Page:History of Greece Vol VIII.djvu/502

 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. 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. the words.
 * Plato, Apol. Sok. c. 1 7, p. 29, B. Contrast this striking and truly
 * Plato, Apol. Sok. c. 23 pp. 34 15. I translate the substance and not