17c2
The Apology of Socrates 17c2 · Don't shout me down17c2Don't shout me down
He makes one request: if he talks the way he always talks in the market, the jury should not be surprised or start to heckle.
· · ·
καὶ1
kaì
And
μέντοι2
méntoi
indeed
καὶ3
kaì
also
πάνυ4
pány
very muchaltogether
, ὦ5
ô
O
ἄνδρες6
ándres
men
Ἀθηναῖοι7
Athēnaîoi
of AthensAthenians
, τοῦτο8
toûto
this
ὑμῶν9
hymôn
of you
δέομαι10
déomai
I askI need
καὶ11
kaì
and
παρίεμαι12
paríemai
I begI let myself down
·; ἐὰν13
eàn
if
διὰ17
dià
inthrough
τῶν18
tôn
the
αὐτῶν19
autôn
same
λόγων20
lógōn
words
ἀκούητέ14
akoúēté
you hear
μου15
mou
me
ἀπολογουμένου16
apologouménou
making my defencespeaking in reply
διʼ21
di’
inthrough
ὧνπερ22
hônper
the very ones
εἴωθα23
eíōtha
I usuallyI am used to
λέγειν24
légein
speakto speak
καὶ25
kaì
both
ἐν26
en
in
ἀγορᾷ27
agorâi
the marketplacethe gathering place
ἐπὶ28
epì
at
τῶν29
tôn
the
τραπεζῶν30
trapezôn
bankers' tables
, ἵνα31
hína
where
ὑμῶν32
hymôn
of you
πολλοὶ33
polloì
many
ἀκηκόασι34
akēkóasi
have heard me
, καὶ35
kaì
and
ἄλλοθι36
állothi
elsewhere
, μήτε37
mḗte
neither
θαυμάζειν38
thaumázein
to be surprisedto wonder
μήτε39
mḗte
nor
θορυβεῖν40
thorybeîn
to make an uproarto make a din
τούτου41
toútou
this
ἕνεκα42
héneka
because offor the sake of
. And indeed, very much also, men of Athens, I ask and beg this of you: if you hear me making my defence in the same words I usually speak in both in the marketplace at the bankers' tables, where many of you have heard me, and elsewhere, neither to be surprised nor to make an uproar because of this.
And indeed, very much also, men of Athens, I ask and beg this of you: if you hear me making my defence in the same words I usually speak in both in the marketplace at the bankers' tables, where many of you have heard me, and elsewhere, neither to be surprised nor to make an uproar because of this.
Interpretation
And I very much ask and beg this of you, men of Athens: if you hear me making my defence in the same words I usually speak in, in the marketplace at the bankers' tables, where many of you have heard me, and elsewhere, do not be surprised or make an uproar because of it.
An Athenian jury was not silent. Five hundred citizens could shout, laugh and jeer, and the verb for it, thorubein, comes up again and again in this speech as Socrates asks them to stop. The trapezai were the money-changers' tables in the agora; trapeza, "table," is still the Greek word for "bank."
The word that names the speech itself appears here for the first time: apologoumenou, "making my defence." An apologia is a speech in reply, never an apology in the English sense.
17d
The Apology of Socrates 17d · Seventy years old, and never in court17dSeventy years old, and never in court
He explains the request. He has never stood in a law court before.
· · ·
For it is like this. Now I have come up for the first time before a law court, being seventy years old. So I am simply a stranger to the way of speaking here.