Phaedrus — Plato

p. 6For 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 wajrs 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 on 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, tellings of ^ne 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 A-hearers are too apt to fancy that speculators of this sort do not Lbelieve 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 case of a comic poet. 5 But the main body of these slanderers who from envy * Anytus (3n'y-tus) : a wealthy Athenian, high in popular favor, the most formidable of the accusers of Socrates. He was a bitter antagonist of the Sophists and hated Socrates especially for having influenced his son to study philosophy.

He is said to have gone into exile after the death of Socrates to escape the vengeance of the fickle people. In the dialogue Meno, Anytus, incensed at something Socrates has said, threatens him thus : ** I think that you are too ready to speak evil of men ; and, if you take my advice I would recommend you to be careful.

Perhaps there is no city in which it is not easier to do men harm than to do them good, and this is certainly the case at Athens, as I believe that you know." » Aristophanes (Sr-is-tSf a-nezj , 444-388 B.C., greatest of the Greek comic poets, wrote a comedy called The Clouds, in which he ridiculed Socrates, representing him as a visionary thinker and as one who would break down. the ancient standards of morality.

This comedy, which appeared about twenty-four years before the trial of Socrates, tended to make the general public regard Socrates as a Sophist 3p. 7and 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 defense, 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.

Well, then, I will make my defense, 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 that 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 defense.

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 any one 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 • Meletus (me-le'tfis) : an obscure young tragic poet, who made the formal accusation against Socrates.

He was the least important of the three accusers and is said to have been stoned to death by the people in their revulsion of feeling after the death of Socrates.