Death of a Philosopher

Jovial and a larger-than-life character with many influential friends, Socrates stirred suspicion in many Athenians. They accused him of destroying the morals of the city's youth with his teachings, which his critics claimed encouraged people to reject the traditional Greek gods and discover new ways of explaining human existence. Though the ancient Greeks had no real religious rules to disobey in the first place, in the aftermath of the Peloponnesian War many Athenians were insecure about their relationship with the gods.

Socrates was a target because of his refusal to follow convention. He also had a following of young men who were opposed to democra

Cy, and some of them later became major figures among the 30 Tyrants (see page 41). There was a general political amnesty in 403 b. c.e., so no one could directly accuse Socrates of supporting the 30 (in fact, he had openly disobeyed them), but his trial was an attempt to get back at Socrates for what was perceived to be his bad influence on Athenian youth.

In 399 B. C.E., by a narrow majority, a jury of about 500 men convicted Socrates of introducing new gods and corrupting the youth of Athens. He chose execution rather than admit wrongdoing and go into exile, and drank the poison hemlock, which was commonly used for suicide at the time.

Virtue. A person could have attributes of the form of virtue, though they could never be completely virtuous. If this sounds a little strange to you, it did to the ancient Athenians as well.

Plato also wrote about politics and society, and his book Republic and Laws contained many suggestions on how to achieve the ideal political state, covering not just government but also education and religion. Plato disliked traditional Athenian democracy, because he believed most people lacked the intelligence and moral character to rule wisely. He thought “philosopher kings” should rule, educating others in the right way to behave for the good of all society. Plato wrote in his Republic, “The law is not concerned with the special happiness of any class in the state, but in trying to produce this condition in the city as a whole, harmonizing and adapting the citizens to one another by persuasion and compulsion. . . .” (quoted in Norman Cantor and Peter L. Klein’s Ancient Thought: Plato and Aristotle).