The Memorable Thoughts of Socrates | Page 9

Socrates were Crito, Chaerephon,
Chaerecrates, Simmias, Cebes, Phaedon, and some others; none of
whom frequented him that they might learn to speak eloquently, either
in the assemblies of the people, or in the courts of justice before the
judges; but that they might become better men, and know how to
behave themselves towards their domestics, their relations, their friends,
and their fellow- citizens. All these persons led very innocent lives; and,
whether we consider them in their youth or examine their behaviour in
a more advanced age, we shall find that they never were guilty of any
bad action, nay, that they never gave the least ground to suspect them
of being so.
But the accuser says that Socrates encouraged children to despise their
parents, making them believe that he was more capable to instruct them
than they; and telling them that as the laws permit a man to chain his
own father if he can convict him of lunacy, so, in like manner, it is but
just that a man of excellent sense should throw another into chains who
has not so much understanding. I cannot deny but that Socrates may
have said something like this; but he meant it not in the sense in which
the accuser would have it taken: and he fully discovered what his
meaning by these words was, when he said that he who should pretend
to chain others because of their ignorance, ought, for the same reason,
to submit to be chained himself by men who know more than he. Hence
it is that he argued so often of the difference between folly and
ignorance; and then he plainly said that fools and madmen ought to be

chained indeed, as well for their own interest as for that of their friends;
but that they who are ignorant of things they should know, ought only
to be instructed by those that understand them.
The accuser goes on, that Socrates did not only teach men to despise
their parents, but their other relations too; because he said that if a man
be sick, or have a suit in law, it is not his relations, but the physicians,
or the advocates who are of use to him. He further alleged that Socrates,
speaking of friends, said it was to no purpose to bear goodwill to any
man, if it be not in our power to serve him; and that the only friends
whom we ought to value are they who know what is good for us, and
can teach it to us: thus, says the accuser, Socrates, by persuading the
youth that he was the wisest of all men, and the most capable to set
others in the right road to wisdom, made them believe that all the rest
of mankind were nothing in comparison with him. I remember, indeed,
to have heard him sometimes talk after this manner of parents, relations,
and friends; and he observed besides, if I mistake not, that when the
soul, in which the understanding resides, is gone out of the body, we
soon bury the corpse; and even though it be that of our nearest relation,
we endeavour to put it out of our sight as soon as decently we can.
Farther, though every man loves his own body to a great degree, we
scruple not nevertheless to take from it all that is superfluous, for this
reason we cut our hair and our nails, we take off our corns and our
warts, and we put ourselves into the surgeons' hands, and endure
caustics and incisions; and after they have made us suffer a great deal
of pain, we think ourselves obliged to give them a reward: thus, too, we
spit, because the spittle is of no use in the mouth, but on the contrary is
troublesome. But Socrates meant not by these, or the like sayings, to
conclude that a man ought to bury his father alive, or that we ought to
cut off our legs and arms; but he meant only to teach us that what is
useless is contemptible, and to exhort every man to improve and render
himself useful to others; to the end that if we desire to be esteemed by
our father, our brother, or any other relation, we should not rely so
much on our parentage and consanguinity, as not to endeavour to
render ourselves always useful to those whose esteem we desire to
obtain.

The accuser says further against Socrates, that he was so malicious as
to choose out of the famous poets the passages that contained the worst
instructions, and that he made use of them in a sly manner, to inculcate
the vices of injustice and violence: as this verse of Hesiod,
"Blame no employment, but blame idleness."
And he pretends that