Text A……
The Wisdom of Socrates
I will try to explain to you what has given rise to these slanders and given me a bad name.Listen then.Some of you will think that I am joking, but I assure you that I will tell you the whole truth.I have gained this bad reputation, Athenians, simply by reason of a certain kind of wisdom.What kind of wisdom?It is by that sort of wisdom which is possible to men .
It may be that in having that I am really wise .
But the men of whom I was speaking just now must be wise in a wisdom which is greater than human wisdom, or in some way which I cannot describe since I know nothing of it myself, and if any man says that I do know anything of superhuman wisdom, he lies and wants to slander me .
( Interruptions .) Do not interrupt me, Athenians, even if you think that I am speaking arrogantly.I am going to say something which is not my own.I will tell you who says it and he deserves to be believed by you.I will bring the god of Delphi to be the witness of the fact of my wisdom and of its nature .
You remember Chaerephon.From youth upwards he was my comrade.You remember his character.He was impetuous.Once he went to Delphi and ventured to put this question to the Oracle - (interruptions) - I entreat you again , my friends, not to cry out - he asked if there was any man who was wiser than I, and the priestess answered that there was no man .
Chaerephon himself is dead, but his brother here will confirm what I say .
Why do I tell you this?I am going to explain to you the origin of my unpopularity .
When I heard what the Oracle had said I began to reflect .
What could God mean by this dark saying ?
I knew very well that I was no wise, even in the smallest degree.Then what could he mean by saying that I was the wisest of men?It cannot be that he was speaking falsely for he is a god and cannot lie .For a long time I was at a loss to understand his meaning.After turning it over in my mind for a long time I thought of a way of testing the matter.I went to a man who was said to be wise thinking that there if anywhere I should prove the Oracle wrong, and meaning to point out to the Oracle its mistake .
I should be able to say,“You said that I was the wisest of men, but this man is wiser than I am .”So I examined the man - I need not tell you his name; he was a politician - but this was the result, Athenians.When I talked with him I found that , though a great many persons, and most of all he himself thought that he was wise, yet he was not wise .Then I tried to prove to him that I was not wise though he fancied he was, and by so doing I made him, and many of the bystanders, my enemies.So when I went away I thought to myself,“I am wiser than this man .Probably neither of us knows anything that is really good , but he thinks that he has knowledge, does not think that I have.I do not think that I know what I do not know, and on this point, at any rate, I seem to be a little wiser than he is .”
Next I went to another man who said to be even wiser than the last , with exactly the same result.Here again I made him and many other men, my enemies .
I went on to one man after another, making enemies every day.This caused me much unhappiness and anxiety, but I thought that I must set God s command above everything .
So I had to go to every man who seemed to possess any knowledge, and search for the meaning of the Oracle.This was the result of the search which I made at God s bidding : the men whose reputation for wisdom stood highest were among those most lacking in it ,while others, who were looked down on as common people, were much better fitted to learn .
Now I must describe to you the wanderings which I undertook to make full proof of the Oracle .
After the politicians I went to the poets, thinking that I should find myself clearly more ignorant than they.So I took the poems on which I thought they had spent most pains, and asked them what they meant ,hoping to learn something from them.I am ashamed to tell you the truth, my friends, but I must say it.Almost any of the bystanders could have talked about the works of these poets better than the poets themselves.So I soon found out that it is not by wisdom that the poets create their works, but by a certain natural power and by inspiration, like soothsayers and prophets who say fine things but who understand nothing of what they say.At the same time I saw that because of their poetry, they thought that they were the wisest of men in other matters too, which they were not .
So I went away again, thinking that I had the same advantage over the poets as I had over the politicians .
Finally I went to the skilled workmen, for I knew very well that I possessed no knowledge at all worth speaking of, and I was sure that I should find that they knew many fine things, and in that I was not mistaken.But, Athenians,they made the same mistake as the poets.Each of them believed himself to be extremely wise in matters of the greatest importance because he was skilled in his own art.I asked myself on behalf of the Oracle, whether I would choose to remain as I was, without either their wisdom or their ignorance, or to possess both , as they did.I made answer to myself and to the Oracle that it was better for me to remain as I was .
By reason of this examination, Athenians, I have made enemies of a very bitter and fierce kind, who have spread abroad a great number of slanders about me.People say that I am a“wise man” , thinking that I am wise myself in any matter in which I show another man to be ignorant.But my friends, I believe that only God is really wise, and that by this Oracle he meant that mens wisdom is worth little or nothing.I do not think he meant that Socrates was wise.He only took me as an example as though he would say to men,“He among you is the wisest who, like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is worth little at all.
Ⅰ.Words and Expressions
slander n.& v.诽谤。
arrogantly ad.傲慢地。
Delphi a place in Greece where, in ancient times, there was a famous temple and oracle of Apollo.
impetuous a.tending to take quick action but without careful thought促的, 鲁莽的。
entreat v.恳求。
Oracle a priestess or priest who was supposed to be inspired by a god; also the answer given by such a person to a particular question 宣示神谕的人;宣示神谕的人对某个问题的答复。
at any rate in any case; when all things are considered bidding n.order ; command.
soothsayer n.a person who tells the future.