apology   

How you have felt, O men of Athens, at hearing the speeches of my
accusers, I cannot tell; but I know that their persuasive words almost
made me forget who I was - such was the effect of them; and yet they
have hardly spoken a word of truth. But many as their falsehoods were,
there was one of them which quite amazed me; - I mean when they told
you to be upon your guard, and not to let yourselves be deceived by
the force of my eloquence. They ought to have been ashamed of saying
this, because they were sure to be detected as soon as I opened my
lips and displayed my deficiency; they certainly did appear to be most
shameless in saying this, unless by the force of eloquence they mean
the force of truth; for then I do indeed admit that I am eloquent. But
in how different a way from theirs! Well, as I was saying, they have
hardly uttered a word, or not more than a word, of truth; but you
shall hear from me the whole truth: not, however, delivered after
their manner, in a set oration duly ornamented with words and phrases.
No indeed! but I shall use the words and arguments which occur to me
at the moment; for I am certain that this is right, and that at my
time of life I ought not to be appearing before you, O men of Athens,
in the character of a juvenile orator - let no one expect this of me.
And I must beg of you to grant me one favor, which is this - If you
hear me using the same words in my defence which I have been in the
habit of using, and which most of you may have heard in the agora, and
at the tables of the money-changers, or anywhere else, I would ask you
not to be surprised at this, and not to interrupt me. For I am more
than seventy years of age, and this is the first time that I have ever
appeared in a court of law, and I am quite a stranger to the ways of
the place; and therefore I would have you regard me as if I were
really a stranger, whom you would excuse if he spoke in his native
tongue, and after the fashion of his country; - that I think is not an
unfair request. Never mind the manner, which may or may not be good;
but think only of the justice of my cause, and give heed to that: let
the judge decide justly and the speaker speak truly.
And first, I have to reply to the older charges and to my first
accusers, and then I will go to the later ones. For I have had many
accusers, who accused me of old, and their false charges have
continued during many years; and I am more afraid of them than of
Anytus and his associates, who are dangerous, too, in their own way.
But far more dangerous are these, who began when you were children,
and took possession of your minds with their falsehoods, telling of
one Socrates, a wise man, who speculated about the heaven above, and
searched into the earth beneath, and made the worse appear the better
cause. These are the accusers whom I dread; for they are the
circulators of this rumor, and their hearers are too apt to fancy that
speculators of this sort do not believe in the gods. And they are
many, and their charges against me are of ancient date, and they made
them in days when you were impressible - in childhood, or perhaps in
youth - and the cause when heard went by default, for there was none
to answer. And, hardest of all, their names I do not know and cannot
tell; unless in the chance of a comic poet. But the main body of these
slanderers who from envy and malice have wrought upon you - and there
are some of them who are convinced themselves, and impart their
convictions to others - all these, I say, are most difficult to deal
with; for I cannot have them up here, and examine them, and therefore
I must simply fight with shadows in my own defence, and examine when
there is no one who answers. I will ask you then to assume with me, as
I was saying, that my opponents are of two kinds - one recent, the
other ancient; and I hope that you will see the propriety of my
answering the latter first, for these accusations you heard long
before the others, and much oftener.
Well, then, I will make my defence, and I will endeavor in the short
time which is allowed to do away with this evil opinion of me which
you have held for such a long time; and I hope I may succeed, if this
be well for you and me, and that my words may find favor with you. But
I know that to accomplish this is not easy - I quite see the nature of