|
|
|
| Current Issue |
|
|
| Resources |
|
|
|
Apology, or the Defense of Socrates
| Article
# : |
15883 |
|
|
Section : |
MODERN THOUGHT
|
| Issue
Date : |
1 / 1989 |
1,382 Words |
| Author
: |
Translated by Sarah Fielding
|
I have always considered the manner, in which Socrates behaved after he had been summoned to his trial, as most worthy of our remembrance; and that, not only with respect to the defence he made for himself, when standing before his judges; but the sentiments he expressed concerning his dissolution…
[Hermogenes] asked him, "If it was not necessary to be preparing for his defence?" And "What!" said he, "my Hermogenes--suppose you I have not spent my whole life in preparing for this very thing?" Hermogenes desiring he would explain himself, "I have," said he, "steadily persisted, throughout life, in a diligent endeavour to do nothing which is unjust; and this I take to be the best, and most honourable preparation."…
"Doth it then appear marvelous to you, my Hermogenes, that God should think this the very best time for me to die? Know you not, that hitherto I have yielded to no man, that he hath lived more uprightly, or even more pleasurably than myself; possessed, as I was, of that well-grounded self-approbation, arising from the consciousness of having done my duty, both to the gods and men:--my friends also bearing their testimony to the integrity of my conversation! But now--if my life is prolonged and I am spared even to old age--what can hinder, my Hermogenes, the infirmities of old age from falling upon me? My sight will grow dim, my hearing, heavy: less capable of learning, as more liable to forget what I have already learnt; and if, to all this, I become sensible of my decay, and bemoan myself on the account of it, how can I say that I still lived pleasantly? It may be too," continued Socrates, "that god, through His goodness, hath appointed for me, not only that my life should terminate at a time which seems the most seasonable, but the manner in which it will be terminated shall also be the most eligible: for, if my death is now resolved upon, it must needs be that they who take charge of this matter, will permit me to choose the means supposed the most easy; free, too, from those lingering circumstances which keep our friends in anxious suspense for us, and fill the mind of the dying man with much pain and perturbation. And when nothing offensive--nothing unbecoming, is left on the memory of those who are present; but the man is dissolved while the body is yet found; and the mind still capable of exerting itself benevolently; who can say, my Hermogenes, that so to die is not most desirable? And with good reason," continued Socrates, "did the gods oppose themselves at what time we took the affair of my escape under deliberation; and determined that every means should be diligently sought after to effect it; since, if our designs had been carried into execution, instead of terminating my life in the
...
Read Full Article
Look for this article in Ask.com
|
|
