apology   

the same reason that I was superior to the politicians.
At last I went to the artisans, for I was conscious that I knew
nothing at all, as I may say, and I was sure that they knew many fine
things; and in this I was not mistaken, for they did know many things
of which I was ignorant, and in this they certainly were wiser than I
was. But I observed that even the good artisans fell into the same
error as the poets; because they were good workmen they thought that
they also knew all sorts of high matters, and this defect in them
overshadowed their wisdom - therefore I asked myself on behalf of the
oracle, whether I would like to be as I was, neither having their
knowledge nor their ignorance, or like them in both; and I made answer
to myself and the oracle that I was better off as I was.
This investigation has led to my having many enemies of the worst and
most dangerous kind, and has given occasion also to many calumnies,
and I am called wise, for my hearers always imagine that I myself
possess the wisdom which I find wanting in others: but the truth is, O
men of Athens, that God only is wise; and in this oracle he means to
say that the wisdom of men is little or nothing; he is not speaking of
Socrates, he is only using my name as an illustration, as if he said,
He, O men, is the wisest, who, like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is
in truth worth nothing. And so I go my way, obedient to the god, and
make inquisition into the wisdom of anyone, whether citizen or
stranger, who appears to be wise; and if he is not wise, then in
vindication of the oracle I show him that he is not wise; and this
occupation quite absorbs me, and I have no time to give either to any
public matter of interest or to any concern of my own, but I am in
utter poverty by reason of my devotion to the god.
There is another thing: - young men of the richer classes, who have
not much to do, come about me of their own accord; they like to hear
the pretenders examined, and they often imitate me, and examine others
themselves; there are plenty of persons, as they soon enough discover,
who think that they know something, but really know little or nothing:
and then those who are examined by them instead of being angry with
themselves are angry with me: This confounded Socrates, they say; this
villainous misleader of youth! - and then if somebody asks them, Why,
what evil does he practise or teach? they do not know, and cannot
tell; but in order that they may not appear to be at a loss, they
repeat the ready-made charges which are used against all philosophers
about teaching things up in the clouds and under the earth, and having
no gods, and making the worse appear the better cause; for they do not
like to confess that their pretence of knowledge has been detected -
which is the truth: and as they are numerous and ambitious and
energetic, and are all in battle array and have persuasive tongues,
they have filled your ears with their loud and inveterate calumnies.
And this is the reason why my three accusers, Meletus and Anytus and
Lycon, have set upon me; Meletus, who has a quarrel with me on behalf
of the poets; Anytus, on behalf of the craftsmen; Lycon, on behalf of
the rhetoricians: and as I said at the beginning, I cannot expect to
get rid of this mass of calumny all in a moment. And this, O men of
Athens, is the truth and the whole truth; I have concealed nothing, I
have dissembled nothing. And yet I know that this plainness of speech
makes them hate me, and what is their hatred but a proof that I am
speaking the truth? - this is the occasion and reason of their slander
of me, as you will find out either in this or in any future inquiry.
I have said enough in my defence against the first class of my
accusers; I turn to the second class, who are headed by Meletus, that
good and patriotic man, as he calls himself. And now I will try to
defend myself against them: these new accusers must also have their
affidavit read. What do they say? Something of this sort: - That
Socrates is a doer of evil, and corrupter of the youth, and he does
not believe in the gods of the state, and has other new divinities of
his own. That is the sort of charge; and now let us examine the
particular counts. He says that I am a doer of evil, who corrupt the
youth; but I say, O men of Athens, that Meletus is a doer of evil, and