How He Spoke, and Why

The trial opens with Socrates standing before 501 male citizens of Athens who will vote on whether he lives or dies. He is seventy years old. He has never been in a courtroom before. Following Jowett’s translation, his opening addresses the jury directly about the speeches his accusers just gave.

I cannot tell how my accusers have affected you, Athenians. I know this: they almost made me forget who I am, they spoke so persuasively. Yet they have hardly said a word of truth.

Among the many false things they said, one amazed me. They warned you to be on your guard so you would not be deceived by my powers as a speaker. To say this, when it was obvious I would be proven no great speaker the moment I opened my mouth, seemed to me the most shameless thing of all. Unless by eloquence they meant the force of truth. In that sense, I am eloquent, but in a very different way from theirs.

I will not speak to you the way they did. I will not deliver a polished speech with carefully chosen words and phrases. The words I use will be the words that come to me in the moment. I am confident in the rightness of my cause. I am seventy years old and this is the first time I have ever been in a courtroom. I am a stranger to the language of this place. Think of me as a foreigner. You would excuse a foreigner for speaking in his own way, not yours. Do not judge me by the manner of my speech. Judge me by whether what I say is true. That is the only thing that matters in a courtroom. Let the speaker speak truly and the judge decide justly.