The Apology of Socrates

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380 BC

THE APOLOGY OF SOCRATES

Plato

translated by Benjamin Jowett

Plato (~428-~348 BC) - One of the greatest and most influential

Greek philosophers, he was a disciple of Socrates and the teacher

of Aristotle. Most of his works are written dialogues, many with

Socrates as the main character. Plato founded a school of

philosophy known as the Academy. Apology (380 BC) - An account

of Socrates’ defense of himself during his trial for impiety and the

corruption of youth that some believe may be an actual record, as

recalled by Plato, of the words Socrates spoke.

THE APOLOGY OF SOCRATES

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, such was the effect of them; and

yet they have hardly spoken a word of truth. But many as their

falsehoods were, there was one of them which quite amazed me: I

mean when they told you to be upon your guard, and not to let

yourself be deceived by the force of my eloquence. They ought to

have been ashamed of saying this, because they were sure to be

detected as soon as I opened my lips and displayed my deficiency;

they certainly did appear to be most shameless in saying this,

unless by the force of eloquence they mean the force of truth: 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,

indeed! 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 thisif

you hear me using the same words in my defence which I have

been in the habit of using, and which most of you may have heard

in the agora, and at the tables of the money-changers, or anywhere

else, I would ask you not to be surprised at this, and not to

interrupt me. 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 stranger, 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 request. Never mind the

manner, which may or may not be 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 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 and his associates, who are dangerous, too, in their own

way. But far more dangerous 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 of a comic poet. But the main body of these slanderers

who from envy and malice have wrought upon you- and there are

some of them who are convinced themselves, and impart their

convictions 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 defence, and examine

when there is no one who answers. I will ask you then to assume

with me, as I was saying, that my opponents 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 defence, 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 I may

succeed, if this be well for you and me, and that my words may

find favor with you. But I know 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 the law I make my defence.

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 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 yourselves 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

anyone who is a student of natural philosophy. I should be very

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