20d-21b. Now please, men of Athens, do not make a disturbance, not even if I seem to you to be boasting somewhat. For “not mine is the story” that I will tell; rather, I will refer it to a speaker trustworthy to you. Of my wisdom, if indeed it is wisdom of any kind, and what sort of thing it is, I will offer for you as witness the god in Delphi. Now you know Chaerephon, no doubt. He was my comrade from youth as well as a comrade of your multitude, and he shared in your recent exile and returned with you. You do know what sort of man Chaerephon was, how vehement he was in what- ever he would set out to do. And in particular he once even went to Delphi and dared to consult the oracle about this—now as I say, do not make disturbances, men—and he asked whether there was anyone wiser than I. The Pythia replied that no one was wiser. And concerning these things his brother here will be a witness for you, since he himself has met his end. Now consider why I say these things: I am going to teach you where the slander against me has come from. When I heard these things, I pondered them like this: “What ever is the god saying, and what riddle is he posing? For I am conscious that I am not at all wise, either much or little. So what ever is he saying when he claims that I am wisest? Surely he is not saying something false, at least; for that is not sanctioned for him.”
It is here that we get the story of the Delphic Oracle. Charephon went to the oracle to ask if anyone was wiser than Socrates. The Oracle said no one was wiser than Socrates.
Does this story answer the just question asked?
Why did Charephon go to the Oracle to ask about Socrates in the first place? Socrates had to have been doing something before the trip to the Oracle to induce anyone, including a good friend, to make the long trip. Moreover, Socrates would have had to be doing something prior to the divination for the Oracle to answer that he was the wisest.
Thus, this story doesn’t clarify, but rather further obscures and veils Socrates’s past.
Moreover, the story of the Oracle may explain the later accusers, but it does not explain the first ones, the older ones.
But Socrates does give us here an indication of what prompted the trip to see the Oracle, as well as the suspicions of the early accusers: when Socrates heard that the Oracle said he was wisest, what did he do? He tried to refute it. He thought he could refute the divine wisdom of the Oracle. He says he was fascinated by the riddle. You should notice that Socrates has to call for silence twice in this section.