The dialogues of Plato in five volumes, Vol. 2 (of 5) : $b Translated into English with analyses and introductions — Plato — John Shaqi
The dialogues of Plato in five volumes, Vol. 2 (of 5) : $b Translated into English with analyses and introductions
Plato · en
And so he proposes death as the penalty. And what shall
I propose on my part, O men of Athens? Clearly that
which is my due. And what is my due? What return shall be
made to the man who has never had the wit to be idle during
his whole life; but has been careless of what the many care
for—wealth, and family interests, and military offices, and
speaking in the assembly, and magistracies, and plots, and
parties. Reflecting that I was really too honest a man to
be a politician and live, I did not go where I could do no
good to you or to myself; but where I could do the greatest
good privately to every one of you, thither I went, and sought
to persuade every man among you that he must look to himself,
and seek virtue and wisdom before he looks to his private
interests, and look to the state before he looks to the interests
of the state; and that this should be the order which he
observes in all his actions. What shall be done to such an
one? Doubtless some good thing, O men of Athens, if he
has his reward; and the good should be of a kind suitable to
him. What would be a reward suitable to a poor man who
is your benefactor, and who desires leisure that he may
instruct you? There can be no reward so fitting as maintenance
in the Prytaneum, O men of Athens, a reward which
he deserves far more than the citizen who has won the prize
at Olympia in the horse or chariot race, whether the chariots
were drawn by two horses or by many. For I am in want,
and he has enough; and he only gives you the appearance of
happiness, and I give you the reality. And if I am to estimate
the penalty fairly, I should say that maintenance in the Prytaneum 37
is the just return.
[Sidenote: The consciousness of innocence gives him confidence.]
[Sidenote: He has not deserved imprisonment.]
[Sidenote: And if he is exiled, how wretched will be his fate!]
[Sidenote: _The penalty—death._]
[Sidenote: He cannot be silent, and he will be driven from city to city.]