namely the daily association,sunousia, of father and son, younger and older generations, by which
familial, tribal, and civic traditions and conventions were transmitted. Such“corruption”of an
institution could easily enough appear as impiety.^30 Pointing this out to the jury is designed to win
him additional opprobrium.
The cross-examination of Meletus,“this fool of a prosecutor,”is filled with jokes.^31 Socrates
begins by saying Meletus is joking and then starts punning on his name.^32 He then changed the
charge from not worshiping the gods of the city to introducing newdaimonia, which might be
translated as“new divinities.”^33 It is a relatively easy argument to show that, on his own premises,
Meletus contradicts himself, which says nothing about Socrates’premises.^34 By making fun of
Meletus in this way, with an argument“as logical as it is ludicrous,”^35 Socrates also insults him and,
to the extent that Meletus represents the city, insults all the jurors, and all the Athenians. Socrates
demonstrates he has no concern at all for the opinions of the many (cf. 24d–25b), which is why
again he has to tell them to quit shouting (27b).
The following section, usually called“Socrates’Mission”or even “Socrates’ Business”
(pragma) (28a–34b) is replete with insults to the jury and to the Athenians. If the hostility of the first
accusers was accounted for by the amazing Delphi story, the hostility of the second and present
accusers, whom Socrates treats“as if they were” different (24b), is accounted for by his
“mission.”^36
He begins by comparing himself to Achilles, the most renowned Greek hero. To the jury, this
comparison would be entirely inappropriate,^37 and so is yet another insulting joke. In the process he
misquotes theIliadand distinguishes between himself, ananer agathos, a good“real”man,^38 and
ananthropos, a mere life-loving human being, and says that, like a good soldier, he will refuseto run
away and will follow his orders, which come from the god,“to examine myself and others”(28e).
Moreover, if he were granted a conditional discharge, namely that he could go free provided he did
not continue to philosophize, he would refuse the offer, even if he were to die many deaths (30c).
At this remark the jury again erupts in shouting and Socrates again tells them to be quiet.
The sequel is equally provocative: Socrates claims he is the greatest benefactor of the city
because he does not follow the ways of life most Athenians favor, a clear rejection of a major
component of traditionalaidos. The implication is clear: Socrates’defense speech is not about
defending himself or his“business,”but about defendingthe Athenians so they donot dowrongand
reject a divine gift, namely Socrates, by condemning him (30e). Here Socrates makes another joke.
What looked to be his business, namely cross-examining his fellow citizens, is now said to be
exhorting them to virtue. The good hombre and updated Achilles now sounds like a Boy Scout:
“have you done a good deed today?”He follows this reduction in his offensiveness with another: he
is like a horsefly or a“gadfly”and the Athenians are like a drowsy big horse. The image is not
entirely far-fetched because it is possible we are meant to think of the six outbursts of the jury as
having resulted from Socrates’“bites.”That is, whereas we can reasonably infer that the cross-
examining was what gained Socrates whatever hatred he experienced, now he is saying his
“business”was“boy scout”exhortation. Exhortation, however, is unlikely to engender hatred so
much as ridicule. And whereas the parasitic gadfly needs the horse, Socrates wants the Athenians to
think that they need him, a gift of the gods.
In the sequel, Socrates combines exalted exhortation with less exalted horsefly themes when he
says that he minds everybody else’s business (polypragmosyne) in private but does not mind the
business of the community, that is, he does not take part in politics, because of the warning issued by
hisdaimonion. Unlike the Delphic utterance, which urges him to act, thedaimonionrestrains him.
To the superstitious jurors thisdaimonionmight mean that Socrates thinks he is especially favored
by the gods and that thedaimonionis precisely the“new divinity”that Meletus accused Socrates of
introducing to the Athenians. He further insults the Athenians by pointing out that when he did take
part in politics he endangered his life both under the democracy and under the Thirty: an honest
man such as he cannot survive if he were to participate in Athenian politics, whatever the regime.
Socratic Method and Existence 25