Part III

• Socratk. Epift. 14.
* Var, hlfl.
f Schol. Ari- jhph,
* Libart.
^ iEltan.
Another c^2jiq\ Socrates had of long con¬ tinuance, for it was rhe occafion of his Death, but begun many years before, with Anytus > an Orator by Profeliion, . privately mantained and enriched by Leather-fellers : He had put two of his Sons to Socrates to be taught, but not being pleafed, that whilft they were in that way, they had not learn’d fo much, as to be able thereby to get their living ^ he took them from Socrates^ and put them to that trade which himfelf was afliamed to own-, wherewith tes being much difpleafed in refpe£f of the two Youths, whole Ruin he prefaged, ( and truly, for they fell afterwards into Debaucheries which occafioned it) Ipared not to reproach A- nytus in difcourling to his Scholars, ^ telling them, *• That the Trade of dreffing Leather ‘ was not fit to be Ipoken of amongft young ‘Men; for they who benefit themfelves by ‘ any Art, cherifh and profels it, as Acumenus ‘ Phyfick, Damon and Connm Mufick ; even A- ‘ nytr/s^ whilft his Sons were his Scholars, was ‘ not afhamed of that which they learned, ‘ though it were not fufiicient to maintain ‘ them by pleading ; but for himfelf, he gloried ‘ that he walkt invifible with F/uto"s Helmet, or ‘ Gyges's Ring, concealing from the People the ‘ true means of his fubfiftence, which indeed ‘ was by drefling Leather, which was not juff ;
‘ to be afhamed of the Trade, and not of the ‘ Profit; for he ought to ownthis,ortodilclaim ‘ that.
‘ Anytus ('faith ^JElian) to anfwer this re- ‘ proach, ffudied all occafions and ways of. re- ‘ venge ; but feared the Athenians, doubting if ‘he fhould accufe Socrates, how they would ‘ take it , his name being in high elfeem for- ‘ many refpefts, chiefly for oppofipg the Sophifts,
‘ who neither taught nor knew any folid Learn- ‘ ing. He t advifed with Me lit m, a young Man, an Orator, unknown to Socrates, defcrib’d by FlatP, with long plain Hair, a high Nofe, and a thin Beard, one that, for a Drachm might be bought into any thing , by whole Counfel ^ ‘ He begins by making trial in lefler ‘ things, to found how the Athenians would en- ' ‘ tertain a charge againft his Life ; for to have ‘ accufed him upon the very firft, he conceived ‘ unfale, as well for the realbn already menti- ‘oncd, as left the Friends and followers of 5^7- ‘ crates Ihould divert the anger of the Judges ‘ upon himfelf’ for falfly acculing a Perfon fo ‘ far from being guilty of any wrong to the " State, that he was the only ornament thereof. ‘ To this end he fuborns Ariji^hanes, a Co- ‘ mick Poet, whole only bufinels was to raife ‘ mirth, to bring upon the Stage, tax-
‘ ing him with Crimes which molt Men knew ‘ him free from, impertinent Difcourfe, making ‘ an ill Caufe by Argument feem good, intro- ‘ ducing new and ftrange Deities, whilft him- ‘ lelf believed and reverenced none ; hereby ‘ to infinuate an ill opinion of him, even into ^ ‘ thofe who mott frequented him. Ariftophanes ‘ taking this Theme, interweaves it with much ‘ abulive Mirth ; the beft of the Grecians was ‘hisSubjefl, not Cleon, the Lacedifmonians, the ‘ Fhebans,ox Fericles himfelf^ but a Perfon dear ‘to all the Gods, elpecially Apollo. At firft ‘ (by realbn of the novelty of the thing, the
‘ unufual perlbnating of Socrates upon the Stage) ‘ the Athenians,who expended nothing lefs, were ‘ ftcuck with wonder ; Then, (being naturally ‘ envious, apt to detraO; from the beftPerfons, ‘ not only of fuch as bore Office in the Com- ‘ mon-wealth, but any that were eminent for ‘ Learning and Vertue) they begun to be taken ‘ with the ( fo was the Play named_)
‘ and cried up the Aflor that perlcmated So- ‘ m/r^’TVvithmore applaule than ever any be- ‘ fore, giving him with many Ihouts the Viblo- ‘ ry, and lending word to the Judges, that they ‘ Ihould fet down no name but that of Arijfo- ‘ phanes. Socrates came feldom to the Theatre, ‘ unlefs when Euripides contefted with any new ‘ Tragedian, there, or in the Fyraum, then he ‘ went, for he affiefled the Wildom, Goodnefs, ‘ and Iweetnefs of his Verfe ; fometimes Al- ‘ cibiades and Critias would invite him to a Co - ‘ medy, and in a manner compel him for he i ‘ was lb far from efteeming Comedians, that I ‘ he contemn’d them as lying, abulive, and un- ‘ profitable; whereat they were much difpleaf ‘ ed : Thele ( with other things fuggefted by ‘ Anytirs and Melitus ) were the ground ofHW- '• flophanesEisComQ^Y, who, it is likely, got a ‘ great fum of Money by it, they being eager ‘ in profecution of their defign, and he prepa- ‘ red by want, and malice, to receive their im- prelTion : In fine, the Play got extraordinary ‘ Credit, that of Cratinus being verified,
Fhe Theatre was then lilTd with maliciom Men.
‘ It being at that time the Featt of Bacchus, a nlultitude oA Grecians went to lee the PHy :
‘ Socrates being perlbnated on the Stage and of- ' ten nam’d,(norwasit much the Players Ihould reprelent him, for the Potters frequently did ‘ it upon their Stone Juggsj the Strangers that ‘ were prelent ( not knowing whom the Co- ‘ medy abuled) raifed a hum and whifper,
‘ every one asking who that was? which
‘ he obferving (fbr he came not thither by ‘ chance, but becaule he knew himfelf Ihould be ‘ abuled in the Play , had chofen the moft ‘ confpicuous Seat in the Theatre ) to put the ‘ Strangers out of doubt, he role up, and all ‘ the while the Play laited, continued in that ‘ Pofture, Laughing) t one that was prelent ^ Mim. var. ‘ asked him if it did not vex him to fee him- hift. 5.
‘ felf brought upon the Stage ? Not at all, ("an- 1 ‘ Iwered he ) methinks I am at a Feaft where • every one enjoys me. ^ This Comedy was firft aft- ^ ed v^en Ifarchus was Archon, Cratinus Vi£lor poph, in thefirftyearof the eighty ninth Olympiad:
being by fome reprehended for it, to vindicate himlelfj caufed it to be a£l:ed a- gain the Year following, being Archon,
but with worle order than at firft.
* Amapfias alfo Canother Comick Poet ) de¬ rided him thus ih Tribone. -
j\
Laert.
0 Socrates, bejiof few, the vainefi Of many Men ; and art thou come among ji m f* Where is thy Gown ? Did not this great mis¬ fortune
Befal thee by the Leather-drejfer s help ?
* :
CHAP.
J
P A «- T. in _ s 0 C R AT E S. '■ ^
CHAP. X.
«
His Trial.
Plat. Apol. -m yr Any years part fince the firft falling Liban. Apol. out betwixt Socrates and Anytus^ du¬
ring which time one continued openly repro¬ ving the other, fecretly undermining , until at length feeing the time fute with his
defign, procured Me lit us prefer a Bill againfl
him to the Senate in thefe terms.
Melitus 5(7/? Melitus, a Yythean.^accufeth Socrates Son oj Sophronifcus an Alopecian. So¬ crates violates the Law^ not believing the Deities which this City believeth, but introducing other new Gods, he violates the Law iikewife in cor¬ rupting Touth y the punijhment Death.
This Bill being preferred upon Oath (Plato f See Suidas ^ ) Crito became bound to the Judg-
vpon that mrd. es for his appearance at the day of Trial. ^ Soon
* Liban. Apol. after Anytusfent privately to him, de firing him jp. 544. to forbear the mentionof his Trade, andajjuring
him that he would thereupon withdraw his Alfion -, but Socrates return^ him anfwer, that he would never forbear fpeaking truth as long as he lived, that he would always ufe the fame fpeeches con¬ cerning. him ; that his accufationwas not offeree enough to make him refrain from fpeaking thofe things which he thought himfelf before obliged tojay
* Xenoph.ApoI. ^ The interval of time betwixt his accufa- ^ memor. 4, i-jon and trial, he imployed in his ufual Philo-
fophical exerciles,not taking any care to provide his defence, for v/hich being obfen^ed and que- ftion’d by ife rmogenes. Son of Hipponicus, ‘ I ‘ provide Apology enough (faith he) in confider- ^ ing and purfuing the conftant courfe of my life^ ‘ Hermogenes demanding how that could be ? ‘ becaufe (faith he) I never did any unjuft a£f, ' which I conceive the beft Apology .* But we ‘ often fee Judges (faith Jfm/?(7^^/7^i')overlway’d ‘ by Rhetorick, to condemn the innocent, and ac- ‘ quit the guilty : The truth is,(replied50 ‘ going about to make my Apology,! was twice ‘ withheld by the Damon, whereat Hermoge- ‘ nes wondring , Is it ftrange C continues he)
*■ that God fhould think it fit for me to dye at ' this time ? hitherto no Man hath lived more ‘ uprightly ^ which as it is now my greateftcom- ‘ fort, fo it was the greateft delight to my felf » ‘ and Friends i if I live longer, I know I muft
‘ undergo what is proper to old Age,defeQs of ‘ hearing and fight, nownefs to apprehend , aptnefs to forget, how can I then be pleafed ‘ to live longer and grow worfe: It is likely God *■ in his love to me hath ordained that I ftiould ‘ die in the moft convenient Age, and by the ‘ gentleft means ?for if I die by Sentence, I am ‘ allowed the benefit of the moft eafie kind of ‘ death •, Khali give my Friends the leaft trouble,
‘ 1 (hall do nothing unfeemly before thofe that ‘ are prefent, and fhall depart found in Body ‘ and Soul ; is not this very defirable ? God with ‘ rnuch reafon forbids me to make any defence ; If I could effeO: it, I fhould only ftay longer ‘ to be taken away by the torment of Difeafes,
‘ and imperfeflions of Age, which truly Her- ‘ nwgenes I defire not-, If when I give an account ‘of my aftions towards God and Men, the ‘ Judges think fit to Condemn me, I will rather
‘ chufe to die than beg of them a Life worfe than ‘ Death. Other Friends ufed the fame perfwafi- ‘ ons to him with affurance of Victory, t Lyfas f cker. de o-
an excellent Orator, offered him an Oration,
^ which he had written in his defence, defiring ^him if bethought good to make ufe of it at ^ his Tryal ; Socrates perufed it, and told hini,
that ic was a good one, but not fit for him.
‘ Lyfias asking how that could be ^ Why (faith.
‘ he) may not a Garment or Shooes be rich, yet ‘ not fit for me ? If you fhould bring me Sicioni- an Shooes, I would not wear them though they were fit for my feet, becaufe they are effemi¬ nate : He conceived the Oration to be ingeni¬ ous and eloquent,but not ftout and manly^ for Pint. though it were very bitter againft the Judges, yet t was it more Rhetorical than became a t Laen. Philofopher.
The day of Tryal being and Melitus prepared to accufe him, one in be¬ half of the People, the fecond of the Orators, the laft of the Poets : Melitus went' up in¬ to the Chair proper for that purpofe, and there fpoke an Oration which was in it felf mean enough, but withal delivered fo unhappily and School-boy like, that fomtimes he was out with fear, and turned about to be prompted like a Player, enough to beget Laughter even in thofg that were molt concerned in fb ferious a caufe ;
Part of the effeO; whereof feems to be the fame which is thus by difperfedly deliver’d,
fome particulars whereof are confirmed by Li- banius.
‘ That Socrates perfwaded his Auditors to ‘ contemn the receiv’d Laws, faying it was fit
only for Fools to be governed by a Bean,
‘ ('meaning the fuffrages of the Senate fo ga- ‘ thered.)
‘That he was intimately converfant with ‘ Critiasdindi Alcibiades, one moft Covetous and ‘ Violent in thaiOligarchy, the other Ambitious ‘ of Tyranny.
‘ That he taught Difrefpe£t andDifobedience ‘ to Parents, telling his Scholars he would make ‘ them wifer than their Fathers, and that it was ‘ Lawful for any one to bind his Father if he ‘ were mad, and for thofe that were the more ‘ Wife, to do as much as thofe that were lefs ‘ Wife.
‘ That he taught alfo diffefpeH: of all other ‘ Kinfmen, faying they were not ufeful to the ‘ Sick, or to the accufed, the firft being in more ‘ need of a Phyfician, the latter of an Orator ;
‘ that the good will of unable Friends was no- ‘ thing worth, that only the moft knowing per- ‘ fons were moft worthy of Honour ^ by which ‘ means he would arrogate all refpeft to himfelf.
‘ That he feleded out of the Poets fbme ill ‘ Places, and perverted others that were not ‘ fb, to excite his Friends to impious actions ;
‘ as that of Hefiod, .
There is no work purfued Shame :
’Tts Idlenefs that merits blame.
‘ He expounded, as if the Poet meant alt . ®
‘ a£ls might be committed for gain.
‘ That he often repeated and mif interpreted ‘ thefe words of Homer, as if the Poet allow- ‘ ed the Poor to be beaten.
M IVhefi
90
SOCK AT ES
art
When he a Prince^ or fame great Pcrfon meets^ Such with foft language kindly thus he greets 5 Happy above the reach of fear are you ;
Sit down^ and bid your followers do fo too.
But of the lower fort when any fpeaks.^
Forth thefe words with blows his anger breaks^
Be quiet ^ to thy betters wretch fubmit j For allion and advice alike unfit.
* Ltban.Apol. Melitus ( hls Oration ended) came down;
next him came Anytus with a long malicious Ipeech, and laft of all Lyco with all the Artifice of Rhetorick concluded the acculation. t cic tufc Socrates t would not ( as was the Cuftom ) quafl. u * procure an Advocate to plead for him ; all the while his Accufers were fpeaking, he feemed to employ his Mind about nothing left : as foon as they had done,he went up into the Chair,
* r; A • C ^ in which aQion he obfervedthat the Daemon mt. ^ did not withhold him) and with t an angry t SocYAtk. fmile begun this ^ unpremeditated anfwer,t not
14. ^ as a Suppliant, or guilty, Per fon, but as if Mailer . cir ’ of the J udges themfelves, with a free contumacy quisf proceeding not from Pride, but the greatneft of hls Mind-
^ Xenopb. ‘ ^ But I wonder firft (Athenians) how Me- ‘ litus came by this knowledge, that (as he faith) ‘ I do not worlbiip thole Gods the City wor- ‘ ftiips ? Others have feen me, (and fo might ‘ Aielitus if he had pleas’d)Sacrifice at coniimon ‘ Feftivals on the Publick Altars -, How do I ‘ introduce new Deities when I profeft to be di- ‘reQed in all myafilions by the Voice of God f’ ‘ They who oblerve the Notes of Birds, or an- ‘ fwers of Men, are guided by the voice : None ‘ doubts of Thunder whether it be loud or ora ‘ culous ; Doth not the Prielleft on the Tripod ‘ convey to us by voice what the God delivers ‘ to her f* and that he foreknows events, commu ^ eating them to whom pleafetlt him, all Men * (as well as I) believe and profeft : Others call ‘ thofe that foretel Events , Augurs , Sooth- ‘ Payers, and Diviners, I the Daemon , and (I ^ conceive) more religioully than they who af- ‘ cribe a divine power to Birds : That I am no *• Impollor herein, many can atteft who have af ‘ ked my Advice, and never found it fail. Here ' there arole a murmur in the Senate, fome not
believing, others envying what he faid, that he Ihould furplils them in fuch a particular favour of the Deity ; ‘ Let luch as are incre- ^ dulous hear this alfo to confirm their Opinion , ‘that lam not favour'd of the Gods; when ‘ Chterephon in the prelence of many witnelTes,
‘ queftion’d the Delphian Oracle concerning me,
‘ Apollo anfwered, that no Man was more free, ‘ more juft, or more wife ; (here another mur- ‘ mur arofe amongft the Judges : he proceeded) ‘ Yet the fame God faid more of Lycurgus the ‘ Lacedaemonian Law giver, that he knew not ‘ whether to call him a God or a Man •, me he ‘ compared not with the Gods, though he gave ‘ me the priority amongft Men. But trull not ^ ‘ the God herein , conlider me exaftly your
‘ felves ; v;hom know you left a Servant to ^ corporeal plealures.^ whom morefree> I accept ‘ not either rewards or gifts; vyho more juft than ‘ he rvho fo conforms himlelf to the prelent time,
‘ as he needs not the help of any other who
i
‘ will fay he deferves not the title of wife,
‘ who lince he was able, never defiled to learn ‘ by enquiry all good polTible : and that* I took ‘ not this pains in vain, is evident in that, many ‘ Citizens and ftrangers ftudious of Vertue>pre- ‘ fer my Converfation above all others : What ‘ is the reafon that tho’ all Men know I have ‘ no Wplth to requite them, fo many defire ‘ to oblige me by gifts I That I require no re- ‘ turn from any, yet engage fo many ? That ^ when the City being belieg’d,every one lament¬ ed his condition,! was no more mov’d than when ‘ it was moll flourilhing ? That whilll others lay out Money on outward things to pleale ‘ themfelves, I furnilh my felf from within, my ‘ felf with things that pleafe me better ? If none ‘ can difprove what I have faid, deferve I not ‘ the commendations both of Gods and Men ?
‘ And yet you Melitus pretend that with thefe ‘ Inftru£lions I corrupt Youth ; Every one knows what it is to corrupt Youth : Can you name ‘ but one that I of Religious have made Impi- ‘ ous, of modeft, impudent, of frugal, prodigal,
‘ of fober, debauch’d, of hardy effeminate, or ‘the like?* But I know, thole, anfwered Aleli- ‘ tus^ whom you have perfwaded to be more ‘ obedient to you than to their own Parents :
‘ That as far as concerns Inllrufilion, replied ‘ Socrates^ I confefs this they know to be my ‘ proper Care : For their Health Men obey ‘ rhyficians before their Parents, in Law-luits ‘ Counfellors before tlieir Kindred •, Do you ' not in War prefer the moll experienc’d Soldi- ‘ers^to command before your own Allies Yes,
‘ anlwers Melitus^ ’tis fit we Ihould ; and do ‘ you think it realbn, then, replies Socrates., if ‘ others are preferr’d for fuch things as they are ‘excellent in, that becaufe in tte opinion of ‘ fome, I have an advantage beyond others in ‘ educating Youth, which is the greateft Be- ‘ nefit amongft Men , i ought therefore to die. t ‘ Anytus and Melitus (faith he, addrelTing him- ‘ felf to the Judges) may procure my Death,
‘ hurt me they cannot : ^ To fear death is to m. dt con- ‘ leem wife, and not to be lb ; for it is to pre- M ‘ tend to underftand that which we underlland ‘not: No Man knows what death is, whether ‘ it be not the greateft happineft that can arrive ‘ to a Man, and yet all fear and fhun it as if they i,
‘ were liirc it were the greateft Misfortune. "
This and morc(laith Xenophon ) was laid both i
by himfelf and his Friends,but the Judges were lb little plealed with His unulual manner of ;
pleading , that t as Plato went up into the t Laert.
Chair, and began a Speech in thele words , .
Though J,Athcnians,^;» the younge ft of thofe that come up in this pi ace they all cried out, of thofe that go which he thereupon was conftrain’d to do, and they proceeding to Vote, Socrates w^as call by 2 8 1 voices; i t was the cultom of At hen x, as Cicero obferves,when any onewas'eaft, if the Fault were not capital, to impofe a pecuniary mul£l ; when the Judges had voted in that man¬ ner, the guilty Perlbn was asked the higheft rate whereat he eftimated his offence ; the Judges willing to favour Socrates , propounded that demand to him, He anfwered 25 (or 'ds Eubu- Tides faith, i bo Drachms, nor would he fa fter ^ lift friends,! Flato., Crito., Qitohulus.dtA Apol- • Xenoph. W(3;7/x(who defixed him to ellimate it at ^q.\ Plat. Apoi.
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