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wasn't to harm them, but to teach them that a continuous pursuit of knowledge was the most important mindset a leader could have. Socrates would be accused of crimes he didn't commit, like taking money for his public and private debates, even though he thought knowledge should be free.

The legal system was a little different then it is now. The jury pool was significantly larger, and the sentencing of a guilty verdict was different than that of today's societies. It wasn't uncommon for a jury to have up to 500 people, as oppose to the generally acceptable 12 in the United States today. And unlike the U.S. today, their society lived by a majority rules verdict in a trial, instead of, a required unanimous decision. Finally, instead of a judge deciding what the sentence should be, they required both the prosecution and the defense to submit a sentence for the jury pool to decide upon. It is easy to see that if Socrates had lived in our times, he would have gotten an acceptable verdict and sentence.

Many still wonder why it was that Socrates represented himself in the trial, and why he submitted the sentence he did. However, it is an easier conclusion to come to then you think. Socrates must have known that if he was banished to some remote location he would have remained the same person, and this would probably have annoyed his new society to the point of putting him on trial again, probably for the same things. He knew the only way to end the influence he had, which annoyed many to the point it did, would be if his life was over. As long as Socrates lived, he would continue his public pursuit of knowledge and debating with important people, no matter where he was. Death is the only way to end Socrates' influence that is why Socrates submitted the sentence he did. However, even death could not kill the influence Socrates had, for his apprentices like Plato continued his work to some extent, and Socrates is still a subject of great discussion today.

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