APOLOGY by Plato
Translated by Benjamin Jowett
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
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.
And first, I have to reply to the older charges
and to my first accusers, and then I will go on
to the later ones. For of old I have had many
accusers, who have accused me falsely to you
during many years; and I am more afraid of
them than of Anytus and his associates, who
are dangerous, too, in their own way. But far
more dangerous are the others, who began
when you were children, and took possession
of your minds with their falsehoods, telling of
one Socrates, a wise man, who speculated
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