Socrates (976 words)

Socrates
Socrates spent his time questioning people about things like virtue, justice,
piety and truth. The people Socrates questioned are the people that condemned
him to death. Socrates was sentenced to death because people did not like him
and they wanted to shut him up for good. There was not any real evidence against
Socrates to prove the accusations against him. Socrates was condemned for three
major reasons: he told important people exactly what he thought of them, he
questioned ideas that had long been the norm, the youth copied his style of
questioning for fun, making Athenians think Socrates was teaching the youth to
be rebellious. But these reasons were not the charges against him, he was
charged with being an atheist and with corrupting the youth. The charge of being
impious was completely absurd because Socrates talked about the gods quite
frequently and never stated to anyone that he was an atheist so it would be
impossible for him to be an atheist. The charge of corrupting the youth is
unjust because Socrates did not tell the youth to copy him and he is not
responsible for their actions. The charges against Socrates were merely excuses
by his enemies to murder him in a legal way. Socrates made his enemies by going
on a search to find someone wiser than he was. Socrates went on this search
because the Oracle at Delphi said he was the wisest man there was but Socrates
believed that to be false (5). This lead to a futile search for a person who did
have wisdom so Socrates could prove the oracle wrong. Socrates went to people
who had a reputation of wisdom and then he would question and talk to them to
find out if they in fact were wise. When he met someone who thought they were
wise, Socrates would come “to the assistance of the god” and show him
that he is not (6). When he found out that they were not wise he would tell them
that to their face and by doing that make another enemy. Socrates traveled from
one group to another visiting wise politicians, poets, and craftsmen, making
enemies out of each group. After talking to the “wise” men Socrates realized
they were all arrogant for thinking themselves wise. Because Socrates knew he
was not wise he believed he was better off then them. In the end it was a
representative from each group that charged Socrates with the crimes that got
him condemned to death. This “occupation” consumed his leisure as well
as his finances. Socrates told the court at his trail: “I live in great
poverty because of my service to the god”(6). Socrates compared himself to
a gadfly, and the city of Athens a steed he was just trying to stir into life
(11). When a horsefly bites me I squash it, and that is exactly what the city of
Athens did to Socrates. Instead of squashing him they made him drink poison, a
little bit less messy. Socrates was a gadfly by questioning Athenians on
subjects they rarely talked about, making them think about something they
normally wouldn’t. He did his questioning out in the open where Athenians
congregated so the public could observe and hopefully think on whatever subject
that was being talked about. Socrates would question respectable Athenians
making them look stupid too a crowd, because they would not know what to say.

Making the person being questioned very angry towards Socrates for putting them
in such a position. Socrates made himself many enemies by going around
embarrassing people in front of a crowd. Socrates believed he did what he did
because of the gods and a divine sign inside of his head. Socrates had a divine
sign that kept him from leaving Athens, and made him face his trail. The divine
sign was a voice, not unlike a conscience. Socrates told the court that
“whenever it speaks it turns me away from something I am about to do, but
it never encourages me to do anything.” Socrates was saying that even
though his speech and demeanor antagonized the jury and aggravated their anger
towards him, making the chances of them convicting him even greater. The divine
sign remained silent throughout the entire process of the trial meaning that he
was doing exactly what he was supposed to be doing. There was no opposition when
Socrates left his home at dawn, when he entered the court, and none whatsoever
during any part of his speech (15). Showing, in Socrates opinion that the gods
wanted him to be doing exactly what he was doing. Socrates did not let his age
become a factor in the trail, because he wanted to stick to the facts of the
case. At the time of his trial, Socrates was seventy years old. Why did his
prosecutors wait until then to bring up charges if he had always been an atheist
and been corrupting the youth for quite some time. The reason was that he had
only recently made enemies of groups in charge of prosecuting him and the trail
was their revenge for his belittling them. His age was not emphasized until he
received the death penalty though, because Socrates did not want to use it as an
excuse. Then Socrates scolded his condemners, reminding them that he is
“advanced in years and close to death.” “If you had waited but a
little while, this would have happened of its own accord”(14). Why did
Socrates not flee, to avoid this penalty that he himself had predicted, and live
out what remaining years he had in peace. He did it to show the point of what
kind of man he was. Socrates embarrassed people, he made people think, he spoke
his mind to people and he might have been even rude to people. But was that any
reason to try him on bogus charges and to condemn him to death. Socrates was
like a rebel for his times because he did not keep quiet he spoke his mind and
asked others to do the same, without thinking of the consequences. Socrates
death should have been expected because most people who advocate change are
murdered. But his death definitely was not deserved.