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Article THE DEFENCE OF SOCRATES. ← Page 4 of 5 →
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The Defence Of Socrates.
culous buffooneries—acquirements , the knowledge of which I utterl y and unequivocally disclaim . But , mind you " though , in justice to myself , I make this affirmation , I do not despise the attainment of such an art , if any one could be found clever enough to acquire and teach it . I totally disclaim the knowledge of any such art , in order to defeat that , part of the accusation of Melitus which charges me with the possession of it .
Athenians , I solemnly avow myself ignorant of such superhuman arts ! And I do subpoena you yourselves as witnesses to that fact . You are well qualified , I should conceive , to supply information with regard to any subject upon which you have heard me lecture . Indeed , 1 am confident that most of you are very capable of affording such requisite evidence . It would therefore be but a common act of justice in you , to declare individually if any of you have heard me at any period
discussing suck abstruse speculations . And by such means you ivill discover yourselves , and be the agents of enlightening the public mint ] , how frivolous are the reports which the multitude circulate respecting me and my system of philosophy . Now not one of the present allegations is correct . Nor have you been informed , that I am aware , by any person , who can say that I have attempted in a professional manner to teach ilsand so to make
pup , money by scholastic instruction . If any one had , there would not be one tittle of truth in the information . Since I should be very proud to have it in my power to exercise so laudable a talent : and I hi ghly esteem those who can boast of such an enviable capacity to instruct their fellow-creatures . Such men , for instance , as Leontinus , * Prodicus , t and Hippias .- | : Each of those respectable individuals , Athenians , is so eminently endowed in erudition , that when any one of them in the
course of his professional circuit enters a city , the citizens gladly permit their sons , should they express such a desire voluntarily , to place themselves as pupils under him ; and he persuades them to abandon their former habits and practices , and to adopt his principles and ideas ; for - which troublesome and arduous task , they not only amply remunerate him , but gild it with their most grateful thanks . There is , too , another distinguished individual of the same occupation—the philosopher Parius ;
of whose arrival I have latel y heard . But to turn to another point in the argument : I happened not long since to meet a man who has expended more wealth on philosophy than all the rest put together . His name is Callias , of Hipponium , the historian . So I inquired of him , as he has two sons , to afford me some li ght on the subject of education . "Callias , " says I , for in this familiar way I addressed him , "supposing your sons were colts or calvesit would be easy h to or
, enoug procure hire for them an instructor , whose care and duty it would be to render them beautiful and excellent of their species—some horse-breaker or cattle-breeder ; but as they are human and rational beings , whom have you in your ' mind ' s eye' to obtain as a master for them—what tutor do you know possessed of such humane and refined talent?—if it is a fair question . For I conclude you have maturely considered the matter on account of your son ' s education . Is there such a person , so qualified , to
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Defence Of Socrates.
culous buffooneries—acquirements , the knowledge of which I utterl y and unequivocally disclaim . But , mind you " though , in justice to myself , I make this affirmation , I do not despise the attainment of such an art , if any one could be found clever enough to acquire and teach it . I totally disclaim the knowledge of any such art , in order to defeat that , part of the accusation of Melitus which charges me with the possession of it .
Athenians , I solemnly avow myself ignorant of such superhuman arts ! And I do subpoena you yourselves as witnesses to that fact . You are well qualified , I should conceive , to supply information with regard to any subject upon which you have heard me lecture . Indeed , 1 am confident that most of you are very capable of affording such requisite evidence . It would therefore be but a common act of justice in you , to declare individually if any of you have heard me at any period
discussing suck abstruse speculations . And by such means you ivill discover yourselves , and be the agents of enlightening the public mint ] , how frivolous are the reports which the multitude circulate respecting me and my system of philosophy . Now not one of the present allegations is correct . Nor have you been informed , that I am aware , by any person , who can say that I have attempted in a professional manner to teach ilsand so to make
pup , money by scholastic instruction . If any one had , there would not be one tittle of truth in the information . Since I should be very proud to have it in my power to exercise so laudable a talent : and I hi ghly esteem those who can boast of such an enviable capacity to instruct their fellow-creatures . Such men , for instance , as Leontinus , * Prodicus , t and Hippias .- | : Each of those respectable individuals , Athenians , is so eminently endowed in erudition , that when any one of them in the
course of his professional circuit enters a city , the citizens gladly permit their sons , should they express such a desire voluntarily , to place themselves as pupils under him ; and he persuades them to abandon their former habits and practices , and to adopt his principles and ideas ; for - which troublesome and arduous task , they not only amply remunerate him , but gild it with their most grateful thanks . There is , too , another distinguished individual of the same occupation—the philosopher Parius ;
of whose arrival I have latel y heard . But to turn to another point in the argument : I happened not long since to meet a man who has expended more wealth on philosophy than all the rest put together . His name is Callias , of Hipponium , the historian . So I inquired of him , as he has two sons , to afford me some li ght on the subject of education . "Callias , " says I , for in this familiar way I addressed him , "supposing your sons were colts or calvesit would be easy h to or
, enoug procure hire for them an instructor , whose care and duty it would be to render them beautiful and excellent of their species—some horse-breaker or cattle-breeder ; but as they are human and rational beings , whom have you in your ' mind ' s eye' to obtain as a master for them—what tutor do you know possessed of such humane and refined talent?—if it is a fair question . For I conclude you have maturely considered the matter on account of your son ' s education . Is there such a person , so qualified , to