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opinion of you alL On ^ haet occasion ^ I , al oaaenof- the Frytanes * resisted yotu * doing any thing wmttaxy to laurj The ofator ^ cried i out to indict me instantly . and drag me itot prison , and you asspeiated by ; acclamation ; but ! preferred to run alt risks on'tire sideijof justice atidl the' l&wy rather than U > Join with you in an unjust resolve from $ e&v of chains of death * This happened while ; thestate was under a xlemiocracy ^ When an
oligarchy succeeded , the Thirty sent for me and four ; others to theTholus , t and commanded us to proceed to S a la mis and bring from thence Leon tke Salami nian , that he might be put to death , Tliey at that time gave sucli commands to many persons , wishing to compromise the greatest number of persons possible as accomplices in their proceedings . I then , not by word but by deed , proved that I do not care one jot far death ,
but every thing for avoiding any unjust or impious action . , That government * powerful as it was , did not intimidate me into any act of injustice ; but when , we quitted the Tholus , the other four went to Salamis and brought Leon from thence , but I returned home . Perhaps this would have cost me my life , had not that government soon after been overthojown . To these facts I can produce many witnesses ;
; Pp . you think , then , that I could have lived so many years , if I had mingled in public affairs * and , as befits a good man , had always given my aid to the just cause , and made that , as I ought , my grand ? object ? Far * from it , O Athenians ; neither I nor any other man * But I throughout rny whole life , and in whatever public transaction I may have been engaged in , shall always be found such as I am in private , never tolerating the slightest violation of justice , either in any one else , or iii
those whom iny calumniators assert to be my disciples . > But I have aqyer been any one ' s teacher ; though if any one , whether young or old , dew red , to stand by and listen to me , speaking and following my own path , I never grudged to allow him- Neither is it my practice to converse with people when they pay me money , and not otherwise ; but I
permit rich and poor alike to question me , or if they please , , to answer rny question s and to hear what I have to say . And ' whether any of these turn Out a good or a bad man , I cannot justly be held accountable , J since I ^ eyex taught nor undertook to teach them anything . If any one affirms that he ever learnt or heard from me in private , any thing but what all other persons have heard , be assured that he speaks faUely .
But why , then , do some persons take pleasure in frequenting my society ? You have already heard , O Athenians ; I have told you the wJipjLe / truth ; they like to hear those persons exposed , who fancy themselves wise and are not ; for it is not unpleasant . But to me , as I affirm , it has }> een enjoined by the-god to do this , —enjoined in oracles , and in dreams , and in every other , way in which Divipe ordinance commands anything to a human being .
? Among the functions of the senate of Five Hundred , wa 9 that of furnishing a committee of fifty ( styled the Prytanes ) to preside and take the suffrages of the people in the general assembly . The senate consisted of fifty members from each of the tea tribes ; each tribe ( i . e . its fifty representatives ) performed the office of JP # | t&n <} 8 : bi } tt * turn . t ^ V public buildhig at Athens , where the Thirty Tyrants , as we may infer from this paisageV ^ atikctea business . ' ' ' *'! " 4 l ! ' ( l 1 ' ( We are told in Xenophon ' a ' Memoriaisof Socrates , ' that Nothing 1 contributed more to his condemnation , than the fact that Qritias ( the cjiief of the abhorred Thirty ) and Alcibiades , had , in their youth , been reckoned among bis disciples .
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172 Plato ' s Dialogues ; the Apology bf&ocrates .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1835, page 172, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2643/page/28/
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