the author
treats this accusation entirely under the aspect of atheism, and tries to
refute it by positive proofs of the piety of Socrates. But not one word is
said about there being, in and for itself, anything remarkable or
improbable in the charge. In Plato's _Apology_, Plato makes Socrates ask
the accuser point-blank whether he is of the opinion that he, Socrates,
does not believe in the gods at all and accordingly is a downright denier
of the gods, or whether he merely means to say that he believes in other
gods than those of the State. He makes the accuser answer that the
assertion is that Socrates does not believe in any gods at all. In Plato
Socrates refutes the accusation indirectly, using a line of argument
entirely differing from that of Xenophon. But in Plato, too, the
accusation is treated as being in no way extraordinary. In my opinion,
Plato's _Apology_ cannot be used as historical evidence for details unless
special reasons can be given proving their historical value beyond the
fact that they occur in the _Apology_. But in this connexion the question
is not what was said or not said at Socrates's trial. The decisive point
is that we possess two quite independent and unambiguous depositions by
two fully competent witnesses of the beginning of the fourth century which
both treat of the charge of atheism as something which is neither strange
nor surprising at their time. It is therefore permissible to conclude that
in Athens at this time there really existed circles or at any rate not a
few individuals who had given up the belief in the popular gods.

A dialogue between Socrates and a young man by name Aristodemus, given in
Xenophon's _Memorabilia_, makes the same impression. Of Aristodemus it is
said that he does not sacrifice to the gods, does not consult the Oracle
and ridicules those who do so. When he is called to account for this
behaviour he maintains that he does not despise "the divine," but is of
the opinion that it is too exalted to need his worship. Moreover, he
contends that the gods do not trouble themselves about mankind. This is,
of course, not atheism in our sense; but Aristodemus's attitude is,
nevertheless, extremely eccentric in a community like that of Athens in
the fifth century. And yet it is not mentioned as anything isolated and
extraordinary, but as if it were something which, to be sure, was out of
the common, but not unheard of.

It is further to be observed that at the end of th