Letter 282: Save those long and elaborate defenses for those who want to bring charges.

To Palladius. (361?) Save those long and elaborate defenses for those who want to bring charges. I am your witness to every kind of excellence, both in character and in eloquence. To the very man who was trying to deceive you, I said more than you wrote -- though nothing finer, for one could not improve on your words. And to that good man who is both my friend and yours, and also your student, I immediately swore that none of these accusations were yours but were all the fabrications of the speaker's nonsense -- for it is better to assume foolishness than malice. So Hilarius, though deeply pained by what that man had said, was more cheered by my judgment's not being swayed by the slanders than he was disheartened by the slanders themselves. Seeing him turn even these things to praise, I said: "My good man, I would not claim even Socrates deserved praise simply because I consider him a divine man and utterly remote from what Meletus accused him of" [Meletus was the chief accuser at Socrates' trial]...

Παλλαδίῳ. (361?) Τὰς μακρὰς ταύτας καὶ πολλὰς ἀπολογίας τήρει τοῖς βουλομένοις κατηγορεῖν. ἐγὼ δέ σοι μάρτυς ἁπάσης ἀρετῆς τῆς τε ἐν τοῖς ἤθεσι καὶ ὅση κατὰ τοὺς λόγους. πρός τε οὖν αὐτὸν ἐκεῖνον τὸν πειρώμενον ἐξαπατᾶν ὧν αὐτὸς γρά- φεις πλείω διῆλθον, οὐ γὰρ δὴ καλλίω γε, καὶ πρὸς τὸν ἀγα- θὸν ἄνδρα, τὸν ἐμόν τε φίλον καὶ σόν, αὐτό τε τοῦτο καὶ μαθητήν, εὐθὺς ὤμνυον μηδὲν τούτων εἶναι σόν, ἀλλὰ πάντα τῆς τοῦ λέγοντος φλυαρίας· οὕτω γὰρ ἡγεῖσθαι βέλτιον ἢ πονηρίας. ὥσθ’ ὅ γε Ἱλάριος καίτοι λίαν ἀλγῶν ἐπὶ τοῖς παρ’ ἐκείνου μᾶλλον ἥδετο τῷ μὴ κρατηθῆναί μου τὴν γνώ- μην ὑπὸ τῶν διαβολῶν ἢ τῷ γενέσθαι τὰς διαβολὰς ἠθύμει. ὁρῶν δὲ αὐτὸν καὶ ταῦτα εἰς ἔπαινον ἄγοντα, ὦ βέλτιστε, ἴφη οὐδὲ Σωκράτην ἄνδρα θεῖον ἡγούμενος καὶ πλεῖστον ἀπέχειν ὧν ἐνεκάλει Μέλητος ἀξιώσαιμ ἂν ἐπαινεῖσθαι. οὐδὲ γάρ, εἴ μέ του πείθειν ἐπιχει- ροῦντος σκότους αἴτιον εἶναι ἥλιον μὴ ὑπηγό- μην, εἰκότως ἂν ἐδδόκουν τῶν ἑπτὰ σοφώτερος. 4 οὐ τοίνυν οὐδὲ τοῦτο πάμμεγα τὸ μὴ τῆς σῆς εἶναι πεισθῆναι ψυχῆς, ἃ μηδενὶ λόγῳ τῆς σῆς εἶναι ἠδύνατο. παῦσαι δὴ τῶν τοιούτων ἐπιστολῶν ἢ φήσω σε ὑβρίζειν οἰόμενόν με παντὸς εἶναι τοῦ βλασφημοῦντος.