: and seek virtue and wisdom before he looks to his
• 59:26
  Speaker 2: private interests, and look to the state, before he looks
• 59:30
  Speaker 2: to the interests of the state, And that this should
• 59:33
  Speaker 2: be the order which he observes in all his actions.
• 59:36
  Speaker 2: What shall be done to such a one? Doubtless some
• 59:40
  Speaker 2: good thing, O Men of Athens, if he has his reward,
• 59:45
  Speaker 2: and the good should be of a kind suitable to him.
• 59:49
  Speaker 2: What would be a reward suitable to a poor man
• 59:51
  Speaker 2: who is your benefactor, who desires leisure that he may
• 59:55
  Speaker 2: instruct you. There can be no more fitting reward than
• 59:59
  Speaker 2: maintenance in the tritoneum o men of Athens, a reward
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 2: which he deserves, far more than the citizen who has
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 2: won the prize at Olympia in the horse or chariot race,
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 2: whether the chariots were drawn by two horses or by many.
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 2: For I am in want. He has enough, and he
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 2: only gives you the appearance of happiness, and I give
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 2: you the reality. And if I am to estimate the
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 2: penalty justly, I say that maintenance in the Tritonium is
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 2: the just return. Perhaps you may think that I am
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 2: braving you in saying this, as in what I said
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 2: before about the tears and prayers, But that is not
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 2: the case. I speak rather because I am convinced that
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 2: I never intentionally wronged anyone, although I cannot convince you
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 2: of that, for we have had a short conversation only.
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 2: But if there were a law at Athens, such as
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 2: there is in other cities, that a capital cause should
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 2: not be decided in one day. Then I believe that
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 2: I should have convinced you. But now the time is
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 2: too short. I cannot in a moment refute great slanders.
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 2: And as I am convinced that I never wronged another,
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 2: I will assuredly not wrong myself. I will not say
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 2: of myself that I deserve any evil or propose any penalty.
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 2: Why should I? Because I am afraid of the penalty
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 2: of death, which malitis proposes. When I do not know
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 2: whether death is a good or an evil, why should
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 2: I propose a penalty which would certainly be an evil?
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 2: Shall I say imprisonment? And why should I live in
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 2: prison and be the slave of the magistrates of the
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 2: year of the eleven? Or shall the penalty be a
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 2: fine and imprisonment until the fine is paid? There is
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 2: the same objection I should have to lie in prison
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 2: for money I have none and I cannot pay. And
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 2: if I say exile, and this may possibly be the
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 2: penalty which you will affix, I must indeed be blinded
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 2: by the love of life if I were to consider that,
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 2: when you, who are my own citizens, cannot endure my
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 2: discourses and words and have found them so grievous and
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 2: odious that you would fain have done with them. Others
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 2: are likely to endure me. No, indeed, men of Athens,
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 2: that is not very likely. And what a life should
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 2: I lead at my age, wandering from city to city,
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 2: living in ever changing exile, and always being driven out?
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 2: For I am quite certain that into whatever place I
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 2: go as here, so also there the young men will
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 2: come to me. And if I drive them away, their
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 2: elders will drive me out at their desire. And if
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 2: I let them come, their fathers and friends will drive
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 2: me out for their sakes. Someone will say, yes, Socrates,
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 2: but cannot you hold your tongue? And then you may
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 2: go into a foreign city and know one will interfere
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 2: with you. Now I have great difficulty in making you
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 2: understand my answer to this. Or if I tell you
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 2: that this would be a disobedience to a divine command,
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 2: and therefore that I cannot hold my tongue, you will
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 2: not believe that I am serious. And if I say
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 2: again that the greatest good of man is daily to
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 2: converse about virtue and all that concerning which you hear
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 2: me examining myself and others, and that the life which
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 2: is unexamined, is not worth living. That you are still
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 2: less likely to believe. And yet what I say is true,
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 2: although a thing of which it is hard for me
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 2: to persuade you. Moreover, I am not accustomed to think
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 2: that I deserve any punishment. Had I money, I might
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 2: have proposed to give you what I had and have
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 2: been none the worse. But you see that I have none,
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 2: and can only ask you to proportion the fine to
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 2: my means. However, I think that I could afford a mina,
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 2: and therefore I propose that penalty. Plato, Crito, Critobulus, and Apollodorus,
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 2: my friends here bid me say thirty mina, and they
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 2: will be the sureties. Well, then say thirty mine. Let
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 2: that be the penalty. For that they will be ample
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 2: security to you. Not much time will be gained, o Athenians,
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 2: in return for the evil name which you will get
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 2: from the detractors of the city, who will say that
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 2: you killed Socrates a wise man. For they will call
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 2: me wise, even although I am not wise, when they
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 2: want to reproach you. If you had waited a little while,
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 2: your desire would have been fulfilled in the course of nature.
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 2: For I am far advanced in years, as you may perceive,
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 2: and not far from death. I am speaking now only
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 2: to those of you who have condemned me to death.
• 1:04:58
  Speaker 2: I have another thing to say to them. You think
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 2: that I was convicted through deficiency of words. I mean
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 2: that if I had thought fit to leave nothing undone,
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 2: nothing unsaid, I might have gained an acquittal. Not so,
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 2: the deficiency which led to my conviction was not of words,
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 2: certainly not. But I had not the boldness, nor impudence
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 2: or inclination to address you as you have liked me
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 2: to address you, weeping and wailing and lamenting, and saying
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 2: and doing many things which you have been accustomed to
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 2: hear from others, and which, as I say, are unworthy
• 1:05:36
  Speaker 2: of me. But I thought that I ought not to
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 2: do anything common or mean in the hour of danger.
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 2: Nor do I now repent of the manner of my defense.
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 2: And I would rather die having spoken after my manner,
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 2: than speak in your manner and live. For neither in war,
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 2: nor yet at law, ought any man to use every
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 2: way of escaping death. For oft and in battle, there
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 2: is no doubt that if a man will throw away
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 2: his arms and fall on his knees before his pursuers,
• 1:06:06
  Speaker 2: he may escape death, and in other dangers, there are
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 2: other ways of escaping death if a man is willing
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 2: to say and do anything. The difficulty, my friends, is
• 1:06:17
  Speaker 2: not in avoiding death, but in avoiding unrighteousness, for that
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 2: runs faster than death. I am old and move slowly,
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 2: and the slower runner has overtaken me, and my accusers
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 2: are keen and quick, and the faster runner, who is unrighteousness,
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 2: has overtaken them. And now I depart hints, condemned by you,
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 2: to suffer the penalty of death, and they too go
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 2: their ways, condemned by the truth, to suffer the penalty
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 2: of villainy and wrong. And I must abide by my
• 1:06:51
  Speaker 2: award and let them abide by theirs. I suppose that
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 2: these things may be regarded as fated, and I think
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 2: that they are well. And now, o, men who have
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 2: condemned me, I would fain prophesy to you, for I
• 1:07:09
  Speaker 2: am about to die, and that is the hour in
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 2: which men are gifted with prophetic power. And I prophesied
• 1:07:17
  Speaker 2: to you, who are my murderers, that immediately after my death,
• 1:07:21
  Speaker 2: punishment far heavier than you have inflicted on me, will
• 1:07:25
  Speaker 2: surely await you me, you have killed because you wanted
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 2: to escape the accuser, and not to give an account
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 2: of your lives. But that will not be as you suppose.
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 2: Far otherwise, For I say that there will be more
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 2: accusers of you than there are now, accusers whom hitherto
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 2: I have restrained, And as they are younger, they will
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 2: be more severe with you, and you will be more
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 2: offended at them. For if you think that by killing
• 1:07:56
  Speaker 2: men you can avoid the accuser censuring your lives, you
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 2: are mistaken. That is not a way of escape which
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 2: is either possible or honorable. The easiest and noblest way
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 2: is not to be brushing others, but to be improving yourselves.
• 1:08:12
  Speaker 2: This is the prophecy which I utter before my departure
• 1:08:15
  Speaker 2: to the judges who have condemned me, friends who have
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 2: acquitted me. I would like also to talk with you
• 1:08:24
  Speaker 2: about this thing which has happened, while the magistrates are busy,
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 2: and before I go to the place at which I
• 1:08:31
  Speaker 2: must die. Stay then, awhile, for we may as well
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 2: talk with one another while there is time. You are
• 1:08:39
  Speaker 2: my friends, and I should like to show you the
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 2: meaning of this event which has happened to me. All
• 1:08:46
  Speaker 2: my judges, for you I may truly call my judges.
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 2: I should like to tell you of a wonderful circumstance. Hitherto,
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 2: the familiar oracle within me has constantly been in the
• 1:08:59
  Speaker 2: habit of a opposing me, even about trifles, if I
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 2: was going to make a slip or error about anything.
• 1:09:06
  Speaker 2: And now, as you see, there has come upon me
• 1:09:09
  Speaker 2: that which may be thought and is generally believed to
• 1:09:13
  Speaker 2: be the last and worst evil. But the oracle made
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 2: no sign of opposition, either as I was leaving my
• 1:09:21
  Speaker 2: house and going out in the morning, or when I
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 2: was going up into this court, or while I was
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 2: speaking at anything which I was going to say. And
• 1:09:31
  Speaker 2: yet I have often been stopped in the middle of
• 1:09:34
  Speaker 2: a speech. But now in nothing I either said or
• 1:09:38
  Speaker 2: did touching this matter, as the oracle opposed me. What
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 2: do I take to be the explanation of this? I
• 1:09:46
  Speaker 2: will tell you. I regard this as a proof that
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 2: what has happened to me is a good, and that
• 1:09:53
  Speaker 2: those of us who think that death is an evil
• 1:09:56
  Speaker 2: are in error. This is a great proof to me
• 1:09:59
  Speaker 2: of what I am saying, For the customary sign would
• 1:10:03
  Speaker 2: surely have opposed me had I been going to evil
• 1:10:07
  Speaker 2: and not to good. Let us reflect in another way,
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 2: and we shall see that there is great reason to
• 1:10:14
  Speaker 2: hope that death is a good for one of two things.
• 1:10:19
  Speaker 2: Either death is a state of nothingness and utter unconsciousness, or,
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 2: as men say, there is a change and migration of
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 2: the soul from this world to another. Now, if you
• 1:10:31
  Speaker 2: suppose that there is no consciousness but a sleep, like
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 2: the sleep of him who is undisturbed even by the
• 1:10:37
  Speaker 2: sight of dreams, death will be an unspeakable gain. For
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 2: if a person were to select the night in which
• 1:10:45
  Speaker 2: his sleep was undisturbed even by dreams, and were to
• 1:10:49
  Speaker 2: compare this with the other days and nights of his life,
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 2: and then were to tell us how many days and
• 1:10:54
  Speaker 2: nights he had passed in the course of his life
• 1:10:57
  Speaker 2: better and more pleasantly than this one. I think that
• 1:11:00
  Speaker 2: any man, I will not say a private man, but
• 1:11:03
  Speaker 2: even the great King will not find many such days
• 1:11:06
  Speaker 2: or nights when compared with the others. Now, if death
• 1:11:11
  Speaker 2: is like this, I can say that to die is gain,
• 1:11:15
  Speaker 2: for eternity is then only a single night. But if
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 2: death is the journey to another place, and there, as
• 1:11:24
  Speaker 2: men say, all the dead are, what good? O, my friends?
• 1:11:28
  Speaker 2: And judges can be greater than this. If indeed, when
• 1:11:32
  Speaker 2: the pilgrim arrives in the world below, he is delivered
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 2: from the professors of justice in this world and finds
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 2: the true judges who are said to give judgment there
• 1:11:43
  Speaker 2: Minos and Rhadamanthus and Aeacus and Tryptolemus, and the other
• 1:11:49
  Speaker 2: sons of God who were righteous in their own life,
• 1:11:52
  Speaker 2: that pilgrimage will be worth making. What would not a
• 1:11:56
  Speaker 2: man give if he might converse with Orpheus and muse
• 1:12:00
  Speaker 2: Saius and Hesiod and Homer. Nay, if this be true,
• 1:12:04
  Speaker 2: let me die again and again, I too shall have
• 1:12:07
  Speaker 2: a wonderful interest in a place where I can converse
• 1:12:10
  Speaker 2: with Palamedes and Ajax, the son of Telamann, and other
• 1:12:15
  Speaker 2: heroes of old who have suffered death through an unjust judgment.
• 1:12:20
  Speaker 2: And there will be no small pleasure, as I think
• 1:12:23
  Speaker 2: in comparing my own sufferings with theirs. Above all, I
• 1:12:27
  Speaker 2: shall be able to continue my search into true and
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 2: false knowledge as in this world, so also in that
• 1:12:35
  Speaker 2: I shall find out who is wise and who pretends
• 1:12:38
  Speaker 2: to be wise and is not? What would not a
• 1:12:41
  Speaker 2: man give o judges to be able to examine the
• 1:12:44
  Speaker 2: leader of the Great Trojan expedition, or Odysseus or Sisyphus,
• 1:12:50
  Speaker 2: or numberless others men and women too, What infinite delight
• 1:12:54
  Speaker 2: would there be in conversing with them and asking them questions?
• 1:12:59
  Speaker 2: For in that the world they do not put a
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 2: man to death, for this certainly not for besides being
• 1:13:05
  Speaker 2: happier in that world than in this, they will be
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 2: immortal if what is said is true. Therefore, O, judges,
• 1:13:15
  Speaker 2: be of good cheer about death, and know this of
• 1:13:17
  Speaker 2: a truth, that no evil can happen to a good man,
• 1:13:21
  Speaker 2: either in life or after death. He and his are
• 1:13:25
  Speaker 2: not neglected by the gods. Nor has my own approaching
• 1:13:29
  Speaker 2: end happened by mere chance. But I see clearly that
• 1:13:33
  Speaker 2: to die and be released was better for me, and
• 1:13:37
  Speaker 2: therefore the oracle gave no sign for which reason. Also
• 1:13:41
  Speaker 2: I am not angry with my accusers or my condemners.
• 1:13:45
  Speaker 2: They have done me no harm, although neither of them
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 2: meant to do me any good, And for this I
• 1:13:52
  Speaker 2: may gently blame them. Still, I have a favor to
• 1:13:56
  Speaker 2: ask of them. When my sons are grown, I would
• 1:14:01
  Speaker 2: ask you, oh, my friends, to punish them, and I
• 1:14:05
  Speaker 2: would have you trouble them as I have troubled you.
• 1:14:08
  Speaker 2: If they seem to care about riches or anything more
• 1:14:11
  Speaker 2: than about virtue, or if they pretend to be something
• 1:14:15
  Speaker 2: when they are really nothing, then reprove them as I
• 1:14:19
  Speaker 2: have reproved you, for not caring about that for which
• 1:14:22
  Speaker 2: they ought to care, and thinking that they are something
• 1:14:26
  Speaker 2: when they are really nothing. And if you do this,
• 1:14:31
  Speaker 2: I and my sons will have received justice at your hands.
• 1:14:37
  Speaker 2: The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our ways.
• 1:14:43
  Speaker 2: I to die and you to live. Which is better?
• 1:14:49
  Speaker 2: God only knows.
• 1:14:53
  Speaker 1: End of Part four, end of the Apology of Socrates
• 1:14:59
  Speaker 1: by Plato in the translation by Benjamin Jowett, Recording by
• 1:15:05
  Speaker 1: Father Ziley, Detroit, Michigan, June two thousand seven,