Plato · Complete work
Stephanus 29a
Stephanus 29a of 125. Read it here for reference, or continue through the entire work without leaving the reader.
Open the complete readerOriginal Ancient Greek
ἢ ἄλλʼ ὁτιοῦν πρᾶγμα λίποιμι τὴν τάξιν. δεινόν τἂν εἴη, καὶ ὡς ἀληθῶς τότʼ ἄν με δικαίως εἰσάγοι τις εἰς δικαστήριον, ὅτι οὐ νομίζω θεοὺς εἶναι ἀπειθῶν τῇ μαντείᾳ καὶ δεδιὼς θάνατον καὶ οἰόμενος σοφὸς εἶναι οὐκ ὤν. τὸ γάρ τοι θάνατον δεδιέναι, ὦ ἄνδρες, οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἐστὶν ἢ δοκεῖν σοφὸν εἶναι μὴ ὄντα· δοκεῖν γὰρ εἰδέναι ἐστὶν ἃ οὐκ οἶδεν. οἶδε μὲν γὰρ οὐδεὶς τὸν θάνατον οὐδʼ εἰ τυγχάνει τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ πάντων μέγιστον ὂν τῶν ἀγαθῶν, δεδίασι δʼ ὡς εὖ εἰδότες
Mouseia
Mouseia’s complete machine-assisted Musean translation, made directly from the complete Ancient Greek text across all 125 Stephanus sections for fidelity, philosophical precision, Socratic voice, legal clarity, and structure.
or of anything else whatsoever. That would indeed be terrible, and then someone might truly and justly bring me to trial on the charge that I do not believe in gods, since I would be disobeying the oracle, fearing death, and thinking myself wise when I am not. For to fear death, gentlemen, is nothing other than to seem wise without being so; it is to seem to know what one does not know. No one knows death, or even whether it may in fact be the greatest of all blessings for a human being, yet people fear it as though they knew perfectly well.
Mouseia
Mouseia’s complete Plain English edition, made independently and directly from all 125 Ancient Greek Stephanus sections.
or anything else whatever. That would be terrible, and then someone really could justly bring me to court on the charge that I do not believe the gods exist, since I would be disobeying the oracle, fearing death, and thinking I was wise when I was not. For fearing death, gentlemen, is nothing other than thinking oneself wise when one is not; it is thinking one knows what one does not know. No one knows whether death may not in fact be the greatest of all goods for a human being, yet people fear it as though they knew very well