Page:Works of Voltaire Volume 16.djvu/342

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If there be any injustice in condemning Socrates, it is Anitus' business and not mine: I lay it all upon his conscience: besides, it grows late, we lose our time; let us talk no more about it: to death with him.

Ay, ay, they say he's a heretic, and an atheist; to death with him.

Call Socrates. [He is brought in. Blessed be the gods, the plurality of voices is for death; Socrates, the gods by us condemn you to drink hemlock.

We are all mortal: nature condemns you also to death in a short time, probably you may meet with a more unhappy end than mine: the distempers which bring on death are much more painful than a cup of hemlock. I thank those amongst my judges who pleaded in favor of innocence; for the rest, they have my pity.

[Going out. Certainly this man deserved a pension from the state, rather than a cup of poison.

I think so too; but why would he quarrel with a priest of Ceres?

After all, it is best to get rid of a philosopher: