Now by these instances his object was not to inculcate the duty of
burying one's father alive or of cutting oneself to bits, but to show
that lack of intelligence means lack of worth;[29] and so he called
upon his hearers to be as sensible and useful as they could be, so
that, be it father or brother or any one else whose esteem he would
deserve, a man should not hug himself in careless self-interest,
trusting to mere relationship, but strive to be useful to those whose
esteem he coveted.

[29] i.e. "witless and worthless are synonymous."

But (pursues the accuser) by carefully culling the most immoral
passages of the famous poets, and using them as evidences, he taught
his associates to be evildoers and tyrranical: the line of Hesiod[30]
for instance--

No work is a disgrace; slackness of work is the disgrace--

"interpreted," says the accuser, "by Socrates as if the poet enjoined
us to abstain from no work wicked or ignoble; do everything for the
sake of gain."

[30] "Works and Days," 309 {'Ergon d' ouden oneidos}. Cf. Plat.
"Charm." 163 C.

Now while Socrates would have entirely admitted the propositions that
"it is a blessing and a benefit to a man to be a worker," and that "a
lazy do-nothing is a pestilent evil," that "work is good and idleness
a curse," the question arises, whom did he mean by workers? In his