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M , These , O Socrates , whom you now see ; the judgea . S . How , O Melitus ? Are these people able to educate the young and make them better ? M . Most certainly . & All of them ? or only some I M . All . 8 . You say well , by Juno , and there is an ample supply of benefactors . * And the bystanders ? Are they also instructors of youth ? M . They also . S . And the senators ? t <; M . The senators likewise . 8 . And the members of the assembly of the people ? they do not corrupt the youth ? or do they too , one and all , make them better 1 M . They do . 8 . Then it seems , all the Athenians make the youth good and virtuous except me ; I alone corrupt them . Do you assert this ?
M . Most certainly I do . S . I am a very unlucky person , according to you . And tell me : do you think this is also the case with horses ? Are those who make them better , all mankind ; and is there one single person who spoils them ? Or is the case quite the reverse ; one , or a very few ( those who have attended to the subject ) capable of making them better ; the many , if they try their hand upon horses , spoiling them ? Is it not so , O Melitus , both with regard to horses and all other animals ? Certainly , whether you and Anytus say so or not . It would be a very happy thing for the youth if there were but one person who spoils them , and all others benefited them . But you have sufficiently shown , O Melitus , that you never bestowed a thought upon the instruction of youth ; but have yourself been utterly indifferent to the matters about which you accuse me . Tell us again , O Melitus ; is it better to have good , or wicked people for our fellow-citizens ? Answer , friend ; the question I ask is not difficult . Are not the wicked always doing some evil to those who are nearest to them , the good always doing some good ? M . Undoubtedly .
8 . Is there any one who would rather be hurt than benefited by those he associates with ? Answer , most excellent person : for the law , too , bids you answer . Does any one wish to be hurt ? M . No , certainly . 8 . Well , then : do you bring me here on the charge of corrupting the youth , and making them wicked , intentionally , or unintentionally ?
M . Intentionally . 8 . What ! are you , O Melitus , at your age , so much wiser than I at mine , that you know the wicked to be always doing some hurt , the good always some good , to those who are nearest to them ; but / am so ignorant as not to know that if I make any of those with whom I associate wicked , I am in danger of suffering some evil from them , and , therefore , as you affirm , intentionally do this great evil ? I do not believe this , O Melitus , nor , I think , will any other human being . Either I do not corrupt the youth , or if I do , it is
* The principal Athenian court of criminal j ustice , the Helieoa , was a multitudinous assembly , contesting of more than 1000 citizens . \ ( iovXiurai , the members of the council of five hundred .
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Plato ' s Dialogues ; the Apology of Socrates , ] \\ 9
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1835, page 119, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2642/page/39/
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