Apology

It is said also that he remarked as he saw Anytus[*](One of the three plaintiffs in Socrates’ trial.) passing by: There goes a man who is filled with pride at the thought that he has accomplished some great and noble end in putting me to death, because, seeing him honored by the state with the highest offices, I said that he ought not to confine his son’s education to hides[*](The tanning trade had been in the family from at least the time of the boy’s grandfather.) What a vicious, fellow, he continued, not to know, apparently, that whichever one of us has wrought the more beneficial and noble deeds for all time, he is the real victor.

But, he is reported to have added, Homer has attributed to some of his heroes at the moment of dissolution the power to foresee the future; and so I too wish to utter a prophecy.At one time I had a brief association with the son of Anytus, and I thought him not lacking in firmness of spirit; and so I predict that he will not continue in the servile occupation that his father has provided for him; but through want of a worthy adviser he will fall into some disgraceful propensity and will surely go far in the career of vice.