| Apology | |
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[17a - 18a] [18b - 20c] [20d - 24b] [24c - 25e] [26a - 28a] [28b - 30d] [30e - 31c] [31d - 33b]
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(5) Impiety |
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| Socrates. It will be very clear to you, Athenians, as I was the | Jowett's Notes |
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| saying, that Meletus has no care at all, great or small, about | ||
| matter. But still I should like to know, Meletus, in what I am | ||
26a |
affirmed to corrupt the young. I suppose you mean, as I infer | |
| from your indictment, that I teach them not to acknowledge | ||
| the gods which the state acknowledges, but some other new | ||
| divinities or spiritual agencies in their stead. These are the | ||
| lessons by which I corrupt the youth, as you say. | ||
 The Acropolis was the center of religious activity in Athens
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| Meletus. Yes, that I say emphatically. | ||
| Soc. Then, by the gods, Meletus, of whom we are speaking, | Socrates is declared by Meletus to be an atheist and to corrupt the religion of the young. | |
26b |
tell me and the court, in somewhat plainer terms, what you | |
| mean! For I do not as yet understand whether you affirm that I | ||
| teach other men to acknowledge some gods, and therefore that | ||
| I do believe in gods, and am not an entire atheist - this you do | ||
| not lay to my charge, - but only you say that they are not the | ||
| same gods which the city recognizes - the charge is that they | ||
| are different gods. Or, do you mean that I am an atheist | ||
| simply, and a teacher of atheism? | ||
| Mel. I mean the latter - that you are a complete atheist. | ||
| Soc. What an extraordinary statement! Why do you think so, | ||
26c |
Meletus? Do you mean that I do not believe in the godhead of | |
| the sun or moon, like other men? | ||
| Mel. I assure you, judges, that he does not: for he says that | ||
| the sun is stone, and the moon earth. | ||
| Soc. Friend Meletus, you think that you are accusing | ||
| Anaxagoras: and you have but a bad opinion of the judges, if | ||
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| you fancy them illiterate to such a degree as not to know that | Meletus has confounded Socrates with Anaxagoras ... | |
| these doctrines are found in the books of Anaxagoras the | ||
| Clazomenian, which are full of them. And so, forsooth, the | ||
| youth are said to be taught them by Socrates, when there are | ||
| not infrequently exhibitions of them at the theater (price of | ||
| admission one drachma at the most); and they might pay their | ||
| money, and laugh at Socrates if he pretends to father these | ||
| extraordinary views. And so, Meletus, you really think that I | ||
| do not believe in any god? | ||
26d |
Mel. I swear by Zeus that you believe absolutely in none at | |
| all. | ||
| Soc. Nobody will believe you, Meletus, and I am pretty sure | ... and he (Meletus) has contradicted himself in the indictment. | |
| that you do not believe yourself. I cannot help thinking, men | ||
| of Athens, that Meletus is reckless and impudent, and that he | ||
| has written this indictment in a spirit of mere wantonness and | ||
| youthful bravado. Has he not compounded a riddle, thinking | ||
26e |
to try me? He said to himself: - I shall see whether the wise | |
| Socrates will discover my facetious contradiction, or whether | ||
| I shall be able to deceive him and the rest of them. For he | ||
| certainly does appear to me to contradict himself in the | ||
| indictment as much as if he said that Socrates is guilty of not | ||
| believing in the gods, and yet of believing in them - but this is | ||
| not like a person who is in earnest. | ||
| I should like you, O men of Athens, to join me in examining | ||
| what I conceive to be his inconsistency; and do you, Meletus, | ||
| answer. And I must remind the audience of my request that | ||
| they would not make a disturbance if I speak in my | ||
| accustomed manner: | ||
| Did ever man, Meletus, believe in the existence of human | How can Socrates believe in divine agencies and not believe in gods? | |
27b |
things, and not of human beings? . . . I wish, men of Athens, | |
| that he would answer, and not be always trying to get up an | ||
| interruption. Did ever any man believe in horsemanship, and | ||
| not in horses? or in flute-playing, and not in flute-players? No, | ||
| my friend; I will answer to you and to the court, as you refuse | ||
| to answer for yourself. There is no man who ever did. But | ||
27c |
now please to answer the next question: Can a man believe in | |
| spiritual and divine agencies, and not in spirits or demigods? | ||
 Hercules was one of the most famous
Demigods
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| Mel. He cannot. | ||
| Soc. How lucky I am to have extracted that answer, by the | ||
| assistance of the court! But then you swear in the indictment | ||
| that I teach and believe in divine or spiritual agencies new or | ||
| old, no matter for that); at any rate, I believe in spiritual | ||
| agencies, - so you say and swear in the affidavit; and yet if I | ||
| believe in divine beings, how can I help believing in spirits or | ||
| demigods; - must I not? To be sure I must; and therefore I may | ||
| assume that your silence gives consent. Now what are spirits | ||
27d |
or demigods? are they not either gods or the sons of gods. | |
| Mel. Certainly they are. | ||
| Soc. But this is what I call the facetious riddle invented by you: | ||
| the demigods or spirits are gods, and you say first that I do not | ||
| believe in gods, and then again that I do believe in gods; that | ||
| is, if I believe in demigods. For if the demigods are the other | ||
| illegitimate sons of gods, whether by the nymphs or by any | ||
| mothers, of whom they are said to be the sons - what human | ||
| being will ever believe that there are no gods if they are the | ||
| sons of gods? You might as well affirm the existence of mules, | ||
27e |
and deny that of horses and asses. Such nonsense, Meletus, | |
| could only have been intended by you to make trial of me. | ||
| You have put this into the indictment because you had nothing | ||
| real of which to accuse me. But no one who has a particle of | ||
| understanding will ever be convinced by you that the same | ||
| man can believe in divine and superhuman things, and yet not | ||
28a |
believe that there are gods and demigods and heroes. | |
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