The last days of Socrates
The Apology (defence speech) consists of three speeches made by
Socrates at his trial before a jury of five hundred or so
Athenians who had gathered to hear him answer the charges. He had
not prepared any defence but, being sure in his own mind that he
was innocent, was hoping that his words of truth would secure an
acquittal. He at this time was more than seventy years of age and
he asked the jury to make allowances if he spoke in the sort of
language he might use in discussions in the market-place as he
was unfamiliar with law courts and the stylised language used in
formal trials.
Plato - Apology
the first speech
Socrates told the jury that he thought that he had two sets of
accusers, old and new, and that the old accusers he feared moreso
and wished to present a defence against first of all.
Socrates saw these old accusers as being influenced by
prejudiced opinions that he had indulged in natural philosophy
physical speculations or took money as a teacher.
Those who indulged in physical speculations were routinely
assumed to recognise no Gods. In earlier days a play by
Aristophanes had featured a character named Socrates who seemed
to be such a person but Socrates called on those assembled at his
trial to produce evidence that he, the real Socrates, had ever
taught along those lines
In response to the idea that he took money as a teacher
Socrates insisted that the life he led had brought him utter
poverty rather than monetary reward. He lived that life in
response to what the Pythian prophetess at Delphi had told his
friend Chaerephon:- that no one was wiser than
Socrates.
Socrates suggested that he had made many abiding enemies by
personally approaching people who had reputions for wisdom only
to reveal through questionings that their wisdom was specious.
Others had been alienated by young persons who had witnessed
Socrates' methods of questioning similarly revealing yet other
people's pretensions to wisdom to be baseless.
Socrates made the case that his questions had tended to
vindicate the utterance of the Oracle at Delphi by showing that
he, Socrates, did indeed have a particular claim to Wisdom in
that he at least fully recognised his own ignorance.
Socrates then addressed his new accusers in the form of
Meletus the prosecutor. These new accusers accused Socrates of
Impiety, of neglecting the Gods approved by the state, and, of
introducing new divinities.
Meletus, who was obliged to answer Socrates' questions
delivered before the jury eventually commited himself to a
straight assertion that Socrates was a complete atheist. Socrates
then showed the fatal contradiction in Meletus accusation - how
does someone whom the prosecution holds to be a complete atheist
come to be accused of introducing new divinities or religious
novelties.
Having exposed the contradictions in the "new accusations"
Socrates again mentioned that he feared his old accusers - those
who had their pretensions exposed in the past - moreso than the
new.
As the trial continued Socrates insisted that he had lived
his life the way he had in response to God calling him to fulfill
a philosophic mission. Even were he faced with death as an
alternative, (death might for all we can know be a great relase
into good), Socrates insisted that he would not give any
undertaking to cease from moral teachings designed to encourage
people to pay great attention to the "improvement of the soul".
Socrates went so far as to suggest that if the Athenians
sentenced him to death that it would be a sin against God. God
had made him into a sort of Gadfly that was intended to stir the
Athenian state into moral improvement. Socrates response to this
call from God was to live a life of an unpaid teacher and he was
in a state of utter poverty through neglect of private
affairs.
Socrates maintained that he has long lived with an inner
"oracle or sign" that occasionally forbade him from following
certain actions and reminded the jury of the real danger that he
put himself at the time of the unconstitutional trial of the
generals and again when he refused to obey the Thirty Tyrants
over the arrest of an innocent man. Socrates' great concern was
not to avoid danger that might arise by alienating the powerful
but rather to avoid committing any unrighteous or unholy
act.
Socrates then spoke of his followers stating that they enjoyed
hearing his cross-questioning of those with pretensions to wisdom
and that Meletus was making no effort to call any of them as
witnesses for the prosecution.
As to his family Socrates said that whilst it is far from
unknown for accused persons to bring their tearful families to
the attention of the court as an argument for leniency he,
Socrates, could only regard such behaviours as being
discreditable. Socrates hopes that his arguments alone will
convince the court of his innocence and will not resort to such
devices.
In the event the five hundred or so strong jury before which
Socrates was standing trial found him guilty by a narrow majority
of sixty. Meletus moved that the sentence should be death, in
reply Socrates had the right to propose a sentence that the court
might select as an alternative.
This is the subject of the second speech in Plato's
Apology. To access this second speech please follow this
link:-
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Socrates trial, last days, and death
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![[Apology, first speech]](philosopher.gif)