“Of my wisdom, such as it is,” Socrates continues, “I call as my witness—the god at Delphi. Chaerephon, I suppose, is well known to you. He was my companion since my youth, and associated with you the people and went into exile and returned to Athens with you. You know what kind of man he was, how fanatical about his causes. Well, once he went to Delphi and audaciously consulted the oracle—again, as I said, don’t make an uproar, gentlemen—asking whether anyone was wiser than I. The Pythia answered that no one was wiser. Of this fact his brother will testify, now that Chaerephon is dead.”[12]
Here Chaerephon’s brother Chaerecrates, who was also a member of Socrates’ circle, presumably stood up and approached the court officers to acknowledge the testimony he had sworn to in the pre-trial hearing. Plato offers evidence to the truth of the oracle story that is not merely literary; evidently, at the time the Apology was published, Chaerecrates was still a living witness.[13] Chaerephon was well known among the democrats who had opposed the Thirty, and presumably his brother was too.
Socrates goes on to say how shocked he was at the oracle’s answer (see ch. 11.4*). “Whatever does the god mean, and what is he hinting at?” thought Socrates. The god could not lie, but he often uttered dark sayings. After puzzling over the oracle for a long time, Socrates decided to put it to the test by finding someone wiser than himself. As he went around questioning reputed wise men one after another, politicians, poets, and craftsmen, he found that they either were not what they purported to be, or if they did have some wisdom in a particular area, they assumed they knew other things they were ignorant of (ch. 12.5*).
Socrates explains that in his interviews with prominent individuals, he made enemies by exposing their ignorance or their limitations. He offended important people and gained the reputation of being a troublemaker. Yet he satisfied himself that the oracle was not lying. “It’s likely that only the god is really wise, and in his oracle he means this, that human wisdom is worth little or nothing. And it seems that when he mentions Socrates, he’s using my name by way of an example, as if to say, ‘He among you, O men, is wisest who like Socrates knows that he’s truly lacking in wisdom.’”[14] Ever since this time, Socrates has been on a mission to expose the deficiencies of reputed wise men. In the process he has acquired a following of young men who observe and imitate him. This leads people to say that Socrates is corrupting the youth.
[12].Plato Apology 20d-21a; on the role of witnesses, see Thür 2005.
[13].See Graham and Barney 2016: 286, with Xenophon Memorabilia 2.3, 1.2.48; cf. Nails 2002: 85.
[14].Plato Apology 23a-b.