Chapter 31 dying speech

Dear fellow Athens! Time is short, and you will accuse those who have discredited the city of Athens, because they put that wise man Socrates to death; and those who have discredited you also insist that I am a Wise man, actually not.If you wait for a while, you will naturally see the end of your life, because I am not young anymore, and the day of near death is not far away.But I don't want to speak to you, but to those who want to kill me.Fellow countrymen: You may think that I am condemned because I like to argue, but if I say that I am easy to argue, then if I think it is right, I may use this to persuade you and defend myself, and still avoid the death penalty; Actually, I was not convicted of being argumentative, but of having the audacity to preach heresy to you, but that was nothing more than what is commonly told to you.

But I do not think that, in order to avoid danger, I should do what is not worthy of a free man, and I do not regret the way I have justified myself.I would rather die than live by defending.For it is wrong, neither for me nor for anyone else, to use every possible means of evading death, in judgment or in war.In time of war, if a man wishes to escape death, he may lay down his arms, and submit to the mercy of the enemy; and there are many other means of evading rote, if he dares to do and speak. But, my countrymen of Athens!It is not difficult to avoid death, but it is difficult to avoid the fall, because it runs faster than death.I, being old and slow, was overtaken by death; and my accusers, who were young and vigorous, were overtaken by evil, corruption, which ran faster.Now, I am going to leave this world because I was sentenced to death by them; but they betrayed the truth and committed the crime of evil and injustice.Since I accepted the punishment, they should also accept the sentence, which is a matter of course.

Next, I will prophesy to you who will judge me, and what will happen to you in the future: for people are usually prophets when they are about to die, and I was in this situation at this time.fellow countrymen!Let me tell you, who put me to death!And soon after my death, Zeus, the god of the sky, will punish you even more cruelly than you have done to me. Although you think you are not responsible for what you have done, I can guarantee the opposite.There will be more accusers against you, and I am restraining them at this time, though you cannot see them; and they will be more fierce, because they are younger, and you will be more angry.If you think that by putting someone to death you will avoid condemnation, you are very much mistaken.This way of evasion is neither possible nor honorable, but the other, more honorable and simpler way, is not to restrain others, but to pay attention to oneself and to make oneself perfect.To those who condemned me to death, I prophesied so much that I bid farewell.

But for those who agree that I am not guilty, I would like to talk to you about what happened while the judge is busy and I have not yet gone to the execution ground.Stay with me until I die!fellow countrymen!We are about to say goodbye!Nothing can stop us talking at this time, we are allowed to talk, I want to treat you as friends and let you know what just happened to me.Just judges!A strange thing happened to me, for usually, if I should do something wrong, even in a small trifle, my patron saint would stop me with his prophetic voice; but at this moment anyone could see What happened to me, everyone would say it's a heinous thing, and I didn't hear it when I left home in the morning, when I came here for the trial, when I was going to speak to you God's warning.On other occasions he used to come against me for anything I did or said.So, what is the reason?I tell you: what happened to me was a blessing to me; we all regard death as a sin, which is not true, because God's signal did not warn me of this.

Furthermore, we can conclude from this that death is a blessing with great hope.For death can signify two things: one, that the dead man is henceforth annihilated forever, and no longer has any sense of anything; and two, as we have said, that the soul of a man is changed by death, and rises from one place to another.If it is the former, the dead are as unconscious as a sleeping man without dreams, and death is a wonderful gain.If a man were to choose a night in which he slept soundly and without dreams, and compared that night with other nights or days, he would surely say that neither day nor night in his life passed later than this. Better, happier people.I don't think it's just an ordinary person who will say this, even the people will find this a kind of gain; because all the future is just like a dreamless night!

Conversely, if death is a migration from one place to another, if this is true, then all the dead are there.Judge!So what is a greater happiness than this?Because if the dead man goes to the underworld, he can get rid of those who pretend to be judges, and see the real judges as judges in the underworld, like Minoci, Damantis, Aeacus, and Triptole. Moss, and a few other demigods, are just as they were when they were alive.Is this migration sad?Moreover, people like Orpheus, Musaius, Hesiod and Homer can also be seen.If there is such a thing, I would really like to die often. It is better for me to live there, and I can meet Perkinmedes, Ajax son of Telamon, and anyone who was unjustly executed. the ancients.It will give me much pleasure to compare my experience with theirs.

But the greatest joy is spending time there studying everyone, as I do here, to find out who is really wise and who is pretending to be wise.Judges!Who would miss a great opportunity not to study the man who led the great army against Troy?Or Odysseus?Or Sisyphus?Or thousands of others?Whether male or female, we often refer to people.It will be the greatest joy to talk to them, connect with them, and ask them questions.Of course, the judges there don't sentence people to death, because the people who live there are happier than the people who live here, so they are immortal. Therefore, you judges, respect death so that you can be hopeful.Consider this truth carefully.Nothing is evil to a good man, whether he lives or dies, or whether his affairs are neglected by God.What happened to me was no accident, and it would be better for me to be dead now, to be rid of all troubles.Since God did not stop me, I have no grudge against the one who put me to death, nor against my accusers, although they did not condemn and accuse me for this purpose, but only wanted to hurt me. They are to blame.

However, I ask them not to do these things, and if my sons grow up to put wealth or other things aside from virtue, judges, punish them!pain them as I have pained you.If they think they are great, when they have nothing in their hearts, blame them, as I blame you.If they don't do what they should, punish them likewise!If they do, my sons and I shall receive the same fair treatment from your hands. The time has come for us to part - I will die and you will live, but only God knows which of us will come to a better country.