The Memorable Thoughts of Socrates | Page 5

Socrates, who never boasted of any such thing, and who was most
certain that all who heard him and received his maxims would love him
for ever, and be capable of loving others also. After this, whosoever
says that such a man debauched the youth, must at the same time say
that the study of virtue is debauchery.

But the accuser says that Socrates taught to despise the constitution that
was established in the Republic, because he affirmed it to be a folly to
elect magistrates by lots; since if anyone had occasion for a pilot, a
musician, or an architect, he would not trust to chance for any such
person, though the faults that can be committed by men in such
capacities are far from being of so great importance as those that are
committed in the government of the Republic. He says, therefore, that
such arguments insensibly accustom the youth to despise the laws, and
render them more audacious and more violent. But, in my opinion, such
as study the art of prudence, and who believe they shall be able to
render themselves capable of giving good advice and counsel to their
fellow-citizens, seldom become men of violent tempers; because they
know that violence is hateful and full of danger; while, on the contrary,
to win by persuasion is full of love and safety. For they, whom we have
compelled, brood a secret hatred against us, believing we have done
them wrong; but those whom we have taken the trouble to persuade
continue our friends, believing we have done them a kindness. It is not,
therefore, they who apply themselves to the study of prudence that
become violent, but those brutish intractable tempers who have much
power in their hands and but little judgment to manage it.--He farther
said that when a man desires to carry anything by force, he must have
many friends to assist him: as, on the contrary, he that can persuade has
need of none but himself, and is not subject to shed blood; for who
would rather choose to kill a man than to make use of his services, after
having gained his friendship and goodwill by mildness?
The accuser adds, in proof of the ill tendency of the doctrine of
Socrates, that Critias and Alcibiades, who were two of his most
intimate friends, were very bad men, and did much mischief to their
country. For Critias was the most insatiable and cruel of all the thirty
tyrants; and Alcibiades the most dissolute, the most insolent, and the
most audacious citizen that ever the Republic had. As for me, I pretend
not to justify them, and will only relate for what reason they frequented
Socrates. They were men of an unbounded ambition, and who resolved,
whatever it cost, to govern the State, and make themselves be talked of.
They had heard that Socrates lived very content upon little or nothing,
that he entirely commanded his passions, and that his reasonings were

so persuasive that he drew all men to which side he pleased. Reflecting
on this, and being of the temper we mentioned, can it be thought that
they desired the acquaintance of Socrates, because they were in love
with his way of life, and with his temperance, or because they believed
that by conversing with him they should render themselves capable of
reasoning aright, and of well-managing the public affairs? For my part,
I believe that if the gods had proposed to them to live always like him,
or to die immediately, they would rather have chosen a sudden death.
And it is easy to judge this from their actions; for as soon as they
thought themselves more capable than their companions, they forsook
Socrates, whom they had frequented, only for the purpose I mentioned,
and threw themselves wholly into business.
It may, perhaps, be objected that he ought not to have discoursed to his
friends of things relating to the government of the State, till after he had
taught them to live virtuously. I have nothing to say to this; but I
observe that all who profess teaching do generally two things: they
work in presence of their scholars, to show them how they ought to do,
and they instruct them likewise by word of mouth. Now, in either of
these two ways, no man ever taught to live well, like Socrates; for, in
his whole life, he was an example of untainted probity; and in his
discourses he spoke of virtue and of all the duties of man in a manner
that made him admired of all his hearers. And I know too very well that
Critias and Alcibiades lived very virtuously as long as they frequented
him; not that they were afraid of him, but because they thought it most
conducive