ocrates notes that his accusers have cautioned the jury against Socrates’eloquence, but, according to Socrates, the difference between him and hisaccusers is that Socrates speaks the truth. Socrates distinguished twogroups of accusers: the earlier and the later accusers. The earlier group isthe hardest to defend against, since they do not appear in court. He isalso accused of being a Sophist: that he is a teacher and takes money forhis teaching. He attempts to explain why he has attracted such areputation. The oracle was asked if anyone was wiser than Socrates. Theanswer was no, there was no man wiser. Socrates cannot believe thisoracle, so he sets out to disprove it by finding someone who is wiser. Hegoes to a politician, who is thought wise by himself and others. Socratesdoes not think this man to be wise and tells him so. As a consequence,the politician hated Socrates, as did others who heard the questioning. "Iam better off, because while he knows nothing but thinks that he knows, Ineither know nor think that I know" (Socrates). He questioned politicians,poets, and artisans. He finds that the poets do not write from wisdom, butby genius and inspiration. Meletus charges Socrates with being "a doer of evil, and corruptor of theyouth, and he does not believe in the gods of the State, and has other newdivinities of his own." In his examination of Meletus, Socrates makes threemain points: 1) Meletus has accused Socrates of being the only corruptor,while everyone else improves the youth. Socrates then uses an analogy: ahorse trainer is to horses as an improver is to the youth. The point is thatthere is only one improver, not many. 2) If Socrates corrupts the youth,either it is intentional or unintentional. No one would corrupt his neighborintentionally, because he would harm himself in the process. If thecorruption was unintentional, then the court is not the place to resolve theproblem. The other possibility is that he does not cor...
