Meletus of Athens - Take 2

 hē lupē– a recently discovered fragment of Meletus of Athens                      

Meletus of Athens today.

Plato pretends to have been there when Socrates was put on trial. He was not but home in his closet. I was there, as he knows, but I did not respond to Socrates’ questions, as Plato would have it; he responded to mine, which I was given permission to ask, though Socrates continued to beg throughout his apologia not to be interrupted. Socrates is like that; while he loves to interrupt others, he hates to be interrupted himself.

   He was going on again, as he had many times before, about the oracle at Delphi, how the impetuous Chaerephon went there to ask if there were anyone wiser than he, that is Socrates. The oracle, Socrates is always saying Chaerephon told him, said no; there was no man wiser than Socrates. Socrates went on to claim that he could not believe that without proof, though I can tell you he believed it very well. He set out, he said, to find a man wiser than he was, but he could not. Everyone that thought himself wise Socrates discovered was not – and he was quick to point it out.

   Naturally, he made enemies, as he himself admitted: “I was not unconscious of the enmity which I provoked, so you will wonder why I continued to provoke it. The word of the god” – meaning Apollo – “laid it upon me.”

   It was at this point that I interrupted, saying to the court: “I know Socrates has asked not to be interrupted, because he hates to be interrupted when he is speaking, as we all do. But as he does not hesitate to interrupt others – and misinterpret their words. Perhaps, then, I might ‘intervene,’ but only briefly; and I will not try to twist what he has to say.”

   Having been given permission, I asked Socrates: “You say that the oracle said, ‘There is no man wiser than Socrates,’ and you have taken that to mean you (not another Socrates). Let us grant that. Why would the oracle speak falsely? It would not, would it?”

   “No.”

   “Now if the oracle spoke truly, would the truth or falsehood of what it said have to be proved? It would not, would it?”

   “No.”

   “Now, Chaerephon did not ask, did he, ‘Is there any man more irritating than Socrates?’ And the oracle did not answer, ‘Yes, there is’”?’”

   “No.”

At this point, I saw Lycon raise his hand, meaning that a messenger had come to say that Phyllis was on her way, so I told the court that was all: “I asked to interrupt ‘briefly’; I do not wish to make a long summation, as Socrates likes to do,” I said, “putting together many fancy words and calling them plain. The truth here is plain. Socrates does not truly believe the words of the gods are true; or he believes in the gods only as long as he can twist their words to justify his behavior, which has not to do with truth but being what he wants to be, ‘a gadfly,’ irritating, as he has said many times.” And I left for lunch and did not come back.

   So, this is both true and irritating to Plato, Socrates never did question me.

01.28.16