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had gained anything, or if my exhortations had been paid, there 
would have been some sense in my doing so; but now, as you will 
perceive, not even the impudence of my accusers dares to say that I 
have ever exacted or sought pay of any one; of that they have no 
witness. And I have a sufficient witness to the truth of what I 
say— my poverty. 

Some one may wonder why I go about in private giving advice 
and busying myself with the concerns of others, but do not venture 
to come forward in public and advise the state. I will tell you why. 
You have heard me speak at sundry times and in divers places of an 
oracle or sign which comes to me, and is the divinity which Meletus 
ridicules in the indictment. This sign, which is a kind of voice, first 
began to come to me when I was a child; it always forbids but never 
commands me to do anything which I am going to do. This is what 
deters me from being a politician. And rightly, as I think. For I am 
certain, O men of Athens, that if I had engaged in politics, I should 
have perished long ago, and done no good either to you or to my- 
self. And do not be offended at my telling you the truth: for the 
truth is, that no man who goes to war with you or any other multi- 
tude, honestly striving against the many lawless and unrighteous 
deeds which are done in a state, will save his life; he who will fight 
for the right, if he would live even for a brief space, must have a 
private station and not a public one. 

I can give you convincing evidence of what I say, not words only, 
but what you value far more— actions. Let me relate to you a pas- 
sage of my own life which will prove to you that I should never 
have yielded to injustice from any fear of death, and that 'as I 
should have refused to yield' I must have died at once. I will tell 
you a tale of the courts, not very interesting perhaps, but neverthe- 
less true. The only office of state which I ever held, O men of 
Athens, was that of senator: the tribe Antiochis, which is my tribe, 
had the presidency at the trial of the generals who had not taken up