SOCRATES. 



89 



of their fatal violence have become the objects of their greatest venera- 

 tion. But they cannot retrieve what they have done. They can only 

 canonize the martyr and pile up blocks of marble to his memory. 



The best defence of Socrates is afforded in the mingled sentiments of 

 pitv, shame and resentment which the Athenians suffered after his death. 

 His accusers were persecuted and declared enemies to the state ; some 

 were condemned to death; sentence of exile was passed on others, and 

 in such execration were they held, that the cities, to which they fled for 

 protection, refused to receive them, and after they had ejected them from 

 their walls, they stoned them to death. It is also stated, that, when the 

 Palamedes of Euripides was performed, and the line recited — 



"You have given to cruel death the best of all the Greeks .'" 



the audience, reminded of Socrates, burst into tears, and the whole 

 theatre resounded with expressions of grief 



In consequence of some religious ceremonies, the celebration of the 

 Delian festival, there was a respite of thirty days between the iniquitous 

 sentence and its execution. These mournful days were passed worthy 

 not only of the hero, but of the philosopher. His friends furnished 

 him with facilities for effecting his escape, and earnestly urged his com- 

 pliance with their wishes ; the jailor was bribed ; a vessel was prepared ; 

 and a safe retreat provided, but no arguments, no admonition, no entrea- 

 ty could induce him to use the opportunity offered. He tried to con- 

 vince his friends that wrong never justified wrong, and that it is right to 

 obey the law even when its commands are unjust. Until the last mo- 

 ment, with the deadly draught before him, he continued to advocate 

 sublime truths almost in the spirit of inspiration ; with his usual cheer- 

 fulness and serenity he conversed with his disciples, and entreated them 

 to remain steadfast to their principles, presenting the immortality of the 

 soul as an incentive to fidelity. He ordered them to dispose of his body 

 as they deemed proper, but to conceive of Socrates as an emancipated 

 happy spirit. The narrative of this sad scene, as given by Plato, is one 

 of the finest specimens of simple, eloquent and affecting description to 

 be found in any language. In reference to which, Cicero offers this 

 strong declaration, that he could never read it without tears. Says a 

 gifted writer of the present day, it were in vain to attempt translating the 

 dying scene from the Greek, for the very words seem to sob, and the 

 sentences mourn as if they came from a broken heart, so that it has won 

 from the learned of all ages the tribute of our tears, as if our universal 

 nature suffered in him. 



The secret of Socrates'" accusation, condemnation and death is to be 

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