from the reading below Did anything strike you in particular? Why?
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from the reading below
Did anything strike you in particular? Why?
Transcribed Image Text:gentlemen, going into each of the cities, to the young who could associate with whomever they want from
their own citizens for free-they convince them to leave their company and join them, paying them money,
and to feel grateful besides!
For that matter, there is currently another wise man, from Paros, whom I have discovered is in town because I
happened to meet a man who has paid more money to sophists than all the others combined, Kallias, son of
Hipponikos. So I asked him-because he has two sons- "Kallias," I said, "If colts or calves had been born to
you as sons, we could find and hire a trainer who would make them well-bred with respect to the appropriate
virtue; he would be some horse-trainer or farmer. But as it is, since they are humans, whom do have in mind to
hire as a trainer for them? Who is knowledgeable about such virtue, of the human being and of the citizen?
Because I assume you have looked into it, since you have sons. Is there someone," I said, "or not?"
"Certainly," said he. "Who?" I said, "And where from? And for how much does he teach?" "Euenos, Socrates,"
he said, "from Paros, for five mina." And I considered Euenos blessed, if he really has this skill and teaches for
such a sweet-sounding price. I at any rate would be pride of myself and be boastful, if I knew these things. But
in fact I don't know them, men of Athens.
Perhaps some one of you might respond, "But Socrates, what is your profession? Where have these slanders
against you come from? For surely it's not by busying f with the usual things that so much hearsay and
talk has arisen, but by doing something different from most people. Then tell us what it is, so that we don't
judge your case rashly."
The person who says this seems to me to speak justly, and I will try to show you what it is, precisely, that won
me this reputation and notoriety.
Listen, then. And while I will perhaps appear to some of you to be joking, rest assured that I will tell you the
whole truth. For I, men of Athens, have acquired this reputation due to nothing other than a certain wisdom.
What sort of wisdom is this? Quite likely it is human wisdom.
There's a good chance that I actually have this kind of wisdom, while those men I was speaking of just now
might perhaps be wise with a wisdom more than human—or I don't know how I should put it, for I certainly
don't have it, and whoever says so is lying and is saying it to slander against me. But don't interrupt me, men
of Athens, not even if I strike you as talking big. The story I will tell you is not my own, but I will refer you to
a trustworthy source for what I say, because I will present to you as my witness as to whether it is wisdom of a
sort and of what sort it is the god in Delphi.
The sophists were professional
teachers who usually were paid
for teaching to the young.
Socrates says he would like to
possess the knowledge that the
sophists seem to have, but that
he does not.
Asked why he has the bad
reputation that led him to the
trial, Socrates says that this
reputation is due to the fact that
he has a sort of "human
wisdom".
In order to explain this claim,
Socrates tells the Athenians
what he heard from Chairephon.
Chairphon asked the Pythia, the
oracle of Delphi who spoke for
Transcribed Image Text:Excerpt 1
(19a - 24b)
Well then. I must make a defense, men of Athens, and in such a short time must try to banish this prejudice
from you that you have held for a long time. I would like it to turn out this way that I will succeed in
defending myself if that would be better for both you and me. But I think this is difficult, and just what it is
I'm attempting doesn't escape me at all. Nevertheless, let the case proceed in whatever way the god favors; I
must obey the law and make my defense.
Let us consider, then, from the beginning, what the accusation is, from which the prejudice against me arose
that Meletos believed when he brought this charge against me. Well then. What precisely did the accusers say
when they accused me? Just as if they were charging me, it is necessary to read out their indictment: "Socrates
is guilty of meddling, of inquiring into things under the earth and in the heavens, of making the weaker speech
the stronger, and of teaching these very things" something like this. For even you yourselves have seen these
things in the comedy of Aristophanes, a certain Socrates being carried around up there, insisting that he walks
on air and spouting off a lot of other nonsense that I do not claim to know anything about, either great or
small.
I don't speak in order to dishonor such knowledge, if someone is wise about such things I hope
I am not somehow prosecuted by Meletos on such great charges-but in fact I have nothing to do with them,
men of Athens, and I call on the majority of you as witnesses, and I expect you to teach and inform one
another, those of you who have ever heard me in conversation and this includes many of you. Tell one
another if any of you heard me ever discussing such things, either a lot or a little. And from this you will
realize that the same is true of the other things that the many say about me.
But in fact none of them is the case. And indeed, if you have heard from anyone that I endeavor to teach
people and make money, this is not true. Though again, I think that it is a fine thing if an individual is able to
teach people, such as Gorgias of Leontini and Prodikos of Chios and Hippias of Elis. For each of these people,
Notes
Socrates must defend himself in
front of the Athenians against
the charges of impiety and
corruption of the young.
This is what he is accused of.
According to Socrates, what
people say against him is not
true.
Socrates says that he does not
ask for money as a payment for
his teachings.
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