For these reasons, men who make it their duty to invent discourses of that kind should be held in higher esteem than those who propose and write down laws, inasmuch as they are rarer, have the more difficult task, and must have superior qualities of mind. Especially is this true in our day;

for, at the time when the human race was beginning to come into existence and to settle together in cities,Cf. Isoc. 4.32 ff. it was natural that their searching should have been for much the same thing; but today, on the other hand, when we have advanced to the point where the discourses which have been spoken and the laws which have been laid down are innumerable, and where we single out the oldest among laws and the newest among discourses for our praise, these tasks no longer call for the same understanding;

nay, those who have elected to make laws have had at their service a multitude of laws already made (for they have no need to search for new laws, but only to put forth the effort to collect those which are approved in other states, which anyone who so desires can easily do), while those who occupy themselves with oratory, seeing that most subjects have been seized upon and used by others before them, are in the opposite case; for if they repeat the same things which have been said in the past, they will be regarded as shameless babblers, and if they seek for what is new, they will have great difficulty in finding it. That is why I stated that, while both are entitled to your praise, they are the more entitled to it who are able to execute the harder task.

I maintain also that if you compare me with those who professThese are the “eristics.” See General Introd. pp. xxi, xxv. to turn men to a life of temperance and justice, you will find that my teaching is more true and more profitable than theirs. For they exhort their followers to a kind of virtue and wisdom which is ignored by the rest of the world and is disputed among themselves; I, to a kind which is recognized by all.

They, again, are satisfied if through the prestige of their names they can draw a number of pupils into their society; I, you will find, have never invited any person to follow me, but endeavor to persuade the whole state to pursue a policy from which the Athenians will become prosperous themselves, and at the same time deliver the rest of the Hellenes from their present ills.

And yet, when anyone devotes his life to urging all his fellow-countrymen to be nobler and juster leaders of the Hellenes, how is it conceivable that such a man should corrupt his followers? What man possessed of the power to discover discourses of this character would try to search for those that are pernicious and have to do with pernicious things, especially a man who has reaped from his works the rewards which I have had?

For the writing and publication of them has won me distinction in many parts of the world and brought me many disciples, no one of whom would have remained with me had they not found in me the very kind of man they expected to find. In fact, although I have had so many pupils, and they have studied with me in some cases three, and in some cases four years, yet not one of them will be found to have uttered a word of complaint about his sojourn with me;

on the contrary, when at the last the time would come for them to sail away to their parents or their friends at home, so happy did they feel in their life with me, that they would always take their leave with regret and tears. Well, then, whom ought you to believe? Those who know intimately both my words and my character, or a sycophant who knows nothing about me at all, but has chosen to make me his victim? Ought you to believe a man who is so unscrupulous and so brazen that,

having indicted me for teaching the kind of eloquence which enables people to gain their own advantage contrary to justice, he has not brought before you the slightest evidence of this but has dwelt from the beginning to the end of his speech on the iniquity of corrupting our youth—as if anyone disputed that, or as if it were necessary for him to prove what all men concede, instead of showing simply that I have been guilty of this offense?

Why, if anyone were to bring this fellow to trial for kidnapping or stealing or highway robbery, and, instead of proving that he had done any of these things, were to hold forth on the iniquity of each of these crimes, my opponent would reply that his accuser was mad and talked like a fool; yet he has, himself, used just such arguments and thinks that you do not see through him.

I, however, believe that even the most simple-minded of people recognize that an accusation, to be convincing and to carry great weight, must not be one which may be employed equally well against the innocent, but one which can be applied only to the guilty. My accuser has made light of this fact, and has made a speech which is in no respect pertinent to the indictment.

For he ought both to have produced before you the speeches by which I corrupt my associates and to have named to you the pupils who have been debased by association with me.Cf. Plat. Apol. 33a-b. However, he has done neither of these things, but has rejected the most legitimate form of accusation and attempted to lead you astray. I, on the contrary, shall base my defense only on grounds which are pertinent and just.

I had my speeches read to you a moment ago; I shall now bring before you the men who have been associated with me from the time of my youth to the days of my old age, and from your own number I shall present men of my own years to bear witness to the truth of what I say. Among the first to begin studying with me were Eunomus, Lysitheides, and Callippus; and following them were Onetor, Anticles, Philonides, Philomelus, and Charmantides.For the pupils of Isocrates see Blass, pp. 17 ff.

All these men were crowned by Athens with chaplets of gold,It was common in the fourth century for Athens to recognize public services in this way. Cf. the contest between Demosthenes and Aeschines . not because they were covetous of other people's possessions, but because they were honorable men and had spent large sums of their private fortunes upon the city. Suppose whatever you like as to the nature of my relations with them;

for the result, at any rate so far as the present issue is concerned, will be altogether to my advantage. For if you suppose that I was their counsellor and teacher, I should deserve from you greater gratitude than those who are maintained in the Prytaneum in recognition of excellence;In the Prytaneum were entertained at state expense honored guests and benefactors of Athens. See Plat. Apol. 36d, which has clearly inspired this passage. for each of the latter has furnished to the city his own high qualities alone, whereas I have furnished those of all whom I have just now named to you.

But if, on the other hand, you suppose that I, myself, had nothing to do with their achievements, but that I merely enjoyed their society and friendship, I consider that even this view is defense enough against the charges on which I am being tried. For if I have had the affection of men who have received rewards in recognition of excellence, but have nothing in common with the sycophant, then how, in all reason, could you judge me to be a corrupter of youth?

Verily, I should be the most unfortunate of all men if, when others are esteemed better or worse, as the case may be, from the manner of their lives and from the character of their associates, I alone should be denied this basis of judgement; and if I, who have lived all my life in company with such men, and have kept myself above all criticism up to this point in my career, should be classed with those who from the manner of their lives and the character of their associates have got themselves a bad name. I should like to know what in the world my fate would have been if I had numbered among my associates anyone like my accuser, when, although I hate all his kind and am hated by them, I am yet subjected to this trial.

Nor, I assure you, can my case be justly injured by the argument which certain of those who are entirely hostile to me may, perhaps, dare to put forth, namely, that I have associated with the men I have mentioned merely to the extent of having been seen conversing with them, whereas I have had as my disciples many of another sort, mischievous characters, whom I am trying to conceal from you. For I have ready at hand a reply which will refute and confound all calumnies of that sort.

For I ask this of you: If any of those who have been associated with me have turned out to be good men in their relations to the state, to their friends, and to their own households—I ask you to give them the praise and not to be grateful to me on their account; but if, on the other hand, any of them have turned out to be bad—the kind of men who lay information, hale people into court, and covet the property of others—then to let the penalty be visited on me.

What proposition could be less invidious or more fair than one which claims no credit for those who are honorable, but offers to submit to punishment for any who have become depraved? And these are no idle words; on the contrary, if anyone can name anyone of that kind to you, I yield the floorAn offer to yield the floor to an opponent followed by a pause, as here, is common in court pleas. Cf. Plat. Apol. 34a. for this purpose to my accuser or to anyone else who may desire it—not that there are not persons who would gladly perjure themselves to my harm, but that they would be shown up to you at once, and the injury would fall upon them, not upon me . . .