crito   

Soc. I only wish, Crito, that they could; for then they could also do
the greatest good, and that would be well. But the truth is, that they
can do neither good nor evil: they cannot make a man wise or make him
foolish; and whatever they do is the result of chance.
Cr. Well, I will not dispute about that; but please to tell me,
Socrates, whether you are not acting out of regard to me and your
other friends: are you not afraid that if you escape hence we may get
into trouble with the informers for having stolen you away, and lose
either the whole or a great part of our property; or that even a worse
evil may happen to us? Now, if this is your fear, be at ease; for in
order to save you, we ought surely to run this or even a greater risk;
be persuaded, then, and do as I say.
Soc. Yes, Crito, that is one fear which you mention, but by no means
the only one.
Cr. Fear not. There are persons who at no great cost are willing to
save you and bring you out of prison; and as for the informers, you
may observe that they are far from being exorbitant in their demands;
a little money will satisfy them. My means, which, as I am sure, are
ample, are at your service, and if you have a scruple about spending
all mine, here are strangers who will give you the use of theirs; and
one of them, Simmias the Theban, has brought a sum of money for this
very purpose; and Cebes and many others are willing to spend their
money too. I say, therefore, do not on that account hesitate about
making your escape, and do not say, as you did in the court, that you
will have a difficulty in knowing what to do with yourself if you
escape. For men will love you in other places to which you may go, and
not in Athens only; there are friends of mine in Thessaly, if you like
to go to them, who will value and protect you, and no Thessalian will
give you any trouble. Nor can I think that you are justified,
Socrates, in betraying your own life when you might be saved; this is
playing into the hands of your enemies and destroyers; and moreover I
should say that you were betraying your children; for you might bring
them up and educate them; instead of which you go away and leave them,
and they will have to take their chance; and if they do not meet with
the usual fate of orphans, there will be small thanks to you. No man
should bring children into the world who is unwilling to persevere to
the end in their nurture and education. But you are choosing the
easier part, as I think, not the better and manlier, which would
rather have become one who professes virtue in all his actions, like
yourself. And, indeed, I am ashamed not only of you, but of us who are
your friends, when I reflect that this entire business of yours will
be attributed to our want of courage. The trial need never have come
on, or might have been brought to another issue; and the end of all,
which is the crowning absurdity, will seem to have been permitted by
us, through cowardice and baseness, who might have saved you, as you
might have saved yourself, if we had been good for anything (for there
was no difficulty in escaping); and we did not see how disgraceful,
Socrates, and also miserable all this will be to us as well as to you.
Make your mind up then, or rather have your mind already made up, for
the time of deliberation is over, and there is only one thing to be
done, which must be done, if at all, this very night, and which any
delay will render all but impossible; I beseech you therefore,
Socrates, to be persuaded by me, and to do as I say.
Soc. Dear Crito, your zeal is invaluable, if a right one; but if
wrong, the greater the zeal the greater the evil; and therefore we
ought to consider whether these things shall be done or not. For I am
and always have been one of those natures who must be guided by
reason, whatever the reason may be which upon reflection appears to me
to be the best; and now that this fortune has come upon me, I cannot
put away the reasons which I have before given: the principles which I
have hitherto honored and revered I still honor, and unless we can
find other and better principles on the instant, I am certain not to
agree with you; no, not even if the power of the multitude could
inflict many more imprisonments, confiscations, deaths, frightening us