Page:History of Greece Vol VIII.djvu/436

 414 HISTORY OF GREECE. of bitter enemies in those whom I have examined and exposed while the bystanders talk of me as a wise man, because they giv me credit for wisdom respecting all the points on which my ex- posure of others turns." " Whatever be the danger and obloquy which I may incur, it would be monstrous indeed, if, having main- tained my place in the ranks as an hoplite under your generals at Delium and Potidaea, I were now, from fear of death or anything else, to disobey the oracle and desert the post which the god has assigned to me, the duty of living for philosophy and cross- questioning both myself and others. 1 And should you even now offer to acquit me, on condition of my renouncing this duty, I should tell you, with all respect and affection, that I will obey the god rather than you, and that I will persist, until my dying day, in cross-questioning you, exposing your want of wisdom and virtue, and reproaching you until the defect be remedied. 2 My mission as your monitor is a mark of the special favor of the god to you ; and if you condemn me, it will be your loss ; for you will find none other such. 3 Perhaps you will ask me, Why cannot you go away, Sokrates, and live among us in peace and silence ? This is the hardest of all questions for me to answer to your satisfaction. If I tell you that silence on my part would be dis- obedience to the god, you will think me in jest, and not believe me. You will believe me still less, if I tell you that the greatest blessing which can happen to man is, to carry on discussions every day about virtue and those other matters which you hear me canvassing when I cross-examine myself as well as others ; and that life, without such examination, is no life at all. Never- theless, so stands the fact, incredible as it may seem to you." 4 1 Plato, Ap. Sok. c. 1 7, p. 29. Tov 6e i?eoi> Turrovrof, uf eya uq&qv 7re?Mf3ov ) <(>i%.oaoovvTa fie Selv j?i>, xai e^Eru^ovra i/iavrbv KOL rovf d hravda 6e  (these last striking words are selected
 * Plato, Ap. Sok. c. 17, p. 29, C.
 * Plato, Ap. Sok. c. 18, p. 30, D.