sad story\n But the main body of these slanderers who from envy and malice have wrought upon you - and there are some of them who are convinced themselves, and impart their convictions to others - all these, I say, are most difficult to deal with; for I cannot have them up here, and examine them, and therefore I must simply fight with shadows in my own defence, and examine when there is no one who answers. \n\n\n why envy? Why would an athenian noble man be envious of a quaint down-and-out chatterbox?  \n of course because of stealing hearts and minds of the athenian youth. could be that Plato is simply trying to give out desirable for valid - Socrates had his eye on Sparta which was an authoritarian oligarchy hostile to athenian democracy.   No wonder that athenians saw him as a threat. I feel Plato may have omitted a lot of what could have be said against Socrates, for example I'm sure his accusers have mentioned  Xenophon, who was Socrates student and and who openly sent his children to study to Sparta, another pupil of Socrates - Alcibiades defected to Sparta where he was helping to plan military actions against Athents and further to Persia  - should had been a compelling evidence of Socrates corrupting influence.  \n \t\t \t \n been  I quite see the nature of the task. Let the event be as God wills: in obedience to the law I make my defence. \n \n \n why God? Shouldn't ancient athenian say as gods will? \n