SOCRATES AND ALCIBIADES. 229

It is not surprising that Xanthippe scolded her
idle husband, who supplied so much food for the
souls of others, but quite ignored the demands of
food for the bodies of his wife and children. His
teachings were but vaporing talk to her small mind
and to those of many of the people. And the keen
questions with which he convicted so many of igno-
rance, and the sarcastic irony with which he wounded
their self-love, certainly did not make him friends
among this class. In truth, he made many enemies.
One of these was Aristophanes, the dramatist, who
wrote a comedy in which he sought to make Socrates
ridiculous. This turned many of the audiences at the
theatres against him.

All this went on until the year 399 B.c., when some
of his enemies accused him of impiety, declaring
that he did not worship the old gods, but introduced
new ones and corrupted the minds of the young.
“The penalty due,” they said, “is death.”

It had taken them some thirty years to find this
out, for Socrates had been teaching the same things
for that length of time. In fact, no ancient city but
Athens would have listened to his radical talk for so
many years without some such charge. But he had
now so many enemies that the accusation was dan-
gerous. He made it worse by his carelessness in his
defence. He said things that provoked his judges.
He could have been acquitted if he wished, for in the
final vote only a majority of five or six out of nearly
six hundred brought him in guilty.

Socrates seemingly did not care what verdict they
brought. He had no fear of death, and would not

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