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Socrates and the oracle at Delphi

set in 399 BCE, Athens. As Plato tells it.

Where and when

set in 399 BCEAthens

2,424 years ago

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Socrates

, AthensAs Plato tells it

In plain words, ours

He went to Delphi and asked the oracle whether anyone was wiser than me. The priestess answered that no one was.

Well, once he went to Delphi and made so bold as to ask the oracle this question; and, gentlemen, don’t make a disturbance at what I say; for he asked if there were anyone wiser than I. Now the Pythia replied that there was no one wiser.

Plato, Apology 21aTranslated by Harold North Fowler (1914)Read the full passage (Plato, Apology 21a, opens scaife.perseus.org)

What was going on, our summary

As Plato tells it, Socrates is defending himself at his trial in Athens, charged with not recognising the city's gods and corrupting the young. He calls the god of Delphi as witness and tells what his late comrade Chaerephon once asked the oracle.

Checked claim by claim against: Socrates is tried, condemned and put to death, the passage around the quote.

Why it matters

In Plato's account, Socrates says the charge that he corrupts the young began when he set out to obey this oracle.

Based on Wikipedia: Apology (Plato)

He says that the accusations of him being a corrupter of youth began at the time of his obedience to the Oracle at Delphi

Wikipedia, Apology (Plato) (opens en.wikipedia.org), as of 2026-09-09. Text CC BY-SA 4.0. Our line is checked against these sentences only.

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  4. 403 BCE4 years earlier Democracy returns to Athens, with an amnesty Same years
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Just before and after

The text around the quote, word for word from the same translation.

Show the passageHide the passage

What kind of wisdom is this? Just that which is perhaps human wisdom. For perhaps I really am wise in this wisdom; and these men, perhaps, of whom I was just speaking, might be wise in some wisdom greater than human, or I don’t know what to say; for I do not understand it, and whoever says I do, is lying and speaking to arouse prejudice against me. And, men of Athens, do not interrupt me with noise, even if I seem to you to be boasting; for the word which I speak is not mine, but the speaker to whom I shall refer it is a person of weight. For of my wisdom—if it is wisdom at all—and of its nature, I will offer you the god of Delphi as a witness. You know Chaerephon, I fancy. He was my comrade from a youth and the comrade of your democratic party, and shared in the recent exile and came back with you. And you know the kind of man Chaerephon was, how impetuous in whatever he undertook.

The quote: Well, once he went to Delphi and made so bold as to ask the oracle this question; and, gentlemen, don’t make a disturbance at what I say; for he asked if there were anyone wiser than I. Now the Pythia replied that there was no one wiser.

And about these things his brother here will bear you witness, since Chaerephon is dead. But see why I say these things; for I am going to tell you whence the prejudice against me has arisen. For when I heard this, I thought to myself: What in the world does the god mean, and what riddle is he propounding? For I am conscious that I am not wise either much or little. What then does he mean by declaring that I am the wisest? He certainly cannot be lying, for that is not possible for him.

Plato, Apology 20d–21bTranslated by Harold North Fowler (1914)Read the full passage (opens scaife.perseus.org)

When, and whose words

Date
set in 399 BCE. Spoken at the trial of Socrates in 399 BCE; Plato wrote the Apology some years later.
Whose words
As Plato tells it.
How this post was checked
  • The plain-words line was read against the quote alone by a second, independent pass, which found it adds no claim the quote does not make (2026-10-03).
  • Each claim in the summary was checked by an independent pass against only the material it cites.
  • The quote itself is checked by the build: word for word, once, at the cited section of the stored translation.

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