The Apology (Hindi/हिंदी में)

Long ago, in the city of Athens, a man named Socrates was put on trial. He was accused of two things: teaching bad ideas to young people and not believing in the gods of the city. Socrates stood before the judges and citizens and tried to explain himself. This speech was called The Apology, but it was not really saying “I’m sorry.” It was a defense speech, where he tried to show he had done nothing wrong.Socrates began by saying that his accusers had spoken very smoothly and very well, so well that even he almost forgot who he was. But he said that they had spoken many lies. They told the crowd to be careful and not be tricked by his speech. Socrates laughed at this. He said he was not a fancy speaker at all. He promised to speak only the simple truth, the way he always spoke in the marketplace.He asked the judges not to interrupt if his words sounded plain or strange. He was more than seventy years old, and it was his first time in a courtroom. He did not know all the special language used in trials. He only knew how to tell the truth, and that is what he planned to do.Socrates told the court that people had been spreading rumors about him for many years. These rumors said he thought about the sky, the earth, and strange science. They said he made bad ideas sound like good ideas, and that he taught others how to do this. People heard these rumors when they were children, and they believed them for a long time. Socrates said this was unfair, because he never did those things. He did not study nature, and he did not teach anyone for money.He then explained where his reputation for being wise had come from. His friend Chaerephon once visited the famous oracle at Delphi, a place where a priestess spoke messages from the god Apollo. Chaerephon asked the oracle, “Is anyone wiser than Socrates?” The priestess answered, “No, no man is wiser.”Socrates was surprised. He did not think he was wise at all. So he decided to test the oracle. He went to people who were believed to be wise: politicians, poets, and craftsmen. He talked to them one by one. Each time he discovered the same thing: these people knew many things, but they thought they knew everything, even things they did not understand. Socrates knew he himself was not wise, but at least he did not pretend to know what he did not know. So he decided the oracle meant this: the wisest person is the one who understands his own ignorance.This made many people angry. When Socrates asked questions, he showed that others were not as wise as they thought. Young people enjoyed listening to these conversations. They began to copy him and question others. Those who could not answer became embarrassed and angry. They blamed Socrates and said he was teaching young people to misbehave.Now a man named Meletus accused him in court. Meletus said Socrates was a bad man who made young people worse, and that Socrates did not believe in the gods. Socrates answered these charges. He asked Meletus who improved the young people. Meletus could not answer. Socrates said Meletus had not thought carefully about the accusation.Next, Socrates asked if he did wrong on purpose or by accident. If he did wrong on purpose, he would hurt himself, because people who do wrong often get harmed later. No one would do that on purpose. If he did wrong by accident, then the law should teach him, not punish him. But Meletus did not care. He only wanted him punished.Socrates then talked about death. He said people should not fear death, because no one knows what death is like. To fear it is to pretend to know something you do not know. He said he must obey God and continue to speak the truth, even if people became angry. He said he was like a gadfly—a small bug that bites a lazy horse to wake it up. Athens, he said, was the horse, and he was the gadfly. Without him, the city would fall asleep.