prehensible, incommunicable being, the eternal, all-just, and all-powerful God.
MELITUS.
O the blasphemer! the monster! he has said too much already: I condemn him to death.
MANY OF THE JUDGES.
And so do we.
ONE OF THE JUDGES.
Several of us are of another opinion; Socrates has spoken wisely; we believe men would be more wise and just if they thought like him: for my part, far from condemning him, I think he ought to be rewarded.
MANY OF THE JUDGES.
We think so too.
MELITUS.
The opinions seem to be divided.
ANITUS.
Gentlemen of the Areopagus, permit me to interrogate him a little. Do you believe, Socrates, that the sun turns round, and that the Areopagus acts by divine right?
SOCRATES.
You have no authority to ask any questions, but I have authority to teach you what you are ignorant of: it is of little importance to society, whether the sun or the earth turns round, but it is of the utmost consequence, whether the men who turn with them be just or unjust: virtue only acts from the right divine, and you and the Areopagus have no rights but those which your country has bestowed on you.
