(Originally written December 28, 2006 in Book 7)
Crito
Characters: Socrates & Crito
Setting: Socrates' Prison
Socrates is calmly accepting his unjust fate.
Socrates asks why we should worry about public opinion. He states that the public cannot make a man wise or foolish. It acts completely at random.
Crito and many others are willing to provide the finances for Socrates' escape and for a place for him to stay.
Crito states that it is unjust to abandon one's life when one can save it.
Crito also states that it is unjust to orphan his children. He states that if he were to die when he could live then he forgoes the educational duties he has to his children.
Socrates states that life in a corrupted and crippled body is not worth living. So too is a life that is crippled by injustice.
Living well is more valuable than simply living. Living well is living honorably and justly.
Socrates states we ought to never act unjustly. We should never repay injustice with injustice. We should never do evil to anyone.
There is no difference between doing evil to a man and acting unjustly.
Socrates also states we have a duty to see through our just agreements.
The Law and the State are parents to all citizens of the State. Citizens are slaves of the State. The rights of the State supersede the rights of the citizen. But if the citizens should disagree with the laws and the State then they can leave. But, if they stay they must abide by the State and its laws.
Socrates states that if he flees he breaks his contract with the State of Athens and thus he will act unjustly. He will be living a life, but not living well if he runs away.
Phaedo - The death scene
Characters: Socrates, Crito, Phaedo, Echecrates and Apollodorus, the servant of the Eleven and the Executioner
Socrates maintains that they will bury his body, but not him. He will be gone and they will bury only the body that housed Socrates the person. To speak of burying Socrates the person is incorrect and corrupts the soul.
Socrates treats the poison bearer with kindness and praises him for his kindness. He does not hold the person who brought his death in contempt. He does not shoot the messenger.
He took the cup of poison cheerfully, "took it (the poison) quite cheerfully, Echecrates, without trembling, and without any change of color or feature" (Plato, 69).
After drinking the poison, Socrates' friends began to weep uncontrollably. Socrates reproached them for this.
Socrates last words were: "Crito, I owe a cock to Asclepius, do not forge it". Asclepius was the god of healing and it was customary to give a cock to him on recovering from illness.
Socrates was, according to Plato, the best, wisest and most just of all men of their time.
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