480 HISTORY OF SREECE. delighted as well as improved by listening to his cross-examina- tions ; in proof of the charge that he had corrupted them, no evidence had been produced ; neither any of themselves, who, having been once young when they enjoyed his conversation, had since grown elderly ; nor any of their relatives ; while he on his part could produce abundant testimony to the improving effect of his society, from the relatives of those who had profited by it, 1 ^ No man (says he) knows what death is ; yet men fear it as if they knew well that it was the greatest of all evils, which is just a case of that worst of all ignorance, the conceit of knowing what you do not really know. For my part, this is the exact point on which I differ from most other men, if there be any one thing in which I am wiser than they ; as I know nothing about Hades, so I do not pretend to any knowledge ; but I do know well, that disobedience to a person better than myself, either god or man, is both an evil and a shame ; nor will I ever embrace evil certain, in order to escape evil which may for aught I know be a good. 2 Perhaps you may feel indignant at the resolute tone of my defence ; you may have expected that I should do as most others do in less dangerous trials than mine ; that I should weep, beg and entreat for my life, and bring forward my children and relatives to do the same. I have relatives like other men, and three children ; but not one of them shall appear before you for any such purpose. Not from any insolent dispositions on my part, nor any wish to put a slight upon you, but because I hold such conduct to be degrading to the reputation which I enjoy ; for I have a reputation for superiority among you, deserved or undeserved as it may be. It is a disgrace to Athens, when her esteemed men lower themselves, as they do but too often, by such mean and cowardly supplications ; and you dikasts, instead of being prompted thereby to spare them, ought rather to con- demn them the more for so dishonoring the city. 3 Apart from 1 Plato, Apol. Sok. c. 22.
- Plato, Apol. Sok. c. 1 7, p. 29, B. Contrast this striking and truly
Sokratic sentiment about the fear of death, with the commonplace way in which Sokrates is represented as handling the same subject in Xenoph. Memor. i, 4, 7.
- Plato, Apol. Sok. c. 23 pp. 34 15. I translate the substance and not
the words.
