The Apology | Page 4

verdict of self-approval I found
re-echoed in the opinion which my friends and intimates have formed
concerning me.[11] And now if my age is still to be prolonged,[12] I
know that I cannot escape paying[13] the penalty of old age, in
increasing dimness of sight and dulness of hearing. I shall find myself
slower to learn new lessons, and apter to forget the lessons I have learnt.
And if to these be added the consciousness of failing powers, the sting

of self- reproach, what prospect have I of any further joy in living? It
may be, you know," he added, "that God out of his great kindness is
intervening in my behalf[14] to suffer me to close my life in the
ripeness of age, and by the gentlest of deaths. For if at this time
sentence of death be passed upon me, it is plain I shall be allowed to
meet an end which, in the opinion of those who have studied the matter,
is not only the easiest in itself, but one which will cause the least
trouble to one's friends,[15] while engendering the deepest longing for
the departed. For of necessity he will only be thought of with regret and
longing who leaves nothing behind unseemly or discomfortable to
haunt the imagination of those beside him, but, sound of body, and his
soul still capable of friendly repose, fades tranquilly away."
[1] Or, "Socrates' Defence before the Dicasts." For the title of the work
see Grote, "H. G." viii. 641; Schneid. ap. L. Dindorf's note {pros tous
dikastas}, ed. Ox. 1862, and Dindorf's own note; L. Schmitz, "On the
Apology of Socrates, commonly attributed to Xenophon," "Class.
Mus." v. 222 foll.; G. Sauppe, "Praef." vol. iii. p. 117, ed. ster.; J. J.
Hartman, "An. Xen." p. 111 foll.; E. Richter, "Xen. Stud." pp. 61-96; M.
Schanz, "Platos Apologia."
[2] Or possibly, "his deliberate behaviour."
[3] Or, "have succeeded in hitting off"; "done full justice to."
[4] Or, "the magniloquence of the master."
[5] Or, "so that according to them his lofty speech seems rather
foolhardy."
[6] See "Mem." IV. viii. 4 foll.), a passage of which this is either an
"ebauchement" or a "rechauffe."
[7] Or, "the philosopher's cast of thought."
[8] Dikasteries.
[9] {to daimonion}.

[10] {edein}, i.e. at any moment.
[11] For the phrase {iskhuros agamenos emauton}, cf. "Mem." II. i. 19.
[12] L. Dindorf cf. Dio Chrys. "Or." 28, {anagke gar auto en
probainonti anti men kallistou aiskhrotero gignesthai k.t.l.}
[13] {apoteleisthai}. In "Mem." IV. viii. 8, {epiteleisthai}.
[14] Or, "God of his good favour vouchsafes as my protector that I
should," etc. For {proxenei} cf. "Anab." VI. v. 14; Soph. "O. C." 465,
and "O. T." 1483; and Prof. Jebb's notes ad loc. "the god's kindly
offices grant to me that I should lose my life."
[15] Cf. Plat. "Phaed." 66.
"No doubt," he added, "the gods were right in opposing me at that time
(touching the inquiry, what I was to say in my defence),[16] when you
all thought the great thing was to discover some means of acquittal;[17]
since, had I effected that, it is clear I should have prepared for myself,
not that surcease from life which is in store for me anon, but to end my
days wasted by disease, or by old age, on which a confluent stream of
evil things most alien to joyousness converges."[18]
[16] {te tou logou episkepsei}. Cf. Plat. "Rep." 456 C.
[17] Or, if {emin}, transl. "we all were for thinking that the main thing
was."
[18] Or, "that sink into which a confluent stream of evil humours
discharge most incompatible with gaiety of mind." Schneid. conj.
{eremon} sc. {geras}.
"No," he added, "God knows I shall display no ardent zeal to bring that
about.[19] On the contrary, if by proclaiming all the blessings which I
owe to god and men; if, by blazoning forth the opinion which I
entertain with regard to myself, I end by wearying the court, even so
will I choose death rather than supplicate in servile sort for leave to live

a little longer merely to gain a life impoverished in place of death."
[19] Or, "I will give no helping hand to that."
It was in this determination, Hermogenes states, that, when the
prosecution accused him of not recognising the gods recognised by the
state, but introducing novel divinities and corrupting the young,
Socrates stepped forward and said: "In the first place, sirs, I am at a loss
to imagine on what ground[20] Meletus asserts that I do not recognise
the gods which are recognised by the state, since, as far as sacrificing
goes, the rest of the world who have chanced to be present have been in
the habit of seeing me so engaged at common festivals, and on the