with which he attacked all vice; the singular attachment of his disciples to his person and maxims, had all concurred in alienating people against him, and had drawn abundance of envy upon him. His enemies having sworn his destruction,* and perceiving the difficulty of the attempt, prepared the way for it at a distance, and at first attacked him in the dark and by obscure and secret methods. It is said, that in order to sound the people's disposition towards Socrates, and to try whether it would ever be safe to cite him before the judges, they engaged Aristophanes to bring him upon the stage in a comedy, wherein the first seeds of the accusation meditated against him were sown. It is not certain whether Aristophanes was suborned by Anytus and the rest of Socrates's enemies to compose that satirical piece against him. It is very likely that Socrates's declared contempt for ail comedies in general, and for those of Aristophanes in particular, whilst he professed an extraordinary esteem for the tragedies of Euripides, might be the poet's true motive for taking his revenge of the philosopher. However it were, Aristophanes, to the disgrace of poetry, lent his pen to the malice of Socrates's enemies or his own resentment, and employed his whole genius and capacity to depreciate the best and most excellent man that ever the pagan world produced. He composed a piece called The Clouds, wherein he introduces the philosopher perched in a basket, and hoisted up amidst the air and clouds, from whence he delivers maxims, or rather the most ridiculous subtilties. A very aged debtor, who desires to escape the close pursuit of his creditors, comes to him to be taught the art of tricking them at law; to prove by unanswerable reasons that he owes them nothing; and, in a word, of a very bad, to make a very good, cause. But finding himself incapable of any improvement from the sublime lessons of his new master, he brings his son to him in his stead. This young man soon after quits this learned school so well instructed, that at their first meeting he beats his father, and proves to him by subtle but invincible arguments, that he has reason for treating him in that manner. In every scene where Socrates appears, the poet makes him utter a thousand impertinences, and as many impieties against the gods, and in particular against Jupiter. He makes him talk like a man of the greatest vanity and highest opinion of himself, with an equal contempt for all others, who out of a criminal curiosity is desirous of penetrating into what passes in the heavens, and of diving into the abysses of the earth; who boasts of having always the means of making injustice triumph; and who is not contented with keeping those secrets for his own use, but teaches them to others, and thereby corrupts youth. All this is attended with a refined raillery and wit, that could not fail of highly pleasing a people of so quick and delicate a taste * Elian, l. ii. c 3. Plat. in Apolog. Socrat. p. 19. as the Athenians, who were besides naturally jealous of all transcendent merit. They were so much charmed with it, that without waiting the conclusion of the representation, they ordered the name of Aristophanes to be set down above all his competitors. Socrates, who had been informed that he was to be brought upon the stage, went that day to the theatre to see the comedy, contrary to his custom; for it was not common for him to go to those assemblies, unless when some new tragedy of Euripides was to be performed, who was his intimate friend, and whose pieces he esteemed upon account of the solid principles of morality he took care to intersperse in them. It has, however, been observed, that he once had not patience to wait the conclusion of one of them, wherein the actor had advanced a dangerous maxim, but went out immediately, without considering the injury which his withdrawing might do to bis friend's reputation. He never went to comedies, unless that Alcibiades and Critias forced him thither against his will; as he was offended at the unbounded licentiousness which reigned in them, and could not endure to see the reputation of his fellow citizens publicly torn in pieces. He was present at this without the least emotion, and without expressing any discontent; and some strangers being anxious to know who the Socrates intended by the play was, he rose up from his seat, and showed himself during the whole representation. He told those who were near him, and were amazed at his indifference and patience, that he imagined himself at a grea' entertainment, where he was agreeably laughed at, and that it was necessary to be able to bear a joke. There is no probability, as I have already observed, that Aristophanes, though he was not Socrates's friend, had entered into the black conspiracy of his enemies, and had any thought of occasioning his destruction. It is more probable, that a poet who diverted the public at the expense of the principal magistrates and most celebrated generals, was also willing to make them laugh at the expense of a philosopher. All the guilt was on the side of those who envied him, and his enemies, who were in hopes of making great use of the representation of this connedy against him. The artifice was indeed deep and well planned. In bringing a man upon the stage, he is only represented by his bad, weak, or equivocal qualities. That view of him is followed with ridicule; ridicule accustoms people to the contempt of his person, and contempt proceeds to injustice. For the world are naturally emboldened in insulting, abusing, and injuring a man, when once he becomes the object of general contempt. These were the first blows struck at him, and served as an essay and trial of the great affair meditated against him. It lay dormant a long while, and did not break out until twenty years afterwards. The troubles of the republic might well occasion that long delay. For it was in that interval that the enterprise against Sicily hap pened, the event of which was so unfortunate, that Athens was be sieged and taken by Lysander, who changed its form of government and established the thirty tyrants, who were not expelled till a very short time before the affair we speak of. A. M. 3603. Melitus then appeared as accuser, and entered a Ant. J. C. 401. process in form against Socrates. His accusation consisted of two heads. The first was, that he did not admit the gods acknowledged by the republic, and introduced new divinities: the second, that he corrupted the youth of Athens; and concluded with inferring that sentence of death ought to pass against him. Never had accusation so little foundation, or even probability and pretext, as this. Socrates, for forty years, had made it his profession to instruct the Athenian youth. He had advanced no opinions in secret and in the dark. His lessons were given publicly, and in the view of great numbers of auditors. He had always observed the same conduct, and taught the same principles What then, could be Melitus's motive for this accusation, after such a length of time? How came his zeal for the public good, after having been languid and drowsy for so many years, to awake, on a sudden, and become so violent? Is it pardonable in so zealous and worthy a citizen as Melitus would wish to appear, to have continued mute and inactive, while a person was corrupting the whole youth of that city, by instilling seditious maxims into them, and inspiring them with a disgust and contempt for the established government? For he who does not p vent an evil when it is in his power, is equally criminal with hin. that commits it. These are the expressions of Libanius, in a declamation of his called the Apology of Socrates.* But, continues he, allowing that Melitus, whether through forgetfulness, indifference, or real and serious engagements, never thought for so many years of entering an accu sation against Socrates; how came it to pass, that in a city like Athens, which abounded with wise magistrates, and, what is more, with bold informers, so public a conspiracy as that imputed to Socrates, should have escaped the eyes of those whom either the love of their country or invidious malignity rendered so vigilant and attentive? Nothing was ever less credible, or more void of all probability. As soon as the conspiracy broke out, the friends of Socrates prepared for his defence. Lysias, the most able orator of his time, brought him an elaborate discourse of his composing, wherein he had set forth the reasons and measures of Socrates, in their fullest light, and interspersed the whole with tender and pathetic strokes,‡ capable of moving the most obdurate hearts. Socrates read it with pleasure, and approved it very much; but as it was more conformable to the rules of rhetoric, than the sentiments and fortitude of a philosopher, he told him frankly that it did not suit him. Upon Liban. in Apolog. Socrat. p 45-648. t Quint. I. xi. c. 1. † Cicer 1. 1 de Orat. n. 231-233, which Lysias, having asked how it was possible to be well done and at the same time not suit him :-In the same manner, said he, using, according to his custom, vulgar comparison, that an excellent workman might bring me magnificent apparel, or shoes embroidered with gold, to which nothing would be wanting on his part, but which, however, would not fit me. He persisted, therefore, inflexible in the resolution he had formed, not to demean himself by begging suffrages in the low abject manner common at that time. He employed neither artifice nor the glitter of eloquence: he had no recourse either to solicitation or entreaty: he brought neither his wife nor children to incline the judges in his favour by their sighs and tears. Nevertheless, though he firmly refused to make use of any voice but his own, in his defence, and to appear before his judges in the submissive posture of a suppliant, he did not behave in that manner out of pride, or contempt of the tribunal: it was from a noble and intrepid assurance, resulting from greatness of soul, and the usual attendant upon consciousness of truth and innocence. So that his defence had nothing timorous or weak in it. His discourse was bold, manly, generous, without passion, without emotion, full of the noble liberty of a philosopher, with no other ornament than that of truth, and displaying throughout the character and language of innocence. Plato, who was present, transcribed it afterwards, and without any additions composed from it the work which he calls The Apology of Socrates, one of the most consummate masterpieces of antiquity. I shall here make an extract from it. Upon the day assigned,† the proceeding commenced in the usual forms; the parties appeared before the judges, and Meiitus spoke. The worse his cause, and the less provided it was with proofs, the more occasion he had for address and art to cover its weakness. He omitted nothing that might render the adverse party odious; and instead of reasons, which could not but fail him, he substituted the delusive glitter of a lively and pompous eloquence. Socrates, in observing that he could not tell what impression the discourse of his accusers might make upon the judges, owns, that for his part he scarce knew himself, such an artful colouring and likelihood had they given to their arguments, though there was not the least word of truth in all they had advanced. I have already said that their accusation consisted of two heads.‡ The first regards religion. Socrates inquires out of an impious curiosity, into what passes in the heavens and in the bowels of the earth. He does not acknowledge the gods adored by his country. He endeavours to introduce new deities; and, if he may be believed, * His et talibus adductus Socrates, nec patrorum quæsivit ad judicium capitis, nec judicibus supplex fuit; adhibuitque liberam contumaciam à magnitudine animi ductam, non à superbia. Cic. Tusc. Quæst. I. i. † Plat. in Apolog. Socrat. Xenoph. in Apolog. Socrat et in Memor. Apolog. p. 24. + Plat. in an unknown god inspires him in all his actions. To make short, he believes there are no gods. The second head relates to the interest and government of the state. Socrates corrupts the youth, by instilling bad sentiments concerning the Divinity into them, by teaching them a contempt of the laws, and the order established in the republic; by declaring openly against the choice of the magistrates by lot;* by exclaiming against the public assemblies, where he is never seen to appear; by teaching the art of making the worst of causes good; by attaching the youth to himself out of a spirit of pride and ambition, under the pretence of instructing them; and by proving to children that they may treat their parents ill with impunity. He glories in a pretended oracle, and believes himself the wisest of mankind. He taxes all others with folly, and condemns without reserve all their maxims and actions; constituting himself, by his own authority, the general censor and reformer of the state. Notwithstanding which, the effects of his lessons may be seen in the persons of Critias and Alcibiades, his most intimate friends, who have done great mischiefs to their country, and have been the most wicked of citizens, and the most abandoned of men. This concluded with recommending to the judges to be very much upon their guard against the dazzling eloquence of Socrates, and to suspect extremely the insinuating and artificial turns of address which he would employ to deceive them. Socrates began his discourse with this point, and declared that he would speak to the judges as it was his custom to talk in his common conversation, that is to say, with much simplicity, and no art. He then proceeds to particulars. Upon what foundation can it be alleged, that he does not acknowledge the gods of the republic; he who has been often seen sacrificing in his own house and in the temples? Can it be doubted whether he uses divination, since it is made a crime in him to report that he received counsels from a certain divinity; and is thence inferred that he aims at introducing new deities? But in this he innovates nothing more than others, who, putting their faith in divination, observe the flight of birds, consult the entrails of victims, and remark even words and accidental encounters; different means which the gods employ to give mankind a foreknowledge of the future. Old or new, it is still evident that Socrates acknowledges divinities, by the confession of even Melitus himself, who, in his information, avers that Socrates believes dæmons, that is to say, subaltern spirits, the offspring of the gods. Now every man who believes the offspring of the gods Delieves the gods. *Socrates in reality did not approve this manner of electing the magistrates. He obberved, that when a pilot, a musician, or an architect is wanted, nobody is willing to take him at a venture; though the faults of these people are far from being of such great importance as those errors which are committed in the administration of the republic. Xenoph. Memorab. 1. fig. 1. p. 712. † Plat. p. 17. Plat. p. 27. Xenoph. p. 703 |