There was another occasion on which his behaviour was very
remarkable--in the flight of the army after the battle of Delium, where he
served among the heavy-armed,--I had a better opportunity of seeing him
than at Potidaea, for I was myself on horseback, and therefore
comparatively out of danger. He and Laches were retreating, for the troops
were in flight, and I met them and told them not to be discouraged, and
promised to remain with them; and there you might see him, Aristophanes, as
you describe (Aristoph. Clouds), just as he is in the streets of Athens,
stalking like a pelican, and rolling his eyes, calmly contemplating enemies
as well as friends, and making very intelligible to anybody, even from a
distance, that whoever attacked him would be likely to meet with a stout
resistance; and in this way he and his companion escaped--for this is the
sort of man who is never touched in war; those only are pursued who are
running away headlong. I particularly observed how superior he was to
Laches in presence of mind. Many are the marvels which I might narrate in
praise of Socrates; most of his ways might perhaps be paralleled in another
man, but his absolute unlikeness to any human being that is or ever has
been is perfectly astonishing.
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