Plato · c. 428/427-348/347 BC
Apology
Ἀπολογία ΣωκράτουςThe Apology is Plato's version of the speech Socrates made in 399 BC when Athens tried him for impiety and for corrupting the young. Socrates answers the old slanders, tells how the Delphic oracle set him to examine other people, cross-examines Meletus, and refuses to give up philosophy for his life. After the verdict he proposes his own penalty and ends with a description of what may await the dead in Hades, with Minos, Rhadamanthus, Orpheus, Hesiod and Homer.
Contents · 8 passages
- 17a–20eSocrates' opening: the old accusers and the slanders against him1796 words
- 21a–23eThe Delphic oracle and the examination of politicians, poets and craftsmen1452 words
- 24a–27eSocrates questions Meletus: corrupting the young and not believing in the gods2035 words
- 28b–30eDuty before death: Achilles, Potidaea and the gadfly1514 words
- 31b–33eThe divine sign, the Arginusae trial and Leon of Salamis; Socrates as no teacher1331 words
- 34b–35dNo tears and no begging: Socrates asks the jurors to judge by their oath836 words
- 36a–38eThe verdict and the counter-penalty: maintenance in the prytaneum1399 words
- 39a–42aThe last words: death as a good, and the dead in Hades1408 words
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English translation by Harold North Fowler (1914). Original text: Harold North Fowler (trans.), Plato I: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Phaedrus, Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, 1914; Greek text: John Burnet, Platonis Opera, Oxford Classical Texts (as digitised by Perseus).
Greek text and translation from the Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Perseus Digital Library); translation public domain. Introductions, summaries and notes © GreekMythology.com.
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