内容导读
生死之间有大恐怖，克服这种恐怖的唯有信念。在苏格拉底心中，只要拥有智慧和美德，死亡也不过是前往他处的旅行而已。人生就是一场追寻之旅，永远陪伴我们的不是财富等外物，而是内在品性。
英文正文
But if death is the journey to another place,and there,as men say,all the dead abide,what good，O my friends and judges,can be greater than this?If indeed when the pilgrim arrives in the world below,he is delivered from the professors of justice in this world,and finds the true judges who are said to give judgement there...that pilgrimage will be worth taking.What would not aman give if he might converse with Orpheus and Musaeus and Hesiod and Homer?[2]Nay,if this be true,let me die again and again!...Above all,I shall then be able to continue my search into true and false knowledge;as in this world,so also in the next;and Ishall find out who is wise,and who pretends to be wise,and is not.What would not aman give,O judges,to be able to examine the leader of the great Trojan expedition or Odysseus or Sisyphus[3],or numberless other,men and women too!What infinite would there be in conversing with them and asking them questions!In another world they do not put aman to death for asking questions:assuredly not.For besides being happier than we are,they will also be immortal,if what is said is true.
Wherefore,O judges,be of good cheer about death,and know of acertainty,that no evil can happen to agood man,either in life or after death.
When my sons are grown up,I would ask you,O my friends,to punish them;and Iwould have you trouble them,as Ihave troubled you,if they seem to care about riches,or anything,more than about virtue;or if they pretend to be something when they are really nothing,—then reprove them,as Ihave reproved you,for not caring about that for which they ought to care,and thinking that they are something when they are really nothing.And if you do this,both Iand my sons will have received justice at your hands.
The hour of departure has arrived,and we go our separate ways,I to die,and you to live.Which of these two is better only God knows.
中文译文
申辩
苏格拉底
如果死亡是前往他处的旅行，人们相传那里居住着所有的亡灵，朋友们和法官先生们，还有比这更美好的事情吗？如果朝圣者真能抵达阴间，他将摆脱尘世的判决，而去面对传言中给予裁决的真正法官……这趟朝圣确实值得。如果能与俄尔甫斯、谬萨尤斯、赫西奥德、荷马有幸交谈，那么有什么不可舍弃呢？如若真是如此，我愿意一次次赴死！……更重要的是，我将仍能像此世一般，在另一个世界里继续探究知识的真伪；我将分辨谁拥有真正的智慧，谁只是假装聪明。法官们啊，若能去研究远征特洛伊的领袖们或者奥德修斯、西西弗斯以及其他各色男女，还有什么不可舍弃呢？与他们交谈，向他们请教，将会多么快乐！在那个世界里，不会有人因发问而被处死：绝对不会。如果传说属实，那里的人们除了比我们快乐，还享永生。
因此，法官们啊，为死亡欢呼吧！要知道，无论生前死后，善良的人都不会遭遇恶报。
朋友们，我的几个儿子长大后，请帮我严厉管教他们。如果他们把财富或其他事物看得比美德还重，请阻挠他们，就像我阻挠你们那样。如果他们自命不凡，那么请指责他们，就像我指责你们一样；因为他们忽视了本应看重的事物，本来一无是处，却自命不凡。你们倘能这样做，便是给了我和我的儿子们公正。
离别的时刻到了，我们各自上路吧——我去赴死，你们去活。哪个更好，只有神知道。
词汇速记
abide v. 居住，忍受
pilgrim n. 朝圣者
expedition n. 远征
wherefore adv.&conj. 因此
美句欣赏
① No evil can happen to agood man,either in life or after death.语言简单直白，却显示出信仰的强大力量。
② And Iwould have you trouble them,as Ihave troubled you,if they seem to care about riches,or anything,more than about virtue;or if they pretend to be something when they are really nothing,—then reprove them,as Ihave reproved you,for not caring about that for which they ought to care,and thinking that they are something when they are really nothing.在贤人看来，美德要胜过财富、乃至所有其他东西；自大则是第一等需要谴责的恶行，因为这扼杀了自我德行提升的可能。