TION OF SOCRATES.

Socrates, as you know, was one of the best and gentlest of men, yet he
had many enemies. These were principally the people who were jealous of
him and of his renown for great wisdom; for his reputation was so well
established, that the oracle at Delphi, when consulted, replied that the
most learned man in Greece was Socrates.

Although Socrates was so wise and good and gentle, he was not at all
conceited, and showed his wisdom by never pretending to know what he did
not know, and by his readiness to learn anything new, provided one could
prove it to be true.

Among the noted Athenians of this time was Aristophanes, a writer of
comedies or funny plays. He was so witty that his comedies are still
admired almost as much as when they were played in the Theater of
Dionysus for the amusement of the people.

Like most funny men, Aristophanes liked to turn everything into
ridicule. He had often seen Socrates and Alcibiades walking through the
streets of Athens, and was greatly amused at the contrast they
presented.

Now, Aristophanes, with all his cleverness, was not always just; and
while his ridicule sometimes did good, at other times it did a great
deal of harm. He soon learned to dislike Alcibiades; but he saw how
dearly the people loved the young man, and fancied that his faults must
be owing to the bad advice of his teacher. Such was not the case, for
Socrates had tried to bring out all the good in his pupil. Alcibiades'
pride, insolence, and treachery were rather the result of the constant
flattery to which he had been exposed on the part of those who claimed
to be his friends.

Aristophanes disliked Alcibiades so much that he soon wrote a comedy
called "The Clouds," in which he made fun of him. Of course, he did not
call the people in the play by their real names; but the hero was a
good-for-nothing young man, who, advised by his teacher, bought fast
horses, ran his father into debt, cheated everybody, and treated even
the gods with disrespect.

As the actors who took part in this comedy dressed and acted as nearly
as possible like Alcibiades and Socrates, you can imagine that the play,
which was very comical and clever, made the Athenians roar with
laughter.

Everybody talked about it, repeated the best jokes, and went again and
again to see and laugh over it. We are told that Socrates went there
himself one day; and, when asked why he had come, he quietly said, "I
came to find out wheth