Socrates: The Trial of the Century

I wasn’t supposed to be there. As a rule, the presence of women in the courtroom is frowned upon. But I had begged my father to allow me to accompany him, because this was the trial of Socrates.

I was somewhat familiar with this man, because my brother had been spouting his words of wisdom every day for the past two years. Socrates had tremendous influence on my brother and his friends, and the city fathers did not like it at all. When I heard that Socrates was to be tried for religious heresy and the "corrupting of the youth of Athens," I determined that I would go to the trial and see for myself what the fuss was all about.

Being a respectable citizen of Athens, my father was selected to be one of the 501-member jury. I was allowed to tag along on the condition that I sit in a far corner and not make a sound.

On the day of the trial quite a large crowd gathered outside of the building where the hearing was to take place. My father told me that most of them were Socrates’ followers, come to show their support. We made our way inside, and Father took his place with the other members of the jury. I found a seat at the top of the room where I would not be conspicuous. A few minutes later the chairs next to me were filled by two young men. One of them was approximately 27-30 years old, and looked extremely depressed. The other was several years younger, and looked a little foreign, with his curly brown hair and dark skin. They both sat quietly as the proceedings got under way.

An elderly man was led in and directed to a chair in the middle of the room. Three men filed in after him and took their seats at a table facing him. I recognized one of the men as Meletus, a relative of my mother. He had a short temper and could be a rather nasty character. I had heard from my father that he held a personal grudge against Socrates, but he would never tell anyone the exact nature of his problem. My brother says that Socrates probably showed him up in public once. I knew that Meletus was the head of the prosecution. The young men next to me were talking quietly, and I caught the names "Anytus" and "Lycon" and gathered that they were the other two members of the prosecution.

Suddenly the room became very quiet, and the old man stood up to speak. Since the defense always opens the trial by stating the case being brought against him, I knew that he must be Socrates. He definitely did not look too impressive. I thought he rather resembled a bulldog, with his snub nose and squat, thickset body. He stated to the jury that he was on trial for "criminal meddling, in that he inquires into things below the earth and in the sky, and makes the weaker argument defeat the stronger," and for teaching others to follow his example (my brother included). Then he sat down and Meletus rose to begin the opening arguments. I don’t remember much about his speech, except that it contained a lot of "wherefores" and "therebys," and that his arguments seemed to follow each other around in circles.

When he finally ran out of breath, Socrates again stood to speak. I noticed the older of the two men next to me stiffen and lean forward in his seat. Socrates’ first statement brought a few smiles to the faces of the jurymen: "I do not know what effect my accusers have had upon you, gentlemen, but for my own part I was almost carried away by them; their arguments were so convincing." He then launched into his defense, admonishing his audience several times not to interrupt.

He began by discussing the charges brought against him. He defended his right to free speech and investigation into the world around us. I know that a number of men in our community were upset about his "meddling," but I don’t know what was so threatening about it. Perhaps they feared he would try to dishonor the gods by taking some of the mystery out of creation?

I could tell by the reaction of some of the people around us that Socrates’ arrogance was grating. These citizens did not like to be told that he was wise and everyone else was foolish. At one point in his speech, Socrates went so far as to say that "if I think that anyone is wise, whether citizen or stranger; and when I think that any person is not wise, I try to help the cause of God by proving that he is not." The dark-skinned man next to me sucked in his breath at this, and muttered, "He’s really done it now!"

When Socrates was done expounding on wisdom, he began in on the charge of his corruption on youth. He pointed out that he was not charging money for his instruction, and that there was really nothing wrong with his teachings. His teachings included the statement that "’Wealth does not bring goodness, but goodness brings wealth and every other blessing, both to the individual and to the State.’ Now if I corrupt the young by this message, the message would seem to be harmful; but if anyone says that my message is different from this, he is talking nonsense." He finished this argument by stating that no matter what his sentence was; he would not alter his conduct. This created an uproar among the occupants of the room, and Socrates had to call for order. The men next to me just grinned.

Socrates also refuted the charge of heresy by claiming that it would be impossible for him not be believe in supernatural beings. He led Meletus around and around in logical circles, and I could tell that Meletus was becoming disgusted. Socrates concluded his defense by pointing out that he was not going to follow the example of another man once on trial by bringing in his family and begging for mercy for their sakes. He may not have done this, but he nevertheless established in the minds of the jury that he had a family that would need to be protected in the case of his death!

By the time he had ended his speech a good two hours had passed, and the jury was getting impatient. We then had to wait for their verdict. A show of hands would indicate whether he was guilty or innocent of the charges being brought against him. The men next to me began to speak quietly. "What do you think will happen?" the dark skinned one asked.

"I don’t know. If these men have any sense at all, they will pronounce him innocent. Meletus is just out for vengeance."

"Yes, but I fear Socrates may have alienated the jury with his arrogance and that lecture on wisdom."

"That may be so, but it was still the truth."

"Truth does not always sit well with the common man." They were quiet again as the verdict was decided. Socrates was pronounced guilty of the charges brought against him. Now the penalty must be proposed. Meletus cut to the chase, as I knew he would. He proposed the death penalty. The older man next to me let out his breath in a "whooosh."

Socrates had one more chance to avoid this penalty, and he argued with all him might, at the same time claiming that death was not really a punishment to him. He also proposed that a fine be levied against him instead of the death penalty, and even had a security of three thousand drachmae offered by his friends, but it was of no avail. The death penalty was imposed.

Socrates took this verdict with dignity, still arguing that death was not something he feared. He even prophesied that as soon as he was dead, a fate much worse than that would befall those who voted in favor of his death. There was a lot of angry muttering about this prediction, and I could tell that a few of the men in the jury looked genuinely concerned.

The older of the men next to me looked defeated. "They’re killing one of the greatest men to ever live," he told his friend. "We need to make sure that he will never be forgotten. Socrates’ teachings are too important. I’ll make it my mission in to record every word of this trial."

The dark skinned one looked unhappy as well. "He’s a brave man, Plato. His words should not be forgotten."

As I left the building, Socrates’ last words still rang in my head. "Now it is time that we were going, I to die and you to live; but which of us has the happier prospect is unknown to anyone but God." I hoped that he would indeed find happiness in death, and that this Plato would make sure the entire world knew about it.

"The Trial of Socrates"

Lizbeth Carpenter

World Cultures 101

Section 3I

October 29, 1997