71

Socrates, son of Sophroniscus, orders the sacrifice of a cock, in order to refute the indictment brought against him; for Anytus and Meletus had indicted him for not believing in the gods. For that he understood the divine to be without need, he has clearly shown in 7.48 other places. For these are his words, if indeed Plato wrote down his doctrines: "For God did not create the world out of need, so that he might reap honors from men and from other gods and spirits, as if gathering some revenue from creation, from us smoke, and from gods and spirits their own services." Through these words he has openly declared that the divine needs nothing, and that such sacrifices have nothing more than smoke, and smoke full of foul odor. 7.49 Having learned these things, then, both from your own teachers and from the divine oracles, from which these things were plundered, and strengthening the teaching, hate those sacrifices that are fitting for cooks and butchers, and offer the sacrifice of praise to the Creator. And let not the laws of kings nor the fear of punishment persuade you to do this, but the power of truth, which has become known to all land and sea.

8.t ON THE HONOR OF THE MARTYRS.

8.1 Those who have written about him say that Pythagoras, whose fame is widespread among you, said that one must prefer the Muses to the Sirens. Now I, if he had been accustomed to use simple and transparent language, as indeed some other philosophers have, would have said that he preferred the voice of the Muses as being sweeter; but since his words are enigmatic and subtle—for he offered his exhortations symbolically; such as "do not stir the fire with a sword," and "do not sit on a bushel," and "do not eat the black-tail," and "do not step over a balance," and the other things arranged with these—I think that by Sirens he represented refined and overly eloquent discourses, and by Muses those that have nothing adventitious, but display the naked beauty of truth. For by as much as the beauty that comes from nature is better than that prepared by the art of cosmetics, by so much is the grace of truth superior to the elegance and 8.2 cleverness of words. We must therefore believe, O men, if no one else, at least the much-renowned philosopher who lays down these laws, and not think the divine oracles are to be overlooked because they do not by nature make use of superfluous words, but offer us the naked and gleaming beauty of truth. For it was easy and very simple for the fount of wisdom, which has also bestowed upon impious men so-called eloquence, to make the heralds of 8.3 truth more eloquent than Plato and more clever than Demosthenes, concealing the son of Olorus in grandeur, and the son of Nicomachus, and Chrysippus with the unbreakable bonds of syllogisms. But He did not wish that five or ten or fifteen or a hundred or twice that many should enjoy the saving streams, but all men, both Greeks and barbarians, both those brought up in letters and those who have not tasted of letters, and shoemakers and weavers and smiths and the others who ply their trades, and in addition to these, servants and beggars and farmers and gardeners, and women likewise, both those flowing with wealth and those yoked with toil 8.4 and forced to live by their hands. For this reason, using fishermen and tax collectors and a leather-cutter as ministers, he brought to men the saving and divine teachings, not changing their tongues which they had from the beginning, but pouring forth through them the clear and transparent streams of wisdom; doing something similar, as if some host were to offer to his guests a fragrant, sweet-smelling, and excellent wine, pouring it into cups and bowls that were not ornate

71

Σωκράτην τὸν Σωφρονίσκου τὸν ἀλεκτρυόνα θῦσαι κελεύειν, ἵνα τὴν κατ' αὐτοῦ γεγενημένην διελέγξῃ γραφήν· ἐγραψάτην γὰρ αὐτὸν Ἄνυτός τε καὶ Μέλητος, ὡς εἶναι θεοὺς οὐ νομίζοντα. Ὅτι γὰρ ἀνενδεὲς τὸ θεῖον ἠπίστατο, σαφῶς ἐν 7.48 ἑτέροις δεδήλωκεν. Αὐτοῦ γὰρ δὴ καὶ ταῦτα, εἴπερ δὴ ἄρα ὁ Πλάτων τὰ ἐκείνου ξυνέγραψε δόγματα· "Οὐ γὰρ χρείας ἕνεκα ὁ θεὸς πεποίηκε τὸν κόσμον, ἵνα τιμάς τε πρὸς ἀνθρώπων καὶ πρὸς θεῶν ἄλλων καὶ δαιμόνων καρποῖτο, οἷον πρόσοδόν τινα ἀπὸ τῆς γενέσεως ἀρνύμενος, παρὰ μὲν ἡμῶν καπνούς, παρὰ δὲ θεῶν καὶ δαιμόνων οἰκείας λειτουργίας." Ἄντικρυς δὲ διὰ τού των δεδήλωκεν, ὡς οὐδενὸς μὲν δεῖται τὸ θεῖον, καπνοῦ δὲ πλέον οὐδὲν ἔχουσιν αἱ τοιαῦται θυσίαι, καὶ καπνοῦ δυσοσμίας μεστοῦ. 7.49 Ταῦτα δὴ οὖν καὶ παρὰ τῶν ὑμετέρων διδασκάλων μεμαθη κότες καὶ παρὰ τῶν θείων λογίων, παρ' ὧν ταῦτα σεσύληται, τὴν διδασκαλίαν κρατύναντες, τὰ μὲν ὀψοποιοῖς καὶ κρεοπώλαις ἁρμόττοντα μισήσατε θύματα, τὴν δὲ τῆς αἰνέσεως θυσίαν τῷ ποιητῇ προσενέγκατε. Πειθέτω δὲ ὑμᾶς τοῦτο ποιεῖν, μὴ τῶν βασιλευόντων οἱ νόμοι μηδὲ τῆς τιμωρίας τὸ δέος, ἀλλὰ τῆς ἀληθείας τὸ κράτος, ὃ πάσῃ γῇ καὶ θαλάττῃ γεγένηται γνώριμον.

8.t ΠΕΡΙ ΤΗΣ ΤΩΝ ΜΑΡΤΥΡΩΝ ΤΙΜΗΣ.

8.1 Πυθαγόραν ἐκεῖνον, οὗ κλέος εὐρὺ παρ' ὑμῖν, εἰρηκέναι φασὶν οἱ τὰ ἐκείνου ξυγγεγραφότες, ὡς χρὴ τῶν Σειρήνων προτιθέναι τὰς Μούσας. Ἐγὼ δέ, εἰ μὲν ἁπλοῖς ἐκεῖνος καὶ διαφανέσιν εἰώθει κεχρῆσθαι λόγοις, ὥσπερ δὴ καὶ ἄλλοι τῶν φιλοσόφων τινές, ἔφην ἂν αὐτὸν ὡς ἡδίω τὴν τῶν Μουσῶν προκεκρικέναι φωνήν· ἐπειδὴ δὲ αἰνιγματώδεις οἱ ἐκείνου γε λόγοι καὶ ὕφαλοι -ξυμβολικῶς γάρ τοι τὰς παραινέσεις προσέφερε· τοιοῦτο γὰρ δὴ τὸ "μαχαίρῃ πῦρ μὴ σκαλεύειν" καὶ "ἐπὶ χοίνικος μὴ καθῆσθαι" καὶ "μελάνουρον μὴ ἐσθίειν" καὶ "ζυγὸν μὴ ὑπερ βαίνειν" καὶ τἄλλα τὰ τούτοις ξυντεταγμένα-, οἶμαι αὐτὸν Σειρῆσι μὲν ἀπεικάσαι τοὺς κεκομψευμένους καὶ κατεγλωττισμέ νους λόγους, Μούσαις δὲ τοὺς ἐπείσακτον μὲν οὐδὲν ἔχοντας, γυμνὸν δὲ τῆς ἀληθείας τὸ κάλλος ἐπιδεικνύντας. Ὅσῳ γὰρ ἡ παρὰ τῆς φύσεως ὥρα τῆς ὑπὸ κομμωτικῆς τέχνης διεσκευασμέ νης ἀμείνων, τοσούτῳ κρείττων τῆς τῶν λόγων εὐεπείας τε καὶ 8.2 δεινότητος ἡ τῆς ἀληθείας εὐπρέπεια. Πιστευτέον οὖν ἄρα, ὦ ἄνδρες, εἰ καὶ μὴ ἄλλῳ, τῷ γοῦν πολυθρυλήτῳ φιλοσόφῳ ταῦτα νομοθετοῦντι, καὶ τὰ θεῖα λόγια μὴ παροπτέα νομίζειν, ὅτι δὴ τῷ περιττῷ τῶν λόγων οὐ κατακέχρηνται φύσει, ἀλλὰ γυμνὸν ἡμῖν προσφέρουσι καὶ ἀποστίλβον τῆς ἀληθείας τὸ κάλλος. Εὐ πετὲς μὲν γὰρ ἦν καὶ μάλα ῥᾴδιον τῇ τῆς σοφίας πηγῇ, ἣ καὶ δυσσεβέσιν ἀνθρώποις τὴν καλουμένην εὐστομίαν δεδώρηται, καὶ Πλάτωνος εὐγλωττοτέρους καὶ δεινοτέρους ∆ημοσθένους καὶ ὄγκῳ τὸν Ὀλόρου κατακρύπτοντας καὶ τὸν Νικομάχου καὶ Χρύσιππον τοῖς τῶν ξυλλογισμῶν ἀλύτοις δεσμοῖς ἀποφῆναι τῆς 8.3 ἀληθείας τοὺς κήρυκας. Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐβουλήθη πέντε ἢ δέκα ἢ πεντεκαίδεκα ἢ ἑκατὸν ἢ δὶς τοσούτους τῶν σωτηρίων ἀπολαῦσαι ναμάτων, ἀλλὰ πάντας ἀνθρώπους, καὶ Ἕλληνας καὶ βαρβάρους, καὶ τοὺς λόγοις ἐντεθραμμένους καὶ τοὺς λόγων οὐ γεγευμένους, καὶ σκυτέας καὶ ὑφάντας καὶ χαλκοτύπους καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους, ὅσοι τὰς τέχνας μεταχειρίζουσι, καὶ πρὸς τούτοις καὶ οἰκέτας καὶ προσαίτας καὶ γηπόνους καὶ ἀλσοκόμους καὶ γυναῖκας ὡσαύ τως, τάς τε πλούτῳ περιρρεομένας καὶ τὰς πόνῳ ξυνεζευγμένας 8.4 καὶ ἐκ χειρῶν βιοτεύειν ἠναγκασμένας. Τούτου δὴ εἵνεκα ἁλιεῦσι καὶ τελώναις καὶ σκυτοτόμῳ χρησάμενος ὑπουργοῖς, προσενήνοχε τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τὰ σωτήρια καὶ θεῖα μαθήματα, τὰς μὲν γλώττας αὐτῶν, ἃς ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἔλαχον, οὐκ ἀμείψας, τὰ δέ γε διειδῆ καὶ διαυγῆ τῆς σοφίας νάματα διὰ τούτων προχέας· παραπλήσιον ποιῶν, ὥσπερ ἂν εἴ τις ἑστιάτωρ οἶνον ἀνθοσμίαν καὶ εὐώδη καὶ ἄριστον προσενέγκοι τοῖς δαιτυμόσι, κύλιξι καὶ φιάλαις ἐγχέας οὐκ ἠσκημέναις