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2. Crito's Arguments
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Crito. Yes: the meaning is only too clear. But, O! my beloved |
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Socrates, let me entreat you once more to take my advice
and |
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escape. For if you die I shall not only lose a friend who can |
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never be replaced, but there is another evil: people who do
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| 44c |
not know you and me will believe that I might have saved |
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you if I had been willing to give money, but that I did not care. |
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Ruins of the State Jail
Photo: Steven S. Tigner
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Now, can there be a worse disgrace than this -- that I |
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should be thought to value money more than the life of a |
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friend? For the many will not be persuaded that I wanted |
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you to escape, and that you refused. |
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Socrates. But why, my dear Crito, should
we care about the |
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opinion of the many? Good men, and they are the only |
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persons who are worth considering, will think of these |
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things truly as they happened. |
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| 44d |
Cr. But do you see, Socrates, that the
opinion of the many |
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must be regarded, as is evident in your own case, because |
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they can do the very greatest evil to anyone who has lost |
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their good opinion? |
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Soc. I only wish, Crito, that they could;
for then they could |
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also do the greatest good, and that would be well. But the |
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truth is, that they can do neither good nor evil: they cannot |
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make a man wise or make him foolish; and whatever they |
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do is the result of chance. |
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| 44e |
Cr. Well, I will not dispute about that; but please to tell me, |
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Socrates, whether you are not acting out of regard to me
and |
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your other friends: are you not afraid that if you escape hence |
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we may get into trouble with the informers for having stolen |
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you away, and lose either the whole or a great part of our |
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| 45a |
property; or that even a worse evil may happen to us? Now, |
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if this is your fear, be at ease; for in order to save you, we |
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ought surely to run this or even a greater risk; be persuaded, |
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then, and do as I say. |
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Soc. Yes, Crito, that is one fear which
you mention, but by |
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no means the only one. |
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Cr. Fear not. There are persons who at no great cost are |
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willing to save you and bring you out of prison; and as for |
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the informers, you may observe that they are far from being |
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exorbitant in their demands; a little money will satisfy them. |
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| 45b |
My means, which, as I am sure, are ample, are at your service, |
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and if you have a scruple about spending all mine, here are |
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strangers who will give you the use of theirs; and one of them, |
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Simmias the Theban, has brought a sum of money for this
very |
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purpose; and Cebes and many others are willing to spend
their |
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money too. I say, therefore, do not on that account hesitate |
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about making your escape, and do not say, as you did in the |
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court, that you will have a difficulty in knowing what to do |
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with yourself if you escape. For men will love you in other |
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| 45c |
places to which you may go, and not in Athens only; there
are |
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friends of mine in Thessaly, if you like to go to them, who
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will value and protect you, and no Thessalian will give you
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any trouble. Nor can I think that you are justified, Socrates,
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in betraying your own life when you might be saved; this |
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is playing into the hands of your enemies and destroyers; and |
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moreover I should say that you were betraying your children; |
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for you might bring them up and educate them; instead of |
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which you go away and leave them, and they will have to take |
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their chance; and if they do not meet with the usual fate of |
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orphans, there will be small thanks to you. No man should |
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| 45d |
bring children into the world who is unwilling to persevere |
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to the end in their nurture and education. But you are |
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choosing the easier part, as I think, not the better and manlier, |
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which would rather have become one who professes virtue in |
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all his actions, like yourself. And, indeed, I am ashamed not |
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only of you, but of us who are your friends, when I reflect that |
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| 45e |
this entire business of yours will be attributed to our want of |
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courage. The trial need never have come on, or might have |
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been brought to another issue; and the end of all, which is |
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the crowning absurdity, will seem to have been permitted by |
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us, through cowardice and baseness, who might have saved |
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| 46a |
you, as you might have saved yourself, if we had been good |
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for anything (for there was no difficulty in escaping); and we |
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did not see how disgraceful, Socrates, and also miserable
all |
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this will be to us as well as to you. Make your mind up then, |
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or rather have your mind already made up, for the time of |
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deliberation is over, and there is only one thing to be done, |
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which must be done, if at all, this very night, and which any |
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delay will render all but impossible; I beseech you therefore, |
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Socrates , to be persuaded by me, and to do as I say. |
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