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Article THE DEFENCE OF SOCRATES. ← Page 6 of 8 →
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The Defence Of Socrates.
have gratified your envy and narrow-mindedness , endeavouring to appease your unjust displeasure by affected tears and lamentations , and by doing and saying many things unworth y my character , but which you all would be eager to catch at . From the first onset of the business , I determined not to act the part of an obsequious sycophant through any false apprehension of death , nor do 1 now , although my worst anticipation is realised , repent of the line of defence
which I have followed ; but I prefer d ying with that defence on record , rather than to have lived by making another . In my opinion , it is not displaying proper fortitude , either in a trial of this sort , or in the dangers of war , to shun death by any means ; for it is evident that a man mi ght often escape death in battle by laying down his arms and surrendering to the enemy . And there are many other ways of avoiding death , when there is any danger of it , if the person is possessed of sufficient hardihood to say or do anything regardless of principle . The difficulty is , not the escaping death , but the avoiding a charge of cowardice and baseness . The evils of an ill name fly swifter than the arrows of death .
I am now an old man , and being slow in my movements , easy to be caught by one slower than myself . But my accusers , though young , quick , and vehement , are caught and entangled by something quicker and more artful—their own natural baseness ! I am now departing from you under sentence of death . They shall live branded by eternal truth ivith the charge of perfidy and injustice ! I am contented with my fate : may they be so with theirs ! Probably this is as it ought to beand
, I am perfectly resigned to it ! It is my next intention to utter a prophecy for those who have condemned me . I am in that state when mortals are supposed to be gifted with second sight . Often , when the stroke of death is upon them , the spirit of vaticination is given by the gods . I say , therefore , that a severe judgment ivill be visited upon you after my decease ; much heavier , by Jupiter , than this by which you have murdered me ! In committing this act , you imagine you will be freed from troublesome
a censor , who daily calls upon you to give an account of your lives ; but I promise you the event will disappoint your calculations . I shall leave behind me those who will still exhort and rebuke you—persons whom my presence has restrained , and
therefore you have not recognised them . They will prove much more annoying , because they are younger , and their language will he more cutting . And , if you think that b y killing men , you hinder others from upbraiding you for not living in a virtuous manner , you make a wrong conclusion ; for it is not possible , was it justifiable , to succeed in such an attempt . It would be more praiseworthy and easy for yourselves not to try and hinder others , but to take heed that your lives were much is
spent , as as possible , conformably with the dictates of virtue . Having said as much against those who have condemned me , I shall cease ; but I would converse with pleasure with those who have acquitted me , respecting the event which has happened , whilst the governors are employed , and I am not yet dispatched to the place where it is intended I should be executed . Stay with me , Athenians , so long ; for nothing prevents us conversing together as long it is
as permitted . I wish to show you , as friends , what is the cause of my present calamity . Something extraordinary has befallen me , sirs . The customary impulse of my daemon—my better genius—was very frequent m former times , and opposed me , even in the slightest affair ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Defence Of Socrates.
have gratified your envy and narrow-mindedness , endeavouring to appease your unjust displeasure by affected tears and lamentations , and by doing and saying many things unworth y my character , but which you all would be eager to catch at . From the first onset of the business , I determined not to act the part of an obsequious sycophant through any false apprehension of death , nor do 1 now , although my worst anticipation is realised , repent of the line of defence
which I have followed ; but I prefer d ying with that defence on record , rather than to have lived by making another . In my opinion , it is not displaying proper fortitude , either in a trial of this sort , or in the dangers of war , to shun death by any means ; for it is evident that a man mi ght often escape death in battle by laying down his arms and surrendering to the enemy . And there are many other ways of avoiding death , when there is any danger of it , if the person is possessed of sufficient hardihood to say or do anything regardless of principle . The difficulty is , not the escaping death , but the avoiding a charge of cowardice and baseness . The evils of an ill name fly swifter than the arrows of death .
I am now an old man , and being slow in my movements , easy to be caught by one slower than myself . But my accusers , though young , quick , and vehement , are caught and entangled by something quicker and more artful—their own natural baseness ! I am now departing from you under sentence of death . They shall live branded by eternal truth ivith the charge of perfidy and injustice ! I am contented with my fate : may they be so with theirs ! Probably this is as it ought to beand
, I am perfectly resigned to it ! It is my next intention to utter a prophecy for those who have condemned me . I am in that state when mortals are supposed to be gifted with second sight . Often , when the stroke of death is upon them , the spirit of vaticination is given by the gods . I say , therefore , that a severe judgment ivill be visited upon you after my decease ; much heavier , by Jupiter , than this by which you have murdered me ! In committing this act , you imagine you will be freed from troublesome
a censor , who daily calls upon you to give an account of your lives ; but I promise you the event will disappoint your calculations . I shall leave behind me those who will still exhort and rebuke you—persons whom my presence has restrained , and
therefore you have not recognised them . They will prove much more annoying , because they are younger , and their language will he more cutting . And , if you think that b y killing men , you hinder others from upbraiding you for not living in a virtuous manner , you make a wrong conclusion ; for it is not possible , was it justifiable , to succeed in such an attempt . It would be more praiseworthy and easy for yourselves not to try and hinder others , but to take heed that your lives were much is
spent , as as possible , conformably with the dictates of virtue . Having said as much against those who have condemned me , I shall cease ; but I would converse with pleasure with those who have acquitted me , respecting the event which has happened , whilst the governors are employed , and I am not yet dispatched to the place where it is intended I should be executed . Stay with me , Athenians , so long ; for nothing prevents us conversing together as long it is
as permitted . I wish to show you , as friends , what is the cause of my present calamity . Something extraordinary has befallen me , sirs . The customary impulse of my daemon—my better genius—was very frequent m former times , and opposed me , even in the slightest affair ,