The Apology | Page 8

Cf. "Mem." III. xi. 17; Plut. "Cato min." 46 (Clough, iv. 417). See
Cobet, "Pros. Xen." s.n.; cf. Plat. "Symp." 173; "Phaed." 54 A, 117 D;
Aelian, "V. H." i. 16; Heges. "Delph." ap. Athen. xi. 507.
[53] Diog. Laert. ii. 5. 35, ascribes the remark to Xanthippe, and so Val.
Max. 7. 2, Ext. 1.
Whereupon Socrates, it is said, gently stroked the young man's head:
"Would you have been better pleased, my dear one, to see me put to
death for some just reason rather than unjustly?" and as he spoke he
smiled tenderly.[54]
[54] See Plat. "Phaed." 89 B, where a similar action is attributed to
Socrates in the case of Phaedo (his beloved disciple). "He stroked my
head and pressed the hair upon my neck--he had a way of playing with
my air; and then he said: 'To-morrow, Phaedo, I suppose that these fair
locks of yours will be severed.'"
It is also said that, seeing Anytus[55] pass by, Socrates remarked:
"How proudly the great man steps; he thinks, no doubt, he has
performed some great and noble deed in putting me to death, and all
because, seeing him deemed worthy of the highest honours of the state,
I told him it ill became him to bring up his so in a tan-yard.[56] What a
scamp the fellow is! he appears not to know that of us two whichever
has achieved what is best and noblest for all future time is the real
victor in this suit. Well! well!" he added, "Homer[57] has ascribed to
some at the point of death a power of forecasting things to be, and I too
am minded to utter a prophecy. Once, for a brief space, I associated
with the son of Anytus, and he seemed to me not lacking in strength of
soul; and what I say is, he will not adhere long to the slavish
employment which his father has prepared for him, but, in the absence

of any earnest friend and guardian, he is like to be led into some base
passion and go to great lengths in depravity."
[55] Son of Anthemion. See Plat. "Men." 90 B, {airountai goun auton
epi tas megistas arkhas}, Plut. "Alc." 4; id. "Coriol." 14; Aristot. "Ath.
Pol." 27, 25, re {to dekazein}; 34, 23. A moderate oligarch; cf. Xen.
"Hell." II. iii. 42, 44; Schol. Cod. Clarkiani ad Plat. "Apol." 18 B ap. L.
Dind. ad loc.; cf. Diod. xiii. 64.
[56] Cf. Plat. "Apol." 23 E.
[57] e.g. Patroclus dying predicts the death of Hector who had slain
him, "Il." xvi. 851 foll.; and Hector that of Achilles, "Il." xxii. 358 foll.
Cf. Cic. "de Div." 1, 30. Plato, "Apol." 39 C, making Socrates thus
address his judges: {to de de meta touto epithumo umin khresmodesai,
o katapsephisamenoi mou' kai gar eimi ede entautha, en o malist'
anthropoi khresmodousin, otan mellosin apothaneisthai}. "And now, O
men who have condemned me, I would fain prophesy to you, for I am
about to die, and that is the hour at which all men are gifted with
prophetic power" (Jowett).
The prophecy proved true. The young man fell a victim to the pleasures
of wine; night and day he never ceased drinking, and at last became a
mere good-for-nothing, worthless alike to his city, his friends, and
himself. As to Anytus, even though the grave has closed upon him, his
evil reputation still survives him, due alike to his son's base bringing-up
and his own want of human feeling.
Socrates did, it is true, by his self-laudation draw down upon him the
jealousy of the court and caused his judges all the more to record their
votes against him. Yet even so I look upon the lot of destiny which he
obtained as providential,[58] chancing as he did upon the easiest amidst
the many shapes of death,[59] and escaping as he did the one grievous
portion of existence. And what a glorious chance, moreover, he had to
display the full strength of his soul, for when once he had decided that
death was better for him than life, just as in the old days he had never
harshly opposed himself to the good things of life morosely,[60] so
even in face of death he showed no touch of weakness, but with gaiety

welcomed death's embrace, and discharged life's debt.
[58] Lit. "dear to the gods"; "highly favoured."
[59] Cf. Hom. "Od." xii. 341, {pantes men stugeroi thanatoi deiloisi
brotoisin}.
[60] {prosantes}, i.e. "he faced death boldly as he had encountered
life's blessings blandly." "As he had been no stoic to repudiate life's
blessings, so he was no coward to," etc.
For myself indeed, as I lay to mind the wisdom of the man and his
nobility, I can neither forget him nor, remembering him,