CRITON K Or , Concerning Duty Ethical-The Standard of Justice The Characters of The Dialogue Sokrates , Kriton Translated by JFBalboa

Socrates: 1 Why have you come at this time , O Crito ; Or is it not still early ?Crito: 43a Yes , it is indeed . Socrates: About what time is it ? Crito: It is deep dawn . Socrates: I wonder why the prison-guard was willing to yield to you .Crito: He is already accustomed to me , O Socrates , because I come to this place so often , and besides he has also received a good service from me .’Socrates: Have you just now arrived then , or some time ago ? Crito: Fairly , some time ago . Socrates:43b Then why did you not wake me at once, instead of sitting by me in silence ? Crito: No way , by Zeus , O Socrates , I only wish that I myself were not in such a ’sleepless and sorrowful state . But I have also been wondering about you for some time , perceiving how sweetly you sleep ; so I purposely did not wake you , in order that you might pass your time left on earth as pleasantly as possible . And , on the one hand , up to this time , often , have you truly been of a blessed disposition through-out your life ,

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and on the other hand , now in this present misfortune , even more than ever , since you bear it so easily and gently .Socrates: 43c And it would surely be discordant , O Crito , being at this point of life , if I were perturbed , because I must necessarily die at this time . Crito: And other men as old , O Socrates , have fallen in such misfortunes , but ’their age has not in the least released them from being perturbed by their present fate .Socrates: This is the case . But why have you truly come here in this way ? Crito: To bring news , O Socrates , grievous news . But as it appears to me , not to you , but grievous and oppressive to me and all your close friends , and to those who bear it , ’I think it does not bear as heavily as it does on me .’Socrates: 43d What is this news ? Or is it that the ship has arrived from Delos , which upon arriving , necessarily brings death to me ? Crito: It has not exactly arrived , but on the one hand , it seems to me that it will arrive ’today , from the reports which some men who have come from Sunium and having left it there .Thus it is clear from what they report that it will come today , and , thus on the other hand , when tomorrow is here , O Socrates , your life must necessarily end .Socrates: 2 But , this is a Good Fate , O Crito ! If this is the will of The Gods , let it be .’However , I do not think it will arrive today . Crito: 44 From what sign do you judge this ?

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Socrates: I will tell you . For I certainly must die on the day after the ship should arrive , or what ? ( ;)Crito: So those say indeed , who have charge of these matters .Socrates: Accordingly then , I think it will not arrive this coming day , but tomorrow . For my sign comes from a dream , which I have seen a short time ago , during this night ; and it is possible that you did not wake me at a certain opportune time .Crito: But what truly was that certain dream ? Socrates: A beautiful and well-formed women appeared to me , clothed in white robes , She came to me , called and said : ‘O Socrates , on the third day you will reach fertile Phthia’.Crito: 44b That is a strange dream , O Socrates . Socrates: A clear one , at any rate , as it indeed appears to me , O Crito .Crito: 3 Exceedingly so ; as reasonable . But , O my spiritual Socrates , and even now ’be persuaded by me and save yourself ; for if you die , it is no single misfortune , as only to me , but on the one hand , I shall be deprived apart from such a close friend , such asI will in no way ever find again , and on the other hand , I believe that still many persons 44c who do not know you and me distinctly , will think that you could have been saved , ’ if I had been willing to spend money , but would not be troubled . And yet , what reputation could be more disgraceful than that of caring about making money , more than about one’s friends ? For the multitude will not be persuaded , that we were eager

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to take you away from here , but you yourself were not willing .Socrates: But , O my blessed Crito , why should we care in this way for the opinion of the multitude ? For the opinion of the most reasonable men , which is more worthy of consideration , will be led to think that these affairs were thus done , just as they would be done . (Crito: 44d But you see that it is also truly necessary , O Socrates , to care for the opinion ’of the multitude . For this manifest situation we are in now , shows that the many are able ’to accomplish , not anything small , but nearly the greatest of evils , if anyone has a bad reputation () amongst them .Socrates: If only the many , O Crito , were enabled to accomplish the greatest evil , ’in order that they should also be able to accomplish the greatest good ; then all would ’ be maintained in a good manner . But as it now stands , they are unable to do either ; for they are not able to make a man Sound nor unsound ,but do whatever may occur to them.Crito:4 Let this be so indeed , O Socrates , but answer me this : First of all , you are 44ecertainly not considering beforehand , me and your other close friends , are you ? For if (you are fearing) that by escaping from here , the informers will make trouble for us by saying that we stole you away from here , and we shall be compelled to lose either all our property or a good deal of money , or be made to suffer in some other way besides ?

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45 For if you are afraid of anything of that kind , put it out of mind ; for it is certainly just for us to run this risk and even greater risk than this if necessary , provided we save you ..Now please be persuaded by me and do not do otherwise .’Socrates: But I have been considering this beforehand , O Crito , and many other things .Crito: Accordingly then , do not fear this ! For it is not even a large sum of silver , which we should pay to some men who are willing to save you and take you away from here . Besides , don’t you see how economical these informers are , and that not much silver would be needed for them ? Then my money is also ready for you , which’45b is sufficient , as I believe ; and moreover , if some concern for me compels you from not being able to spend my money, there are foreigners here ready to spend theirs ;and indeed Simmias the Theban , has coined sufficient silver for this especial purpose . ’Then Cebes also and many others are perfectly ready . So then , just as I say , do not grow weary of saving yourself through fear of this , nor of what you said in court ;

that had you gone away , your situation would have become unmanageable , for you would not be of any use to yourself . For on the one hand , in many other places , 45c wherever you should go , you will be well-received also . And if , on the other hand , you wish to go to Thessaly , there , they are friends of mine , who will make much of you and will safeguard you from harm , so that no one throughout Thessaly shall hurt you .

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5 But still , O Socrates , it seems to me that what you are taking in hand to do , is in no way just – betraying yourself , having the means to save yourself . And you are eager to bring about , upon yourself such things such as your enemies are also wishing eagerly of you and those eager to destroy you . And moreover , you also appear to me 45d to be betraying them ; your very own children ; who should be protected and nurtured and educated , thoroughly by you , you are going to abandon and be absent , and for your part , for what may happen , this being done : Thus they will meet , as is likely , with such treatment as customarily happens to orphans in their destitution . For either one should not beget children , or one should endure life’s hardships together and nurture and educate them . But you appear to me to be choosing the easiest way out ! But you should choose just as a good and brave man would , indeed , pretending to choose this throughout all your life , you , that ‘truly’ cared for virtue . So I am indeed ashamed , 45e both for your sake and for ours , your close friends , and I am afraid that it is thought that this whole affair of yours has been conducted with a sort of cowardice on our part -both the fact that the case came before the court , when it might have been avoided , and the way itself , the case happened to be conducted , and , to truly complete this , as indeed , the absolute absurdity of this affair , to appear , that this opportunity

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46 has completely escaped us through some baseness and cowardice on our part , since we did not save you , nor would you save yourself , even though it was quite possible , if we had also been of any small use whatsoever . See to it then , O Socrates , that these things be not evil and disgraceful , both to you and to us . But take counsel , or rather it is time not to consider any longer , but to have finishedconsidering . There is but one plan ; for all this must be done , in the coming night . But if we delay any longer , then , it will no longer be possible .Thus , by all means , O Socrates , please be persuaded by me and do not do otherwise .Socrates: 6 O my dear Crito , your eagerness would be worth a great deal , if it were 46b directed in the right way ; but if it is not , by as much as it is greater , to such an extent will it be harder to bear . Therefore we must examine whether we should to do this , or not ; for I am not only now , but always , the kind of man , such as those of us , who are persuaded by nothing other than The Reasoning , which upon consideration , should appear to me to be The Very Best . Thus , I am unable , to throw away The Doctrines that in times past , I used to advance , now , that this fate has happened to me , for They seem 46c just The Same as ever to me , and I revere and honor The Same ones just as before . And if we are unable to advance better ones in our present situation , be assured , that I shall not give way to you , not even if the power of the multitude should frighten us with ’

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even more terrors than it is doing now at the present time , just as when we were children we were frightened by banshees ; threatening us with prison and death and confiscationof our property . How then , could we examine this matter itself , most reasonably ? If first , on the one hand , we should take-up this Doctrine which you say about opinions ;

Justice

1 Honored -Holy- Revered

3 2

3 – “the power” of the many ? – 2 threats and confiscations administration of justice

whether it was correctly said in each occasion or not , that we must necessarily 46d pay attention to some opinions , but not to others ; Or on the one hand , did we speak correctly , right before I was condemned to death , whereas now , it has been made sufficiently clear , that we were talking merely for the sake of argument , as it was but child’s play and nonsense ? Therefore , as far as I am concerned , I wish ’’to investigate , O Crito , in common with you , if anything appears more differently to me , under our present conditions , or the same , and whether we shall put it aside or be persuaded by it . Thus , it used to be said , as I believe , by Those who thought that they were speaking in a certain way , for every occasion , just as I was saying now , that 46e surely , of the opinions held by men , on the one hand , some must necessarily be

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highly esteemed , but on the other hand , others , must not . In God’s name , O Crito , does this not appear to you to be said correctly ? For you , as far as humanly possible , 47 are indeed outside the likelihood of dying tomorrow , and should therefore , not bemisleading to your present circumstance . Consider then ; does it appear to you that we were not sufficiently correct in saying that we should not necessarily esteem all the opinions of men , but only some , but not others ? Neither those of all men , but only of some , but not of all ? What do you say ? Is this not well said ?’Crito: It is well said . (Socrates: Is it not the case that on the one hand , we should Esteem The Useful Ones but on the other hand , not the useless ones ?Crito: Yes . Socrates: Thus , are not The Useful Ones , Those belonging to The Mindful , but the useless ones , those of the unsound ?Crito: How could it be otherwise ? (’ ;)Socrates : 7 Come then . What , in turn , did we say about these matters ? If a man47bis an athlete and makes this his business , does he pay attention to every man’s opinionand praise and blame , or to that of one man only , who should happen to be physician or a trainer ?(Crito: To that of one man only .Socrates: Is it not the case then , that he should necessarily fear the blame , and welcome the praise of that one man , but not that of the multitude .

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Crito: That is certainly clear .(.)Socrates: Accordingly then , this he must do , and indeed exercise and eat and drink , that which the one man , who is his director , and who knows his business , Thinks , rather than that which all the others put together think .Crito: That is the case .( .) Socrates: 47c Good ! But if he is not persuaded by the one man and does not esteem his opinion and his praise , but the words of the multitude who are without any understanding , accordingly then , will he not be persuaded by viciousness ? (Crito: How could this not be the case ? ( ;)Socrates: But what is this viciousness ? And in what direction is it inclined and in ’what part of those who are unpersuaded does it act upon ?Crito: It is clear that it acts upon the body ; for this is what it ruins .Socrates: You speak correctly . Is it not the case that in other matters , O Criton , in order not to enumerate them all , it is truly in this way : concerning The Just and unjust and the base and Noble and The Good and bad , about which we are now 47d considering ; should we necessarily cling-to and fear the opinion of the many or that of the one , if there is anyone who understands Them , in whose presence we should necessarily also feel shame and awe more than all the others put together ? and whom if we do not follow , we shall disfigure and utterly destroy that , which on the one hand , should be benefited by Justice , but on the other hand ruined by injustice . Or is there nothing in this ?

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Crito: As far as I am concerned , I believe there is , O Socrates .Socrates: 8 Come then , if by the influence of the one we are benefited by healthiness , 47e but under the influence of the other we become utterly ruined by disease , by not being persuaded by the opinion of those who understand ; accordingly then , is life worth living for us , when this itself is ruined ? But this is surely the body ; or not ?Crito: Yes it is .(.)Socrates: Take notice then ; is life worth living when the body is worthless and ruined ?’Crito: In no way .(Socrates: But accordingly is our life worth living when that is being destroyed , which ’ on the one hand , is maimed by injustice , but on the other hand is benefited by Justice ? 48 Or do we believe that , that part of us , whatever it is , which is concerned about (’ , that which is unjust and about Righteousness , is rather less important than the body ?Crito: By no means .(Socrates: But it is more worthy of esteem ? (Crito: Much more indeed .(.)Socrates: Accordingly then , O most worthy friend , we must not consider , in this way at all ; what the many will say to us , but what he who knows about Justice and injustice , ’the one man , and The Truth Herself . And so , in the first place , you did not introduce this discussion correctly , by proposing that we should necessarily take into account the opinion of the many , concerning the just and the noble and the good and their opposites .

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48b But of course someone would say that the many are able to put us to death , indeed !’.Crito: And that is certainly clear ; it would be said , O Socrates .Socrates: What you say is true .But , O my admirable friend , the very discourse which ’ we have just gone through , as far as I am concerned , still appears to be the same as before ; and now in turn consider if we still abide by the following , or not ; : that it is not life , which one must most importantly bring about , but The Good Life .Crito: We abide by it .(Socrates: But that The Life Lived-Well and The Nobly and The Justly are The Same ; do we abide by this , or do we not abide by this ?Crito: We abide by this .(

The Good

The Just The Noble The Life Lived-Well

Justly Nobly

Socrates: 9 Is it not the case then that we agree that the result of this is that 48c we must consider whether it is just , or not just , for me to try to escape from here , without the Athenians having set us free . And if on the one hand , it appears to be Just , let us cleave to it , but on the other hand , if it is not , let us have had enough of it . , . But the considerations which you propose , about spending money , and reputation , and the bringing up of children ; are not these really , O Crito ,

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the considerations of those , who put men to death lightly , without any sense , and would indeed bring them to life again , if they also could ; I mean those of the multitude . ’’But we , since our discourse so leads us , must not consider anything other than that which we just now truly mentioned , whether we shall be acting justly in offering money 48dand thanks to these men who will help me to escape from here , and in escaping and aiding the escape ourselves , or , in truth , shall we be committing injustice , in all these . And if it appears unjust for us to do them , we must truly , in no way , take into account whether we will die if we stay here and keep quiet , nor whether anything whatsoever ’will happen to us , but only whether we are committing injustice .Crito: On the one hand , it appears to be well said to me , O Socrates ; but on the other hand , look to how we could accomplish it .Socrates: Let us investigate in common , O my good friend , and if you can contradict 48e any of my proposals , contradict them , and I will comply to your proposals ; but if you cannot , O blessed friend , enough , of saying the same thing repeatedly to me ;that I must go away from here against the will of the Athenians ; for I greatly desire to act in this matter with your trust , and not against your belief . 49 Now see if the beginning of the investigation is truly and sufficiently proposed to you , and try to reply to my questioning , to the best of your belief .

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Crito: Then I will try .(Socrates: 10 Do we say that we must never be willing to commit injustice, in any way ?Or do we say that we can commit injustice in some ways , but not in others ?Or , is it as we often agreed in former times , that it is indeed , in no way , neither good nor beautiful to commit injustice ? Or have all those former agreements of oursbeen poured-out (like water and forgotten) in these past few days , and we as old men , 49b O Criton , intently conversing with each other, have accordingly failed to notice that we were no different than children ? Or does everything certainly have to be in that way , just as we used to say , whether the many agree or not , and whether still more grievous sufferings or lighter ones than these must necessarily happen to us also ; that nevertheless , doing wrong indeed happens to be unjust and ignoble and is the “cause” of deformity in every way (to the wrongdoer) ? Do we say this or not ?Crito: We do say this .(Socrates: Accordingly then , we must necessarily , never in any way , commit injustice .Crito: Without a doubt .(Socrates: Accordingly then , we must not pay-back with injustice , having suffered in-justice , as the many believe , since we must indeed commit no injustice , at all .Crito: 49c Apparently not .Socrates: Well then , what next ? Must one act ignobly , O Criton , or not ?Crito: Without a doubt , one must not , O Socrates .

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Socrates: What next ? Is it just to pay-back ignobility with ignobility , having suffered ignobility , as the many say it is , or is it not just ? , Crito: Absolutely not just in any way .(Socrates: For there is truly no difference in acting ignobly and doing injustice to people .

Crito: You speak the truth .Socrates: Accordingly then , we must neither to pay-back injustice with injustice nor 49d act ignobly to any man , no matter what we may have suffered under them . ’’And see to it , O Crito , that in agreeing to this , you agree to something that youdo not believe . For I realize that there are few who believe or ever will believe This . Therefore there is no common design (model) , between those who believe in This Way , and those who do not , but they must necessarily disdain\despise one another , , , in view of their resolutions . Do you consider then , and very carefully , whether you truly share in and wholly agree (with this Doctrine) , and from This : let us take as the starting point of our Resolution : That it can in no way be correctly maintained neither to be unjust nor to retaliate with injustice nor to defend ourselves by paying-back with ignobility having suffered ignobly . Or do you disagree and do not49e Partake in This Starting Point ? For on the one hand , I , have long maintained This Doctrine and hold it even now , but , if you , have reached any other resolution , explain and instruct me . But if you still maintain our former belief , hear the next point .

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’Crito: But , I do maintain it and it is also agreeable to me ; so go on .’Socrates: Now in turn the next thing I say , or rather ask , is this : Must a man complete , ’whatever he has agreed to do , provided it is just , or may he then violate his agreements ?Crito: He must necessarily complete it .

Socrates: 11 Observe now , the consequences from this . If we go away from here 50 without having persuaded our City-State , are we acting ignobly to The Very Ones ; to whom we should necessarily least do this , or not ? And are we abiding by What we agreed was Just , or not .Crito: I am unable to answer that which you ask , O Socrates , for I do not understand.

Socrates: In that case , consider it in the following way . If , we were intending to either’run-off from here , or whatever this should be called , The Laws and The Commonwealth ’of The City were able to come to us and ask :The Laws and TC of TC : Tell me , O Socrates , what have you in mind to do ? By this deed which you are taking in hand , for your part , you intend nothing other than 50b to destroy Us , The Laws and The Entire State ? Or does it appear to you that Those Laws of The State , in which their decisions have no authority , but are made invalid and utterly destroyed by private interests , are still able to exist and not be overthrown ?

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Socrates: What shall we declare , O Crito , in reply to this question and others of the same kind ? For one may have much to say , especially if one were an Advocate , concerned about the destruction of That Law , which commands , that the decisions reached by the courts shall be valid . Or shall we say to them that , 50c ‘The state also wronged us since the case was not judged correctly .’ ?Shall we say this , or what ?Crito: This is what we shall say , by Zeus , O Socrates .Socrates: 12 What then if The Laws should say : The Laws: Is this the agreement which you also made with Us , O Socrates , or did you not agree , to abide by the judgments, which The State should pronounce ?Socrates: Then if we were surprised by what they said , perhaps they would continue …The Laws: O Socrates , do not be surprised at what We say , but answer , since you are ’also in the habit of employing the method of question and answer . Come , for what 50d charge do you bring against Us and The State that you are attempting to destroy Us ?

First of all , is it not through Us , on the one hand , that you were engendered , and through Us , that your mother and father were brought together and so begot you ?’Tell Us then , do you find any fault with Those of Us concerned with of Marriage ,in so far as Those Laws were not Nobly maintained ?Socrates : I should say , ‘I find no fault’ .

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The Laws: Or with Those of Us that bring about the nurture and education in whose Ministry you also share ? Or did those of Us Orderly Laws , who are assigned to these matters , not act Nobly , in giving orders to your father to educate you in music and gymnastics ? ;Socrates: ‘You did act Nobly’ , I should say . The Laws: 50e Since then , to begin with , having come into existence and nurturedand educated , could you say on the one hand , that you are not Our offspring and servant , you yourself and your ancestors ? And if this happens to be the case , ’do you imagine that consequently , an Equal Right could accordingly exist , between you ’and Us , so that whatever We undertake to do to you , you imagine that it is Just , for you ’to retaliate to this ? On the one hand ,neither was there any such Equal Right between youand your father , nor , if you had one , your master , so that , whatever treatment you received , this , you also return , neither reviling them in turn , having been reviled , 51 nor striking back , having been struck , nor any such like acts . And on the other hand , do you imagine that it will be proper for you to rise up in such a way , toward your Country and The Laws , so that , if We , undertake to destroy you , being lead to believe that it is Just , you will in turn undertake to destroy Us ,The Laws and your Country , so far as you are able , and you will say that in doing this , you are doing right , you ’

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who really care for The Truth of Virtue ? Or is your “wisdom” of such a kind , that you are oblivious , that your Country is more worthy of Honor and Holier and Purer and 51b Holds a Greater Dignity among The Gods and among men who possess Intelligence , ’than your mother and your father and all your other ancestors , and that you must also yield more reverence and obedience to your Country when She is angry , than to yourfather , and you ought either to persuade Her or do whatever She may command , and to suffer anything She may order you to suffer , suffering in silence , and if She order you to be scourged and imprisoned or if She should also lead you into war to be wounded or slain , this must be done , and in this way follow closely to Justice , and you must not yield nor withdraw , nor must you abandon your post ; so also in war and in court 51c and everywhere else , you must do whatever The State , your Country may command or persuade Her , as to what is , in reality , Just , since it is not pious to use violence against either your mother or your father , is it not even much less pious to use violence against your Country ? What shall we reply to this , O Crito , that The Laws speak The Truth , or not ? ( ; )Crito: To me at least , They appear to be . .

Socrates: 13 Moreover , The Laws might perhaps say , The Laws: Consider , O Socrates , that if this that We say is true , that what you are nowundertaking to do to Us , is not Just . For We engendered , nurtured , educated ,

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51d and gave a share of all the good things which We could , to you , and all the citizens , ’and likewise , We proclaim that by having offered an abundance of opportunities , to any

Athenian who wishes , since anyone who has scrutinized and seen The Administrationof The City and Us , The Laws , which , should We not prove satisfactory , he mayavail himself of that opportunity and take his goods and go away wherever he likes . And none of Us Laws will either impede the way nor dissuade you , if anyone of you desired to take your leave , to one of Our colonies , if We , and The State , are not satisfactory , or even , to go away to a foreign land , somewhere , to be an alien ; taking your leave and your belongings to go there , wherever you may wish . 51e But We say that whosoever of you should Abide with Us , seeing The Way in which ’We Administer Justice and Govern The State in other respects , has thereby self-evidentlybound himself to Us by this , to do that which We may Command ; and We say that he who does not persuade Us , does wrong , in a threefold manner , since he does not obey Us who are his Progenitors , and because we are his Nurturers , and finally , since having made a common-law agreement to obey Us , he neither obeys Us , nor persuades Us , 52 if indeed , We did not act Nobly in any way , though We give him The Support to do that which We may Command , not , under compulsion , but , We allow him a choice of two things , either , to convince Us of Our error , or to do as We say ;

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But he does neither of these things .14 We truly say , that you , O Socrates , will be exposed to these reproaches , if indeed you do what you have in mind , and you not least of the Athenians, but more than most . ’Socrates: If then I should say , ‘How so ?’ Perhaps they might answer me with Justice by saying , that I had made this agreement with Them , more emphatically , than the rest of the Athenians happened to make the very same agreement . For They might say that ,

The Laws: 52b For Us , O Socrates , there is strong positive proof of this , that for you We and The City were quite satisfactory ; for you would never have bound yourself ((in Her more eminently than all the other Athenians , if you had not been even more well- content ; for neither did you ever go out from The City to a festival , nor to anything else , ’’except on military service , and you never made any sojourn at all , as other people do ,and you had no desire to know any other City nor admit other Laws , but We were 52c sufficient for you , We and our City . So strongly were you content with Us , and agreed to live in accordance with Us , that besides , you begat children in Her , indicating’that The City was pleasing to you . And moreover even when She tried you , you might have offered exile as your penalty , if you wished , and at that time might have done so ,(voluntarily , with the Consent of The City , the very thing you are now undertaking to do.

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But at that time you were showing off , as you said you were not perturbed , if you must die , and that you preferred , as you said , “death rather than exile” . Are you then neither’ashamed , now , of those words and do We , The Laws not give you pause , since you52d intend to utterly destroy Us ; and are attempting to do what the most thoughtless slave would do , since you are attempting to run away contrary to The Contracts and Agreements , that you would live in accordance, as having the same wish , along with Us. ’So first then , will you yourself answer this question for us ? If we speak The Truth ’or not , when we say that , you agreed , not so much in word , but by your deeds , ’to live in accordance with Us .’ Socrates: What shall we say to this , O Crito ? Must we agree or say something else ?Crito: We must necessarily agree , O Socrates .

Socrates: They would continue…The Laws: 52e But are you not then , sidestepping your compacts and agreements with Us though you did not agree under compulsion nor were you deceived , and neither were you compelled to make up your mind in a short time , but you had seventy ’years , in which you could have gone away , if we were not pleasing to you and if the agreements did not appear to you to be Just : But you preferred neither Lacedaemon nor Crete , which in every occasion , you said to be Well-governed , nor any of the other 53 Hellenic states nor any of the foreign ones , but you went away from This City Herself

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even less than the lame and the blind and Her other maimed citizens ; in such a way that you were different from the other Athenians , clearly satisfied , with The City and with us , Its Laws ; for who would be pleased with a City apart from its Laws ? Andnow will you really not abide by your agreements ? You will , if you take Our advice , O Socrates ; and not become truly ridiculous by going away from The City .

15 For consider . Surely , by sidestepping and missing the mark in this way ,what good will you do for yourself or any of your close friends . For on the one hand ,53b it is quite clear , that if you leave behind your friends they will indeed be exposed to the risk of banishment from the city and deprived of their homes or of their property . But on the other hand , first of all , if you go to one of the nearest cities , either Thebes or Megara , for both are Well-governed , you yourself , O Socrates , will go as an enemy ,to their Government , and those who care for their own cities , will look down at you , being led to believe that you are a destroyer of Laws , and you will confirm the judges 53c in their opinion , so that they will believe that their verdict was honestly just . For he who is a destroyer of Laws , might quite certainly be regarded to be a destroyer of young and innocent men indeed . Next then , will you flee from the Well-governed cities and the most Well-ordered men ? And if you do this , will life , accordingly be worth living for you ? Or will you approach them and shamelessly carry on , who knows

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what kind of discussions , O Socrates ? Or the same kind you carried on here , saying that Virtue and Righteousness and That which is Lawful and The Laws are the most precious possessions for mankind ? And do you not believe that the conduct of Socrates 53d would appear disgraceful ? You cannot help but think so indeed ! Or will ’ you keep away from these places , and go to the friends of Crito in Thessaly ? (For there , much disorder and intemperance certainly prevail , and they would equally be pleased to hear of the ridiculous way in which you ran away from prison , by putting on a disguise , by either taking a peasant’s leathern cloak or indeed something in which runaways habitually dress up , and thus changing your appearance . But will no one say , that you , an old man , who had , as is likely , but a short time left 53e to live , clung to life with such shameless desire , that you sidestepped The Highest Laws ? If you did not offend anyone , perhaps not ; but if you did , O Socrates , you will have to listen , to many things that would be unworthy of you . Thus , you will live as an inferior and a slave to all men . And what will you do in Thessaly besides feasting , as if you had become a Thessalian to attend a banquet ? And what will happen to thosediscourses of Ours about Righteousness and all the other Virtues ? But perhaps you wish 54 to live for the sake of your children , in order that you may nurture and educate them ?How so ? Will you take them to Thessaly to be nurtured and educated , making them

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exiles , in order that you may also give them this advantage ? Or perhaps you will not do this , but if they are brought up here while you yourself are living , will they be better nurtured and educated , than if you were not living among them ? Oh yes ! For your close friends will care for them . Which of these is the case ? Will they care for them , if you go to live in Thessaly , but they will not take care of them , if you go to become a Citizen of The Unseen ? If indeed , those who say they are your close friends , are of any 54b use to you , we must necessarily believe that they will indeed .

The Divine Charioteers - Law and Justice16 O Socrates , be Persuaded only by Us who nurtured you from your infancy . ’Care neither for the children you made nor for life nor for anything else more than for That which is Just , in order that when you arrive at The Unseen Region , you may possess , all These Things for your own defense , for That Beginning . For it is apparent , that if you do this thing here , it will neither be Better , nor more Just nor Holier , not for you nor for any of your friends , and neither will it be better when 54c you arrive There . But now , on the one hand , if you do go to That Distant Place , you will go away having been wronged , however , not by Us , The Laws , but by men . ’But on the other hand , if you march out , in this way , thoughtlessly requiting in- justice with injustice and repaying bad deeds with bad deeds , sidestepping your contracts

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and agreements with Us , and working to injure those whom you least ought to injure , yourself , your loved-ones , your Country , and Us , We shall be angry with you , while you live , and There , our brothers , The Laws in The Region of The Unseen , will not graciously receive you ; knowing that you tried

for your part , to destroy Us . Therefore do not let Crito persuade you , 54d to do , what he says , but rather be Persuaded by Us .

17 Socrates: This , O beloved companion Crito , -Know Well- is that which I believe I hear just as The Korebants believe they hear the flutes , This sound of these words Themselves humming loudly within me , and enable me not to be affected by anything else I hear . Therefore , be assured that indeed , as far as that which has now been determined by me , if that which you say is against , these words , you will speak in vain . Nevertheless , if you think you can accomplish anything at all , by all means speak .Crito: No , O Socrates , I have nothing to say .54e Socrates: Yes indeed ! In that case , O Crito , let us act in this way ,

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since it is , in this way , that God leads us .

Saturday , 5 June 2004

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