Socrates lived during the time of the transition from the height of the Athenian <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athenian> hegemony<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hegemony>to its decline with the defeat by Sparta <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparta> and its allies in the Peloponnesian War <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peloponnesian_War>. At a time when Athens<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athens>sought to stabilize and recover from its humiliating defeat, the Athenian public may have been entertaining doubts about democracy as an efficient form of government. Socrates appears to have been a critic of democracy<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy>, and some scholars interpret his trial as an expression of political infighting.
Despite claiming death-defying loyalty to his city, Socrates' pursuit of virtue and his strict adherence to truth clashed with the current course of Athenian politics and society.[8]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socrates#cite_note-7>He praises Sparta, archrival to Athens, directly and indirectly in various dialogues. But perhaps the most historically accurate of Socrates' offenses to the city was his position as a social and moral critic. Rather than upholding a status quo and accepting the development of immorality within his region, Socrates worked to undermine the collective notion of "might makes right" so common to Greece during this period. Plato refers to Socrates as the "gadfly <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gadfly>" of the state (as the gadfly stings the horse into action, so Socrates stung Athens), insofar as he irritated the establishment with considerations of justice and the pursuit of goodness. His attempts to improve the Athenians' sense of justice may have been the source of his execution. According to Plato's *Apology,* Socrates' life as the "gadfly<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gadfly_%28social%29>" of Athens began when his friend Chaerephon asked the oracle at Delphi<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythia>if anyone was wiser than Socrates; the Oracle <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oracle> responded that none was wiser. Socrates believed that what the Oracle had said was a paradox, because he believed he possessed no wisdom whatsoever. He proceeded to test the riddle through approaching men who were considered to be wise by the people of Athens, such as statesmen, poets, and artisans, in order to refute the pronouncement of the Oracle. But questioning them, Socrates came to the conclusion that, while each man thought he knew a great deal and was very wise, they in fact knew very little and were not really wise at all. Socrates realized that the Oracle was correct, in that while so-called wise men thought themselves wise and yet were not, he himself knew he was not wise at all which, paradoxically, made him the wiser one since he was the only person aware of his own ignorance. Socrates' paradoxical wisdom made the prominent Athenians he publicly questioned look foolish, turning them against him and leading to accusations of wrongdoing. Socrates defended his role as a gadfly until the end: at his trial, when Socrates was asked to propose his own punishment, he suggests a wage paid by the government and free dinners for the rest of his life instead, to finance the time he spends as Athens' benefactor.[9]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socrates#cite_note-8>He was, nevertheless, found guilty of corrupting the minds of the youth of Athens and sentenced to death by drinking a mixture containing poison hemlock <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conium>. [image: Bust of Socrates in the Vatican Museum.]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Vatsoc.jpg> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Vatsoc.jpg> Bust of Socrates in the Vatican Museum. According to Xenophon's story, Socrates purposefully gave a defiant defense to the jury because "he believed he would be better off dead". Xenophon goes on to describe a defense by Socrates that explains the rigors of old age, and how Socrates would be glad to circumvent them by being sentenced to death. It is also understood that Socrates also wished to die because he "actually believed the right time had come for him to die". Xenophon and Plato agree that Socrates had an opportunity to escape, as his followers were able to bribe the prison guards. He chose to stay for several reasons: 1. He believed such a flight would indicate a fear of death, which he believed no true philosopher has. 2. If he fled Athens his teaching would fare no better in another country as he would continue questioning all he met and undoubtedly incur their displeasure. 3. Having knowingly agreed to live under the city's laws, he implicitly subjected himself to the possibility of being accused of crimes by its citizens and judged guilty by its jury. To do otherwise would have caused him to break his "social contract<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_contract>" with the state, and so harm the state, an act contrary to Socratic principle. The full reasoning behind his refusal to flee is the main subject of the * Crito <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crito>*. Socrates' death is described at the end of Plato's *Phaedo<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phaedo> *. Socrates turned down the pleas of Crito to attempt an escape from prison. After drinking the poison, he was instructed to walk around until his limbs felt heavy. After he lay down, the man who administered the poison pinched his foot. Socrates could no longer feel his legs. The numbness slowly crept up his body until it reached his heart. Shortly before his death, Socrates speaks his last words to Crito: "Crito, we owe a cock to Asclepius<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asclepius>. Please, don't forget to pay the debt." Asclepius was the Greek god for curing illness, and it is likely Socrates' last words meant that death is the cure—and freedom, of the soul from the body. The Roman philosopher Seneca <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneca_the_Younger> attempted to emulate Socrates' death by hemlock when forced to commit suicide by the Emperor Nero <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nero>.
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