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Apology

Plato

Apology

Table of Contents

Apology. ...............................................................................................................................................................1

Plato. ........................................................................................................................................................1

Apology

Plato

Translated by Benjamin Jowett

Socrates' Defense

How you have felt, O men of Athens, at hearing the speeches of my accusers, I cannot tell; but I know that

their persuasive words almost made me forget who I was −− such was the effect of them; and yet they have

hardly spoken a word of truth. But many as their falsehoods were, there was one of them which quite amazed

me; −− I mean when they told you to be upon your guard, and not to let yourselves be deceived by the force

of my eloquence. They ought to have been ashamed of saying this, because they were sure to be detected as

soon as I opened my lips and displayed my deficiency; they certainly did appear to be most shameless in

saying this, unless by the force of eloquence they mean the force of truth; for then I do indeed admit that I am

eloquent. But in how different a way from theirs! Well, as I was saying, they have hardly uttered a word, or

not more than a word, of truth; but you shall hear from me the whole truth: not, however, delivered after their

manner, in a set oration duly ornamented with words and phrases. No indeed! but I shall use the words and

arguments which occur to me at the moment; for I am certain that this is right, and that at my time of life I

ought not to be appearing before you, O men of Athens, in the character of a juvenile orator −− let no one

expect this of me. And I must beg of you to grant me one favor, which is this −− If you hear me using the

same words in my defence which I have been in the habit of using, and which most of you may have heard in

the agora, and at the tables of the money−changers, or anywhere else, I would ask you not to be surprised at

this, and not to interrupt me. For I am more than seventy years of age, and this is the first time that I have

ever appeared in a court of law, and I am quite a stranger to the ways of the place; and therefore I would have

you regard me as if I were really a stranger, whom you would excuse if he spoke in his native tongue, and

after the fashion of his country; −− that I think is not an unfair request. Never mind the manner, which may or

may not be good; but think only of the justice of my cause, and give heed to that: let the judge decide justly

and the speaker speak truly.

And first, I have to reply to the older charges and to my first accusers, and then I will go to the later ones. For

I have had many accusers, who accused me of old, and their false charges have continued during many years;

and I am more afraid of them than of Anytus and his associates, who are dangerous, too, in their own way.

But far more dangerous are these, who began when you were children, and took possession of your minds

with their falsehoods, telling of one Socrates, a wise man, who speculated about the heaven above, and

searched into the earth beneath, and made the worse appear the better cause. These are the accusers whom I

dread; for they are the circulators of this rumor, and their hearers are too apt to fancy that speculators of this

sort do not believe in the gods. And they are many, and their charges against me are of ancient date, and they

made them in days when you were impressible −− in childhood, or perhaps in youth −− and the cause when

heard went by default, for there was none to answer. And, hardest of all, their names I do not know and

cannot tell; unless in the chance of a comic poet. But the main body of these slanderers who from envy and

malice have wrought upon you −− and there are some of them who are convinced themselves, and impart

their convictions to others −− all these, I say, are most difficult to deal with; for I cannot have them up here,

and examine them, and therefore I must simply fight with shadows in my own defence, and examine when

there is no one who answers. I will ask you then to assume with me, as I was saying, that my opponents are of

two kinds −− one recent, the other ancient; and I hope that you will see the propriety of my answering the

latter first, for these accusations you heard long before the others, and much oftener.

Apology

Well, then, I will make my defence, and I will endeavor in the short time which is allowed to do away with

this evil opinion of me which you have held for such a long time; and I hope I may succeed, if this be well for

you and me, and that my words may find favor with you. But I know that to accomplish this is not easy −− I

quite see the nature of the task. Let the event be as God wills: in obedience to the law I make my defence.

I will begin at the beginning, and ask what the accusation is which has given rise to this slander of me, and

which has encouraged Meletus to proceed against me. What do the slanderers say? They shall be my

prosecutors, and I will sum up their words in an affidavit. "Socrates is an evil−doer, and a curious person,

who searches into things under the earth and in heaven, and he makes the worse appear the better cause; and

he teaches the aforesaid doctrines to others." That is the nature of the accusation, and that is what you have

seen yourselves in the comedy of Aristophanes; who has introduced a man whom he calls Socrates, going

about and saying that he can walk in the air, and talking a deal of nonsense concerning matters of which I do

not pretend to know either much or little −− not that I mean to say anything disparaging of anyone who is a

student of natural philosophy. I should be very sorry if Meletus could lay that to my charge. But the simple

truth is, O Athenians, that I have nothing to do with these studies. Very many of those here present are

witnesses to the truth of this, and to them I appeal. Speak then, you who have heard me, and tell your

neighbors whether any of you have ever known me hold forth in few words or in many upon matters of this

sort. ... You hear their answer. And from what they say of this you will be able to judge of the truth of the

rest.

As little foundation is there for the report that I am a teacher, and take money; that is no more true than the

other. Although, if a man is able to teach, I honor him for being paid. There is Gorgias of Leontium, and

Prodicus of Ceos, and Hippias of Elis, who go the round of the cities, and are able to persuade the young men

to leave their own citizens, by whom they might be taught for nothing, and come to them, whom they not

only pay, but are thankful if they may be allowed to pay them. There is actually a Parian philosopher residing

in Athens, of whom I have heard; and I came to hear of him in this way: −− I met a man who has spent a

world of money on the Sophists, Callias the son of Hipponicus, and knowing that he had sons, I asked him:

"Callias," I said, "if your two sons were foals or calves, there would be no difficulty in finding someone to

put over them; we should hire a trainer of horses or a farmer probably who would improve and perfect them

in their own proper virtue and excellence; but as they are human beings, whom are you thinking of placing

over them? Is there anyone who understands human and political virtue? You must have thought about this as

you have sons; is there anyone?" "There is," he said. "Who is he?" said I, "and of what country? and what

does he charge?" "Evenusthe Parian," he replied; "he is the man, and his charge is five minae." Happy is

Evenus, I said to myself, if he really has this wisdom, and teaches at such a modest charge. Had I the same, I

should have been very proud and conceited; but the truth is that I have no knowledge of the kind.

I dare say, Athenians, that someone among you will reply, "Why is this, Socrates, and what is the origin of

these accusations of you: for there must have been something strange which you have been doing? All this

great fame and talk about you would never have arisen if you had been like other men: tell us, then, why this

is, as we should be sorry to judge hastily of you." Now I regard this as a fair challenge, and I will endeavor to

explain to you the origin of this name of "wise," and of this evil fame. Please to attend then. And although

some of you may think I am joking, I declare that I will tell you the entire truth. Men of Athens, this

reputation of mine has come of a certain sort of wisdom which I possess. If you ask me what kind of wisdom,

I reply, such wisdom as is attainable by man, for to that extent I am inclined to believe that I am wise;

whereas the persons of whom I was speaking have a superhuman wisdom, which I may fail to describe,

because I have it not myself; and he who says that I have, speaks falsely, and is taking away my character.

And here, O men of Athens, I must beg you not to interrupt me, even if I seem to say something extravagant.

For the word which I will speak is not mine. I will refer you to a witness who is worthy of credit, and will tell

you about my wisdom −− whether I have any, and of what sort −− and that witness shall be the god of

Delphi. You must have known Chaerephon; he was early a friend of mine, and also a friend of yours, for he

shared in the exile of the people, and returned with you. Well, Chaerephon, as you know, was very impetuous

Apology

in all his doings, and he went to Delphi and boldly asked the oracle to tell him whether −− as I was saying, I

must beg you not to interrupt −− he asked the oracle to tell him whether there was anyone wiser than I was,

and the Pythian prophetess answered that there was no man wiser. Chaerephon is dead himself, but his

brother, who is in court, will confirm the truth of this story.

Why do I mention this? Because I am going to explain to you why I have such an evil name. When I heard

the answer, I said to myself, What can the god mean? and what is the interpretation of this riddle? for I know

that I have no wisdom, small or great. What can he mean when he says that I am the wisest of men? And yet

he is a god and cannot lie; that would be against his nature. After a long consideration, I at last thought of a

method of trying the question. I reflected that if I could only find a man wiser than myself, then I might go to

the god with a refutation in my hand. I should say to him, "Here is a man who is wiser than I am; but you said

that I was the wisest." Accordingly I went to one who had the reputation of wisdom, and observed to him −−

his name I need not mention; he was a politician whom I selected for examination −− and the result was as

follows: When I began to talk with him, I could not help thinking that he was not really wise, although he

was thought wise by many, and wiser still by himself; and I went and tried to explain to him that he thought

himself wise, but was not really wise; and the consequence was that he hated me, and his enmity was shared

by several who were present and heard me. So I left him, saying to myself, as I went away: Well, although I

do not suppose that either of us knows anything really beautiful and good, I am better off than he is −− for he

knows nothing, and thinks that he knows. I neither know nor think that I know. In this latter particular, then, I

seem to have slightly the advantage of him. Then I went to another, who had still higher philosophical

pretensions, and my conclusion was exactly the same. I made another enemy of him, and of many others

besides him.

After this I went to one man after another, being not unconscious of the enmity which I provoked, and I

lamented and feared this: but necessity was laid upon me −− the word of God, I thought, ought to be

considered first. And I said to myself, Go I must to all who appear to know, and find out the meaning of the

oracle. And I swear to you, Athenians, by the dog I swear! −− for I must tell you the truth −− the result of my

mission was just this: I found that the men most in repute were all but the most foolish; and that some inferior

men were really wiser and better. I will tell you the tale of my wanderings and of the "Herculean" labors, as I

may call them, which I endured only to find at last the oracle irrefutable. When I left the politicians, I went to

the poets; tragic, dithyrambic, and all sorts. And there, I said to myself, you will be detected; now you will

find out that you are more ignorant than they are. Accordingly, I took them some of the most elaborate

passages in their own writings, and asked what was the meaning of them −− thinking that they would teach

me something. Will you believe me? I am almost ashamed to speak of this, but still I must say that there is

hardly a person present who would not have talked better about their poetry than they did themselves. That

showed me in an instant that not by wisdom do poets write poetry, but by a sort of genius and inspiration;

they are like diviners or soothsayers who also say many fine things, but do not understand the meaning of

them. And the poets appeared to me to be much in the same case; and I further observed that upon the

strength of their poetry they believed themselves to be the wisest of men in other things in which they were

not wise. So I departed, conceiving myself to be superior to them for the same reason that I was superior to

the politicians.

At last I went to the artisans, for I was conscious that I knew nothing at all, as I may say, and I was sure that

they knew many fine things; and in this I was not mistaken, for they did know many things of which I was

ignorant, and in this they certainly were wiser than I was. But I observed that even the good artisans fell into

the same error as the poets; because they were good workmen they thought that they also knew all sorts of

high matters, and this defect in them overshadowed their wisdom −− therefore I asked myself on behalf of the

oracle, whether I would like to be as I was, neither having their knowledge nor their ignorance, or like them

in both; and I made answer to myself and the oracle that I was better off as I was.

Apology

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