THE APOLOGY

By Xenophon

Translation by H. G. Dakyns

                 Xenophon the Athenian was born 431 B.C. He was a                 pupil of Socrates. He marched with the Spartans,                 and was exiled from Athens. Sparta gave him land                 and property in Scillus, where he lived for many                 years before having to move once more, to settle                 in Corinth. He died in 354 B.C.

                 The Apology describes Socrates' state of mind at                 his trial and execution, and especially his view                 that it was better to die before senility set in                 than to escape execution by humbling himself be-                 fore an unjust persecution. Xenophon was away at                 the time, involved in the events of the march of                 the ten thousand.

PREPARER'S NOTE

This was typed from Dakyns' series, "The Works of Xenophon," a four-volume set. The complete list of Xenophon's works (though there is doubt about some of these) is:

     Work                                   Number of books     The Anabasis                                         7     The Hellenica                                        7     The Cyropaedia                                       8     The Memorabilia                                      4     The Symposium                                        1     The Economist                                        1     On Horsemanship                                      1     The Sportsman                                        1     The Cavalry General                                  1     The Apology                                          1     On Revenues                                          1     The Hiero                                            1     The Agesilaus                                        1     The Polity of the Athenians and the Lacedaemonians   2

Text in brackets "{}" is my transliteration of Greek text into English using an Oxford English Dictionary alphabet table. The diacritical marks have been lost.

Footnotes

THE APOLOGY OF SOCRATES 1

Among the reminiscences of Socrates, none, as it seems to me, is more deserving of record than the counsel he took with himself 2 (after being cited to appear before the court), not only with regard to his defence, but also as to the ending of his life. Others have written on this theme, and all without exception have touched upon 3 the lofty style of the philosopher, 4 which may be taken as a proof that the language used by Socrates was really of that type. But none of these writers has brought out clearly the fact that Socrates had come to regard death as for himself preferable to life; and consequently there is just a suspicion of foolhardiness in the arrogancy of his address. 5 We have, however, from the lips of one of his intimate acquaintances, Hermogenes, <

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