Book 1
2.55
Now in saying all this, he was not giving a lesson on the duty of burying one’s father alive, or making mincemeat of one’s body: he meant to show that unreason is unworth, and was urging the necessity of cultivating sound sense and usefulness, in order that he who would fain be valued by father or by brother or by anyone else may not rely on the bond of familiarity and neglect him, but may try to be useful to all those by whom he would be valued.
2.56
Again, his accuser alleged that he selected from the most famous poets the most immoral passages, and used them as evidence in teaching his companions to be tyrants and malefactors: for example, Hesiod’s line: No work is a disgrace, but idleness is a disgrace.Hes. WD 309 Hes. WD 309 He was charged with explaining this line as an injunction to refrain from no work, dishonest or disgraceful, but to do anything for gain.
2.57
Now, though Socrates would fully agree that it is a benefit and a blessing to a man to be a worker, and a disadvantage and an evil to be an idler — that work, in fact, is a blessing, idleness an evil — working, being a worker, meant to him doing good work; but gambling and any occupation that is immoral and leads to loss he called idling. When thus interpreted there is nothing amiss with the line: No work is a disgrace, but idleness is a disgrace. Hes. WD 309
