not[3] appear here at all, or that, if I did appear, it was impossible
not to put me to death, telling you that if I escaped, your sons,
studying what Socrates teaches, would all be utterly corrupted; if you
should address me thus, "Socrates, we shall not now yield to Anytus, but
dismiss you, on this condition, however, that you no longer persevere in
your researches nor study philosophy; and if hereafter you are detected
in so doing, you shall die"--if, as I said, you should dismiss, me on
these terms, I should say to you, "O Athenians! I honor and love you;
but I shall obey God rather than you; and so long as I breathe and am
able, I shall not cease studying philosophy, and exhorting you and
warning any one of you I may happen to meet, saying, as I have been
accustomed to do: 'O best of men! seeing you are an Athenian, of a city
the most powerful and most renowned for wisdom and strength, are you not
ashamed of being careful for riches, how you may acquire them in
greatest abundance, and for glory, and honor, but care not nor take any
thought for wisdom and truth, and for your soul, how it maybe made most
perfect?'" And if any one of you should question my assertion, and
affirm that he does care for these things, I shall not at once let him
go, nor depart, but I shall question him, sift and prove him. And if he
should appear to me not to possess virtue, but to pretend that he does,
I shall reproach him for that he sets the least value on things of the
greatest worth, but the highest on things that are worthless. Thus I
shall act to all whom I meet, both young and old, stranger and citizen,
but rather to you, my fellow-citizens, because ye are more nearly allied
to me. For be well assured, this the deity commands. And I think that no
greater good has ever befallen you in the city than my zeal for the
service of the god. For I go about doing nothing else than persuading
you, both young and old, to take no care either for the body, or for
riches, prior to or so much as for the soul, how it may be made most
perfect, telling you that virtue does not spring from riches, but riches