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Article THE DEFENCE OF SOCRATES. ← Page 5 of 8 →
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The Defence Of Socrates.
time of life should go wandering about the world , driven from one city to another , without a home or a place for my sepulchre . And there is another point to consider : wherever I take up my abode , the young men of the city will congregate together to listen to my discussions , as they did here , and if I forbid them , they ivill resent it by urging my departure , and their friends for their sakes will probably visit me with the same treatment .
Perhaps some one may ask , is it not possible for you , Socrates , when you are gone , to pass your life in solitude and retirement ? This is a most difficult question to answer . I cannot persuade you that for me to exist in silence would be a direct violation of the injunction of the Pythian oracle , and therefore impossible , though you may set me down as speaking with the tongue of irony . Or , if I say it is the greatest blessing a man can enjoy , to discourse every day upon virtue , and other
subjects of moral philosophy , which you may have heard me treating and discussing to others and myself , affirming , amongst other things , that a life passed without enquiry or examination is no life , I repeat it , if I talk in this style , you are hard of belief , and heed not the truth of my discourse . What I say is the fact . You are not easily to be persuaded , and I am not in the habit of acknowledging myself in error . Still , was I possessed of money , I might have imposed upon myself such a fine as my circumstances would have allowed me to pay , for it would not have hurt me . But now , such is the poverty of my finances , I can offer no such sacrifice to your resentment , unless you propose to
fine me in proportion to my means . Perhaps I might be able to pay a mina * of silver , and to that amount , therefore , I assess myself in damages . But Plato here , Athenians , and my other friends and disciples , Crito , and Cristobulus , and Apollodorus , request me to condemn myself in the sum of thirty mina ? , for which they will be my sureties . In so much , therefore , I am very willing to stand bound , and 1 am sure you will consider them good security for the money . It is not for the sake of preserving my lifeAtheniansthat I offer
, , this compromise , but that you may avoid the infamous reputation and severe censure of those who would assuredly reproach the city for having destroyed the philosopher Socrates ; for those who wish to have a reason for reviling you will say I was wise , although you may not think so ; and , indeed , if you only wait a short time , my death , which you desire , will happen by the course of nature , for I am very far advanced in life , and my age has brought me very near the confines of
the grave , when you will see the completion of your wishes without incurring that universal odium which must attach to your violentl y taking away my life . Yet I do not make these reflections upon the minority who voted in favour of my innocence , but upon those who counsel my death . Perhaps , Athenians , you think that I have been circumvented in my defence by a paucity of arguments , and that I ought not to have
neglected any method which could elude a sentence of condemnation ? The case is far otherwise . I have been circumvented , not , indeed , by a want of words , but of audacity and impudence , and from an unwillingness to address myself in such a manner to you as I know would
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Defence Of Socrates.
time of life should go wandering about the world , driven from one city to another , without a home or a place for my sepulchre . And there is another point to consider : wherever I take up my abode , the young men of the city will congregate together to listen to my discussions , as they did here , and if I forbid them , they ivill resent it by urging my departure , and their friends for their sakes will probably visit me with the same treatment .
Perhaps some one may ask , is it not possible for you , Socrates , when you are gone , to pass your life in solitude and retirement ? This is a most difficult question to answer . I cannot persuade you that for me to exist in silence would be a direct violation of the injunction of the Pythian oracle , and therefore impossible , though you may set me down as speaking with the tongue of irony . Or , if I say it is the greatest blessing a man can enjoy , to discourse every day upon virtue , and other
subjects of moral philosophy , which you may have heard me treating and discussing to others and myself , affirming , amongst other things , that a life passed without enquiry or examination is no life , I repeat it , if I talk in this style , you are hard of belief , and heed not the truth of my discourse . What I say is the fact . You are not easily to be persuaded , and I am not in the habit of acknowledging myself in error . Still , was I possessed of money , I might have imposed upon myself such a fine as my circumstances would have allowed me to pay , for it would not have hurt me . But now , such is the poverty of my finances , I can offer no such sacrifice to your resentment , unless you propose to
fine me in proportion to my means . Perhaps I might be able to pay a mina * of silver , and to that amount , therefore , I assess myself in damages . But Plato here , Athenians , and my other friends and disciples , Crito , and Cristobulus , and Apollodorus , request me to condemn myself in the sum of thirty mina ? , for which they will be my sureties . In so much , therefore , I am very willing to stand bound , and 1 am sure you will consider them good security for the money . It is not for the sake of preserving my lifeAtheniansthat I offer
, , this compromise , but that you may avoid the infamous reputation and severe censure of those who would assuredly reproach the city for having destroyed the philosopher Socrates ; for those who wish to have a reason for reviling you will say I was wise , although you may not think so ; and , indeed , if you only wait a short time , my death , which you desire , will happen by the course of nature , for I am very far advanced in life , and my age has brought me very near the confines of
the grave , when you will see the completion of your wishes without incurring that universal odium which must attach to your violentl y taking away my life . Yet I do not make these reflections upon the minority who voted in favour of my innocence , but upon those who counsel my death . Perhaps , Athenians , you think that I have been circumvented in my defence by a paucity of arguments , and that I ought not to have
neglected any method which could elude a sentence of condemnation ? The case is far otherwise . I have been circumvented , not , indeed , by a want of words , but of audacity and impudence , and from an unwillingness to address myself in such a manner to you as I know would