Meletus would not want to offend anyone in the jury, would he? Socrates then gives a rather humorous generalization to Meletus to see what reaction he can get. Socrates points out to him that if what Meletus is saying is correct, there would be only one person in the world that could train a horse and the rest would ruin the training (Apology 42). Socrates states that Meletus is careless and he really does not care about the matter at hand. .
Socrates says that it is better to live among good citizens than bad ones (Apology 42). Socrates is stating the obvious by saying this, but what exactly is a good citizen? Is it a person who helps his neighbors or simply one who minds his own business and does not bother his neighbors? He did not openly define what is meant by "good" and "bad", and there is a lot of room to define the meaning of these words. Can a person still be considered a good person if they act immoral and rude some times but most of the time they are good citizens? .
Socrates asks, ".and when you accuse me of corrupting the youth, do you charge I corrupt them intentionally or unintentionally?" "Intentionally, I say," is the obvious answer Meletus gave Socrates. Socrates responds by saying, ".but you just admitted that the good do their neighbors good, and the evil do them evil" (Apology 42) I do not agree with this claim from Meletus. I believe that it is possible for a person to behave in an immoral manner and still be a good person. It is possible for a person to be good even if he has acted in an evil manner at some time in his life. Going 50 in a 35-mile per hour zone is considered to be a bad thing. Does it mean this person is a corrupt individual if he is driving the car fast to get his pregnant wife to the hospital because she is in labor? Humans are innately good, but the corruption of society and the amount of temptations in the world have led moral people into acting unscrupulously.
