As, for instance, at this moment (Crito proceeded) there are a set of fellows threatening me with lawsuits1, not because they have any misdemeanour to allege2 against me, but simply under the conviction that I will sooner pay a sum of money than be troubled further.
To which Socrates replied: Tell me, Crito, you keep dogs, do you not, to ward3 off wolves from your flocks?
Cr. Certainly; it pays to do so.
Soc. Then why do you not keep a watchman willing and competent to ward off this pack of people who seek to injure you?
I should not at all mind (he answered), if I were not afraid he might turn again and rend4 his keeper.
What! (rejoined Socrates), do you not see that to gratify a man like yourself is far pleasanter as a matter of self-interest than to quarrel with you? You may be sure there are plenty of people here who will take the greatest pride in making you their friend.
Accordingly, they sought out Archedemus,221 a practical man with a clever tongue in his head222 but poor; the fact being, he was not the sort to make gain by hook or by crook5, but a lover of honesty and of too good a nature himself to make his living as a pettifogger.223 Crito would then take the opportunity of times of harvesting and put aside small presents for Achedemus of corn and oil, or wine, or wool, or any other of the farm produce forming the staple6 commodities of life, or he would invite him to a sacrificial feast, and otherwise pay him marked attention. Archedemus, feeling that he had in Crito’s house a harbour of refuge, could not make too much of his patron, and ere long he had hunted up a long list of iniquities7 which could be lodged8 against Crito’s pettifogging persecutors themselves, and not only their numerous crimes but their numerous enemies; and presently he prosecuted10 one of them in a public suit, where sentence would be given against him “what to suffer or what to pay.”224 The accused, conscious as he was of many rascally11 deeds, did all he could to be quit of Archedemus, but Archedemus was not to be got rid of. He held on until he had made the informer not only loose his hold of Crito but pay himself a sum of money; and now that Archedemus had achieved this and other similar victories, it is easy to guess what followed.225 It was just as when some shepherd has got a very good dog, all the other shepherds wish to lodge9 their flocks in his neighbourhood that they too may reap the benefit of him. So a number of Crito’s friends came begging him to allow Archedemus to be their guardian12 also, and Archedemus was overjoyed to do something to gratify Crito, and so it came about that not only Crito abode13 in peace, but his friends likewise. If any of those people with whom Archedemus was not on the best of terms were disposed to throw it in his teeth that he accepted his patron’s benefits and paid in flatteries, he had a ready retort: “Answer me this question — which is the more scandalous, to accept kindnesses from honest folk and to repay them, with the result that I make such people my friends but quarrel with knaves14, or to make enemies of honourable15 gentlemen226 by attempts to do them wrong, with the off-chance indeed of winning the friendship of some scamps in return for my co-operation, but the certainty of losing in the tone of my acquaintances?”227
The net result of the whole proceedings16 was that Archedemus was now Crito’s right hand,228 and by the rest of Crito’s friends he was held in honour.
220 Crito. See above, I. ii. 48; Cobet, “P. X.”; cf. Plat. “Rep.” viii. 549 C.
221 Archedemus, possibly the demagogue, “Hell.” I. vii. 2. So Cobet, “P. X.,” but see Grote, “H. G.” viii. 245.
222 Lit. “very capable of speech and action”— the writer’s favourite formula for the well-trained Athenian who can speak fluently and reason clearly, and act energetically and opportunely17.
223 Reading kai euphuesteros on [or e os] . . . apo sukophanton [or sukophantion], after Cobet, “P. X.” s.v. Archedemus. The MSS. give kai ephe raston einai —“nothing is easier,” he said, “than recovering from sycophants18.”
224 For this formula cf. “Econ.” vi. 24. Cf. Plat. “Statesm.” 299 A.
225 ede tote. Cf. Plat. “Laws,” vi. 778 C.
226 Lit. the kaloi kagathoi, which like khrestous and ponerous has a political as well as an ethical19 meaning.
227 Lit. “must associate with these (the ponerois) instead of those (the kalois te kagathois).
228 He was No. 1 — eis.
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1
lawsuits
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| n.诉讼( lawsuit的名词复数 ) | |
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2
allege
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| vt.宣称，申述，主张，断言 | |
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3
ward
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| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
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rend
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| vt.把…撕开，割裂；把…揪下来，强行夺取 | |
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crook
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| v.使弯曲；n.小偷，骗子，贼；弯曲(处) | |
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staple
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| n.主要产物，常用品，主要要素，原料，订书钉，钩环；adj.主要的，重要的；vt.分类 | |
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7
iniquities
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| n.邪恶( iniquity的名词复数 )；极不公正 | |
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8
lodged
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| v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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9
lodge
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| v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆 | |
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10
prosecuted
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| a.被起诉的 | |
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11
rascally
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| adj. 无赖的，恶棍的 adv. 无赖地，卑鄙地 | |
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12
guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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13
abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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14
knaves
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| n.恶棍，无赖( knave的名词复数 )；（纸牌中的）杰克 | |
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15
honourable
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| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
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16
proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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17
opportunely
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| adv.恰好地，适时地 | |
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18
sycophants
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| n.谄媚者，拍马屁者( sycophant的名词复数 ) | |
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19
ethical
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| adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的 | |
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