48 GREEK PHILOSOPHY. 



of ' The Clouds,' a young man, named Melitus (or rather Meletus) 

 delivered to the archon an information against Socrates, to the follow- 

 Socrates ing effect : " Melitus, son of Meletus, of the borough of Pitthos, 

 periling the makes this charge upon oath against Socrates, son of Sophroniscus, of 

 gods, and of the borough of Alopece : Socrates is guilty of reviling the gods ac- 

 th"youtif knowledged by the state, and of preaching other new gods ; moreover, 

 he is guilty of corrupting the youth. Penalty, death." Melitus, 

 who was a poet, and a man of no consideration, was associated in this 

 affair with Lycon, an orator of eminence, and Anytus, a man in high 

 esteem, who had commanded with credit in the Peloponnesian war, 

 and was afterwards an ally of Thrasybulus in restoring the democracy. 

 It was urged against Socrates, by his prosecutors, that he was dis- 

 affected to the democracy, and that he had instilled similar principles 

 into his followers, especially Critias and Alcibiades. Indeed, it seems 

 very likely, that his intimacy with Alcibiades was one principal cause 

 of the suspicion and dislike with which he was viewed by the popular 

 party. Socrates himself, as Plato makes him speak, did not deny his 

 disapprobation of the existing government : the whole of his defence, 

 as reported by his illustrious scholar, was calculated to irritate, rather 

 than to conciliate, his judges. 



His trial. No advice of his friends could persuade him, when put upon his de- 



fence before the Heliastas, 1 to say a word in the form of supplication. 

 He to!4 his judges, that he was pleading for them, to save them the guilt 

 of an unjust condemnation. Being persuaded of the soul's immor- 

 tality, he considered the prospect of a dismissal from the body, at his 

 age, to be a subject of rejoicing. Death might be an introduction to 

 the highest degree of happiness; it could not bring anything worse to 

 a good man than a cessation of being : and therefore he looked with 

 no apprehension to a sentence, which would consign him to the easiest 

 of deaths ; for such the Athenian mode of execution, by a draught of 

 prepared hemlock, was reputed to be. 



The judges were so much incensed by the tone which Socrates took 

 in his defence, that they refused to hear Plato, who would have spoken 

 in his behalf, and immediately found him guilty. It being then per- 

 mitted him to say what fine ought to be imposed upon him, he would 

 not suffer his friends to contribute anything towards a pecuniary mulct ; 

 but told the court, that he considered himself worthy of the highest 

 honours and reward. Still further irritated by this reply, a majority 

 iscondemned of the judges, still greater than the former one, condemned him to 

 to death. death ; and he was accordingly conducted to prison, after having shown 

 the injustice of his sentence. He concluded his address to the judges 

 with these words: " But it is time that we should depart; I to die, 

 you to live : but which for the greater good, God only knows." 



The condemnation of Socrates happened on the eve of the day 

 appointed for the ceremony of placing a sacred chaplet upon the ship, 



1 The largest court of judicature at Athens was the 'HX/a7a, consisting of from 

 1500 to 500 judges, called 'HA<<n-a/. Before this tribunal were tried questions 

 concerning religion. 



