"Still I would not have you accept this even on the faith of the god too rashly; rather I would have you investigate, point by point, what the god has said. I ask you, is there any one [28] else, you know of, less enslaved than myself to the appetites [29] of the body? Can you name another man of more independent spirit than myself, seeing that I accept from no one either gifts or pay? Whom have you any right to believe to be more just [30] than one so suited with what he has, that the things of others excite no craving in him? [31] Whom would one reasonably deem wise, rather than such a one as myself, who, from the moment I began to understand things spoken, [32] have never omitted to inquire into and learn every good thing in my power? And that I laboured not in vain, what more conclusive evidence than the fact that so many of my fellow-citizens who make virtue their pursuit, and many strangers also, choose my society in preference to that of others? [33] And how are we to explain the fact that though all know well enough that I am wholly unable to repay them in money, so many are eager to present me with some gift? [34] And what do you make of this--while no one dreams of dunning me for benefits conferred, hosts of people acknowledge debts of gratitude to myself? And what of this, that during the siege, [35] while others were pitying themselves [36] I lived in no greater straits than when the city was at the height of her prosperity? and of this, that while others provide themselves with delicacies [37] of the market at great cost, mine are the dainties of the soul more sweet than theirs, [38] procured without expense? If in all I have said about myself no one can convict me of lying, is it not obvious that the praise I get from gods and men is justly earned? And yet in spite of all, Meletus, you will have it that by such habits I corrupt the young. We know, I fancy, what such corrupting influences are; and perhaps you will tell us if you know of any one who, under my influence, has been changed from a religious into an irreligious man; who, from being sober-minded, has become prodigal; from being a moderate drinker has become a wine-bibber and a drunkard; from being a lover of healthy honest toil has become effeminate, or under the thrall of some other wicked pleasure." "Nay, bless my soul," exclaimed Meletus, "I know those whom you persuaded to obey yourself rather than the fathers who begat them." [39]