Companions of Socrates

but he was confident that those of his companions who adopted his principles of conduct would throughout life be good friends to him and to one another.

Many of his companions were counselled by him to do this or not to do that in accordance with the warnings of the deity:

For although he had many eager disciples among citizens and strangers, yet he never exacted a fee for his society from one of them, but of his abundance he gave without stint to all.

Socrates, I shall not find fault with you, as I do with others, for being angry and cursing me, when at the behest of the authorities, I tell them to drink the poison.

But Apollodorus, who had been weeping all the time before, then wailed aloud in his grief and made us all break down, except Socrates himself.

For if I am condemned now, it will clearly be my privilege to suffer a death that is adjudged by those who have superintended this matter to be not only the easiest but also the least irksome to one’s friends and one that implants in them the deepest feeling of loss for the dead.

When he noticed that those who accompanied him were in tears, What is this?

For, first of all, when he was bidden to name his penalty, he refused personally and forbade his friends to name one, but said that naming the penalty in itself implied an acknowledgment of guilt.

But on catching sight of a group comprising Socrates, Critobulus, Hermogenes, Antisthenes, and Charmides, Callias bade one of his servants escort Autolycus and the others, and himself going over to Socrates and his companions, said,

Now at first Socrates and his companions thanked him for the invitation, as might be expected, but would not promise to attend the banquet;

Yes, said Callias, so far, I admit, I have been keeping you ignorant of my ability at profound and lengthy discourse;