[8] See above, II. x. 3; 'Symp.' i. 3; iii. 14; iv. 47 foll.; vi. 2; 'Apol.' 2; Plat. 'Crat.' 384.
[9] See above, I. i. 1.
[10] {to daimonion}--'the divine (voice).'
[11] This passage also may, perhaps, be regarded as spurious.
[12] Or, 'There floats before my eyes a vision of the many who have gone this same gate. I note their legacies of fame among posterity.'
Such are the words which he spoke in conversation with Hermogenes and the rest. But amongst those who knew Socrates and recognised what manner of man he was, all who make virtue and perfection their pursuit still to this day cease not to lament his loss with bitterest regret, as for one who helped them in the pursuit of virtue as none else could.
To me, personally, he was what I have myself endeavoured to describe: so pious and devoutly religious[13] that he would take no step apart from the will of heaven; so just and upright that he never did even a trifling injury to any living soul; so self-controlled, so temperate, that he never at any time chose the sweeter in place of the better; so sensible, and wise, and prudent that in distinguishing the better from the worse he never erred; nor had he need of any helper, but for the knowledge of these matters, his judgment was at once infallible and self-sufficing. Capable of reasonably setting forth and defining moral questions,[14] he was also able to test others, and where they erred, to cross-examine and convict them, and so to impel and guide them in the path of virtue and noble manhood. With these characteristics, he seemed to be the very impersonation of human perfection and happiness. [15]
[13] Or, 'of such piety and religious devotedness . . . of such rectitude . . . of such sobreity and self-control . . . of such sound sense and wisdom . . .'
[14] Or, 'gifted with an ability logically to set forth and to define moral subtleties.'
[15] Or, 'I look upon him as at once the best and happiest of men.'
Such is our estimate. If the verdict fail to satisfy I would ask those who disagree with it to place the character of any other side by side with this delineation, and then pass sentence.
