Apology: Defence of Socrates

Apology: Defenceof Socrates
PTATO
Plato (ca.428--<a.348
n.c.)is regardedby many as the greatestphilosopher of all time; it has
been said that all philosophy is merely a footnote to his work.
t7a
DON'T know how you, fellow Athenians,have
f
been
affected by -y accusers,but for my part
I
I I felt myselfalmosttransportedby them, so persuasively
did they speak.And yet hardlya word they
r havesaidis true. Among their many falsehoods,
one
especiallyastonishedme: their warning that you
must be careful not to be taken in by me, because
u I am a clever speaker.It seemedto me the height of
impudence on their part not to be embarrassedat
being refuted straight away by the facts,once it became apparent that I was not a clever speaker at
s all-unless indeed they call a "clever" speakerone
who speaksthe truth. If that is what theymean,then
I would admit to being an orator, although not on a
par with them.
As I said,then,my accusers
havesaidlittle or nothing true; whereasfrom me you shall hear the whole
truth, though not, I assureyou, fellow Athenians,in
languageadorned with fine words and phrasesor
. dressedup, as theirs was: you shall hear my points
made spontaneouslyin whatever words occur to
1ns-persuaded as I am that my caseis just. None of
you should expectanything to be put differently,becauseit would not, of course,be at all fitting at my
5 age, gentlemen,to come before you with artificial
speeches,
suchasmight be composedby a young lad.
One thing, moreover, I would earnestlybeg of
you, fellow Athenians.If you hear me defending
myselfwith the sameargumentsI normally useat
ro the bankers'tables
in the market-place(wheremany
a of you haveheardme) and elsewhere,
pleasedo not
Fron Defenceof Sooates,Euthyphro,and Crito, translatedby
David Gallop.Copyright@ 1997by Oxford UniversityPress.
Reprintedby permissionof the publisherand translator
. 2 2.
be surprisedor proteston that account.You see,here
is the reason:this is the first time I have ever appearedbeforea court oflaw, although I am over 70;
soI arnliterallya strangerto the dictionofthis place.
And if I really were a foreigner,you would naturally :
excuseme, were I to speakin the dialectand stylein
which I had beenbrought up; so in the presentcos€r8a
as well I ask you, in all fairnessas I think, to disregard my manner of speaking-it may not be as
good, or it may be better-but to considerand attend simply to the questionwhether or not my case5
is iust; becausethat is the duty of a judge,as it is an
orator'sduty to speakthe truth.
To begin with, fellow Athenians, it is fair that
I shoulddefendnlyselfagainstthe first setof charges
falselybrought againstme by rny first accusers,and
then turn to the later chargesand the more recentb
ones. You see,I have been accusedbefore you by
many peoplefor a long time now, for many yearsin
fact, by peoplewho spokenot a word of truth. It is
thosepeopleI fear more than Anytus and his crowd,
though they too are dangerous.But thoseothersare5
more so,gentlemen:they havetaken hold of most of
you sincechildhood,and made persuasiveaccusations againstme, yet without an ouncemore truth in
them. They say that there is one Socrates,a "wise
man," who ponderswhat is abovethe earthand investigateseverything beneath it, and turns the
weakerargumentinto the stronger.
Those accuserswho have spreadsuch rumour.
aboutme, fellow Athenians,are the dangerousones,
becausetheir audiencebelievesthat peoplewho inquire into thosemattersalsofail to acknowledgethe
gods. Moreover, those accusersare numerous, and ;
have beendenouncingme for a long time now, and
they alsospoketo you at an ageat which you would
A P O L O G YD
: E F E N C EO F S O C R A T T S
(ou see,here
lve ever apam over 70;
ofthis place.
rld naturally I
r and style in
presentc?s€l8r
nk, to disrery not be as
;ider and atnot my case5
ge,as it is an
t is fair that
;etof charges
lccusers,and
more recent b
:fore you by
ranyyearsin
rf truth. It is
,d his crowd,
seothers are 5
ld of most of
tslve accusanore truth in
ttes, a "wise
:arth and inI turns the
uch rumour.
gerousones,
rple who inowledge the
nerous, and 5
ne now, and
h you would
be most likely to believe them, when some of you
were children or young lads; and their accusations
simply went by default for lack of any defence.But
the most absurdthing of all is that one cannoteven
get to know their names or say who they wered exceptperhapsone who happensto be a comicplaywright. The oneswho havepersuadedyou by maliciousslander, and alsosomewho persuadeothersbecausethey have been persuadedthemselves,are all
i veryhard to dealwith: onecannotput anyofthem on
the stand here in court, or cross-examineanybody,
but one must literally engagein a sort of shadowwithout
boxing to defendoneself,and cross-examine
anyone to answer.You too, then, should allow, as
onesetwho
I iustsaid.that I havetwo setsofaccusers:
. have accusedme recently,and the other of long
standing to whom I was just referring. And please
grant that I need to defend myself againstthe latter
first, sinceyou too heard them accusingme earlier,
and you heard far more from them than from these
recentcritics here.
Very well, then. I must defend myself,fellow Atheleanians,and in so short a time must try to dispel the
slanderwhich you have had so long to absorb.That
is the outcomeI would wish for, should it be of any
benefit to you and to me, and I should like to succeed
s in my defence-though I believethe task to be a difficult one,and am well awareof its nature.But let
that turn out asGod wills: I haveto obeythe law and
presentmy defence.
Let us examine,from the beginning, the charge
u that hasgiven rise to the slanderagainstme-which
was just what Meletusrelied upon when he drew up
this indictment.Very well then,what were my slanderersactuallysayingwhen they slanderedme? Let
me readout their deposition,asif theyweremy legal
accusers:
"Socrates
is guilty ofbeing a busybody,in that he
s inquires into what is beneaththe earth and in the
. sky, turns the weaker argument into the stronger,
and teachesothersto do the same."
The chargeswould run something like that. Indeed,you can seethem for yourselves,enactedin
Aristophanes' comedy: in that play, a character
called"Socrates"swingsaround,claimsto be walkon subr ing on air, and talks a lot ofother nonsense
23
jects of which I have no understanding,great or
small.
Not that I mean to belittle knowledgeof that sort,
if anyonereally is learnedin suchmatters-no matter how many of Meletus' lawsuits I might have to
defend myself against-but the fact is, fellow Athenians,thosesubjectsare not my concernat all. I call a
most of you to witnessyourselves,and I ask you to
make that quite clearto one another,if you haveever
heard me in discussion(asmany of you have).Tell
one another, then, whether any of you has ever r
heard me discussingsuch subjects,either briefly or
at length; and as a result you will realizethat the
other things said about me by the public are equally
baseless.
In any event, there is no truth in those charges.
Moreover,ifyou have heard from anyonethat I undertake to educatepeople and charge fees,there is .
no truth in that either-though for that matter I do
think it alsoa fine thing if anyoneri able to educate
people, as Gorgias of Leontini, Prodicus of Ceos,
and Hippias of Elis professto. Each of them can visit i
any city, gentlemen,and persuadeits young people,
who may associatefree of charge with any of their zo"
own citizensthey wish, to leavethoseassociations,
and to join with them instead,paying feesand being
grateful into the bargain.
On that topic, there is at presentanother expert
here, a gentlemanfrom Paros;I heardof his visit, becauseI happenedto run into a man who has spent s
more money on sophists than everyone else put
together-Callias, the sonof Hipponicus.So I questioned him, sincehe hastwo sonshimself.
"Callias," I said,"if your two sonshad beenborn
as colts or calves,we could find and engagea tutor b
who could make them both excelsuperblyin the required qualities-and he'd be some sort of expert
in horse-rearing or agriculture. But seeing that
theyareactuallyhuman,whom do you intendto en- 5
gage as their tutorl Who has knowledge of the required human and civic qualitiesl I ask, becauseI
assumeyou've given thought to the matter, having
sonsyourself. Is there such a person," I asked, "or
not?"
"Certainly,"he replied.
"Who is he?" I said;"Where doeshe comefrom,
and what doeshe chargefor tuitionl"
24
PHIIOSOPHY
"His name is Evenus,Socrates,"
he replied;"He
comesfrom Paros,and he charges5 minas."
I thought Evenuswas to be congratulated,if he rethat skill and imparted it for such a
ally did possess
modestcharge.I, at any rate,would certainlybe givthat
ing myself fine airs and gracesif I possessed
knowledge.But the fact is,fellow Athenians,I do not.
Now perhaps one of you will interiect: "Well
then, Socrates,what is the difficulty in your casel
What is the sourceof theseslandersagainstyoul If
you are not engagedin something out of the ordinary,why everhasso much rumour and talk arisen
aboutyou? It would surelyneverhavearisen,unless
you were up to somethingdiffe rent from most people.Tell us what it is, then,so that we don't jump to
aboutyou."
conclusions
That speakermakesa fair point, I think; and so I
will try to show you just what it is that has earned
me my reputationand notoriety.Pleasehear me out.
Someofyou will perhapsthink I am joking, but I assureyou that I shallbe tellingyou the whole truth.
You see,fellow Athenians,I havegainedthis reputation on accountof nothing but a certain sort of wisdom. And what sort of wisdom is thatl It is a human
kind of wisdom, perhaps,sinceit might just be true
that I havewisdomof that sort.Maybethe peopleI just
mentioned possesswisd<lmof a superhumankind;
otherwiseI cannotexplainit. For my part, I certainly
do not possess
that knowledge;and whoeversaysI do
is lying and speakingwith a view to slanderingmeNow pleasedo not protest,fellow Athenians,even
if I shouldsoundto you ratherboastful.I am not myselfthe sourceofthe storyI am about to tell you, but I
shallreferyou to a trustworthyauthority.As evidence
of my wisdom,if suchit actuallybe,and of its nature,
I shallcall to witnessbeforeyou the god at Delphi.
You remember Chaerephon,of course.He was a
friend of mine from youth, and also a comrade in
your party, who shared your recent exile and restoration. You recall too what sort of man Chaerephon was,how impetuoushe was in any undertaking. Well, on one occasionhe actuallywent to the
Delphic oracle,and had the audacity to put the following question16i1-25 I said,pleasedo not make
a disturbance,gentlemen-he went and asked if
there was anyonewiser than myself;to which the
Pythia respondedthat there was no one.His brother
here will testify to the court about that story, slnce
Chaerephonhimself is deceased.
Now keep in mind why I have been telling you u
this: it is becauseI am going to explain to you the origin of the slanderagainstme. When I heard the
story,I thought to myself:"What everis the god sayingl What can his riddle meanl SinceI am all too t
consciousof not being wise in any matter, great or
small, what evercan he mean by pronouncingme to
be the wisestl Surelyhe cannotbe lying: for him that
would be our of the question."
So for a long time I was perplexedabout what he
could possibly mean. But then, with great reluctance, I proceededto investigatethe matter somewhat as follows. I went to one of the peoplewho had
a reputation fbr wisdom, thinking there, if any- .
where, to disprovethe oracle'sutteranceand declare
to it: "Here is someonewiser than I am, and yet you
saidthat I was the wisest."
So I interviewedthis person-I neednot mentron
his name, but he was someonein public life; and
when I examinedhim, my experiencewent something like this,fellow Athenians:in conversingwith :
him, I formed the opinion that, although the man
was thought to be wise by many other people,and
especiallyby himself, yet in reality he was not. So I d
then tried to show him that he thought himself wise
without being so. I therebyearnedhis dislike,and
that of many peoplepresent;but still, asI went away,
I thought to myself: "I am wiser than that fellow,
anyhow. Becauseneither of us, I dare say, knows r
anything of great value;but he thinks he knows a
thing when he doesn't;whereasI neither know it in
fact, nor think that I do. At any rate, it appearsthat
I am wiser than he in just this one small respect:if I
do not know something,I do not think that I do."
Next, I went to someone else, among people
thought to be evenwiser than the previousman, and
I came to the same conclusionagain; and so I was .
disliked by that man too, as well as by many others.
Well, after that I went on to visit onepersonafter
another.I realized,with dismay and alarm, that I
was making enemies;but even so, I thought it my
duty to attach the highest importance to the god's
business;and therefore, in seeking the oracle's;
meaning, I had to go on to examine all those with zz"
any reputation for knowledge.And upon my word,
A P O I O G Y :D E F E N C E
OF SOCRATES
hat story,since
eentelling you u
I to you the ori:n I heard the
: isthegod sayce I am all too r
latter,great or
rouncingme to
rg:for him that
aboutwhat he
h great relucmatter someeoplewho had
there, if any- .
rceanddeclare
m, and yet you
:d not mention
ublic life; and
:e went somernversingwith i
ough the man
er people,and
: wasnot. So I d
rt himselfwise
is dislike,and
s I wentaway,
n that fellow,
re say,knows I
:s he knows a
rer know it in
t appearsthat
rll respect:if I
k that I do."
mong people
iousman,and
and so I was .
manyothers.
e personafter
alarm,that I
houghtit my
: to the god's
the oracle'ss
rll thosewith zz"
ronmy word,
fellow Atheni2n5-fs62u5e I am obliged to speak
the truth before the 6su11-f truly did experience
somethinglike this: as I pursuedthe god'sinquiry, I
found thoseheld in the highestesteemwere pracrically the most defective,whereas men who were
i supposedto be their inferiors were much better off
in respect
of understanding.
Let me, then, outline my wanderingsfor you, the
various"labours" I kept undertaking, only to find
that the oracleproved competelyirrefutable.After I
haddonewith the politicians,I turned to the poetsincluding tragedians,dithyrambic poets, and the
b rest-thinking that in their company I would be
shown up as more ignorant than they were. So I
pickedup the poemsover which I thought they had
r taken the most trouble, and questionedthem about
their meaning,so that I might also learn something
from them in the process.
Now I'm embarrassed
to tell you the truth, gentlemen,but it hasto be said.Practicallyeveryoneelse
presentcould speakbetterthan the poetsthemselves
about their very own compositions.And so, once
more, I soon realized this truth about them too: it
c was not from wisdom that they composed their
works, but from a certain natural aptitude and inspiration, like that of seers and soothsayersbecausethosepeopletoo utter many fine words, yet
know nothing of the matters on which they pronounce.It was obviousto me that the poetswere in
s much the samesituation;yet at the sametime I realized that becauseof their composirionsthey thought
themselvesthe wisest people in other matters as
well, when they were not. So I left, believing that I
wasaheadof them in the sameway asI wasaheadof
the politicians.
Then, finally, I went to the craftsmen,becauseI
d was consciousof knowing almost nothing myself,
but felt sure that amongst them, at least, I would
find much valuableknowledge. And in that expectation I was not disappointed:they did have knowledgein fields where I had none, and in that respect
: they were wiser than I. And yet, fellow Athenians,
thoseablecraftsmenseemedto me to suffer from the
samefailing as the poets:becauseof their excellence
at their own trade,eachclaimed to be a great expert
alsoon mattersof the utmost importance;and this
e arroganceof theirs seemedto eclipsetheir wisdom.
25
So I began to ask myself, on the oracle'sbehalf,
whetherI shouldpreferto be asI am, neitherwiseas
theyarewise,nor ignorantastheyareignorant,or to
possess
both their attributes;and in reply, I told myself and the oraclethat I was better off as I was.
The effect of this questioning,fellow Athe nians,
was to earn me much hostilityof a very vexingand 23t
trying sort,which hasgiven riseto numerousslanders, including this reputation I have for being
"wise"-because those present on each occasion
imagine me to be wise regarding the matterson
which I examineothers.But in fact, gentlemen,it
would appear that it is only the god who is truly
wise;and that he is sayingto us, through this oracle,
that human wisdom is worth little or nothing. It
seemsthat when he says"Socrates,"
he makesuseof
my name,merely taking me as an example-as if to
say,"The wisestamongstyou,human beings,is anyone like Socrateswho has recognizedthat with respectto wisdom he is truly worthless."
That is why, evento this day,I still go about seeking out and searchinginto anyoneI believeto be
wise, citizen or foreigner, in obedienceto the god.
Then, assoonasI find that someoneis not wise,I assistthe god by proving that he is not. Becauseofthis
occupation,I havehad no time at all for any activity
to speakof, either in public affairs or in my family
life; indeed,becauseof my serviceto the god, I live
in extreme poverty.
In addition, the young people who follow me
around of their own accord,the oneswho haveplenty
of leisurebecausetheir parentsare wealthiest,enjoy
listeningto peoplebeing cross-examined.
Often, too,
they copy my examplethemselves,
and so attempt to
cross-examine
others.And I imaginethat they find a
greatabundanceof peoplewho supposethemselves
to
possesssome knowledge, but really know little or
nothing. Consequently,the peoplethey questionare
angry with me, though not with themselves,and
say that there is a nasty pestilenceabroad called
"Socrates,"who is corrupting the young.
Then, when askediust what he is doing or teaching, they have nothing to say,becausethey have no
idea what he does;yet, rather than seemat a loss,
they resortto the stockchargesagainstall who pursue intellectual inquiry, trotting out "things in the
sky and beneaththe earth," "failing to acknowledge
26
PHILOSOPHY
the gods," and "turning the weaker argument into
the stronger." They would, I imagine, be loath to
admit the truth, which is that their pretensionsto
knowledge have been exposed,and they are totally
. ignorant. So becausethesepeoplehave reputations
to protect, I suppose,and are also both passionate
and numerous,and havebeenspeakingaboutme in
a vigorousand persuasivestyle,they have long been
filling your ears with vicious slander. It is on the
strengthof all this that Meletus,along with Anytus
and Lycon, hasproceededagainstme: Meletusis ags grieved for the poets,Anytus for the craftsmenand
u+opoliticians,and Lycon for the orators. And so, as
I beganby saying,I shouldbe surprisedifI could rid
your minds of this slander in so short a time, when
so much of it hasaccumulated.
There is the truth for you, fellow Athenians. I
5 have spoken it without concealinganything from
you, major or minor, and without glossingover anything. And yet I am virtually certainthat it is my very
candour that makesenemiesfor me-which goesto
show that I am right: the slanderagainstme is to that
b effect,and such is its explanation.And whether you
look for one now or later,that is what you will find.
I
.
5
l0
d
So much for my defence before you against the
Next,
chargesbroughtby my 6rst group of accusers.
I shalltry to defendmyselfagainstMeletus,good patriot that he claims to be, and againstmy more recentcritics.So onceagain,asifthey were a freshset
of accusers,
let me in turn reviewtheir deposition.It
runs somethinglike this:
"Socratesis guilty of corrupting the young,and of
failing to acknowledgethe godsacknowledgedby the
city, but introducing new spiritual beingsinstead."
Such is the charge: let us examine each item
within it.
Meletussays,then,that I am guilty of corrupting
the young. Well I reply, fellow Athenians, that
Meletus is guilty of trifling in a seriousmatter, in
that he brings people to trial on frivolous grounds,
and professesgraveconcernabout mattersfor which
he hasnevercaredat all. I shallnow try to prove to
you too that that is so.
Stepforward, Meletus,and answerme. It is your
chiefconcern,is it not, that our younger peopleshall
be asgood as possiblel
-lt is.
Very well, will you pleasetell the judgeswho influencesthem for the better-becauseyou must obviously know, seeingthat you carel Having discovered
me, as you allege,to be the one who is corrupting
them,you bring me beforethe judgeshereand accuse
me. So speakup, and tell the court who has an improving influence.
You see,Meletus,you remain silent,and haveno
answer.Yet doesn'tthat strikeyou asshameful,and as
proof in itself of exactlywhat I say-that you have
never cared about thesemattersat alll Come then.
good fellow,tell us who influencesthem for the better.
-The laws.
Yes,but that is not what I'm asking,excellentfellow. I mean, which person,who already knows the
laws to beginwithl
-These gentlemen,the judges,Socrates.
What are you saying,Meletus?Can thesepeople
educatethe young, and do they have an improving
influence?
-Most certainly.
All of them, or somebut not others?
-Allof them.
My goodness,what welcome news, and what a
generoussupply of benefactorsyou speak of! And
how about the audiencehere in court? Do they too l 0
havean improving influence,or notl
-Yes, they do too.
And how aboutmembersof the Councilf
-Yes, the Councillors too.
But in that case,how aboutpeoplein the Assembly,its individualmembers,MeletuslThey won't be
corrupting their youngers,will theyl Won't they all
be good influencesas well?
-Yes, they will too.
So every person in Athens, it would appear,has
an excellent influence on them except for me,
whereasI alone am corrupring them. Is that what
you'resaying?
-That is emphaticallywhat I'm saying.
Then I find myself, if we are to believeyou, in a
most awkward predicament.Now answerme this.
Do you think the sameis true of horseslIs it everybody who improves them, while a single person
spoilsthem? Or isn't the oppositetrue: a singleperson, or at least very few people, namely the horsetrainers,can improve them; while lay people spoil
them, don't they, if they have to do with horsesand
A P O L O G Y : D E F E N C EO F S O C R A T E S
Ldges
who inoumustobvingdiscovered
is corrupting s
:reandaccuse
to hasan im, and haveno
Lmeful,
and as
:hatyou have
) Comethen,
forthebetter.ro
excellentfel"
ly knows the
:rates.
, thesepeople
rn improving I
, and what a
reakof! And
Do they too
.rncill
n the Assem'hey
won't be
y'on'tthey all
I appear,has
ept for me,
Is that what
eveyou,ln a
wer me this.
I Is it everyngle person
a singlepery the horsepeoplespoil
r horsesand
t0
i make use of theml Isn't that true of horsesas of all
other animals,Meletusl Of courseit is, whether you
and Anytus deny it or not. In fact,I daresayour young
c peopleare extremelylucky if only one personis corrupting them, while everyoneelseis doing them good.
All right, Meletus.Enough hasbeensaid to prove
that you neverwere concernedabout the young. You
betray your irresponsibilityplainly, becauseyou
have not cared at all about the chargeson which
you bring me beforethis court.
r
Furthermore, Meletus, tell us, in God's name,
whether it is better to live among good fellow citizensor bad ones.Come sir, answer:I am not asking
a hard question.Bad peoplehave a harmful impact
upon their closestcompanionsat any given time,
don't they,whereasgood peoplehavea good onel
_Yes.
l0
Well, is there anyonewho wants to be harmed by
his companionsrather than benefitedl-Be a good
fellow and keep on answering,as the law requires
vou to. Is thereanvonewho wantsto be harmed?
-Of coursenot.
s
Now tell me this. In bringing me here, do you
claim that I am corruptingand depravingthe young
intentionallyor unintentionallyI
-lnlsnlisnally, so I maintain.
Really,Meletusl Are you so much smarter at
l0 your age than I at mine as to realizethat the bad
havea harmful impact upon their closestcompanionsat any given time, whereasthe good havea beneficial effectl Am I, by contrast,so far gone in my
stupidity as not to realizethat if I make one of my
companionsvicious,I risk incurring harm at his
handsl And am I, therefore,asyou allege,doing so
much damageintentionally?
s
That I cannotacceptfrom you, Meletus,and neither could anyoneelse,I imagine.Either I am not
26acorrupting them---or if I am, I am doing so unintentionally;so either way your chargeis false. But if
I am corrupting them unintentionally,the law does
not requireme to be brought to court for suchmistakes,but rather to be taken aside for private instruction and admonition-since I shall obviously
stop doing unintentionaldamage,if I learn better.
t But you avoided associationwith me and were unwilling to instruct me. Instead you bring me to
court, where the law requires you to bring people
who need punishment rather than enlightenment.
d
27
Very well, fellow Athenians. That part of my case
is now proven: Meletus never cared about thesematters, either a lot or a little. Nevertheless, Meletus,
please tell us in what way you claim that I am corrupting our younger people. That is quite obvious,
isn't it, from the indictment you drew up? It is by
teaching them not to acknowledge the gods acknowledged by the city, but to accept new spiritual
beings insteadl You mean, don't you, that I am corrupting them by teaching them thatl
-l 6e51 emphatically do.
Then, Meletus, in the name of those very gods we
are now discussing, please clarify the matter further
for me, and for the jury here . You see,I cannot make
out what you mean. Is it that I am teaching people
to acknowledge that some gods 61i51-in which case
it follows that I do acknowledge their existencemyself as well, and am not a complete atheist, hence am
not guilty on that count-and yet that those gods are
not the ones acknowledged by the city, but different
onesl Is that your charge against me-namely, that
they are different? Or are you saying that I acknowledge no gods at all myself, and teach the same
to others I
-I
am saying the latter; you acknowledge no
gods at all.
What ever makes you say that, Meletus, you
strange fellowl Do I not even acknowledge, then,
with the rest of mankind, that the sun and the moon
are godsl
-By
God, he does not, members of the jury,
since he claims that the sun is made of rock, and the
moon of earth!
My dear Meletus, do you imagine that it is
Anaxagoras you are accusingl Do you have such
contempt for the jury, and imagine them so illiterate
as not to know that books by Anaxagoras of Clazomenae are crammed with such assertionsl What's
more, are the young learning those things from me
when they can acquire them at the bookstalls, now
and then, for a drachma at most, and so ridicule
Socratesif he claims those ideas for his own, especially when they are so bizarrel In God's name, do
you really think me as crazy as thatl Do I acknowledge the existenceofno god at alll
-By God no, none whatever.
I can't believe you, Meletus-nor, I think, can
you believe yourself. To my mind, fellow Athenians,
28
P H I I O SO P H Y
this fellow is an impudent scoundrel who has
zzuframed this indictment out of sheerwanton impudenceand insolence.
He seemsto havedeviseda sort
of riddle in order to try me out: "Will Socratesthe
Wise tumble to my nice self-contradictionlOr shall
I fool him along with my other listenersl" You see,
I he seemsto me to be contradictinghimself in the indictment. It's as if he were saying:"Socratesis guilty
of not acknowledging gods, but of acknowledging
gods";and yet that is sheertomfoolery.
I ask you to examinewith me, gentlemen,iust
l0 how that appearsto be his meaning.Answer for us,
t Meletus; and the rest of you, pleaseremember my
initial requestnot to protest if I conduct the argument in my usual manner.
Is there anyone in the world, Meletus, who acknowledgesthat human phenomenaexist, yet does
not acknowledgehuman beingsl-Require him to
5 answer,gentlemen,and not to raiseall kinds of confused objections.Is there anyone who does not acknowledgehorses,yet doesacknowledgeequestrian
phenomena?Or who does not acknowledge that
musiciansexist,yet doesacknowledgemusicalphenomenal
There is no one,excellentfellow: if you don't wish
to answer,I must answerfor you, and for the lurors
. here.But at leastanswermy next questionyourself.Is
there anyonewho acknowledgesthat spiritual phenomenaexist,yet doesnot acknowledgespiritsl
-No.
not believe in gods, and yet again that I do believe in
g o d s , s e e i n gt h a t I b e l i e v ei n s p i r i t s .
On the other hand, if spirits are children of gods,
some sort of bastard offspring from nymphs-or
from whomever they are traditionally said, in each
case,to be born-then
who in the world could ever
believe that there were children of gods, yet no
godsl That would be iust as absurd as accepting the
existence of children of horses and asses-namely,
mules-yet rejecting the existence of horses or asses!
In short, Meletus, you can only have drafted this
either by way of trying us out, or because you were
at a loss how to charge me with a genuine offence.
How could you possibly persuade anyone with even
the slightest intelligence that someone who accepts
spiritual beings does not also accept divine ones, and
again that the same person also accepts neither spirits nor gods nor heroesl There is no conceivable
way.
But enough, fellow Athenians. It needs no long
defence, I think, to show that I am not guilty of the
charges in Meletus' indictment; the foregoing will
suffice. You may be sure, though, that what I was
saying earlier is true: I have earned great hostility
among many people. And that is what will convict
me, if I am convicted: not Meletus or Anytus, but the
slander and malice of the crowd. They have certainly convicted many other good men as well, and I
imagine they will do so again; there is no risk of their
stopping with me.
How good of you to answer-albeit reluctantly
and under compulsionfrom the jury. Well now, you
5 say that I acknowledge spiritual beings and teach
othersto do so.Whether they actuallybe new or old
is no matter: I do at any rate, by your account,acknowledge spiritual beings, which you have also
mentionedin your sworn deposition.But if I acknowledge spiritual beings, then surely it follows
to quite inevitablythat I must acknowledgespirits.Is
that not sol-Yes, it is so:I assumeyour agreement,
d sinceyou don't answer.But we regard spirits,don't
we, aseithergodsor childrenofgodsl Yesor no?
_Yes.
a man with even a grain of self-respect should reckon
up the risks of living or dying, rather than simply
consider, whenever he does something, whether his
actions are just or unjust, the deedsof a good man or
a bad one. By your principles, presumably, all those
demigods who died in the plain of Troy were inferior
creatures-yes, even the son of Thetis, who showed
Then given that I do believein spirits,asyou say,
s if spirits are gods of somesort, this is preciselywhat
I claim when I saythat you are presentingus with a
riddle and making fun of us:you are sayingthat I do
so much scorn for danger, when the alternative was
to endure dishonour. Thus, when he was eager to
slay Hector, his mother, goddess that she was, spoke
16 li6-566ething
like this, I fancy:
Now someone may perhaps say: "Well then, are you
not ashamed, Socrates, to have pursued a way of life
which has now put you at risk of deathl"
But it may be fair for me to answer him as follows:
"You are sadly mistaken, fellow, if you suppose that
A P O I O G Y :D E F E N C EO F S O C R A T E S
do believein
lren ofgods,
nymphs-or
said,in each
.dcouldever ro
;ods, yet no .
tcceptingrhe
ies-namely,
rfses
Orasses
!
: draftedthis
.lseyou were
,rineoffence. s
newith even
who accepts
ineones,and :a"
neitherspirconceivable
eedsno long
guilty of the
regoingwill :
: what I was
reathostility
will convict
rytus,but the
ey havecer- I
rswell,and I
r risk of their
.hen,areyou
a,wayof life
nasfollows:s
;upposethat
ouldreckon
than simply
whetherhis .
;oodman or
lly, all those
yereinferior
vhoshowed
:rnativewas
r'aseagerto 5
: was,spoke
My child, if thou dost avenge the murder of thy
friend, Patroclus,
And dost slay Hector, then straightway [so runs the
Poeml
Shalt thou die thyself, since doom is prepared for
thee
Next after Hector's.
ro But though he heard that, he made light of death
a and danger, since he feared far more to live as a base
man, and to fail to avenge his dear ones. The poem
goes on:
Then straightway let me die, once I have given the
wrongdoer
His deserts,less I remain here by the beak-prowed
ships,
An object ofderision, and a burden upon the earth.
Can you suppose that he gave any thought to
death or danger?
s
You see, here is the truth of the matter, fellow
Athenians. Wherever a man has taken up a position becausehe considers it best, or has been posted
there by his commander, that is where I believe he
should remain, steadfast in danger, taking no account at all ofdeath or ofanything else rather than
. dishonour. I would therefore have been acting absurdly, fellow Athenians, if when assignedto a post
at Potidaea, Amphipolis, or Delium by the superiors you had elected to command me, I remained
where I was posted on those occasionsat the risk of
death, if ever any man did; whereas now that the
s god assignsme, as I became completely convinced,
2eato the duty of leading the philosophical life by examining myself and others, I desert that post from
fear of death or anything else. Yes, that would be
unthinkable; and then I truly should deserve to be
brought to court fbr failing to acknowledge the
gods' existence,in that I was disobedient to the oracle, was afraid of death, and thought I was wise
: when I was not.
After al[, gentlemen, the fear of death amounts
simply to thinking one is wise when one is not: it is
thinking one knows something one does not know.
No one knows, you see,whether death may not in
fact prove the greatest of all blessings for mankind;
29
but peoplefear it as ifthey knew it for certain to be u
the greatestof evils.And yet to think that oneknows
what one doesnot know must surely be the kind of
.
folly which is reprehensible
On this matter especially,
gentlemen,that may
be the nature of my own advantageover most
people.If I really were to clain-rto be wiser than
anyone in any respect,it would consistsimply in
this: just as I do not possess
adequateknowledgeof s
it;
life in Hades,so I also realtzethat I do not possess
whereasacting unjustly in disobedienceto one's
betters,whethergod or human being,is something
| ftnotuto be evil and shameful.Hence I shallnever
fear or fleefrom somethingwhich may indeedbe a
good for all I know, ratherthan from thingsI know
to be evils.
Suppose,therefore, that you pay no heed to .
Anytus, but are preparedto let me go. He said I
need never have been brought to court in the first
place;but that once I had been,your only option
was to put me to death. He declaredbefore you
that, if I got away from you this tirne, your sons 5
would all be utterly corrupted by practising
Socrates'teachings.Suppose,in the face of that,
you were to sayto me:
"Socrates,
we will not listento Anytus this time.
We are preparedto let you go-but only on this condition: you are to pursue that quest of yours and
practisephilosophyno longer;and ifyou are caught
doing it any more,you shallbe put to death."
Well, asI just said,if you were preparedto let me
go on thoseterms, I should reply to you as follows: a
"l have the greatestfondnessand affection for
you, fellow Athenians,but I will obeymy god rather
than you;and so long as I draw breathand arn able,
I shall never give up practising philosophy,or ex- 5
horting and showing the rvay to 2rnyof you whom I
everencounter,by giving my usualsort of message.
'You
'Excellent
friend,' I shallsay;
are an Athenian.
Your city is the mostimportantand renownedfor its
wisdom and power; so are you not ashamedthat,
while you take care to acquireas much wealth as .
with honour and glory aswell, yet you take
possible,
no careor thoughtfor understandingor truth. or for
the bestpossiblestateofyour soull'
"And should any of you disputethat, and claim
that he doestake such care,I will not let him go
30
PHILOSOPHY
5 straight away nor leave him, but I will quesrion
and
30oexamine and put him to rhe rest; and if I do not
think
he has acquired goodness,though he says he has, I
shall say,'Shame on you, for setting the lowest value
upon the most precious things, and for rating inferior ones more highly.' That I shall do for anyone I
encounter, young or old, alien or fellow citizen; but
all the more for rhe larter, since your kinship with
5 me is closer."
Those are my orders from my god, I do assure
you. Indeed, I believe thar no greater good has ever
befallen you in our city than my service to my god;
becauseall I do is to go abour persuading you, young
b and old alike, not to care for your bodies or for your
wealth so intensely as for the greatesr possible wellbeing of your souls. "It is not wealth," I tell you,
"that produces goodness; rather, it is from goodness
that wealth, and all other benefits for human beings,
accrue to them in their private and public life."
5
If, in fact, I am corrupting the young by rhose assertions, you may call them harmful. But if alyone
claims that I say anything different, he is talking
nonsense. In the face of that I should like to say:
"Fellow Athenians, you may listen to Anytus or not,
c as you please;and you may let me go or not, as you
please, because there is no chance of my acting otherwise, even if I have to die many 1im656ys1-"
Stop protesting, fellow Athenians! Please abide
by -y request that you not protest against what I
5 say, but hear me out; in fact, it will be in your interest, so I believe, to do so. You see, I am going to say
some further things to you which may make you
5h6u1 6u1-2lthough I beg you nor ro.
You may be assured that if you put to death the
sort of man I just said I was, you will not harm me
l0 more than you harm yourselves.Meletus or Anytus
d would not harm me at all; nor, in fact, could they do
so, since I believe it is out ofthe question for a better
man to be harmed by his inferior. The latter may, of
course, inllict death or banishment or disenfranchisement; and my accuser here, along with others
5 no doubt, believes those to be great evils. But
I do
not. Rather, I believe it a far greater evil to try to kill
a man unjustly, as he does now.
At this point, therefore, fellow Athenians, so far
from pleading on my own behalf, as might bc supposed, I am pleading on yours, in caseby condemn-
ing me you should mistrearthe gift which God has
bestowed upon you-because if you put me to e
death,you will not easilyfind another like me. The
fact is, if I may put the point in a somewhatcomical
way,that I havebeenliterally attachedby God to our
city, as if to a horse-a large thoroughbred,which is s
a bit sluggish becauseof its size, and needsto be
arousedby somesort of gadfly.Yes,in me, I believe,
God has attachedto our city just such a creaturethe kind which is constantlyalighting everywhere tr"
on you, all day long, arousing,cajoling,or reproaching eachand everyone of you. You will not easilyacquire another such gadfly,gentlemen;rather, if you
take my advice,you will sparemy life. I dare say,
though, that you will get angry,like peoplewho are
awakened from their doze. Perhapsyou will heed
Anytus, and give me a swat: you could happily fin- s
ish me off, and then spend the rest of your life
asleep-unless God, in his compassionfor you, were
to sendyou someoneelse.
That I am, in fact, iust the sort of gift that God
would sendto our city, you may recognizefrom this: I
it would not seemto be in human nature for me to
have neglectedall my own affairs, and put up with
the neglectof my family for all theseyears,bur constantlymindedyour interesrs,
by visitingeachof you
in private like a father or an elder brother, urging s
you to be concernedaboutgoodness.
Ofcourse,ifI
were gaining anything from that, or were being paid
to urge that courseupon you, my actionscould be
explained.But in fact you can seefor yourselvesthat
my accuse
rs, who so shamelessly
levelall thoseother
chargesagainstme, could not muster the impudence
to call evidencethat I ever once obtained paymenr, c
or askedfor any. It is I who can call evidencesufficient, I think, to show that I am speaking rhe
11u1h-n2msly, my poverty.
Now it may perhapsseempeculiar that, as some
say,I give this counselby going around and dealing s
with others' concernsin private, yet do not venture
to appearbefore the Assembly,and counselthe city
about your businessin public. But the reasonfor that
is one you have frequently heard me give in many a
places:it is a certaindivine or spiritualsign which
comesto me, the very thing to which Meletusmade
mocking allusionin his indictmenr.It hasbeenhappening to me ever sincechildhood:a voiceof some
A P O L O G Y : D E F E N C EO F S O C R A T E S
rhichGod has
tU
PUt
file
tO
e
r like me. The
ewhatcomical
by God to our
bred,which is s
d needsto be
me,I believe,
I a creatureg everywhere.rr"
;,or reproachI not easilyacrather,ifyou
fe. I dare say,
eoplewho are
you will heed
d happilyfin- s
: of your life
for you,were
gift that God
rizefrom this: u
ure for me to
I put up with
ears,but conrgeachofyou
other,urging s
)f course,if I
:rebeingpaid
ionscould be
rurselves
that
Lllthoseother
reimpudence
red payment, .
ridencesuffi;peaking the
that,as some
I and dealing s
) not venture
unselthe city
:asonfor that
3ivein many a
Llsign which
4eletusmade
rasbeenhap'oiceof some
sort which comes,and which always-whenever it
doescome-restrains me from what I am about ro
do, yet never givespositivedirection.That is what
opposesmy engagingin politics-and its opposition
is an excellentthing, to my mind; becauseyou may
be quite sure,fellow Athenians,that if I had tried to
engagein politics,I should have perishedlong since,
and should have been of no use either to you or to
myself.
And pleasedo not get angry if I tell you the truth.
The fact is that there is no personon earth whoselife
will be sparedby you or by any other majority, if he
is genuinelyopposedto many injusticesand unlawful acts,and tries to prevent their occurrencein our
city.Rather,anyonewho truly fights for what is just,
if he is going to survivefor evena short time, must
act in a private capacityrather than a public one.
I will offer you conclusiveevidenceof that-not
just words,but the sort ofevidencethat you respect,
namely,actions.fust hear me tell my experiences,
so
that you may know that I would not submit to a srngle personfor fear of death,contrary to what is just;
nor would I do so,even if I were to lose my life on
the spot.I shallmention things to you which are vulgar commonplacesof the courts;yet they are true.
Although I have never held any other public officein our city, fellow Athenians,I haveserved on rts
Council. My own tribe, Antiochis, happenedto be
the presidingcommissionon the occasionwhen you
wanteda collectivetrial for the ten generalswho had
failed to rescuethe survivors from the naval battle.
That was illegal,as you all later recognized.At the
time I was the only commissioneropposedto your
actingillegally,and I voted againstthe motion. And
though its advocateswere preparedto lay information againstme and have me arrested,while you
were urging them on by shouting, I believedthat I
should face danger in siding with law and justice,
ratherthan take your side for fear of imprisonment
or death, when your proposalswere contrary to
justice.
Those eventstook place while our city was still
underdemocraticrule. But on a subsequentoccasion,
after the oligarchy had come to power, the Thirty
summonedme and four others to the round charnber,with ordersto arrest Leon the Salaminian,and
fetchhim from Salamisfor execution:thev were con-
31
stantly issuing such orders, of course, to many others,
in their wish to implicate as many as possible in their
crimes. On that occasion, however, I showed, once d
again not just by words, but by my actions, that I
couldn't care less about death-if
that would not
be putting it rather crudely-but
that my one and
only care was to avoid doing anything sinful or unjust. Thus, powerful as it was, that regime did not
frighten me into unjust action: when we emerged s
from the round chamber, the other four went off to
Salamis and arrested Leon, whereas I left them and
went off home. For that I might easily have been put
to death, had the regime not collapsed shortly afterwards. There are many witnesses who will testify be- e
fore you about those events.
Do you imagine, then, that I would have survived
all these years ifI had been regularly active in public
life, and had championed what was right in a man-
ner worthy of a braveman, and valuedthat aboveall 5
else,as was my dutyl Far from it, fellow Athenians: 33a
I would not, and nor would any other man. But in
any public undertaking, that is the sort of person
that I, for my part, shallprove to havebeenthroughout my life; and likewise in my private life, because
I have never been guilty of unjust associationwith
anyone,including thosewhom my slanderersallege s
to have beenmy students.
I never, in fact, was anyone'sinstructor at any
time. But if a person wanted to hear me talking,
while I was engaging in my own business,I never
grudged that to anyone,young or old; nor do I hold
conversationonly when I receivepayment,and not b
otherwise.Rather,I offer myself for questioningto
wealthy and poor alike, and to anyone who may
wish to answer in responseto questionsfrom me.
Whether any of thosepeopleacquiresa good char- s
acter or not, I cannot fairly be held responsible,
when I never at any time promisedany of them that
they would learn anything from me, nor gavethem
instruction.And if anyoneclaimsthat he everlearnt
anything from me, or hasheard privately something
that everyoneelsedid not hear as well, you may be
sure that what he saysis untrue.
Why then, you may ask, do some people enioy
spendingso much time in my company?You have .
alreadyheard,fellow Athenians:I have told you the
whole truth-which is that my listenersenjoy the
J2
PHILOSOPHY
wisebut
examinationof thosewho think themselves
are not, sincethe processis not unamusing.But for
5 me, I must tell you, it is a missionwhich I havebeen
bidden to undertakeby the god, through oraclesand
dreams,and through everymeanswherebya divine
injunction to perform any task has ever been laid
upon a human being.
That is not only true, fellow Athenians,but is easa ily verified-[s62us6 if I do corrupt any of our
young people,or have corrupted others in the past,
then presumably,when they grew older,shouldany
of them have realizedthat I had at any time given
them bad advice in their youth, they ought now to
s have appeared here themselvesto accuseme and
obtain redress.Or else,if they were unwilling to
come in person,membersof their families-fathers,
brothers,or other relations-had their relativessuffered any harm at my hands,ought now to put it on
record and obtain redress.
10 In any case,many of those people are present,
. whom I can see:first there is Crito, my contemporary and fellow demesman, father of Critobulus
here;then Lysaniasof Sphettus,father of Aeschines
here; next, Epigenes' father, Antiphon from Cephisia,is present;then again,there are othershere
whose brothershave spent time with me in these
studies:Nicostratus,son of Theozotides,brother of
r Theodotus-Theodotus himself, incidentally,is deceased,so Nicostratus could not have come at his
t,t" brother'surging; and Paraliushere, son of Demodocus, whose brother was Theages;also present is
Ariston's son, Adimantus, whose brother is Plato
here; and Aeantodorus, whose brother is Apollodorushere.
There are many others I could mention to you,
from whom Meletusshould sureiyhave calledsome
5 testimony during his own speech.However, if he
forgot to do so then, let him call it now-I yield the
floor to him-and if he has any such evidence,let
him produceit. But quite the oppositeis true, gentlemen: you will find that they are all prepared to
support me, their corruptor, the one who is, according to Meletus and Anytus, doing their relatives
u mischief.Support for me from the actual victims of
corruptionmight perhapsbe explained;but what of
the uncorrupted----oldermen by now, and relatives
of my victimsl What reasonwould they haveto sup-
port me, apartfrom the right and properone,which
is that they know very well that Meletusis lying,s
whereasI am telling the truth?
There it is, then, gentlemen. That, and perhaps
more of the same, is about all I haveto sayin my defence.But perhaps,among your number, there may
be someonewho will harbour resentmentwhen he.
recallsa caseof his own: he may havefaceda lessserious trial than this one, yet beggedand implored
the jury, weeping copiously,and producing his children here, along with many other relatives and s
loved ones,to gain asmuch sympathyaspossible.By
contrast,I shalldo none ofthose things,eventhough
I am running what might be consideredthe ultimate
risk. Perhaps someone with those thoughts will
harden his heart againstme; and enragedby those
same thoughts, he may cast his vote againstme in a
anger.Well, if any of you are so inclined-not that I
expectit of you, but if anyoneshouldbe-l think it
fair to answerhim as follows:
"I naturally do have relatives,my excellent
q7e1d5-I too was
friend, because-in Homer's 6117n
'not
born of oak nor of rock,' but of human parents;5
and so I do have 16l21ivs5-including my sons,fellow Athenians.There are threeof them: one is now
I
a youth, while two are still children.Nevertheless,
shall not produceany ofthem here,and then entreat
you to vote for my acquittal."
And why, you may ask,will I do no suchthingl ro
Not out of contemptor disrespectfor you, fellow.
Athenians-whether or not I am facing death
boldly is a different issue.The point is that with our
reputationsin mind-yours and our whole city's,as
well as my own-l believethat any suchbehaviour
would be ignominious,at my a[Jeand with the reputation I possess;
that reputationmay or may not, in 5
fact, be deserved,but at least it is believedthat:s"
Socratesstands out in some way from the run of
human beings.Well, if thoseof you who are believed
to be pre-eminentin wisdom,courage,or any other
form of goodness,are going to behavelike that, it
would be demeaning.
I have frequently seensuch men when they face
iudgment they havesignificantreputations,yet they
put on astonishingperformances,apparentlyin the I
belief that by dying they will suffer something
A P O L O G Y : D E F E N C EO F S O C R A T E S
er one,which
letusis lying, I
and perhaps
sayin my deer,theremay
rentwhen he.
aceda lesssernd implored
rcinghis chilrelativesand s
s possible.
By
, eventhough
I theultimate
houghtswill
.gedby those
Lgainst
me in d
d-not that I
'e-l think it
ny excellent
ls-l too was
manparents;5
my sons,feln:oneis now
evertheless,
I
I thenentreat
r suchthingl ro
' you, fellow.
:acingdeath
:hatwith our
holecityt, as
:h behaviour
vith the repr may not, in 5
relievedthat:s"
r the run of
,arebelieved
or any other
like that, it
renthey face
.ons,yetthey
rentlyin the r
' something
unheard of-as if they would be immune from
death,so long as you did not kill them! They seem
b to me to put our city to shame:they could give any
foreigner the impression that men preeminent
among Athenians in goodness,whom they select
from their own number to govern and hold other
positions,are no better than women. I say this, fels low Athenians,becausenone of us who haseventhe
slightest reputation should behave like that; nor
shouldyou put up with us if we try to do so.Rather,
you should make one thing clear: you will be far
more inclined to convict one who stagesthosepathetic charadesand makesour city an objectof derision,than one who keepshis composure.
But leaving reputation aside,gentlemen,I do not
ro
. think it right to entreatthe jury, nor to win acquittal
in that way, insteadof by informing and persuading
them. A juror doesnot sit to dispensejusticeas a
favour, but to determine where it lies. And he has
sworn, not that he will favour whomever he pleases,
but that he will try the caseaccordingto law. We
s should not, then, accustomyou to transgressyour
oath, nor should you becomeaccustomedto doing
so:neither of us would be showing respecttowards
the gods. And therefore, fellow Athenians, do not
requirebehaviourfrom me toward you which I cona sider neither proper nor right nor pious-more especiallynow, for God's sake,when I stand charged
by Meletus here with impiety: becauseif I tried to
persuadeand coerceyou with entreatiesin spite of
5 your oath, I clearly ououldbe teaching you not to
believe in gods; and I would stand literally selfconvicted,by my defence,of failing to acknowledge
them. But that is far from the truth: I do acknowledgethem, fellow Athenians,asnone of my accusers
do; and I trust to you, and to God, to judge my case
asshall be bestfor me and for yourselves.
For many reasons,fellow Athenians,I am not dismayed by this 6u166rn3l-your convicting me, I
msan-2nd especially because the outcome has
comeas no surpriseto me. I wonder far more at the
number ofvotes caston eachside,becauseI did not
think the margin would be so narrow. Yet it seems,
in fact,that if a mere thirty voteshad gone the other
way,I shouldhavebeenacquitted.Or rather,evenas
things stand, I considerthat I have been clearedof
33
Meletus'charges. Not only that, but one thing is obvious to everyone: if Anytus had not come forward
with Lycon to accuseme, Meletus would have forfeited 1.000 drachmas. since he would not have
gained one-frfth ofthe votes cast.
But anyhow, this gentleman demands the death
penalty for me. Very well, then: what alternative
penalty shall I suggest to you, fellow Atheniansl
Clearly, it must be one I deserve. So what do I deserve to incur or to pay, for having taken it into my
head not to lead an inactive lifel Instead, I have neglected the things that concern most people-making
money, managing an estate,gaining military or civic
honours, or othe r positions of power, or ioining political clubs and parties which have formed in our
city. I thought rnyself, in truth, too honest to survive
if I engaged in those things. I did not pursue a
course. there fore. in which I would be of no use to
you or to myself. Instead, by going to each individual privately, I tried to render a service for you
highest service of all.
which is-so I p2inlsin-the
Therefore that was the course I followed: I tried to
persuade each of you not to care for any of his possessionsrather than care for himself, striving for the
utmost excellence and understanding; and not to
care for our city's possessionsrather than for the city
itself; and to care about other things in the same way.
So what treatment do I deserve for being such a
benefactorl If I am to make a proposal truly in keeping with my deserts,fellow Athenians, it should be
some benefit; and moreover, the sort of benefit that
would be fitting for me. Well then, what r'r'fitting for
a poor man who is a benefactor, and who needs time
free for exhorting youl Nothing could be more fitting, fellow Athenians, than to give such a man regular free meals in the Prytaneum; indeed, that is far
more fitting for him than for any of you who may
have won an Olympic race with a pair or a team of
horses:that victor brings you only the appearanceof
success,whereas I bring you the reality; besides, he is
not in want of sustenance,whereas I am. So if, as iustice demands, I am to make a proposal in keeping
with my deserts, that is what I suggest: free meals in
the Prytaneum.
Now, in proposing this, I may seem to you, as
when I talked about appeals for sympathy, to be
speaking from sheer effrontery. But actually I have 5
34
PHIIOSOPHY
suchmorive,fellow Athenians.
1:
My point is rather
cause,if I tell you rhat.that
this: I am convincedthat
would mean disobeying
I do;., r;,J,;", human
my
god, and that is why.I_canno,
being unjustly,at Jeast;rr."rir"rff
..rr,lii'1.,".,,u.,
y--tr, , cannor
you will disbelieve
make you share that conviction,
_.^3"q think thrt iam p.".uring
O.."rrr. we have
a sly evasion.Again, if I said
conversedtogetherso briefly.
,f,", i ."rf fy ;rii.
I saythis, becauseifit
r....
r0 were the Iaw here,
for,a person ro converse
as in otir.. 1,r.;rJl.rl.,r,
every day about
l:r^|.".fi,
,tn, o
goodness,
t, capitalcasemusr not
and about the orher ,rbj..t,
be tried i" ,irgi" j^y, but
,",, fr"u.
over
h.,d *. discussing*n.r,
r"u:lnl, I think you could
"
.*"_iilill'.nir.,,
tnu. U...,-.oiurr..a; b,r,
,
616sp5-2nclrhat an unexamined
as thingsstand.it is nor easy
"ra
lif. fr ,,oiii. fo.
,".1;;; oi.r.,fofru.f,
.
human
being
graveallegationsin o ,ho.t
to live_then
tim".
,r" _;;ld i.i.". _. r,',,
lesswhen I made thoseassertions.
Since, therefore, I am persuaded,
But th. factr,g.n_
for rny part,
tlemen,are just asI claim
t h a t I h a v et r e a r e dn o o n e , : - ; , , : ; - ' ; ' ; - : : '
them ro b;;;i;;;l;
unjustly'I haveno inten,, ^",
easyto convinceyou of.them.
tion whateve,
At the sameii_., t
"6""1-o^ll"
nor accustomedto think of
"_
myself as d.s.ruing any_
a
thing
bad. If I had money,I would
rrearmenr for mysll_f.Why
fr^* o..ri*O
shoulcLI do-thatl For
fine
of
as
tearof the.penaltyMeletus
much a, I .ouil ,ff-.i;il;;,],T
"
demands;;;., when I
n.".
done nre no harm at all.
But ,1. a., i ,#i
n"u.
none-unless you wish to
fix the p.rrfir-r,, ,u. ,
could pay.I could aflord to
of the things I know very
pay y.J;;;,;'rl,joor.,
well to be bad, and de_
,
so
I suggesta fine of that amounr_
mand that insteadf Loprisonmeni'iol"ir,rrrn..t
One
.
moment,
Why shouldI live in prison,
fellow Athenians.platohere,
in servitudero rhe an_
along
with Crito, Critobulus,
and Apollodo.rr, ir-rrgr.rg
son
..r,_
;.rio.,.iJ
#.1
"qq"-ted
rt,..,,
.li1b
.pri
a
hne, wirh imprisonment
lrolose 30 minas,and they are sayingthev
until I payl That would
will
l^e_tl
stand sureryfor that sum.
amount to what I just mentiorr.d,
So I propose'an-".-.i ,t,r,
,rn.. I haven,tthe
amount, and^these people
meansto pay it.
,h"tt b. yo,r. ,ufn.r.rr,
,o
guaranrors
of its payment.
Well then, should I propose
.
banishmentl per_
i
haps rhar is r,vha
For the r"k:.of o slight
gain in time, fellow Atheni_
.
ans,
you will incur infamy
nrans,if I am so illogicalas
y"",-;;;
and blame frorn those
that.
fellow cit_
who would denigrate our
.t izens,wereunabl
city, fo, purr;r,g Socrares
..who
to death2-a ,,*ii. ,.on.,_because
those
wish
malisn
you thar you now seekto
you.will sayI.aT *;r., .u..,'Ji
b. .;d of ti".,]. Lould t not
ll
i., ,
any case,had you waited
draw the inference,in
only a ,ho., "^'.,ot;
that case,that others will
,i_., you
would have obtained ,hu,
hardly take kindly^to ,t.,r_,1
orr,.o_.f.";;;
it, fellow
""a_"rr*lfr.
se_e,
Athenians.A fine life itwoulcl.be
of
course,
that
I
.ro* *.ii"a*"*a
Io,y^.rn
fo. i.rro., of _y
in
life,
"_
i
and
age to go into exile.:rnd
death is nor far off. t oaj..ri^rii,'"o,
"
spendhis dryi.o.,ti.,u"lly
,o o
all of you,but to those*ho.ond._*j
exchangingone city for another,
rn" ,. O*rf,,
nnd,b.ing repeat_
edly expelled-becauseI know
same
people
r *."il- ;;;',.,i.,r,,",
*"fi rfr"t wher;J.1;".,n*.
ever I go, the young.will come "..f
,, f,lr. r--r,.rp.aking,
a s r h e yd o h e r e .a n a i f t . . p . l r h ; , ; f , . i _ i l t . * p . t
you^inragine, genrlemen,
that I have
,f.rn"O:
been
conviced for lack of a.g,rm..rt,
by
p".suadi.,g,f,.i..fj".'r;
jl:-selves,
,i,ir.
,r., r
while
if I
could haveusedto convince
e lcto not repel them, their
you,f,"Ji U.ri.".j ,rr",
fott"r, and relatrveswill
I, should do or say
expelme on their account.
,. g";"
Or, ,
that
is far from true."nything
".OrUr"i
Norv, perhapssomeonemay
,,Socrates,
I
have
been
convicted,not fbr
say:
could
lack of
you nor be so kind as to keep
.argumenrs,but f.. t". k;ib;;;
qul.i n,ra.._ain inac_
;;; ;;"..
and willingnessto address
5 trve,w,hileliving in
you in ,u.h t.r_,,
exilel,,l-t i, ;, ,h. harJ.r,
yo.,
por.r,
would mosrlike to be addressed
of all of which to convince
",
i"_;;;;;
.._.;i;;;.
r;.iry,
uy
*nn, u._
weepingand wailing, and
doing
_r.f,
".a,"ii"g
, in*myserr
";;:;:J:Ji,iTff::;T#:il"ffi
:l.iitilHl:n',i,f
Hir:i,:'
*.:,::
*:
musr
surery
o.J,::,:Jillf
iJ,.ffI,H,tr;;:]
argu
men
rs,b.,,h'.;"j:.'."L
Ti:#.*Til:::: i:
A P O L O G YD
: E F E N C EO F S O C R A T E S
ln disobeying
naininactive,
am practising
ly isthegreateryday about
:ctsyou have
g myselfand
s no life for a
me still
>elieve
thefacts,genroughit is not
me time,I am
leserving
anyve proposeda
,t would have
is that I have
Jty at a sum I
ina,I suppose,
rtohere,along
'rus,is urging
ryingtheywill
: a fineofthat
our sufficient
ellow Athenire from those
tting Socrates
Lose
who wish
if I am not;in
ort time, you
automatically.
welladvanced
essthat not to
d me to death;
Cd something
, that I have
s of the sort I
I believedthat
acquittal.But
victed,not for
enimpudence
r termsasyou
rat is to say,by
sayingmuch
elsethat I claim to be unworthy of me-the sortsof
thing that you are so used to hearing from others.
But just as I did not think during my defencethat I
should do anything unworthy of a free man because
I was in danger,so now I have no regretsabout defending myself as I did; I should far rather present
such a defenceand die, than live by defending myself in that other fashion.
In court, as in warfare, neither I nor anyoneelse
should contrive to escapedeath at any cost.On the
battlefield too, it often becomesobvious that one
could avoid death by throwing down one'sarms and
flinging oneselfupon the mercy of one's pursuers.
And in every sort of danger there are many other
meansof escapingdeath,if one is shameless
enough
to do or to sayanything. I suggestthat it is not death
that is hard to avoid, gentlemen,but wickednessis
far harder,sinceit is fleeterof foot than death.Thus,
slow and elderly as I am, I havenow beenovertaken
by the slower runner; while my accusers,adroit and
quick-witted asthey are,havebeenovertakenby the
faster,which is wickedness.And so I take my leave,
condemnedto death by your judgment, whereas
they standfor ever condemnedto depravity and injusticeas judged by Truth. And just as I acceptmy
penalty,somust they.Things were bound to turn out
this way,I suppose,and I imagine it is for the best.
In the next place, to those of you who voted
againstme, I wish to utter a prophecy.Indeed,I have
now reacheda point at which peopleare most given
to prophesying-that is, when they are on the point
of death.I warn you, my executioners,that as soon
as I am dead retribution will come upon you-far
more severe,I swear, than the sentenceyou have
passedupon me. You have tried to kill me for now,
in the belief that you will be relievedfrom giving an
accountofyour lives.But in fact,I can tell you, you
will face just the oppositeoutcome. There will be
more critics to call you to account,people whom I
haverestrainedfor the time being though you were
unawareof my doing so.They will be all the harder
on you sincethey are younger,and you will rue it all
the more-because if you imagine that by putting
peopleto death you will prevent anyonefrom reviling you for not living rightly, you are badly mistaken. That way of escapeis neither feasiblenor
honourable.Rather.the most honourableand easiest
35
way is not the silencingof others,but striving to
make oneselfas good a person as possible.So with
that prophecyto thoseof you who voted againstme,
I take my leave.
lo
As for thosewho voted for my acquittal,I should .
like to discussthe outcomeof this casewhile the officialsare occupied,and I am not yet on the way to
the placewhere I must die. Pleasebear with me,
gentlemen,just for this short time: there is no reason
why we should not have a word with one another 5
while that is still permitted.
SinceI regardyou as my friends,I am willing to +on
show you the significanceof what has just befallen
me. You see,gentlemenof the jury-and in applying that term to you, I probably use it correctlysomething wonderful has just happened to me.
Hitherto, the usual propheticvoice from my spiri- s
tual sign was continually active,and frequently opposedme evenon trivial matters,if I was about to do
anything amiss.But now somethinghasbefallenme,
as you can see for yourselves,which one certainly
might consider-and is generally held-to be the u
very worst of evils. Yet the sign from God did not
opposeme, either when I left home this morning, or
when I appearedhere in court, or at any point when
I was about to say anything during my speech;and
yet in other discussionsit has very often stoppedme s
in mid-sentence.This time, though, it has not opposedme at any moment in anything I saidor did in
this whole business.
Now, what do I take to be the explanation for
thatl I will tell you: I suspectthat what hasbefallen
me is a blessing,and that those of us who suppose
death to be an evil cannot be making a correct as- c
sumption. I have gained every ground for that suspicion, becausemy usual sign could not have failed
to opposeme, unlessI were going to incur some
good result.
And let us also reflect upon how good a reason 5
there is to hopethat deathis a good thing. It is, you
see,one or other of two things:either to be dead is
to be nonexistent,as it were,and a deadpersonhas
no awareness
whateverof anythingat all; or else,as
we are told, the soul undergoessome sort of transformation, or exchangingof this presentworld for ro
another,Now if there is. in fact. no awarenessin d
death, but it is like sleep-the kind in which the
36
PHIIOSOPHY
sleeper does not even dream at all-then
death
would be a marvellous gain. Why, imagine that
someone had to pick the night in which he slept so
soundly that he did not even dream, and to compare
s all the other nights and days of his life with that one;
suppose he had to say, upon consideration, how
many days or nights in his life he had spent better
e and more agreeably than that night; in that case,I
think he would find them easy to count compared
with his other days and nights-even if he were the
Great King of Persia, let alone an ordinary person.
Well, if death is like that, then for my part I call it a
gain; becauseon that assumption the whole of time
would seem no longer than a single night.
On the other hand, if death is like taking a trip
i from here to another place, and ifit is true, as we are
told, that all ofthe dead do indeed exist in that other
place, why then, gentlemen of the jury, what could be
4ld a greater blessing than that? If upon arriving in
Hades, and being rid of these people who profess to
be "jurors," one is going to find those who are truly
judges, and who are also said to sit in judgment
there-Minos, Rhadamanthys, Aeacus, Triptolemus,
s and all other demigods who were righteous in their
own lives-would that be a disappointing journeyl
Or again, what would any of you not give to share
the company of Orpheus and Musaeus, of Hesiod
and Homer? I say "you," since I personally would be
willing to die many times over, if those talesare true.
I Whyl Because my own soiourn there would be
wonderful, if I could meet Palamedes,or Aiax, son
of Telamon, or anyone else of old who met their
death through an unjust verdict. Whenever I met
them. I could compare my o,vvnexperiences with
s theirs-which
would be not unamusing, I fancyand best of all, I could spend time questioning and
probing people there, just as I do here, to 6nd out
'*'ho among them is truly wise, and who thinks he is
without being so.
What would one not give, gentlemen of the
c jury, to be able to question the leader of the great
expedition against Troy, or Odysseus, or Sisyphus,
or countless other men and women one could
mentionl Would it not be unspeakable good fortune to converse with them there, to mingle with
s them and question them? At least that isn't a reason, presumably, for people in that world to put
you to death-because amongst other ways in
which peoplethere are more fortunatethan those
in our world, they have become immune from
death for the rest of time, if what we are told is actually true.
Moreover, you too, gentlemen of the jury,
shouldbe ofgood hopein the faceofdeath, and fix
your minds upon this single truth: nothing can
harm a good man, either in life or in death;nor are a
his fortunes neglectedby the gods. In fact, what
has befallenme has come about by no mere accident: rather. it is clear to me that it was better I
should die now and be rid of my troubles.That is I
also the reasonwhy the divine sign at no point
turned me back;and for my part, I bear thosewho
condemned me, and my accusers,no ill will at
all-though, to be sure,it was not with that intent
that they were condemningand accusingme, but e
with intent to harm me-and they are culpablefor
that. Still, this much I ask of them. When my sons
come of age,gentlemen,punish them: give them
the samesort of trouble that I usedto give you, if
you think they care for money or anything else 5
more than for goodness,
and if they think highly of
themselveswhen they are of no value. Reprove
them, as I reproved you, for failing to care for the ,tz"
things they should, and for thinking highly of
themselveswhen they are worthless.If you will do
that, then I shallhavereceivedmy own just deserts
from you, as will my sons.
But enough.It is now 1i6s 1els2v6-for me to die,
and for you to live-though which of us hasthe better destinyis unclearto everyone,saveonly to God.
NOTES
l. The verdictwas"Guilty."Socrates
herebeginshis
secondspeech,
proposingan alternativeto thedeath
penaltydemandedby the prosecution.
2. The jury hasnow votedfor the deathpenalty,and
Socrates
beginshis finalspeech.
KEY TERM
Sophists
A P O I O G Y : D E F E N C EO F S O C R A T E S
her ways in
te than those
nmune from
aretold is acof the jury,
leath,and fix
nothing can
leath;nor are a
[n fact, what
ro mere acciwas better I
rbles.That is s
r at no point
rarthosewho
ro ill will at
th that intent
Lsingme, but .
: culpablefor
/henmy sons
n: give them
o giveyou, if
rnythingelse 5
ink highlyof
lue. Reprove
r carefor thq 42a
ig highly of
f you will do
n justdeserts
-forme to die,
rshasthe betrnly to God.
ere begins his
/e to the death
r penalty,and
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Socrates thinks that the person who thinks he
knows nothing when he doesn't know anything is
wiser than the person who thinks he knows something when he doesn't.But if neither person knows
anything, how can one be wiser than the otherl
What kind of wisdom could Socratesbe referring to
hereI
2. There is something paradoxical about Socrates'
claim that the person who is the wisest is the person who recognizesthat wisdom is truly worthless.
Is Socratesusing the word "wisdom" in two different senseshereI If so, what could these two
sensesbeI
37
3. When Socratesis suggesting that his "penalty" be
free meals in the Prytaneum, he compareshimself
to the victor in an Olympic race.He saysthat while
victory brings the Athenians only the appearanceof
success,Socratesbrings the reality of success.What
service does Socratesthink he is doing for the Athenians that cannot be matched by the winner of an
Olympic racel How doesexamining the citizensof
Athens bring them true successl
4. Socratesis famous for saying that "an unexamined
life is no life for a human being to live." What does
he mean by this? What's so valuableabout examrning one's lifel
5. In your opinion, did Socrateslive a meaningful life I
Whv or why notl