Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Baroqqque (talk | contribs) at 17:27, 2 November 2006. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The trial of Socrates in 399 BC gave rise to a great deal of debate and to a whole genre of literature, known as the Socratic logoi. Socrates's elenctic examination was resented by influential figures of his day, whose reputations for wisdom and virtue were debunked by his questions. The annoying nature of elenchos earned Socrates the epithet "gadfly of Athens." Elenctic method was often imitated by the young men of Athens, which greatly upset the established moral values and order. Indeed, even though Socrates himself fought for Athens and argued for obedience to law, at the same time he criticised democracy, especially, the Athenian practice of election by lot, ridiculing that in no other craft, the craftsman would be elected in such a fashion. Such a criticism gave rise to suspicion by the democrats, especially when his close associates were found to be enemies of democracy. Alcibiades betrayed Athens in favour of Sparta, and Critias, his sometime disciple, was a leader of the Thirty Tyrants (the pro-Spartan oligarchy that ruled Athens for a few years after its defeat during the Peloponnesian War), though there is also a record of their falling out.

In addition, Socrates held unusual views on religion. He made several references to his personal spirit, or daimonion, although he explicitly claimed that it never urged him on, but only warned him against various prospective events. Many of his contemporaries were suspicious of Socrates's daimonion as a rejection of the state religion. It is generally understood that Socrates's daimonion is akin to intuition. Moreover, Socrates claimed that the concept of goodness, instead of being determined by what the gods wanted, actually precedes it.

Socrates's trial described by his contemporaries

The first Tetralogy of dialogues by Plato has the trial and execution of Socrates as central theme: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito and Phaedo. Also Xenophon wrote an Apology of Socrates. As told in Plato's Apology — one of the best-known works of Greek philosophy and literature — the Trial of Socrates was a dramatic court case that led to the death of Socrates, the ancient Greek philosopher. Socrates's reasoning and philosophy, and the questions they raised — not only about ephemeral things but also political, moral, and legal matters — drew the ire of the leaders of the Athenian polis who feared he was leading the young people of Athens astray.

The accusation and the real reasons of Socrates’ prosecution

Meletus, an ambitious young Athenian, along with Anytus and Lycon, all noted members of the city's political elite, led the prosecution against Socrates.

As Socrates states in his Plato’s Apology the precise accusation was: "The prosecutor claims that Socrates violates the laws, as he corrupts the youth and he does not believe in the gods that the polis does, but in other new divinities." A somewhat different version of the accusation is found in Xenophon’s Apology: "Socrates violates the laws because he does not believe in the gods that the polis does, but he imports other new divinities; he also violates the laws as he corrupts the youth". Precisely the same accusation is reported in Diogenis Laertios. All references lead to the conclusion that Meletus’ accusations against Socrates for violating the laws were three: corrupting the youth of Athens; heterodoxy, i.e., not believing in the same gods as his co-citizens; and importing new ‘deamonia’ (gods).

Hidden behind these three vague accusations was the ego of the Athenian elite, as Socrates himself states in his Apology. In the Agora of the time, Socrates would purposefully, through question and answer, reveal that "great men" actually knew nothing, even though they regarded themselves as wise persons. To a wealthy Athenian or citizen held in high esteem, Socrates' "discussions" with them were insulting or pejorative. Some scholars suggest that Socrates's attack on these men caused them to trump up the charge of sedition.

Athens had been going through difficult times after the Peloponnesian War and the attack on Socrates was due in great part to Critias, a member of the Thirty tyrants, and Alcibiades, an eminent politician who defected to the enemy. Both had been close associates of Socrates; however, although Socrates was a critic of democracy, he remained loyal to it and never condoned the tyranny of the oligarchs who had held power for a short time in Athens before Socrates's trial. Moreover, he was the only person in a group of citizens to disobey the oligarchs' order to arrest an honest democrat, Leon from Salamis.

The accusation of corrupting the youth of Athens was mistakenly connected with a view of Socrates as a Sophist. Sophists were blamed after the Peloponnesian war as responsible for Athens' defeat and the disregard of the youth for the adult Athenians' morals. However, unlike a typical Sophist, Socrates was not a teacher; he received no money from his companions; his philosophy and method of speech were quite different. Yet, many years before the trial we can find a view of Socrates as a sophist in the Aristophanian comedy ‘Clouds’, an early indication of the Athenians' misunderstanding of his philosophy.

It was, indeed, a dangerous time for a man such as Socrates.

The process of the trial

At the beginning, Meletus swore about his accusation in front of the ‘archon vasileus’, a religious officeholder. The latter interrogated the accusations and, then, after finding them valid, called Socrates to show himself in the court. A trial before a jury of 501 Athenian citizens, chosen by lot, was held (Athenian trials had juries but no judges) in which Socrates called into question the whole basis for the trial instead of putting on a self-abasing, eloquent defense, which was expected. By a margin of 281 to 220 votes, the Athenians found Socrates guilty.

Next, Socrates and his prosecutor suggested competing sentences. Socrates, after expressing his surprise of the little amount he needed to be found innocent, jokingly suggested free meals at the Prytaneum, a particular honor held for city benefactors and winners at the Olympic Games, but then finally settled on the insultingly small fine of thirty minae (the equivalent of approximately eight years of wages for an Athenian artisan), due to his poverty and lack of possessions. He even proposed that small amount was under his company’s pressure (Plato, Crito, Critovoulos and Apollodorus), who guaranteed the payment behold the juries, as Socrates’ possessions valued no more than 5 minae. His prosecutor urged death. The Athenians then voted on the sentences. The verdict was death, on a larger margin than the previous ruling (360-141): the Athenians believed that guilty men must be punished. According to Plato's Apology, his disrespectful jokes about his punishment were what had resulted in so many more jurors voting for his execution than had voted to convict him.

Socrates's followers encouraged him to flee (see: Crito), and citizens expected this and were probably not averse to it; but he refused on principle and took the poison (hemlock) himself. Apparently in accordance with his philosophy of obedience to law, he carried out his own execution, by drinking the hemlock poison provided to him. He was, thus, one of the first of a limited number of strictly intellectual "martyrs". Socrates died at the age of 70. (See: Phaedo)

Socrates has been revered since his execution as a beacon of free speech.

Socrates's trial and death in art

Socrates's death inspired several artists. It is said that following passage from Shakespeare's Henry V, Act II, Scene III, where the death of Falstaff is described, is a parodical version of the ancient descriptions of the death of Socrates:

Pistoll

Falstaffe he is dead,

and we must ern therefore

Bard

Would I were with him, wheresomere hee is, eyther in Heaven, or in Hell

Hostesse

Nay sure, hee's not in Hell: hee's in Arthurs Bosome, if euer man went to Arthurs Bosome: a made a finer end, and went away and it had beene any Christome Childe: a parted eu'n iust betweene Twelue and One, eu'n at the turning o'th' Tyde: for after I saw him fumble with the Sheets, and play with Flowers, and smile vpon his fingers end, I knew there was but one way: for his Nose was as sharpe as a Pen, and a Table of greene fields. How now Sir Iohn (quoth I?) what man? be a good cheare: so a cryed out, God, God, God, three or foure times: now I, to comfort him, bid him a should not thinke of God; I hop'd there was no neede to trouble himselfe with any such thoughts yet: so a bad me lay more Clothes on his feet: I put my hand into the Bed, and felt them, and they were as cold as any stone: then I felt to his knees, and so vp-peer'd, and vpward, and all was as cold as any stone

Nim

They say he cryed out of Sack

Hostesse

I, that a did

Bard

And of Women

Hostesse

Nay, that a did not

Boy

Yes that a did, and said they were Deules incarnate

Woman

A could neuer abide Carnation, 'twas a Colour he neuer lik'd

Boy

A said once, the Deule would haue him about Women

Hostesse

A did in some sort (indeed) handle Women: but then hee was rumatique, and talk'd of the Whore of Babylon

Boy

Doe you not remember a saw a Flea sticke vpon Bardolphs Nose, and a said it was a blacke Soule burning in Hell

Bard

Well, the fuel is gone that maintain'd that fire: that's all the Riches I got in his seruice

The most famous painting picturing Socrates's death is probably the 1787 neoclassical painting by Jacques-Louis David shown above. Erik Satie used part of the text of Plato's Phaedo, including the part describing Socrates's death, in his secular oratorio Socrate, composed 1917-1918. This composition inspired Jan Cox for two paintings (1952, 1979) on the theme of Socrates's death. Alan Lightman interspersed his novel The Diagnosis (2000) with scenes from Socrates's last days, ostensibly through the main character Bill Chalmers's son watching an online dramatization, as a counterpoint to Chalmers's experiences. Lightman's treatment idealizes Socrates. Paul Levinson deals with the last days of Socrates in his novel The Plot To Save Socrates (2006). The jacket art is from "The Death of Socrates" by Gaetano Gandolfi (1734-1802).

References

• The Trial of Socrates, I. F. Stone, Little, Brown & Co., Boston, MA, 1988.

• Ancient Greece
• Trials