Plat. "Rep." 575 B; "Gorg." 508 E.

To the state he was never the cause of any evil--neither disaster in
war, nor faction, nor treason, nor any other mischief whatsoever. And if
his public life was free from all offence, so was his private. He never
hurt a single soul either by deprivation of good or infliction of evil,
nor did he ever lie under the imputation of any of those misdoings.
WHere then is his liability to the indictment to be found? Who, so
far from disbelieving in the gods, as set forth in the indictment, was
conspicuous beyond all men for service to heaven; so far from corrupting
the young--a charge alleged with insistence by the prosecutor--was
notorious for the zeal with which he strove not only to stay his
associates from evil desires, but to foster in them a passionate desire
for that loveliest and queenliest of virtues without which states and
families crumble to decay. (38) Such being his conduct, was he not
worthy of high honour from the state of Athens?

(38) Or, "the noblest and proudest virtue by means of which states and
families are prosperously directed."

III

It may serve to illustrate the assertion that he benefited his
associates partly by the display of his own virtue and partly by verbal
discourse and argument, if I set down my various recollections (1)
on these heads. And first with regard to religion and the concerns of
heaven. In conduct and language his behaviour conformed to the rule laid
down by the Pythia (2) in reply to the question, "How shall we act?" as
touching a sacrifice or the worship of ancestors, or any similar point.
Her answer is: "Act according to the law and custom of your state, and
you will act piously." After this pattern Socrates behaved himself, and
so he exhorted others to behave, holding them to be but busybodies and
vain fellows who acted on any different principle.

(1) Hence the title of the work, {'Apomenmoneumata}, "Recollections,
Memoirs, Memorabilia." See Diog. Laert. "Xen." II. vi. 48.

(2) The Pythia at Delphi.

His formula or prayer was simple: "Give me that which is best for me,"
for, said he, the gods know best what good things are--to pray for gold
or silver or despotic power were no better than to make some particular
throw at dice or stake in battle or any such thing the subject of
prayer, of which the future consequences are manifestly uncertain. (3)

(3) See (Plat.) "Alcib. II." 142 foll.; Valerius Max. vii. 2;
"Spe