196

came forward that it was not possible not to kill me, saying to you that if I should escape, then your sons, practicing what Socrates teaches, would all be utterly corrupted—if in response to this you were to say to me: 'O Socrates, for now we will not listen to Anytus, but we release you, on this condition, however, that you no longer spend time in this inquiry nor philosophize; 13.10.8 and if you are caught doing this again, you will die.' If, then, as I said, you were to release me on these conditions, I would say to you that 'I, men of Athens, salute and love you, but I will obey God rather than you, and as long as I breathe and am able, I will not cease philosophizing and exhorting you and pointing things out to whomever of you I happen to meet, saying the very things I am accustomed to saying.' And a little later he adds: 13.10.9 'Let us consider in this way also, that there is great hope that it is a good thing. For to be dead is one of two things: either it is to be nothing and for the dead to have no perception of anything, or, according to what is said, it happens to be a certain change and migration for the soul from this place here to another place. And if indeed there is no perception, but it is like a sleep, when one sleeping sees not even a dream at all, 13.10.10 death would be a wonderful gain. For I think that if someone had to choose this night in which he slept so soundly as not even to have a dream, and comparing the other nights and days of his own life with this night, had to consider and say how many days and nights he had lived better and more pleasantly than this night in his own life, I think that not only a private person, but even the great king would find these to be easily counted in comparison with the other days and nights. If, then, death is such a thing, I for my part say it is a gain; for all time appears thus to be no more than a single night. 13.10.11 But if, on the other hand, death is like a journey from here to another place, and what is said is true, that all the dead are there, what greater good could there be than this, O men of the jury? For if one, arriving in Hades, released from these who claim to be judges, will find the true judges, who are said to judge there, Minos and Rhadamanthus and Aeacus and Triptolemus and all the other demigods 13.10.12 who were just in their own lives, would this journey be a poor one? Or again, to associate with Orpheus and Musaeus and Hesiod and Homer, at what price would any of you accept that? For I am willing to die many times, if these things are true, since for me myself the time spent there would be wonderful, whenever I should meet Palamedes and Ajax son of Telamon and any other of the ancients who died because of an unjust judgment, comparing my own sufferings with theirs, which I think would not be unpleasant. And indeed, the greatest thing of all, to spend one’s time examining and questioning those there just as I do those here, to find out who among them is wise and who thinks he is, but is not.' 13.10.13 And among us it has been said, 'We must obey God rather than men,' and 'do not fear those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul,' 'and to know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens,' and that 'when we are absent from the body, we are present with the Lord,' who also promised to all who have hoped in him that they will rest in the bosom of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and along with the other God-loving prophets and righteous among the Hebrews, they will pass the long age in a blessed life.

13.11.1 11. HOW ONE OUGHT TO HONOR THE DEATH OF THOSE WHO HAVE GLORIOUSLY DEPARTED THIS LIFE

196

εἰσῆλθον οὐχ οἷόν τ' εἶναι τὸ μὴ ἀποκτεῖναί με, λέγων πρὸς ὑμᾶς ὡς εἰ διαφευξοίμην, ἤδη ἂν ὑμῶν οἱ υἱεῖς ἐπιτηδεύοντες ἃ Σωκράτης διδάσκει, πάντες παντάπασι διαφθαρήσονται-εἴ μοι πρὸς ταῦτα εἴποιτε· ὦ Σώκρατες, νῦν μὲν Ἀνύτῳ οὐ πεισόμεθα, ἀλλ' ἀφίεμέν σε, ἐπὶ τούτῳ μέντοι ἐφ' ᾧ τε μηκέτι ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ ζητήσει διατρίβειν μηδὲ φιλοσοφεῖν· 13.10.8 ἐὰν δὲ ἁλῷς ἔτι τοῦτο πράττων, ἀποθανῇ. εἰ οὖν με, ὅπερ εἶπον, ἐπὶ τούτοις ἀφίοιτε, εἴποιμι ἂν ὑμῖν ὅτι ἐγὼ ὑμᾶς, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, ἀσπάζομαι μὲν καὶ φιλῶ, πείθομαι δὲ μᾶλλον τῷ θεῷ ἢ ὑμῖν, καὶ ἕως περ ἂν ἐμπνέω καὶ οἷός τε ὦ, οὐ μὴ παύσωμαι φιλοσοφῶν καὶ ὑμῖν παρακελευόμενός τε καὶ ἐνδεικνύμενος, ὅτῳ ἂν ἀεὶ ἐντυγχάνω ὑμῶν, λέγων οἷάπερ εἴωθα.» Καὶ μετὰ βραχέα ἐπιλέγει· 13.10.9 «Ἐννοήσωμεν δὴ καὶ τῇδε, ὡς πολλὴ ἐλπίς ἐστιν ἀγαθὸν αὐτὸ εἶναι. δυοῖν γὰρ θάτερόν ἐστι τὸ τεθνάναι· ἢ γὰρ οἷον μηδέν τι εἶναι μηδὲ αἴσθησιν μηδεμίαν μηδενὸς ἔχειν τὸν τεθνεῶτα ἢ κατὰ τὰ λεγόμενα μεταβολή τις τυγχάνει οὖσα καὶ μετοίκησις τῇ ψυχῇ τοῦ τόπου τοῦ ἐνθένδε εἰς ἄλλον τόπον. καὶ εἴτε δὴ μηδεμία αἴσθησίς ἐστιν, ἀλλ' οἷον ὕπνος, ἐπειδάν τις ὄναρ 13.10.10 καθεύδων μηδὲ ὄναρ μηδὲν ὁρᾷ, θαυμάσιον κέρδος ἂν εἴη θάνατος. ἐγὼ γὰρ ἂν οἶμαι, εἴ τινα ἐκλεξάμενον δέοι ταύτην τὴν νύκτα ἐν ᾗ οὕτω κατέδαρθεν ὥστε μηδὲ ὄναρ ἰδεῖν, καὶ τὰς ἄλλας νύκτας τε καὶ ἡμέρας τὰς τοῦ βίου τοῦ ἑαυτοῦ ἀντιπαραθέντα ταύτῃ τῇ νυκτὶ εἰ δέοι σκεψάμενον εἰπεῖν πόσας ἄμεινον καὶ ἥδιον ἡμέρας καὶ νύκτας ταύτης τῆς νυκτὸς βεβίωκεν ἐν τῷ ἑαυτοῦ βίῳ, οἶμαι ἂν οὐχὶ ἰδιώτην τινά, ἀλλὰ τὸν μέγαν βασιλέα εὐαριθμήτους ἀνευρεῖν αὐτὸν ταύτας πρὸς τὰς ἄλλας ἡμέρας τε καὶ νύκτας. εἰ οὖν τοιοῦτον ὁ θάνατός ἐστι, κέρδος ἔγωγε λέγω· καὶ γὰρ οὐδὲν πλεῖον ὁ πᾶς χρόνος φαί13.10.11 νεται οὕτω εἶναι ἢ μία νύξ. εἰ δ' αὖ οἷον ἀποδημῆσαί ἐστιν ὁ θάνατος ἐνθένδε εἰς ἄλλον τόπον καὶ ἀληθῆ ἐστι τὰ λεγόμενα, ὡς ἄρα ἐκεῖ εἰσιν ἅπαντες οἱ τεθνεῶτες, τί μεῖζον ἀγαθὸν τούτου εἴη ἄν, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί; εἰ γάρ τις ἀφικόμενος εἰς Ἅιδου, ἀπαλλαγεὶς τούτων τῶν φασκόντων δικαστῶν εἶναι, εὑρήσει τοὺς ὡς ἀληθῶς δικαστάς, οἵπερ καὶ λέγονται ἐκεῖ δικάζειν, Μίνως τε καὶ Ῥαδάμανθυς καὶ Αἰακὸς καὶ Τριπτόλεμος καὶ ἄλλοι ὅσοι τῶν ἡμιθέων 13.10.12 δίκαιοι ἐγένοντο ἐν τῷ ἑαυτῶν βίῳ, ἆρα φαύλη ἂν εἴη ἡ ἀποδημία; ἢ αὖ Ὀρφεῖ ξυγγενέσθαι καὶ Μουσαίῳ καὶ Ἡσιόδῳ καὶ Ὁμήρῳ ἐπὶ πόσῳ ἄν τιςδέξαιτ' ἂν ὑμῶν; ἐγὼ μὲν γὰρ πολλάκις ἐθέλω τεθνάναι, εἴπερ ταῦτ' ἐστὶν ἀληθῆ, ἐπεὶ ἔμοιγε καὶ αὐτῷ θαυμαστὴ ἂν εἴη ἡ διατριβὴ αὐτόθι, ὁπότε ἐντύχοιμι Παλαμήδει καὶ Αἴαντι τῷ Τελαμῶνος καὶ εἴ τις ἄλλος τῶν παλαιῶν διὰ κρίσιν ἄδικον τέθνηκεν, ἀντιπαραβάλλοντι τὰ ἐμαυτοῦ πάθη πρὸς τὰ ἐκείνων, ὡς ἐγᾦμαι οὐκ ἂν ἀηδὲς εἶναι. καὶ δὴ καὶ τὸ μέγιστον, τοὺς ἐκεῖ ἐξετάζοντα καὶ ἐρευνῶντα ὥσπερ τοὺς ἐνταῦθα διάγειν, τίς αὐτῶν σοφός ἐστι καὶ τίς οἴεται μέν, ἔστι δ' οὔ.» 13.10.13 Καὶ παρ' ἡμῖν «πειθαρχεῖν δεῖ θεῷ μᾶλλον ἢ ἀνθρώποις» εἴρηται καὶ «μὴ φοβεῖσθε ἀπὸ τῶν ἀποκτεννόντων τὸ σῶμα, τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν οὐ δυναμένων ἀποκτεῖναι» «εἰδέναι τε, ὅτι ἐὰν ἡ ἐπίγειος ἡμῶν οἰκία τοῦ σκήνους καταλυθῇ, οἰκοδομὴν ἐκ θεοῦ ἔχομεν, οἰκίαν ἀχειροποίητον αἰώνιον ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς» ὅτι τε «ἐκδημοῦντες ἀπὸ τοῦ σώματος ἐνδημοῦμεν τῷ κυρίῳ,» ὃς καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς εἰς αὐτὸν ἠλπικόσιν ἐπήγγελται εἰς κόλπους Ἁβραὰμ καὶ Ἰσαὰκ καὶ Ἰακὼβ ἀναπαύσεσθαι μετά τε τῶν ἄλλων παρ' Ἑβραίοιςθεοφιλῶν προφητῶν τε καὶ δικαίων ἐν μακαρίᾳ ζωῇ τὸν μακρὸν αἰῶνα διάξειν.

13.11.1 ιαʹ. ΟΠΩΣ ∆ΕΟΙ ΤΙΜΑΝ ΤΟΝ ΘΑΝΑΤΟΝ ΤΩΝ ΕΥΚΛΕΩΣ ΜΕΤΑΛΛΑΞΑΝΤΩΝ ΤΟΝ ΒΙΟΝ