The Apology | Page 7

outside Attica where death was forbidden to set foot?"
[40] {sunagoreuein}, L. and S. cf Thuc. vi. 6, "partisans," viii. 84,
"pleaded the case of" (Jowett).
[41] Or, "laid the greatest stress of not being guilty of impiety";
"attached the greatest importance to the fact that he was never guilty of

impiety."
[42] {upotimasthai}. See L. Dind. cf. Cic. "Orat." i. 54; the technical
word is {antitimasthai}. Cf. Plat. "Apol." 36 D; Diog. Laert. ii. 41.
These authorities tell a different story. Why should these stories, if true,
as no doubt they were, be omitted?
[43] Cf. Plat. "Crit." 44 B.
When the trial drew to an end, we are told, the master said:[44] "Sirs,
those who instructed the witnesses that they ought to perjure
themselves and bear false witness against me, alike with those who
listened to their instruction, must be conscious to themselves of a deep
impiety and injustice.[45] But for myself, what reason have I at the
present time to hold my head less high than I did before sentence was
passed against me, if I have not been convicted of having done any of
those things whereof my accusers accused me? It has not been proved
against me that I have sacrificed to novel divinities in place of Zeus and
Hera and the gods who form their company. I have not taken oath by
any other gods, nor named their name.
[44] {eipein auton [autos(?)]}, i.e. "according to Hermiogenes."
[45] Or, "must have a heavy load on their minds in the consciousness of
their impiety and injustice."
"And then the young--how could I corrupt them by habituating them to
manliness and frugality? since not even my accusers themselves allege
against me that I have committed any of those deeds[46] of which
death is the penalty, such as robbery of temples,[47] breaking into
houses, selling freemen into slavery, or betrayal of the state; so that I
must still ask myself in wonderment how it has been proved to you that
I have done a deed worthy of death. Nor yet again because I die
innocently is that a reason why I should lower my crest, for that is a
blot not upon me but upon those who condemned me.
[46] Cf. "Mem." I. ii. 62.

[47] See Plat. "Rep." iii. 413 A.
"For me, I find a certain consolation in the case of Palamedes,[48]
whose end was not unlike my own; who still even to-day furnishes a far
nobler theme of song than Odysseus who unjustly slew him; and I
know that testimony will be borne to me also by time future and time
past that I never wronged another at any time or ever made a worse
man of him,[49] but ever tried to benefit those who practised discussion
with me, teaching them gratuitously every good thing in my power."
[48] Cf. "Mem." IV. viii. 9, 10; ib. IV. ii. 3. See Plat. "Rep." v. 476 D,
{exomen ti paramutheisthai auton}; and "Hunting," i. 11. The story of
Palamedes is told by Ovid, "Met." xiii. 5.
[49] Cf. Plat. "Apol." 25 D, {poteron eme eisageis deuro os
diaphtheironta tous neous kai poneroterous poiounta ekonta e akonta}.
Having so said he turned and went in a manner quite in conformity[50]
with the words which he had spoken--so bright an air was discernible
alike in the glance of his eye, his gesture, and his step.
[50] {omologoumenos}. For the use of the word L. Dind. cf. Diog.
Laert. vii. 87, {dioper protos o Zenon en to peri anthropou phuseos
telos eipe to omologoumenos te phusei zen} (Cicero's "naturae
convenienter vivere," L. and S.), whereas the regular Attic use is
different. Cf. "Oec." i. 11, {kai omologoumenos ge o logos emin khorei}
= "consentanea ratione." "Our argument runs on all-fours." Plat.
"Symp." 186 B, {to nasoun omologoumenos eteron te kai anomoion
esti}, "ut inter omnes convenit."
And when he perceived those who followed by his side in tears, "What
is this?" he asked. "Why do you weep now?[51] Do you not know that
for many a long day, ever since I was born, sentence of death was
passed upon me by nature? If so be I perish prematurely while the tide
of life's blessings flows free and fast, certainly I and my well-wishers
should feel pained; but if it be that I am bringing my life to a close on
the eve of troubles, for my part I think you ought all of you to take
heart of grace and rejoice in my good fortune."

[51] "Why precisely now?"
Now there was a certain Apollodorus,[52] who was an enthusiastic
lover of the master, but for the rest a simple-minded man. He
exclaimed very innocently, "But the hardest thing of all to bear,
Socrates, is to see you put to death unjustly."[53]
[52]