not
appear that he was observant of those cares which by most men are
probably considered as paramount, giving himself but little concern for
the support of his children and wife. The good woman Xantippe is, to all
appearance, one of those characters who are unfairly judged of by the
world. Socrates married her because of her singular conversational
powers; and though he himself, according to universal testimony,
possessed extraordinary merits in that respect, he found to his cost,
when too late, so commanding were her excellencies, that he was
altogether her inferior. Among the amusing instances related of his
domestic difficulties were the consequences of his invitations to
persons to dine with him when there was nothing in the house wherewith
to entertain them, a proceeding severely trying to the temper of
Xantippe, whose cause would unquestionably be defended by the matrons of
any nation. It was nothing but the mortification of a high-spirited
woman at the acts of a man who was too shiftless to have any concern for
his domestic honour. He would not gratify her urgent entreaties by
accepting from those upon whom he lavished his time the money that was
so greatly needed at home. After his condemnation, she carried her
children with her to his prison, and was dismissed by him, as he told
his friends, from his apprehension of her deep distress. To the last we
see her bearing herself in a manner honourable to a woman and a wife.
There is surely something wrong in a man's life when the mother of his
children is protesting against his conduct, and her complaints are
countenanced by the community. In view of all the incidents of the
history of Socrates, we can come to no other conclusion than that the
Athenians regarded him as an unworthy, and perhaps troublesome member of
society. There can be no doubt that his trial and condemnation were
connected with political measures. He himself said that he should have
suffered death previously, in the affair of Leon of Salamis, had not the
government been broken up. His bias was toward aristocracy, not toward
democracy. In common with his party, he had been engaged in undertakings
that could not do otherwise than entail mortal animosities; and it is
not to be overlooked that his indictment was brought forward by Anytus,
who was conspicuous in restoring the old order of things. The mistake
made by the Athenians was in applying a punishment altogether beyond the
real offence, and in a