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Section 19

Let us examine from the beginning what the accusation is from which the slander against me has arisen, the very slander Meletus trusted when he wrote this indictment against me. What did the slanderers say to slander me? We must read their sworn statement, as if they were official accusers: "Socrates acts unjustly and is a meddler, investigating the things beneath the earth and the heavenly bodies, making the weaker argument the stronger, and teaching these same things to others." It is something like this. You yourselves saw these things in the comedy of Aristophanes: a certain Socrates swinging around up there, claiming he was walking on air and spouting a great deal of other nonsense about matters of which I have no knowledge, great or small. And I do not say this to disparage such knowledge, if anyone is wise in such things—may I never be prosecuted by Meletus on charges of such magnitude!—but the fact is, men of Athens, I have no share in these matters. I offer the majority of you as witnesses to this, and I ask you to inform and tell each other, as many of you as have ever heard me conversing—and there are many of you. Tell each other, then, if any of you has ever heard me conversing about such matters, either briefly or at length. And from this you will know that the other things the multitude says about me are of the same nature. But in fact, none of this is true. And if you have heard from anyone that I undertake to educate people and charge money for it, that is not true either. Though it seems to me to be a fine thing if a man is actually able to educate people, like Gorgias of Leontini, Prodicus of Ceos, and Hippias of Elis. Each of these men, gentlemen, is able to go into any city and persuade the young men—who could associate with any of their own citizens for free—to leave the company of their fellow citizens, associate with them instead, pay them money, and be grateful besides.