merejhegrj. KHe practiced the theor y even bette r
t han he pre a r her! \t^ As I have shown, in speakingj^^^y
of Plato as dramatist and as lover, there are manylCa^
illustrations of this. Perhaps none of them is better
than the Phasdrus, taken as a whole. Socrates finds
Phasdrus full of a youth's enthusiasm for a piece of
brilliant rhetoric about love. There is little true in-
sight and no sincerity in the speech, and the prose
is not really good. How shall the youth be sobered
from his perilous intoxication and given taste for
wine of better vintage ? How shall he be directed
toward the acquisition of true artistic power and
how shall he be led into knowledge and reverence
for the best thing in the world, which is love. The
dialogue as a whole tells how Socrates actually did
this. It takes the dialogue as a whole, its story, its
arguments, its orations, and the criticisms upon
them, its myths, and above all, its free and joyous
conversation— it takes all to explain how Socrates
went about to win a man.
xl GENERAL INTRODUCTION
This is the t rue Socratic Ar t. It is determined
by the philosophic insight t hat art jn ust adapt itsel f
not only to the_Cjjnrnio n nature J 3f_rnan, but also to
the^yar ying natures, a nd even to the 3 yarying moods
of men. It is ^determ jnegL_hy_ dramatic insight into
the ^ actual ways of the souls a ddressed. It is deter-
^inedj2Â¥-a_p_assion as__dee p_as it is tranq uil to save
the best of the youth _into_th£jiig.her life.
HOW SHALL ONE READ PLATO?
When corn takes in stuff from the soil, the soil is
changed into corn, but also the corn is changed by
a^bt*^ the soil. So when you read Plato, Plato is trans-
lated into your way of thinking, but also your way
of thinking is influenced by Plato. It is possible for
either of these effects to be over-emphasized to the
neglect of the other. The secret of right growth is
(to maintain the right balance between the old which
one has and the new which is asking for admission.
To find this balance is not easy, but many wise men
say that the first thing to do with a new book, or
anything else worth attention, is to surrender one's
self to it as completely as possible. I believe ac-
cordingly that I can give no better advice to one
who meets Plato for the first time in this volume,
^v*^Q*Athan that you should j et him talk to you . Imagine
that you have wandered into the Athens of 400 B.C.
and have come upon Socrates engaged in talk.
Join the crowd. Keep still. Try to catch the drift.
Do not pigeonhole Socrates the first day. Get ac-
quainted with him as you do with a living man.
You will find it useful without doubt to study
GENERAL INTRODUCTION xli
Plato's system of thought in the brief outline which
is given, or in the fuller accounts which you may
find in other books. But if you suppose that any
such outline of doctrines can compass the fullness
of Plato, you will not understand this or any philos-
ophy in the spirit. With whatever formal devices
you study any master-book, the essential condition
of becoming really acquainted with it is that you
shall live with it in joyful, informal fellowship.
» a » >„«> »
■* > ' ) o •' > >
APOLOGY
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INTRODUCTION
The defense of Socrates includes an answer to the formal
accusations made against him in court, and an answer to
those who for years had attacked his reputation. In both
cases, the charge is the same in substance,— that he is the
enemy of the traditional religion and morality or* \hd Slate.
Those who brought this charge before the/ cou ^supported - •..
it with false or trivial evidence and arguments. Socrates*' :<
met these with arguments, which are, in form, nearly upon
the same level.
His numerous unofficial accusers, Socrates met partly by
an explanation of the popular misunderstanding which iden-
tified him with the natural philosophers or with the Sophists,
but especially by a declaration of his own mission in life,
which was not to deny God but to know and obey the will
of God, and not to corrupt but to save men.
In studying the defense of Socrates against his official and
unofficial accusers, it should be seen that the conflict was not
merely one between a wise and good man and a crowd of
ignorant and malicious ones. The real conflict was between
the unwritten religious, moral, and social constitution of the
Athenian people, and a man who would put everything in
that constitution to question with the hope of arriving at
a better. Socrates was not many things that his accusers
charged,— not a natural philosopher, not a Sophist, not an
atheist, perhaps not a disbeliever in the popular mythology,
not responsible for the sins of young Athenians whom he
3
4 PLATO THE TEACHER
had labored to make men of. But the instinct of the Athe-
nians was not substantially wrong in holding him an alien
from their religion and morality. " 1 do believe that there
are gods," says Socrates in closing his first speech, " and in a
far higher sense than any of my accusers believe in them. ,,
Because he believed in God, the formal charges against him
were false. But because he believed in God in a far higher
sense than did his accusers, he and his accusers, the people
of Athens, stood in real conflict. They stood for the religion
and morals which they had inherited. He stood for a
religion and morality based upon deeper insight into the
truth- . lt. : \CaS a conflict between a people and its prophet.
It A\fas a fcohfltft in some respects like that between the ortho-
:dox*\iews; Vfcho 'would defend their law and their separate
tfafioriiliiy •a'gain'st destruction, and Him who came not to
destroy but to fulfill. In such a case the question decided
is this : Will the people rise from their own view to their
prophet's view of the life which is proper for them ? At
Athens, as at Jerusalem, the people chose for their tradi-
tions. Socrates, like our Saviour, rejected of his own, be-
came minister to all mankind.
How you have felt, O men of Athens, at hearing the
speeches of my accusers, I cannot tell ; but I know that their
persuasive words almost made me forget who I was, st .
such was the effect of them ; and yet they have hardly '
spoken a word of truth. But many as their false- I7
hoods were, there was one of them which quite amazed me : »
I mean when they told you to be upon your guard, and notjT^e^
to let yourselves be deceived by the force of my eloquence. %Tr**^
They ought to have been ashamed of saying this, because tne yj22^^
were sure to be detected as soon as I opened my lips and dis-^^r£^ > '
played my deficiency ; they certainly did appear to be most^^o/^
shameless in saying this, unless by the force of eloquence they ^>
mean the force of truth j for then I do indeed admit that I am
eloquent. But in how different a way from theirs ! Well, as
I was saying, they have hardly uttered a word, or not more
than a word, of truth ; but you shall hear from me the whole
truth : not, however, delivered after their manner, in a set
oration duly ornamented with words and phrases. No, in-
deed ! but I shall use the words and arguments which occur
to me at the moment ; for I am certain that this is right, and
that at my time of life I ought not to be appearing before you,
O men of Athens, in the character of a juvenile orator : let
no one expect this of me. And I must beg of you to grant
me one favor, which is this, — If you hear me using the same
words in my defense which I have been in the habit of using
and which most of you may have heard in the agora, 2 and at
the tables of the money-changers, 3 or anywhere else, I would
ask you not to be surprised at this, and not to interrupt me.
1 Defense.
2 The market-place, corresponding to the Roman forum. Not only was
most of the traffic carried on here, but in most Greek cities it was the gen-
eral meeting-place for social and political purposes.
3 The bankers did business at tables in the market-place.
6 PLATO THE TEACHER
For 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 ways of the place ; and therefore
'** I would have you regard me as if I were really a stran-
ger, 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
^y request. Never mind the manner, which may or may not be
u^y^^U) 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 4 and his associates, who
are dangerous, too, in their own way. But far more danger-
ous are these, who began when you were children, and took
possession of your minds with their falsehoods, telling of one
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
hearers are too apt to fancy that speculators of this sort do not
believe 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
4 Anytus (an'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, Any-
tus, 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."
6 Aristophanes (ar-fs-tSf a-nez) , 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.
APOLOGY 7
and malice have wrought upon you, — and there are some of
them who are convinced themselves, and impart their convic-
tions 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 de-
fense, and examine when there is no one who answers. I will
ask you then to assume with me, as I was saying, that my op-
ponents 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 andfU^ilg^^a^
me, and that my words rnay find favor with you. But I know)L/ri
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 thea^.
law I make my defense. e ^^jttw^
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 6 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 your-
selves 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
6 Meletus (me-le'tus) : an obscure young tragic poet, who made the formal
accusation against Socrates. He was the least important of the three ac-
cusers and is said to have been stoned to death by the people in their revul-
sion of feeling after the death of Socrates.
8 PLATO THE TEACHER
truth of this, and to them I appeal. Speak then, you who
have heard me, and tell your neighbors whether any of you
have ever known me hold forth in few words or in many upon
matters of this sort. . . . You hear their answer.
And from what they say of this you will be able to judge of
the truth of the rest.
As little foundation is there for the report that I am a
teacher, and take money ; that is no more true than the other.
Although, if a man is able to teach, I honor him for being
paid. There is Gorgias of Leontium, and Prodicus of Ceos,
and Hippias of Elis, 7 who go the round of the cities, and are
able to persuade the young men to leave their own citizens,
by whom they might be taught for nothing, and come to
them whom they not only pay, but are thankful if they
2 may be allowed to pay them. There is actually a Parian
philosopher 8 residing in Athens, of whom I have heard ; and
I came to hear of him in this way : I met a man who has
spent a world of money on the Sophists, Callias 9 the son of
Hipponicus, and knowing that he had sons, I asked him :
"Callias," I said, " if .your two sons were foals or calves,
there would be no difficulty in finding some one to put over
them j we should hire a trainer of horses, or a farmer prob-
ably, who would improve and perfect them in t heir own
<^ Cc ^ prop er virtu e an d excellenc e : but as they are human beings,
.»^22Cr^hom are youThinking of placing over them ? Is there any
V***Je4^T)ne who understands human and political virtue ? You must
yj^*/£5^ nave thought about this as you have sons ; is there any one? "
£5C^£^ There is," he said. " Who is he ? " said I, " and of what
' country ? and what does he charge ? " " Evenus the Parian, ' '
he replied ; " he is the man, and his charge is five minae." 10
Happy is Evenus, I said to myself, if he really has this wis-
7 Of these three Sophists, the most famous was Gorgias (gor'jf-as), a native
of Leontini in Sicily. One of Plato's dialogues bears his name. He was a
great rhetorician and the founder of a school of oratory. He was very popu-
lar and received large fees. Prodicus (prod'f-kus). Hippias (hip'pi-as). See
Protagoras, note i.
8 Evenus (e-ve'nus) of Paros (pa'ros, an island in the ;£gean): mentioned
in the Phaedo as a poet, and in the Phaedrus as the inventor of certain rhe-
torical devices.
8 Callias (kai'lf-as) : an Athenian of noble and wealthy family, and a great
admirer of the Sophists. His house is the scene of Plato's Protagoras.
10 Mina (ml'na) ; pi. Minae (mi'ne) or Minas : a sum of money varying in
value ; in Athens, about $16 or $18.
APOLOGY 9
dom, and teaches at such a modest charge. 11 Had I the
same, I should have been very proud and conceited ; but the
truth is that I have no knowledge of the kind, O Athenians.
I dare say that some one will ask the question, "Why is
this, Socrates, and what is the origin of these accusations of
you: for there must have been something strange which you
have been doing ? All this great fame and talk about you
would never have arisen if you had been like other men : tell
us, then, why this is, as we should be sorry to judge hastily of
you." Now I regard this as a fair challenge, and I will en-
deavor to explain to you the origin of this name of " wise,"
and of this evil fame. Please to attend, then. And al-
though some of you may think that I am joking, I declare that
I will tell you the entire truth. Men of Athens, this reputa-
tion of mine has come of a certain sort of wisdom which I
possess. If you ask me what kind of wisdom, I reply, such
wisdom as is attainable by man, for to that extent I am in-
clined to believe that I am wise ; whereas the persons of whom
I was speaking have a superhuman wisdom, which I may fail
to describe, because I have it not myself; and he who says that
I have, speaks falsely, and is taking away my character. And
here, O men of Athens, I must beg you not to interrupt me,
even if I seem to say something extravagant. For the word
which I will speak is not mine. I will refer you to a witness
who is worthy of credit, and will tell you about my wisdom
— whether I have any, and of what sort — and that witness
shall be the God of Delphi. 12 You must have known Chaere-
phon ; 13 he was early a friend of mine, and also a friend
of yours, for he shared in the exile of the people, 14 and
returned with you. Well, Chaerephon, as you know, was
very impetuous in all his doings, and he went to Delphi and
" The Sophists Gorgias and Protagoras are said to have received as much
as one hundred minas.
" Delphi (del'ff), a small city in central Greece, was the seat of one of
the most famous oracles. Here Apollo, one of the greatest and most benef-
icent of the Greek gods, was supposed to inspire his prophetess and through
her reveal his will to those who came to consult him. This priestess of
Apollo was sometimes called the Pythian prophetess because the ancient
name of Delphi was Pytho (py'tho).
13 Chaerephon (ker'e-fon) : an enthusiastic admirer of Socrates.
"The Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.c), was a conflict between Athens
and Sparta in which Athens was defeated. Sparta placed Athens under the
control of a Council of Thirty. Under these tyrants Athens suffered many
cruelties, one of them being the exile of many of her citizens.
IO PLATO THE TEACHER
boldly asked the oracle to tell him whether — as I was saying,
I must beg you not to interrupt — he asked the oracle to tell
him whether there was any one wiser than I was, and the
Pythian prophetess answered, that there was no man wiser.
Chaerephon is dead himself, but his brother, who is in court,
will confirm the truth of this story.
Why do I mention this ? Because I am going to explain
to you why I have such an evil name. When I heard the an-
swer, I said to myself, What can the god mean ? and what is
the interpretation of this riddle? for I know that I have no
wisdom, small or great. What can he mean when he says
that I am the wisest of men ? And yet he is a god and can-
not lie ; that would be against his nature. After a long con-
sideration, I at last thought of a method of trying the ques-
tion. I reflected that if I could only find a man wiser than
myself, then I might go to the god with a refutation in my
hand. I should say to him, " Here is a man who is wiser
than I am ; but you said that I was the wisest." Accord-
ingly I went to one who had the reputation of wisdom,
and observed him — his name I need not mention ; he was a
politician whom I selected for examination — and the result
was as follows : When I began to talk with him, I could not
help thinking that he was not really wise, although he was
thought wise by many, and wiser still by himself ; and I went
and tried to explain to him that he thought himself wise, but
was not really wise ; and the consequence was that he hated
me, and his enmity was shared by several who were present
and heard me. So I left him, saying to myself, as I went
away : Well, although I do not suppose that either of us
knows anything really beautiful and good, I am better off
than he is, — for he knows nothing, and thinks that he knows.
1 neither know nor think that I know. In this latter particu-
lar, then, I seem to have slightly the advantage of him.
Then I went to another who had still higher philosophical
pretensions, and my conclusion was exactly the same. I
made another enemy of him, and of many others beside him.
After this I went to one man after another, being not un-
conscious of the enmity which I provoked, and I lamented
and feared this : but necessity was laid upon me, — the word
of God, I thought, ought to be considered first. And I said
to myself, Go I must to all who appear to know, and find out
APOLOGY 1 1
the meaning of the oracle. And I swear to you, Athenians,
by the dog 15 1 swear ! — for I must tell you the truth — the re-
sult of my mission was just this : I found that the men most
in repute were all but the most foolish ; and that some infe-
rior men were really wiser and better. I will tell you
the tale of my wanderings and of the " Herculean "
labors, as I may call them, which I endured only to find at
last the oracle irrefutable. When I left the politicians, I went
to the poets ; tragic, dithyrambic, 16 and all sorts. And there,
I said to myself, you will be detected ; now you will find out
that you are more ignorant than they are. Accordingly, I
took them some of the most elaborate passages in their own
writings, and asked what was the meaning of them — think-
ing that they would teach me something. Will you believe
me ? I am almost ashamed to speak of this, but still I must
say that there is hardly a person present who would not have
talked better about their poetry than they did themselves.
That showed me in an instant that not by wisdom do poets
write poetry, but by a sort of genius and inspiration 17 ; they
are like diviners or soothsayers who also say many fine things,
but do not understand the meaning of them. And the poets
appeared to me to be much in the same case ; and I further
observed that upon the strength of their poetry they believed
themselves to be the wisest of men in other things in which
they were not wise. So I departed, conceiving myself to be
superior to them for the same reason that I was superior to
the politicians.
At last I went to the artisans, for I was conscious that I
knew nothing at all, as I may say, and I was sure that they
knew many fine things ; and in this I was not mistaken, for
they did know many things of which I was ignorant, and in
this they certainly were wiser than I was. But I observed
that even the good artisans fell into the same error as the
poets; because they were good workmen they thought that
they also knew all sorts of high matters, and this defect in
them overshadowed their wisdom — therefore I asked myself
on behalf of the oracle, whether I would like to be as I was,
neither having their knowledge nor their ignorance, or like
15 An oath, of uncertain, possibly Egyptian origin, often used by Socrates.
16 The dithyramb was a kind of lyric poem.
17 Compare Phaedrus, 245.
12 PLATO THE TEACHER
them in both ; and I made answer to myself and the oracle
that I was better off as I was.
This investigation has led to my having many enemies of
the worst and most dangerous kind, and has given occasion
also to many calumnies. And I am called wise, for my
hearers always imagine that I myself possess the wisdom
which I find wanting in others : but the truth is, O men of
Athens, that God only is wise ; and in this oracle he means
to say that the wisdom of men is little or nothing ; he is not *
speaking of Socrates, he is only using my name as an illustra-
tion, as if he said, He, O men, is the wisest, who, like Soc-
rates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing. And
so I go my way, obedient to the god, and make inquisition
into the wisdom of any one, whether citizen or stranger, who
appears to be wise ; and if he is not wise, then in vindication