A)
In addition to his single-minded pursuit of his
calling, he possessed an uncommon dedication to the right.
1) "Through
all my life, I shall prove to have been just the same, both in public life, if
I have done anything there, and in private life; I have never given way to
anyone in anything contrary to right."
Apology
2) His
two recorded political stands, reveal integrity and courage in the face of very
real personal danger.
"All my anxiety was to do
nothing unjust or wrong."
Apology
3) The
argument that convinced him to stay and face his execution was based on a principle
straight out of the Sermon on the Mount”
"We must not do wrong at
all....Not even, when wronged, wrong in return."
Crito
B)
He was conscious of how much this
single-mindedness and dedication put him out of step with his society and its
institutions, and that this involved some danger.
1) "Some
one of you then might put in and ask...'all this talk about you, and such a reputation,
has not arisen, I presume, when you were working at nothing more unusual than others."
Apology
2) "So
I went to one after another after that, and saw that I was disliked, and I sorrowed
and feared; but still it seemed necessary to hold the god's business of highest
importance."
Apology
3) "No
man in the world will come off safe who honestly opposes either you or any other
multitude, and tries to hinder the many unjust and illegal doings in a state. It is necessary that one who really and truly
fights for the right, if he is to survive even for a short time, shall act as a
private man, not as a public man."
Apology
4) "Do
you think I should have survived all these years, if I had engaged in public business,
and if then I had acted as a good man should, and defended the just, and made
that, as is one's duty, my chief concern?
Far from it gentlemen."
Apology
5) "What
is proper for me to suffer or to pay, for not having the sense to be idle in my
life, and for neglecting what most people care about, moneymaking and housekeeping
and military appointments and oratory, and besides, all the posts and plots and
parties which arise in this city - for believing myself to be really too honest
to go after these things and survive?"
Apology
6) "Then
we must not do wrong in return, or do evil to anyone in the world, however we may
be treated by them. Take care, my dear
Criton, when you agree to this, that you don't agree against your real opinion;
for I know that only a few do believe it, or ever will. Then those who believe it and those who do
not have not common principle, but necessarily they must despise each other when
they see their different principles."
Crito
No comments:
Post a Comment