SOCRATES, the celebrated Greek philosopher and moralist, was born at Athens in the year 469 B.C. His father, Sophroniskus, was a sculptor and he followed the same profession in the early part of his life. His family was respectable in descent, but humble in point of means. He had the usual education of the Athenian citizen, which included not only a knowledge of the mother tongue, and readings in the Greek poets, but also the elements of arithmetic, geometry and astronomy as then known. Excepting in connection with his philosophical career, few circumstances of his life are known. He served as a hoplite, or heavy-armed foot-soldier, at the siege of Potidaea, at the battle of Deliurn, and at Amphipolis, and his bravery and endurance were greatly extolled by his friends.
Somewhere about the middle period of his life, he relinquished his profession as statuary, and gave himself up to the career that made him famous. Deservedly styled a philosopher, he neither secluded himself for study, nor opened a school for the regular instruction of pupils. He disclaimed the appellation of teacher; his practice was to talk or converse, "to prattle without end," as his enemies said. Early in the morning he frequented the public walks, the gymnasia for bodily training, and the school where youths were receiving instruction; he was to be seen at the market-place at the hour when it was most crowded, among the booths and tables where goods were exposed for sale. His whole day was usually spent in this public manner. He talked with any one, young or old, rich or poor, who sought to address him, and in the hearing of all who stood by. As it was engaging, curious, and instrutive to hear, certain persons made it their habit to attend him in public as companions and listeners.
Cicero said that "Socrates brought down philosophy from the the heavens to the earth." The previous philosophies consisted of vast and vague speculations on nature as a whole, blending together Cosmogony, Astronomy, Geometry, Physics, Metaphysics, etc. Socrates had studied these systems, and they had left on his mind a feeling of emptiness and unsuitability for any human purpose. It seemed to him that men's endeavors after knowledge would be better directed to human relationships, as involving men's practical concerns. Accordingly he was the first to proclaim that "the proper study of mankind is man;" human nature, human duties and human happiness make up a field of really urgent and profitable inquiry.
In the year 400 B.C., an indictment was laid against Socrates, in the following terms; "Socates is guilty of crime; first, for not worshipping the gods whom the city worships, and for introducing new divinities of his own; next for corrupting the youth. The penalty due is death." The trial took place before a court composed of citizen-judges, like our juries, but far more numerous; the number present seems to have been 557. His defense is preserved by Plato, under the title Apology of Socrates. He dwelt on his mission to convit men of their ignorance for their ultimate benefit; pronounced himself a public blessing to the Athenians; declared that if his life was preserved he would continue in the same course; and regarded the prospect of death with utter indifference. By a majority of five or six he was adjudged guilty and sentenced to death by poison. The last day of his life he passed in conversation with his friends on the Immortality of the soul. He then drank the hemlock, and passed away with the dignity and calmness becoming his past career.
- A system of morality which is based on relative emotional values is a mere
- llusion, a thoroughly vulgar conception which has nothing sound in it and nothing true.
- All men's souls are immortal, but the souls of the righteous are immortal and divine.
- An honest man is always a child.
- As for me, all I know is that I know nothing.
- As to marriage or celibacy, let a man take which course he will, he will be sure to repent.
- Be slow to fall into friendship; but when thou art in, continue firm and constant.
- Beauty is a short-lived tyranny.
- Beauty is the bait which with delight allures man to enlarge his kind.
- Beware the barrenness of a busy life.
- By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you'll become happy; if you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.
- Death may be the greatest of all human blessings.
- Employ your time in improving yourself by other men's writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have labored hard for.
- False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.
- From the deepest desires often come the deadliest hate.
- He is a man of courage who does not run away, but remains at his post and fights against the enemy.
- He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature.
- I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.
- I decided that it was not wisdom that enabled poets to write their poetry, but a kind of instinct or inspiration, such as you find in seers and prophets who deliver all their sublime messages without knowing in the least what they mean.
- I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance.
