Castelforte

Castelforte is a small comune in the Garigliano valley. It is where Suio (see previous post) is contained and together with it, as the name suggests, served as a protective and vigilant center for the entire valley, from the surrounding mountains down to the delta of the river in the gulf of Gaeta.

This is a region of immense beauty and I never got tired of walking around it, on its small rural roads passing through rows and rows of olive trees, or along the trails (and often outside of them) crossing the many hills and mountains there. In particular, in this period of winter, the sun rising from behind monte Massico and setting in the gulf was a spectacle I watched — as you'll see — as often as I could.

ἐκεῖνος γὰρ ἔφη ὁρῶν αὐτὸν περὶ πάντων μᾶλλον διαλεγόμενον ἢ περὶ τῆς δίκης εἰπεῖν: οὐκ ἐχρῆν μέντοι σκοπεῖν, ὦ Σώκρατες, καὶ ὅ τι ἀπολογήσῃ; τὸν δὲ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἀποκρίνασθαι: οὐ γὰρ δοκῶ σοι ἀπολογεῖσθαι μελετῶν διαβεβιωκέναι; ἐπεὶ δ᾽ αὐτὸν ἐρέσθαι: πῶς; ὅτι οὐδὲν ἄδικον διαγεγένημαι ποιῶν: ἥνπερ νομίζω μελέτην εἶναι καλλίστην ἀπολογίας.

For he stated that on seeing Socrates discussing any and every subject rather than the trial, he had said: “Socrates, ought you not to be giving some thought to what defence you are going to make?”. That Socrates had at first replied, “Why, do I not seem to you to have spent my whole life in preparing to defend myself?”. Then when he asked, 'How so?” he had said, “Because all my life I have been guiltless of wrong-doing; and that I consider the finest preparation for a defence”.