2 of 12

Write now Article Tools

Did Socrates corrupt youth? That is one of the crimes for which he was sentenced to die.

The impulse, reading the versions of his trial and death left to us by Plato and Xenophon, is to say no. He was a great philosopher, one still admired and enjoyed by educated people around the world. He molded the minds of these two great pupils and set their careers going. Yet he also schooled Critias, the evidently bloodthirsty leader of the Thirty Tyrants, who, however briefly, interrupted Greek democracy.

During the reign of Critias, thousands were exiled from Athens, and hundreds forced to drink hemlock. (By modern standards, Athens
was a small town then, and Critias killed a high proportion of the Athenians.) Under Critias, only the rich could vote. Only 3,000 citizens were worthy of jury trial. To the extent that Socrates was responsible for the moral shaping of Critias, Socrates did corrupt youth, turning at least one away from the Greek ideals of democracy.

Socrates was not tried for his association with Critias, though it was apparently mentioned in his trial. There had been a general amnesty, so he couldn't be brought to book for that. But to a degree, he may have been found guilty for crimes that happened during the brief reign of the oligarchy that included Critias. Even in modern America a man may be given a long sentence for a crime he is convicted of, in order to punish him for crimes of which he was acquitted. The trials of O.J. Simpson are an example from our democracy.

The corruption of youth was only one of the charges against Socrates. The other was impiety.

Socrates, it was said, showed disrespect for the gods, and even invented his own new divinities. At this distance, ordinary people tend to think of classical Greek beliefs as if they were a core of silly superstition wrapped in quaint fables. To the Greeks though, they were the foundation of society, of morality, of the Greek world view. And these beliefs, according to what Plato says about Socrates, he did spurn.

In his apology, Socrates denies religious improprieties, but in such a lawyerly and mannered way that he never gives the impression of a true faith defending itself. He cannot have impressed the jury with his sincerity.

Socrates' whole manner, in fact, is superior and slighting. Did he feel that his case was hopeless, that the mob was out to get him and he might as well show his disdain? Did he really believe that philosophy was more important than life itself? Did he feel that this approach was the best way to move the high-minded men of Athens? Or did he think that these yokels would never understand a word he said anyway?

Xenophon, a military man as well as a philosopher, thought that Socrates wanted to die with his boots on. He wouldn't give an inch for a few more years of fading life. Plato, beginning a career in philosophy, has Socrates say that he hopes his children will know what is important, namely virtue and acting as one's true self (being authentic, we moderns might say). Compared to these ideals, Socrates says in Plato's retelling, death is probably nothing. At any rate, the death of Socrates is often called a suicide, as if the crowd could not have brought him down without his own help.

We cannot know what Socrates actually thought, or why he acted as he did. Too much time and distance have blurred his actuality. Each man who wrote down the story had his own point of view. What we are left with is the shadow of an idea of a man who was apparently willing to face down a mob, tell his truth, and die for his ideals.

Learn more about this author, Janet Grischy.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

Add your voice

Know something about The trial and death of Socrates?
We want to hear your view. Write now!