Nay, everyone is aware of this also, that there is a superabundance of men who produce speeches for litigants in the courts. Nevertheless you will not find that any one of them, numerous as they are, has ever been thought worthy to have pupils, while I, as my accuser states, have had more than all the rest together who are occupied with philosophy. Yet how can anyone think that people who are so far apart in their ways of life are engaged in the same occupations?
But although I could point out many contrasts between my own career and that of the pleaders in the courts, I believe that the quickest way to disabuse your mind of this confusion would be to show that people do not study under me what my accuser says they do, and that I am not clever at the kind of oratory which has to do with private disputes.
For I think, now that the charge under which I formerly labored has been disproved, you are anxious to change your attitude and want to hear from me what sort of eloquence it is which has occupied me and given me so great a reputation. Whether, indeed, it is going to profit me to speak the truth, I am not sure; for it is hard to conjecture what is in your thoughts. Yet, for all that, I am going to speak to you absolutely without reserve.
For I should blush before my associates, if, after having told them again and again that I should be glad to have everyone of my fellow-citizens know the life I lead and the speeches which I compose, I did not now lay them open before you, but appeared rather to attempt to hide them away. Be assured, therefore, that you shall hear from me the whole truth, and in this spirit give me your attention.
First of all, then, you should know that there are no fewer branches of composition in
prose than in verse. For some men have devoted their lives to researches in the
genealogies of the demi-gods; others have made studies in the poets; others have elected
to compose histories of wars; while still others have occupied themselves with
dialogue,
It would, however, be no slight task to attempt to enumerate all the forms of prose, and
I shall take up only that which is pertinent to me, and ignore the rest. For there are men
who, albeit they are not strangers to the branches which I have mentioned, have chosen
rather to write discourses, not for private disputes, but which deal with the world of
For they set forth facts in a style more imaginative and more ornate; they employ
thoughts which are more lofty and more original, and, besides, they use throughout figures
of speech in greater number and of more striking character.
For they know that while the latter owe to a capacity for intrigue their expertness in forensic debate, the former have drawn from their pursuit of wisdom the eloquence which I have described; that while those who are thought to be adept in court procedure are tolerated only for the day when they are engaged in the trial, the devotees of philosophy are honored and held in high esteem in every society and at all times;
that, furthermore, while the former come to be despised and decried as soon as they are
seen two or three times in court, the latter are admired more and more as they become
better and more widely known; and, finally, that while clever pleaders are sadly unequal
to the higher eloquence, the exponents of the latter could, if they so desired, easily
master also the oratory of the courts.
Reflecting on these facts, and considering it to be by far the better choice, they elect
to have a part in that culture wherein, it would appear, neither have I myself been an
alien but have, on the contrary, won a far more gracious reputation. Now you have heard
the whole truth about my power, my philosophy, my profession, or whatever you care to call
it.
However, I want to set up for myself a more difficult standard than for other people, and
to make a proposition which may seem over-rash for my years. For I ask you not only to
show me no mercy, if the oratory which I cultivate is harmful, but to inflict on me the
extreme penalty if it is not superior to any other.
For it is this way: the best and fairest defense, in my opinion, is that which enables the judges to know the facts, so far as this is possible, in regard to the issues on which they are to vote, and which leaves no room for them to go astray in their judgement or to be in doubt as to which party speaks the truth.
If, however, I were being tried for some criminal act, I should not have been able to produce the act itself before your eyes but you would have had to conjecture the facts from what I said and pass judgement as best you might. But since I am charged with offending by my words, I think that I shall be in a better position to make you see the truth;
for I shall present in evidence the actual words which I have spoken and written, so that
you will vote upon my discourses, not from conjecture, but with clear knowledge of their
nature. I cannot, however, present them all in complete form; for the time which has been
allowed me is too short.
But I beg those of you who have read many times what you are now about to hear, not to
expect new discourses from me on the present occasion nor think me burdensome because I
repeat what has long been the talk of Athens. For if I were to repeat my orations in order
to display my powers,
For it would be the height of absurdity if in a case where my accuser denounces me for
writing the kind of speeches which both hurt our city and corrupt our youth I used other
speeches in my defense, when I can clear my name of the calumnies which are being heaped
upon it by producing before you the very discourses of which he complains. I ask of you,
then, for these reasons to bear with me and to lend me your support. But for the benefit
of the others on the jury
The discourse which is to be submitted to you first was written at the time when the
Lacedaemonians were the first power in
Developing this theme, I show that Athens has been author of all the advantages which the Hellenes now enjoy. Then, having concluded the account of these benefactions, and desiring to show more convincingly that leadership in the expedition is the right of Athens, I further try to prove that far greater honor is due to her for the perils she has faced in war than for her other benefactions.
Now I thought that I should be able to go through these passages myself, but I find that
my age hampers me and causes me to give out easily. So then, in order that I may not break
down utterly while there are still many things which I must say, let the clerk begin at
the place marked and read the passage on the hegemony.
As to the hegemony, then, it is easy enough for you to make up your minds from what has been read to you that it should by right belong to Athens. But, I beg of you, consider well whether I appear to you to corrupt the young by my words, or, on the contrary, to inspire them to a life of valor and of dangers endured for their country; whether I should justly be punished for the words which have been read, or whether, on the contrary, I deserve to have your deepest gratitude