ny one came seeking for help which no human wisdom could supply,
he would counsel him to give heed to "divination." He who has the secret
of the means whereby the gods give signs to men touching their affairs
can never surely find himself bereft of heavenly guidance.

VIII

Now if any one should be disposed to set the statement of Socrates
touching the divinity (1) which warned him what he ought to do or not
to do, against the fact that he was sentenced to death by the board of
judges, and argue that thereby Socrates stood convicted of lying and
delusion in respect of this "divinity" of his, I would have him to note
in the first place that, at the date of his trial, Socrates was already
so far advanced in years that had he not died then his life would have
reached its natural term soon afterwards; and secondly, as matters went,
he escaped life's bitterest load (2) in escaping those years which
bring a diminution of intellectual force to all--instead of which he was
called upon to exhibit the full robustness of his soul and acquire glory
in addition, (3) partly by the style of his defence--felicitous alike in
its truthfulness, its freedom, and its rectitude (4)--and partly by
the manner in which he bore the sentence of condemnation with infinite
gentleness and manliness. Since no one within the memory of man, it is
admitted, ever bowed his head to death more nobly. After the sentence he
must needs live for thirty days, since it was the month of the "Delia,"
(5) and the law does not suffer any man to die by the hand of the public
executioner until the sacred embassy return from Delos. During the whole
of that period (as his acquaintances without exception can testify)
his life proceeded as usual. There was nothing to mark the difference
between now and formerly in the even tenour of its courage; and it was
a life which at all times had been a marvel of cheerfulness and calm
content. (6)

(1) Or, "the words of Socrates with regard to a divine something which
warned him," etc.

(2) The phraseology is poetical.

(3) Or, "in a manner which redounded to his glory."

(4) Or, "marvellous alike for the sincerity of its language, the free
unbroken spirit of its delivery, and the absolute rectitude of the
speaker."

(5) i.e. the lesser "Delian" solemnities, an annual festival
instituted, it was said, by Theseus. See Plut. "Theseus," 23
(Clough, i. 19); and for the whole matter see Plat. "Phaed." 5