Plato · Complete work
Stephanus 18d
Stephanus 18d of 125. Read it here for reference, or continue through the entire work without leaving the reader.
Open the complete readerOriginal Ancient Greek
ὀνόματα οἷόν τε αὐτῶν εἰδέναι καὶ εἰπεῖν, πλὴν εἴ τις κωμῳδοποιὸς τυγχάνει ὤν. ὅσοι δὲ φθόνῳ καὶ διαβολῇ χρώμενοι ὑμᾶς ἀνέπειθον—οἱ δὲ καὶ αὐτοὶ πεπεισμένοι ἄλλους πείθοντες—οὗτοι πάντες ἀπορώτατοί εἰσιν· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἀναβιβάσασθαι οἷόν τʼ ἐστὶν αὐτῶν ἐνταυθοῖ οὐδʼ ἐλέγξαι οὐδένα, ἀλλʼ ἀνάγκη ἀτεχνῶς ὥσπερ σκιαμαχεῖν ἀπολογούμενόν τε καὶ ἐλέγχειν μηδενὸς ἀποκρινομένου. ἀξιώσατε οὖν καὶ ὑμεῖς, ὥσπερ ἐγὼ λέγω, διττούς μου τοὺς κατηγόρους γεγονέναι, ἑτέρους μὲν τοὺς ἄρτι κατηγορήσαντας, ἑτέρους δὲ
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.
names, unless one of them happens to be a comic poet. But all those who, moved by envy and slander, persuaded you—and some who, having themselves been persuaded, went on to persuade others—all these are the most difficult to deal with. For it is impossible to summon any of them here or cross-examine anyone; instead, in making my defense, I must quite literally fight with shadows and cross-examine with no one there to answer. You must therefore recognize, as I say, that I have had two sets of accusers: one consisting of those who have accused me just now, and another consisting of those long ago
Mouseia
Mouseia’s complete Plain English edition, made independently and directly from all 125 Ancient Greek Stephanus sections.
names, except when one of them happens to be a comic playwright. All those who used envy and slander to persuade you—and those who, once persuaded themselves, went on to persuade others—are the hardest of all to deal with. For it is impossible to bring any of them up here or cross-examine them; instead, in making my defense I must quite literally fight with shadows and conduct a cross-examination when no one answers. You should therefore recognize, as I say, that I have had two sets of accusers: one consisting of those who have just accused me, and the other of