Apology and Memorabilia - Xenophon, O.J. Todd, E.C. Marchant

Written by Xenophon, O.J. Todd, E.C. Marchant
Read by David Rintoul
Format: M4A
Bitrate: Variable
Unabridged

Duration: 4 hrs and 51 mins

Apology

[Translated by O. J. Todd]

The account of Socrates’ trial for corrupting youth and impiety - Socrates declines to mount a truly robust defence on the basis that in some ways it would be better to accept the judgment of the court, however unjust, and die, rather than ‘pay the old man’s forfeit’ by declining into senility and illness.

Memorabilia

[Translated by E.C. Marchant]

Memorabilia offers a succession of engaging tableaux in which Socrates (as in Plato’s accounts) interacts with a variety of prominent Athenian figures, challenging, explaining, expounding and generally running rings around his interlocutors.

The topics are often about everyday civic life, purpose, manners and attitudes. He gives clear instruction on the value of good friends, how to be a good general, a good cavalry leader; unexpectedly, he compares the role of the businessman with that of the general and clarifies what is needed by an individual aspiring to be head of state. When someone asks Socrates what seemed to him the best pursuit for a man, he answers, “Doing well. He who does nothing well is neither useful in any way nor dear to the gods.”

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