But indeed with respect to justice and uprightness he not only made no secret of the opinion he held, but gave practical demonstration of it, both in private by his law-abiding and helpful behaviour to all, and in public by obeying the magistrates in all that the laws enjoined, whether in the life of the city or in military service, so that he was a pattern of loyalty to the rest of the world, and on three several occasions in particular: first, when as president (Epistates) of the assembly he would not suffer the sovereign people to take an unconstitutional vote, but ventured, on theside of the laws, to resist a current of popular feeling strong enough, I think, to have daunted any other man. Again, when the Thirty tried to lay some injunction on him contrary to the laws, he refused to obey, as for instance when they forbade his conversing with the young; or again, when they ordered him and certain other citizens to arrest a man to be put to death, he stood out single-handed on the ground that the injunctions laid upon him were contrary to the laws. And lastly, when he appeared as defendant in the suit instituted by Meletus, notwithstanding that it was customary for litigants in the law courts to humour the judges in the conduct of their arguments by flattery and supplications contrary to the laws, notwithstanding also that defendants owed their acquittal by the court to the employment of such methods, he refused to do a single thing however habitual in a court of law which was not strictly legal; and though by only a slight deflection from the strict path he might easily have been acquitted by his judges, he preferred to abide by the laws and die rather than transgress them and live.
同类推荐
热门推荐
《海洋知识篇》(上)
地球及其海洋的演化的故事无疑是世界上最伟大的奇事、肥皂剧和灾难电影的汇演。地球就是演出的大舞台,而古代和现代的生命的所有形式扮演着舞台上的角色。故事开始于一个奇异陌生的环境,地面受到小行星剧烈的碰撞,猛烈的火山不断喷发,频发的大地震撕扯着陆地。间或寒冷的气温使地球突然陷入严寒,其余的时候这个星球倒是适于生活的温暖舒适的地方。当大陆发生漂移、相互碰撞或相互分离时,海平面将发生升降变化,在这个壮观一幕中的角色也随之发生变化。十种幸福之道:佛说妙慧童女经
本书为星云大师对《佛说妙慧童女经》的解读。《妙慧童女经》是2600年前,一位八岁的少女向佛陀请教十个人生关键的问题,佛陀所做的开示。针对《佛说妙慧童女经》中童女和佛陀一问一答的10个问题及答案,星云大师以深入浅出的笔法和生动的事例,一一做出了自己的解读,从而为现代人如何安顿身心的烦恼,如何找寻到幸福圆满的人生之路指出了10条方便法门。