Selections from Plato, the philosophy of Socrates: The Apology, the Phædo

Introduction To The Apology

THE fifth century before Christ was the first truly glorious period of Grecian History. It was a glorious period for the world, and glorious for the world because glorious for Greece. The despots of Persia — that ancient abode of extreme, sickening conservatism — had made great but futile efforts to strangle the new and vigorous young child of liberty. To the Asiatic East, Greece was an ill-shapen child, and, according to custom, as much Grecian as barbarian, the Persian felt she should be destroyed. He would not run the risk of allowing her merely to be exposed to death on some Mt. Ida of commercial and military isolation ; he would be positive. Greece exposed, alone, free, would surely flourish. She must be murdered directly.

We all know the stories of Marathon and Thermopylae, of Salamis and Plataea. We know how those freeborn men of Greece refused to bow to the overlordship of their eastern enemies, refused adoption at the hands of Persia, refused the enervating life and certain death that was planned for them. When, about 460 B. C, Greece had safely emerged from the conflict with despotism and was well embarked on her great career of literary, philosophical and political activity, the renowned city of Athens, the ttoAi? A9r,vae that Xerxes had once burned, was rapidly becoming the greatest city in the world. Its streets were filled with men of thought and action. Its academies, its schools, its public meetings, its conclaves, its banquets — in short, its public and private, political, literary and social gatherings were all attended by the most energetic men of the then world. Minds quickened by the free thought of pastoral Greece, bodies strengthened and invigorated by the free atmosphere of Grecian liberty, came together for mutual benefit and general progress. There were statesmen like Pericles, who formed and executed great policies of public weal ; writers of tragedy like Sophocles, who laid the foundation of the modern drama ; comic poets, like Aristophanes, who ridiculed the public men of the time ; sculptors, like Phidias, whose works no chisel has ever dared to excel ; philosophers, like Anaxagoras, who was pointing to a supreme intelligence as the author of all nature.

Chief among the latter, as judged by succeeding ages, and by our own time, was Socrates. Toward the latter part of the fifth century, B. C, he was well advanced in years, with an accumulated knowledge and wisdom which comes to fertile and expanding minds. He went about the city talking with all men on all interesting subjects of reflection, asking questions of all who would answer, inciting men to think, that they might with their own wisdom see the truth. He seemed to speak of strange things and utter strange words. He did not appear to con-

Introduction To The Apology. 5

form entirely to the established lines of thought. There were men who made a business of teaching wisdom. Socrates cast a doubt about the certainty of all their doctrines. He said ' ' Is that surely so ? Can there be no advance, no deviation whatever ? ' ' These were the Sophists. That they might lessen Socrates' influence with the people and thereby increase their own, they charged him with corrupting the youth, with teaching strange thoughts, and strange gods. They said ' ' Socrates does not worship the city's gods; he confounds men's minds." The great poet Aristophanes, in his comedy, ''The Clouds," was, in a measure, the mouthpiece of a certain public opinion when he ridiculed the great thinker with being a strange and harmful reformer. Men of Athens laughed; some scorned or tried to scorn the fearless questioner. He loved truth. They mocked him. He was brave and gentle. They jeered, they goaded him. He was calm and thoughtful. He was confident in his own position, for he felt that he was eloquent who speaks the truth. 1

Masses of men must rely on the superior work of men more generously endowed with power of mind and body. Men great in action and in thought must do and perform work for thousands. Such are the leaders of great reforms, men who have made epochs of history. One such man comprises within himself many men. One has complete within himself the genius, faculties and resources of many.

1 How does this statement conform with the modern idea of eloquence?

In the first part of the Apology, Socrates speaks of the accusation against him as follows : " It is this : Socrates acts wickedly, and with criminal curiosity investigates things under the earth and in the heavens. He also makes the worse appear the better argument; and he teaches these things to others." Such an accusation might be brought against every reformer this w 7 orld has known. For in the opinion of most contemporaries reformers act wickedly. They are wicked because they are ' ' curious ' ' to learn more than they already know.

Socrates pretended to no wisdom; which very fact showed he possessed it. The wise man is modest, and of all wise men, the inquiring Socrates was the most modest. Yet he thought it was "a beautiful thing if one man could instruct others. ' ' He was charged with pretending to supernatural wisdom. He denied it and said only that he did have some human. But even that wisdom to which he did modestly lay claim was the wisdom of the man who knows that he knows nothing. To an inquiry as to who was the wisest of men, the Oracle of Delphi answered that Socrates was. This incensed the professional wise men of Athens. Socrates did not profess at first to know why he should be called the wisest of men. So in his customary way he inquires ; he asks questions ; he goes among the politicians and talks with them. A certain politician pretends to know everything. Therefore Socrates feels sure the politician is not wiser than he, and the Oracle so far is correct. He goes among the

Introduction To The Apology. 7

poets. They are the same as the politicians. Then he seeks the company of the artificers. He finds they do know something and have some wisdom, but the Oracle's dictum is still true. For the artificers pretend to know many other things, which they do not at all, and Socrates pretends to know nothing.

The charges against him were general. No direct charge could be found. They were such as might be made against any man of active speculative thought. Men hated him because of the very wisdom of his modesty. With his very simplicity of thought and action he confounded his accusers. They contradicted themselves. He puzzled the Athenians as all reformers puzzle their contemporaries. He puzzled them not so much by his positive opinion as by their ignorance, and superstitious fear of any intimation of any change of thought. L,ike all men who think fearlessly, freely and independently, he was accused of ungodliness and heresy.

Socrates was tried before the dicasts, the great court of justice in Athens, on the charge of corrupting the minds of men, and not worshiping the city's gods. He made his defense in person, and in the ' 'Apology of Socrates," which follows, we have Plato's version of Socrates' speech. We have no means of being sure just how much of what Plato gives us Socrates actually said. In the Memorabilia of Zenophon, the Greek soldier and leader of the Retreat of the Ten Thousand, the account of Socrates' defense agrees substantially with Plato's; nevertheless the Apology of Socrates is a work of Plato. Socrates left no writings. He simply conversed, talked, discussed. He went about the streets doing good. He was a man of his own age talking to men of his own time. It was left for his great disciple, Plato, in some respects a greater thinker than Socrates, to give to all the world the words and sayings of the master. In giving those words, Plato has added many of his own. He has interspersed the sentences of Socrates with those of Plato. Strictly, therefore, we must call this defense, " Plato's Apology of Socrates. ' '

The two philosophers should always be considered together ; Socrates, the master ; Plato, a number of years younger, the disciple; bound together by ties of love and mutual respect. We must note the deep moral tone that pervades the purposes of both men. We see how unconcerned Socrates is about death, looking upon death as only a step to a new life. It is this wonderful happy contentment with all the vicissitudes of life and death that gives Socrates' speech the easy flowing style it has. It is a philosophical resignation that quiets him and prepares him for the fatal hemlock. These moments of passive satisfaction may impress the reader with a feeling that Socrates was egotistic, that he was egostistically self-satisfied. In such periods of his speech he glows with irony, superiority, audacity. Yet these moments which may appear the weakest, are really the strongest. They show us the great man, confident of his own integrity and the

INTRODUCTION TO THE APOLOGY. g

righteousness of his purpose, yielding to the feeling and despotic power of the people, people who could not or would not understand him.

The true impression of Socrates making his defense before the dicasts has been well put by Cicero. This great orator and literary critic speaks of him as appearing before his judges as a master, not as a suppliant, being tried. And as a master of thought we must conceive him, yet as a master as gentle as a suppliant but as fearless and unabashed as a king. He cared not for men. He was no respecter of persons. He treated all men alike.

ARGUMENT OF THE APOLOGY.

T^HE apology of Socrates before the judges is divided into three parts: the defense; the speech concerning the mitigation of the penalty; his last words to the Athenians. The speech begins with a denunciation of studied rhetoric. Socrates seeks only the truth and will not clothe his arguments with the studied phrases of professional rhetoricians. He wishes to speak in his customary way. He begs their indulgence that he may use his own ordinary and homely phrases in which to defend himself against his accusers.

He has been accused of many things, but the chief accusation is comprised in the charge that he teaches strange gods. There are two kinds of accusers who appear against him. 1 (1) The comic poets charge that he is a student of physics, that he is "studious of things on high and exploring everything under the earth." Socrates admits a love for knowledge and for such investigation, but he disclaims any acquaintance with the science. He says that there are men who can and do teach something in this branch, but that he can not and never has taught anything in that line. But why should men be condemned for teaching physics? (In Socrates' time it was considered wicked to be too wise and "curious" about physical phenomena. Such things were left to the gods.) (2) Many men charged him with teaching for pay. He denies it. Yet he has heard of good men who teach for money and envies them their ability. A man should be paid for teaching and caring for a young man, as well as a groom for keeping a colt in trim. So Socrates, though he tells the Athenians there is no wrong in receiving pay for teaching, is yet innocent of the charge which some would use

'See the clouds of Aristophanes. Ver. 112 et seq et ver. 188.

II against him. He then tells the story of the Delphic oracle; how Chserepho had inquired of the priestess if there were any more wise than Socrates, and her reply that there were none. He tells of his endeavors to understand the truth of the Delphic answer; how he went among the politicians, the poets, the craftsmen; how he learned of their conceit and finally understood the oracle. He knew that he knew nothing. Such a confession made enemies of the professors of knowledge; for Socrates would spoil their trade. The wisest is he who knows that his wisdom is nothing. Divinity is truly wise; wise in reality. Socrates wishes to impress upon men the nothingness of human when compared with divine knowledge.

Melitus is the chief accuser and he says that Socrates is heretical and believes that the moon is earth. Socrates shows that this doctrine of the moon and sun comes from Anaxagoras, the philosopher, and that it is disseminated in the theatre and that it would thus be foolish for him to pretend to originate a doctrine which comes from other sources.

In several pages following Socrates completely confounds his accusers concerning their charges of religious heresy. The vulgar will accuse him of bringing death upon himself by teaching new doctrines. Yet no man should fear death. " For no one knows but that death may be to man the greatest of goods." He obeys God rather than man. He considers only "whether he acts justly, or unjustly, like a good or a bad man." He cares not for temporary things, but for eternal. He "loves and honors Athenians, but obeys divinity rather than them." He does not defend himself for fear of death, but for the principle of truth for which he pleads.

Socrates explains his wishes and desires in talking with and questioning men. He does not desire to be the preceptor of any one. Yet if any wish to talk and communicate with him he will not and has not repulsed them. He wishes no reward but the

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mutual good both he and his companions may gain. He offers himself to be questioned by the rich and poor, and if any one will answer his questions, he in turn will tell all he can in reply to othens.

Many men before him have been tried before the dicasts and many have resorted to methods of touching the sentiments of pity, in order to play upon the weakness of their judges. But, though in the face of death he will not indulge in such practices; yet he has relatives, and friends through pity for whom, he might excite the judges' leniency. " He is not sprung from an oak nor from a rock, but from men;" yet he is willing to die; he will suffer nothing dreadful by dying. He would not have earthly immortality, even if they did not put him to death. Death is immortality to him, however it comes.

The first part of the apology, the defense proper, closes with a strenuous and beautiful assertion of his belief in the gods, and a reference to Athenians and "to divinity to judge concerning me such things as will be best both for me and you."

At this point the vote was taken and Socrates was condemned by a small majority of the judges.

According to the custom of the law the prisoner was allowed to choose one of three punishments; namely, perpetual imprisonment, a fine, or banishment. Socrates avails himself of the opportunity, but very unexpectedly to the judges, he tells them that he thinks he ought to be maintained at public expense in the Prytaneum which was the Olympic victor's reward. He has given up riches and power for the sake of philosophy. He is poor because he has spent his time in benefiting Athens and Athenians. He can not choose to pay a fine, for he has no money. He can not choose exile, for foreigners would not listen to him, if his own countrymen will not; and he would not care to live if he could not continue his investigations of truth. But Socrates' friends, Plato and others, i 4 SELECTIONS FROM PLA TO.

persuade him to accept a fine and they act as his securities. But Socrates had incensed the judges by what they considered insolence when he said he thought he deserved a reward rather than punishment. They condemned him to die.

Socrates closes with a powerful rebuke of the Athenians. He tells them that which literally proves true, that they will meet with a fearful retribution. He prophecies that those who condemn him will suffer, for men will see the light and will say that Socrates was wrongfully murdered. Many whom he has restrained will grow more enthusiastic in his favor and more bitter against his enemies. His disciples will continue his work. Those who have wronged him will suffer for their unrighteousness.

Very appropriately the final words of the apology are on the subject of death. That great mystery was the favorite theme of all his discourses, and now that he was about to meet it himself he seemed more happy in its discussion than ever before. Death is not an evil, said Socrates. It is a positive good or nothing. It is a long dreamless sleep or a migration to another place. Either was a happy lot. If the latter, what joy would he experience in the company of those who had gone before, with Homer's heroes and other Greeks! Nothing is evil to a good man. He is willing to die. It will be better for him. He exhorts all men to pay more attention to virtue than to anything else. With these words of kindness and love he gives himself over to die with an equanimity and self-resignation characteristic only of a great soul.

THE APOLOGY OF SOCRATES.

Pace through thy cell, old Socrates, cheerily to and fro ;

Keep to the purpose of thy soul, and let the poison flow. They may crush to earth the lamp of clay that holds a light divine,

But they cannot quench the power of thought by all their deadly wine.

They cannot blot thy spoken words from the memory of man By all the poison ever yaats brewed since time its course began ;

For still the world goes round and round, and the genial seasons run And ever the right comes uppermost, and ever is justice done.

Spoken on his Trial before the Court of the Helicza.

1KNOW not, O Athenians, how you may have been affected by my accusers: I indeed have through them almost forgotten myself, so persuasively have they spoken; though, as I may say, they have not asserted anything which is true. But among the multitude of their false assertions I am most surprised at this, in which they say that you ought to beware of being deceived by me, as if I were an eloquent speaker. For that they should not be ashamed of asserting that which facts will immediately confute, since in the present instance I shall appear to you to be by no means eloquent, — this seems to me to be the consummation of impudence; unless they call him eloquent who speaks the truth. For, if they assert this, I shall indeed acknowledge myself to be a rhetorician 1 , though not according to their conceptions. They have not then as I said, asserted anything which is true;

• Socrates refers to the professional rhetoricians, who persecute him, but who really should be tried rather than he.

*5 but from me you will hear all the truth. Not, by Zeus, O Athenians, that you will hear from me a discourse splendidly decorated with words and phrases, and adorned in other respects like the harangues of these men; but you will hear me speaking in such language as may casually present itself. For I am confident that what I say will be just, nor let anyone of you expect it will be otherwise: for it does not become one of my age to come before you like a lad with a studied discourse. And, indeed, I very much request and beseech you, O Athenians, that if you should hear me apologizing in the same terms and modes of expression which I am accustomed to use in the Forum, on the Exchange and Public Banks, and in other places, where many of you have heard me, — that you will neither wonder nor be disturbed on this account, for the case is as follows : — I now for the first time come before this tribunal, though I am more than seventy years old; and consequently I am a stranger to the mode of speaking which is here adopted. As, therefore, if I were in reality a foreigner, you would pardon me for using the language and the manner in which I had been educated, so now I request you, and this justly, as it appears to me, to suffer the mode of my diction, whether it be better or worse ; and to attend to this, whether I speak what is just or not : for this is the virtue of a judge, as that of an orator is to speak the truth. \ In the first place, therefore, O Athenians, it is just "that I should answer the first false accusations of me, and my first accusers, and afterwards the latter accusations, and the latter accusers. For many have been accusers of me to you for many years, and who have asserted nothing true, of whom I am more afraid than of

Anytus and his accomplices, though these indeed are powerful in persuading ; but those are still more so, who, having been conversant with many of you from infancy, have persuaded you and accused me falsely. For they have said, that there is one Socrates, a wise man, studious of things on high, and exploring everything under the earth, and who also can make the worse appear the better argument. 4 These men, O Athenians, who spread this report are my dire accusers. For those who hear it think that such as investigate these things do not believe that there are gods. In the next place, these accusers are numerous, and have accused me for a long time. They also said these things to you in that age in which you would most readily believe them, some of you being boys and lads ; and they accused me unchallenged, there being no one to speak in my defense. But that which is most irrational of all is this, that neither is it possible to know and tell their names, except some one of them should be a comic poet. Such however as have persuaded you by employing envy and calumny, together with those who, being persuaded themselves, have persuaded others, — with respect to all these, the method to be adopted is most dubious. For it is not possible to call them to account here before you, nor to confute any one of them ; but it is necessary, as if fighting with shadows, to make my defense and refutation without any to answer me. Consider, therefore, as I have said that my accusers are twofold, some having accused me lately, and others formerly; and think that it is necessary I should answer the latter of these first ; for you also have heard these my accusers, and much more than you have those by whom I have t>een recently accused. ]Be it so. I must defend myself then, O Athenians, and endeavor in this so short a space of time to remove from you the calumny which you have so long entertained. I wish, therefore, that this my defense may effect something better both for you and me, and that it may contribute to some more important end. I think, however, that it will be attended with difficulty, and I am not entirely ignorant what the difficulty is. At the same time let this terminate as Divinity pleases. It is my business to obey the law, and to make my apology. 2^ I*et us repeat, therefore, from the beginning what the accusation was, the source of that calumny in which Melitus confiding brought this charge against me. Be it so. What then do my accusers say ? For their accusation must be formally recited as if given upon oath. It is this : Socrates acts wickedly, and with criminal

CURIOSITY INVESTIGATES THINGS UNDER THE EARTH, AND IN THE HEAVENS. HE ALSO MAKES THE WORSE TO APPEAR THE BETTER ARGUMENT ; AND HE TEACHES

THESE Things To others. Such is the accusation : for things of this kind you also have yourselves seen in the comedy of Aristophanes ; for there one Socrates is exhibited, who affirms that he walks upon the air, and idly asserts many other trifles of this nature; of which things, however, I neither know much nor little. Nor do I say this as despising such a science, if there be any one wise about things of this kind, lest Melitus should charge me with this as a new crime, but because, O Athenians, I have no such knowledge. I adduce many of you as witnesses of this, and I call upon such of you as have at any time heard me discoursing, and there are many such among you, to teach and declare to each other if you have ever heard me speak much or little about things of this kind. And from this you may know that other things also, which the multitude assert of me, are all of them of a similar nature YVfor no one of them is true. j+ For neither if you have heard any one assert that I attempt to teach men, and that I make money by so doing, — neither is this true. This, indeed, appears to me to be a beautiful thing, if some one is able to instruct men, like Gorgias the I^eontine, Prodicus the Cean, and Hippias the Elean. 1 For each of these, in the several cities which he visits, has the power of persuading the young men, who are permitted to apply themselves to such of their own countrymen as they please without any charge, to adhere to them only, and to give them money and thanks besides for their instruction. There is also another wise man, a Parian, who I hear has arrived hither. For it happened that I once met with a man who spends more money on the sophists than all others, — I mean Callias the son of Hipponicus. I therefore asked him, for .he has two sons, O Callias, said I, if your two sons were two colts or calves, should we not have some one to take care of them, who would be paid for so doing, and who would make them beautiful, and the possessors of such good qualities as belong to their nature? But now, since your sons are men, what master do you intend to have for them? Who is there that is scientifically knowing in human and political virtue of this kind ? For I think that you have considered this, since you have sons. Is there such a one, said I, or not? There certainly is, he replied. Who is he? said I. And whence is he? And for how much money does he teach ? It is Kvenus the Parian, said he, Socrates, and he teaches for five

1 No attempt should be made to remember the men mentioned in either the Apology or the Phsedo, as they are not of sufficient historical importance.

minae [$75.00]. And I indeed considered Evenus to be a happy and fortunate man, if he in reality possesses this art, and so elegantly teaches. I therefore should also glory and think highly of myself, if I had a scientific knowledge of these things; but this, O Athenians, is certainly not the case. *0 ■ Perhaps, however, some one may reply: But, Socrates, what have you done then ? Whence have these calumnies against you arisen ? For unless you had more curiously emplo}^ed yourself than others, and had done something different from the multitude, so great a rumor would never have been raised against you. Tell us, therefore, what it is, that we may not pass an unadvised sentence against you. He who says these things appears to me to speak justly, and I will endeavor to show you what that is which has occasioned me this appellation and calumny. Hear, therefore; and though perhaps I shall appear to some of you to jest, yet be well assured that I shall tell you all the truth. For I, O Athenians, have acquired this name through nothing else than a certain wisdom. But of what kind is this wisdom ? Perhaps it is human wisdom. For this in reality I appear to possess. Those, indeed, whom I just now mentioned possessed perhaps more than human wisdom, which I know not how to denominate, for I have no knowledge of it. And whoever says that I have, speaks falsely, and asserts this to calumniate me. But, O Athenians, be not disturbed if I appear to speak somewhat magnificently of myself. For this which I say is not my own assertion, but I shall refer it to one who is considered by you as worthy of belief. For I shall adduce to you the Delphic Deity himself as a testimony of my wisdom, if I have any, and of the quality it possesses. You certainly then know Chaerepho; he was my associate from a youth, was familiar with most of you, and accompanied you in and returned with you from your exile. You know, therefore, what kind of a man Chaerepho was, and how eager in all his undertakings. He then, coming to Delphi, had the boldness to consult the oracle about this particular. Be not, as I said, O Athenians, disturbed, for he asked if there was any one more wise than I am. And the Pythian priestess answered that there was not any one more wise. His brother can testify to you the truth of these things, for Chaerepho himself is dead.