ΑΠΟΛΟΓΙΑ
Benjamin Jowett
Plato · Benjamin Jowett
Also present: Adimantus, Aeantodorus, Aeschines, Antiphon, Apollodorus, Crito, Critoboulus, Epigenes, Lysanias, Nicostratus, Paralus, Plato
Scene: a court in or near the Athenian Agora
The Apology is Socrates's speech in his own defense at his trial in 399 BCE, on charges of impiety and corrupting the youth. Rather than plead for mercy, he explains his mission: the oracle at Delphi had called him the wisest of men, and he found this true only in that he, unlike others, knew that he knew nothing. His relentless questioning of those who claimed wisdom had made him enemies.
Condemned to death, he declares that a good man cannot be harmed, that 'the unexamined life is not worth living', and that he will not cease to philosophize — the founding testament of philosophy as a way of life and the care of the soul.
From the Plato Scroll Encyclopedia · open this entry in the reader
How you, O Athenians, have been affected by my accusers, I cannot tell; but I know that they almost made me forget who I was — so persuasively did they speak; and yet they have hardly uttered a word of truth. But of the many falsehoods told by them, there was one which quite amazed me; — I mean when they said that you should be upon your guard and not allow yourselves to be deceived by the force of my eloquence. To say this, when they were certain to be detected as soon as I opened my lips and proved myself to be anything but a great speaker, did indeed appear to me most shameless — unless by the force of eloquence they mean the force of truth; for is such is their meaning, I admit that I am eloquent. But in how different a way from theirs! Well, as I was saying, they have scarcely spoken the truth at all; but from me you shall hear the whole truth: not, however, delivered after their manner in a set oration duly ornamented with words and phrases. No, by heaven! but I shall use the words and arguments which occur to me at the moment; for I am confident in the justice of my cause (Or, I am certain that I am right in taking this course.): at my time of life I ought not to be appearing before you, O men of Athens, in the character of a juvenile orator — let no one expect it of me. And I must beg of you to grant me a favour: — If I defend myself in my accustomed manner, and you hear me using the words which I have been in the habit of using in the agora, at the tables of the money-changers, or anywhere else, I would ask you not to be surprised, and not to interrupt me on this account. For I am more than seventy years of age, and appearing now for the first time in a court of law, I am quite a stranger to the language of the place; and therefore I would have you regard me as if I were really a stranger, whom you would excuse if he spoke in his native tongue, and after the fashion of his country: — Am I making an unfair request of you? Never mind the manner, which may or may not be good; but think only of the truth of my words, and give heed to that: let the speaker speak truly and the judge decide justly.
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The Athenian who turned Socratic conversation into a written philosophy and founded the Academy.
Plato was born around 428 BCE into a wealthy and politically prominent Athenian family; through his mother Perictione the family traced kinship to the lawgiver Solon, and his relatives Critias and Charmides were among the oligarchs of the Thirty. A late tradition says his given name was Aristocles and that 'Plato' — from the word for 'broad' — was a nickname. He grew up during the long agony of the Peloponnesian War and came of age amid the violence and disillusion that followed Athens' defeat.
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