Plato's Apology: The Trial Of Socrates

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Socrates Socrates was a very influential philosopher in his day, and created a lot of trouble for himself in the city of Athens. Although many people have tried to interpret his famous speech, now known as the “Apology”, we studied Plato’s version of it. In that version, the townspeople of Athens are upset with Socrates because they see him as a public nuisance. They convince the chief prosecutor, Meletus, to bring charges against him. Socrates is accused of two obscene charges; corrupting the youth of Athens and not believing in the gods, which are proven to be very wrong. The first charge is that Socrates is given is that he was corrupting the youth of Athens. Socrates believed it was his duty in the world to share his “certain sort of …show more content…
The jury was composed of citizens, five hundred of them to be exact. Since anyone could serve on a jury, most of the jury was Socrates’ enemies. When it came time to present Socrates with his sentence, it was quite obvious that it would not be a lenient one. Socrates spent the majority of his trial ridiculing Meletus for bringing bogus charges against him. He made it his goal to make Meletus look like a fool, which he happened to do in front of the majority of Athens. The jury proposed exactly what Socrates thought they would-death. They proposed this punishment because they knew death was the absolute worst punishment, and they expected Socrates to propose something else so he does not have to die. As was previously stated, Socrates’ trial is different from one he would have been subjected to if he committed this crime in today’s society. That being said, Socrates actually had the chance to propose his own sentence. He finds trouble in this, saying that he cannot give an appropriate penalty when he believes he is innocent of all charges. Socrates tries to decide between exile, imprisonment, and a fine. He says that imprisonment is unreasonable, because why should he “be the slave of the magistrates of the year…” (40). He then goes on to think about exile, and decides that if the people in his home town cannot stand his words and teachings, how could complete strangers? The last thing he contemplates is a
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