Phaedrus — Plato

p. 22there may be some one who is offended at me, when he calls to mind how he himself on a similar, or even a less serious occasion, had recourse to prayers and supplications with many tears, and how he produced his children in court, which was a moving spectacle, together with a posse of his relations and friends ; whereas I, who am probably in danger of my life, will do none of these things.

Perhaps this may come into his mind, and he may be set against me, and vote in anger because he is displeased at this.

Now if there be such a person among you, which I am far from affirming, I may fairly reply to him : My friend, I am a man, and like other men, a creature of flesh and blood, and not of wood or stone,® as Homer ^ says ; and I have a family, yes, and sons, O Athenians, three in number, one of whom is growing up, and the two others are still young ; and yet I will not bring any of them hither in order to petition you for an acquittal. And why not?

Not from any self-will or disregard of you. Whether I am or am not afraid of death is another question, of which I will not now speak. But my reason simply is, that I feel such conduct to be discreditable to myself, and you, and the whole State. One who has reached my years, and who has a name for wisdom, whether deserved or not, ought not to demean himself. At any rate, the world has decided that Socrates is in some way superior to other men.

And if those among you who are said to be superior in ^' wisdom and courage, and any other virtue, demean themselves in this way, how shameful is their conduct !

I have seen men of reputation, when they have been condemned, behaving in the strangest manner : they seemed to fancy that they were going to suffer something dreadful if they died, and that they could be immortal if you only allowed them to live ; and I think that they were a dishonor to the State, and that any stranger coming in w^ould say of them that the most eminent men of Athens, to whom the Athenians themselves give honor and command, are no better than women.

And I say that these things ought not to be done by those of us who are of w Now, I pray, declare Thy lineage, for thou surely art not sprung From the old fabulous oak, nor from a rock. — Bryant's Odyssey, xix. 201. »» The earliest poet whose works were known to the Greeks of this period. To him was attributed the authorship of many poems, among them the Iliad and the Odyssey. We have no authentic information about him. His date was probably between 1000 and 850 B.c.

p. 23reputation ; and if they are done, you ought not to permit them ; you ought rather to show that you are more indined to condemn, not the man who is quiet, but the man who gets up a doleful scene, and makes the city ridiculous. But, setting aside the question of dishonor, there seems to be something wrong in petitioning a judge, and thus procuring an acquittal instead of informing and convincing him.

For his duty is, not to make a present of justice, but to give judgment ; and he has sworn that he will judge according to the laws, and not according to his owh good pleasure ; and neither he nor we should get into the habit of perjuring ourselves— there can be no piety in that. Do not then require me to do what I consider dishonorable and impious and wrong, especially now, when I am being tried for impiety on the indictment of Meletus.

For if, O men of Athens, by force of persuasion and entreaty, I could overpower your oaths, then I should be teaching you to believe that there are no gods, and convict myself, in my own defense, of not believing in them. But that is not the case ; for I do believe that there are gods, and in a far higher sense than that in which any of my accusers believe in them. And to you and to God I commit my cause, to be determined by you as is best for you and me.

There are many reasons why I am not grieved, O men of Athens, at the vote of condemnation. I expected this, ^ and am only surprised that the votes are so nearly equal ; for I had thought that the majority against me would have been far larger ; but now, had thirty votes ^ gone over to the other side, I should have been acquitted. And I may say that I have escaped Meletus.

And I may say more ; for without the assistance of Anytus and Lycon, he would not have had a fifth part of the votes, as the law requires, in which case he would have incurred a fine of a thousand drachmae,^^ as is evident. And so he proposes death as the penalty. And what shall I propose on my part,*^ q men of Athens ? Clearly that «• Socrates was probably not speaking exactly, but in round numbers. *» Drachma (drik'ma) ; pi.

Drachmae (dr5k'me) or Drachmas (drSk'miz) : one drachma was the hundredth part of a mina. See Apology, note 10. *• •* In Athenian procedure, the penalty inflicted was determined by a separate vote of the Dikasts " (officers somewhat like our jurymen) *• taken after the verdict of guilty. The accuser having named the penalty which he