上句见：Day157
The Story of Philosophy的第158句：第1章Plato第2节II. Socrates第13段第4句：

The rest of the story all the world know, for Plato wrote it down in prose more beautiful than poetry. We are privileged to read for ourselves that simple and courageous (if not legendary)"apology," or defense, in which the first martyr of philosophy proclaimed the rights and necessity of free thought, upheld his value to the state, and refused to beg for mercy from the crowd whom he had always contemned. They had the power to pardon him; he disdained to make the appeal. It was a singular confirmation of his theories, that the judges should wish to let him go, while the angry crowd voted for his death. Had he not denied the gods? Woe to him who teaches men faster than they can learn.
浙江大学译本：愤怒的众人判定了他的死刑，而法官们却想放他一马，这真是对他的理论的一种奇特的肯定。

解析

这话讲了雅典人对苏格拉底思想的奇特肯定。法官们与民众们的不同态度，从正反两面肯定了他的思想。
1、It was a singular confirmation of his theories,
对其理论的肯定是以非常奇特的方式。
singular：strange or odd奇特的
But how came he to have so singular a companion?可是他怎么就找到一个这样奇怪的同谋呢？《福尔摩斯》

2、that the judges should wish to let him go, while the angry crowd voted for his death.
如何奇特：法官想放他一马，而愤怒的民众却置他死地。
形容词不是随便用的，这里judge前面没有形容词来修饰，而crowd却用angry来形容，代表了作者的一种倾向。民众是靠情绪来下决定，而非理性，应了前面Day143的在匆忙与无知下决定，在空闲与绝望中后悔的他们（“the crowd decides in haste and ignorance, to repent at leisure and in desolation”）。对于法官，作者持中立的态度，算是有点理性的人。

法官们希望放他一马，而愤怒的民众却投票判他死刑，这是种对他的学说的奇特的肯定。