Book 1
2.58
Again, his accuser said that he often quoted the passage from Homer, showing how Odysseus: Whenever he found one that was a captain and a man of mark, stood by his side, and restrained him with gentle words: Good sir, it is not seemly to affright thee like a coward, but do thou sit thyself and make all thy folk sit down... But whatever man of the people he saw and found him shouting, him he drove with his sceptre and chid him with loud words: Good sir, sit still and hearken to the words of others that are thy betters: but thou art no warrior and a weakling, never reckoned whether in battle or in council.Hom. Il. 2.188; Leaf’s translation. This passage, it was said, he explained to mean that the poet approved of chastising common and poor folk.
2.59
But Socrates never said that: indeed, on that view he would have thought himself worthy of chastisement. But what he did say was that those who render no service either by word or deed, who cannot help army or city or the people itself in time of need, ought to be stopped, even if they have riches in abundance, above all if they are insolent as well as inefficient.
