Chapter 3 Volume 1 Chapter 3

Confirmation of the character of Socrates, described in the first two chapters: his worship of the gods and exhortation to others to worship them, v. 1; his opinion on how the gods should be invoked, v. 2; The view that sacrifices are acceptable to God, v. 3; he values ​​omens, v. 4; he exercises self-control and exhorts others to do so, v. 5-15. In order to show how, in my opinion, Socrates benefited those with whom he was as a man, and by what he said to them, I will record as much as I can remember about it. .In his relation to the gods: his words and deeds are evidently in perfect agreement with the answer given by the priestess at the temple of Apollo to those who inquired how the gods should be worshiped and how to worship their ancestors; The answer is: to act according to the customs of the city-state is piety.Socrates not only did this himself, but he also persuaded others to do the same; he believed that those who did things in another way were acting rashly or foolishly.

When he prayed to God, he only asked God to give him good things, because only God knows what is good.He thinks that he who asks God for gold, silver, dominion, or anything of the sort, is like asking God to enable him to throw dice, or fight wars, or anything else whose outcome is not yet known.When he offered a small sacrifice to the gods according to his meager income, he thought that what he offered was not at all inferior to those who, because of their rich income, gave a large and rich sacrifice to the gods.For he thought that God would not be pleased only with great sacrifices but with lesser ones; if so, then the offerings of the wicked would be more acceptable to God than those of the good; On the contrary, things are more acceptable to God than the sacrifices offered by good people. For people, life has no value.He held that the gods are most pleased with the sacrifices of the most godly men.He often quotes with approval the following verse:

"Sacrifice according to one's own strength to the holy immortal gods". He also often said that this poem is a good advice to people: whether it is with friends, travelers or other relationships in life, you should do what you can. When he thinks that the gods are telling him what to do, he will never listen to anyone's advice, just as he will not let the blind and the blind guide him. what the gods have instructed him to do.He always reprimands others for their folly when they do not do what God has directed them to do, out of concern for man's condemnation.As for himself, he thinks that the opinions of all people are not worth paying attention to compared with the counsel of God.

He adopted a style of life that exercised his mind and body to live happily and safely without accident, and without wanting the necessary expenses.He lived very frugally, and I think that no one, however little his work, could earn enough to satisfy Socrates.He also uses only so much food as he can enjoy with pleasure, so that when he is ready to eat, his appetite itself is the best seasoning.Any kind of drink is good for him, because he only drinks when he is thirsty.When he accepts invitations to dinner parties, he can easily guard against overeating, which is difficult for most people to do.To those who were unable to do so, he exhorted them to refrain from eating when they were not hungry, and from drinking when they were not thirsty, because such things, he said, irritate the appetite, Disorders of mind and heart.He often joked that he thought Kierke turned men into pigs by giving a great feast, but Odysseus, on the advice of Hermes, restrained himself from eating such delicacies. Because of this, he was not turned into a pig.He always said this kind of thing in a joking and serious way.

Regarding pornography, he advises people to strictly abstain from being in love with attractive people; he said that once they become hot with such people, it will be very difficult to strictly control themselves.Once when he heard Critobulus, son of Critobulus, kiss the handsome son of Alcebiades, he asked Xenophon in front of Critobulus: Don't you think, Fern, that Critobulos is a temperate man instead of a reckless man, a prudent man instead of an ignorant and rash man?" "Of course," Xenophon replied. "But now you have to regard him as a reckless and daring person, a person who dares to break into a sword and jump into a fire pit."

"What did you see him do to think so badly of him?" asked Xenophon. "Why," replied Socrates, "is he not so bold as to dare to kiss the son of Alcibiadis, who is so handsome in his youth and in his prime?" "But," said Xenophon, "if such an act is called a daring adventure, then I think even I may risk it." "You poor creature," said Socrates, "do you know what happens when you kiss a handsome man? Don't you know that you will immediately lose your liberty and become a slave? It will cost you a lot of money on harmful things." In entertainment? Will you be entangled in many things and not be able to use your energy on noble and kind things? Even pursue things that even a lunatic would not bother to do?"

"My Heracles," exclaimed Xenophon, "with what terrible power you speak of a kiss!" "Do you think this is strange?" Socrates asked back, "Don't you know that although poisonous spiders (φαGηγγια) are less than half an inch in size, as long as they stick their mouths to people, they will cause people to feel great pain. Are you unconscious?" "Of course," said Xenophon, "because poisonous spiders inject something into the body when they bite." "You idiot," said Socrates, "don't you think that because you didn't see, the beauty didn't inject something into people when they kissed? Don't you know what people call "youth"? "beautiful" animals are much more terrifying than poisonous spiders? Because poisonous spiders only inject something into the human body when they touch it, but this kind of animal does not need to be touched, as long as people look at it, even from very Seeing him from afar, will he inject something that makes people crazy? People call love a shooter, and it may be for this reason that beautiful women can see it from a long distance. Hurts. But I advise you, Xenophon, as soon as you see a beauty, run away as fast as you can. O Critoboulos, I advise you to leave here for a year, during which time perhaps Your wounds can be healed, and it’s not even certain whether they will be healed or not!” In this way, regarding the enjoyment of lust, he believes that those who cannot resolutely control lust should limit the satisfaction of this type of desire to the urgent needs of the body. When the mind consents to the need, and the need does not cause harm.As for himself, he was very virtuous in such matters, and could not be affected by even the most youthful and beautiful people; It is inevitable to be tempted.Such was the state of his affections with regard to food and lust; and he believed that by this self-control he enjoyed no less, and suffered much less pain, than those who painstakingly pursued the gratification of these desires.