| 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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| Well, Athenians, this and the like of this is all the defence | Jowett's Notes |
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| which I have to offer. Yet a word more. Perhaps there may | |||
 Water clocks for timing speeches |
be some one who is offended | He is flesh and blood, but he will not appeal to the pity of his judges; or make a scene in the court such as he has often witnessed. | |
| at me, when he calls to mind | |||
| how he himself on a similar, | |||
| or even a less serious occasion, | |||
| prayed and entreated the with | |||
many tears, and how he produced  |
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34c |
his children in court, which was a moving spectacle, together with | ||
| a host of relations and friends; whereas I, who am probably in | |||
| danger of my life, will do none of these things. The contrast | |||
| may occur to his mind, and he may be set against me, and vote | |||
| in anger because he is displeased at me on this account. Now | |||
34d |
if there be such a person among you, - mind, I do not say that | ||
| there is, - to him I may fairly reply: 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 almost a man, and | |||
| two others who are still young: and yet I will not bring any of | |||
| them hither in order to petition you for an acquittal. And why | |||
34e |
not? Not from any self-assertion or want of respect for you. | ||
| Whether I am or am not afraid of death is another question, of | |||
| which I will not now speak. But, having regard to public | |||
| opinion, I feel that such conduct would be discreditable to | |||
| myself, and to you, and to the whole state. One who has to | |||
| reached my years, and who has a name for wisdom, ought not | |||
| demean himself. Whether this opinion of me be deserved or | |||
35a |
not, 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 such are a dishonor to the state, | |||
| and that any stranger coming in would have said of them that | |||
35b |
the most eminent men of Athens, to whom the Athenians | ||
| themselves give honour and command, are no better than | |||
| women . And I say that these things ought not to be done by | |||
| those of us who have a reputation; and if they are done, you | |||
| ought not to permit them; you ought rather to show that you | |||
| are far more disposed to condemn the man who gets up a | |||
| doleful scene and makes the city ridiculous, than him who | |||
| holds his peace. | |||
| But, setting aside the question of public opinion, there seems | The judge should not be influenced by his feelings, but convinced by reason. | ||
35c |
to be something wrong in asking a favor of 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 own good pleasure; and | |||
| we ought not to encourage you, nor should you allow yourself | |||
| to be encouraged, in this habit of perjury - 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 in defending should simply | |||
35d |
convict myself of the charge of not believing in them. But that | ||
| is not so - far otherwise. For I do believe that there are gods, | |||
| and in a sense higher 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. | |||
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