Challenging the Politicians, Poets, and Artisans

I went to one man after another, being conscious of the enmity which I provoked. I lamented and feared this: but necessity was laid on me.

I thought that the word of God should be considered first.

That was my mission, to test the oracle.

I found that:

• the men most in repute were the most foolish
• the men less esteemed were really wiser and better.

In the end, after my wanderings and of “Herculean” labours, I found the oracle irrefutable.

After the politicians, I went to the poets: tragic, dithyrambic, and all sorts.

I worried that my lack of wisdom would be instantly detected.

I asked them about the meaning of the most elaborate passages in their own writings, thinking that they would teach me something.

Then I realized that poets write poetry not by wisdom, but by a sort of genius and inspiration.

They are like diviners or soothsayers who also say many fine things, but do not understand the meaning of them.

On the strength of their poetry, they believed themselves to be the wisest of men in other things in which they were not wise.

So I departed, conceiving myself to be superior to them for the same reason that I was superior to the politicians.

Finally, I went to the artisans.

I was conscious that I knew nothing at all, and that they knew many fine things.

They did know many things of which I was ignorant.

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. Just because they were good workers, they thought that they also knew all sorts of high matters.

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.

• I made answer to myself and to the oracle that I was better off as I was.

This inquisition has led me to have many enemies of the worst and most dangerous kind.

I am called wise, for my hearers always imagine that I possess the wisdom which I find lacking in others.

But the truth is, that God only is wise.

By his answer, he intends to show that the wisdom of men is worth little or nothing.

He is not speaking of Socrates.

He is only using my name by way of illustration, as if he said, He is the wisest, who, like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing.

And so I go about the world, obedient to the god, and search and make enquiry into the wisdom of any one, whether citizen or stranger, who appears to be wise.

If he is not wise, then in vindication of the oracle I show him that he is not wise. My occupation quite absorbs me.

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.

The young rich men who have not much to do come about me of their own accord. They like to hear the pretenders examined. They often imitate me, and proceed to examine others.

There are plenty of persons, as they quickly discover, who think that they know something, but really know little or nothing.

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!

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.

As they are numerous and ambitious and energetic, and are drawn up in battle array and have persuasive tongues, they have filled your ears with their loud and inveterate calumnies.

This is why my 3 accusers, Meletus and Anytus and Lycon, have set upon me.

Meletus has a quarrel with me on behalf of the poets. Anytus, on behalf of the craftsmen and politicians. Lycon, on behalf of the rhetoricians.

I cannot get rid of such a mass of calumny all in a moment. This is the truth and the whole truth. I have concealed nothing.

And yet, I know that my plainness of speech makes them hate me. What is their hatred but a proof that I am speaking the truth? Hence has arisen the prejudice against me.

I have said enough in my defence against the first class of my accusers.