ABSTRACT
Introduction Plato’s Apology and Crito afford us an opportunity to understand Socrates the citizen: his attitude and his reasoned views about his native city, his fellow citizens, and the laws of the city. The dramatic dates of these two works are no more than a few days apart, and the dates of composition no more than two or three years apart and very close to Socrates’ death. Probably Plato’s first two compositions, they form a natural unit, and they contain discussions by Socrates of some of the most important issues a citizen has to face in his relations to his city or country and its laws. In the Apology Socrates rejects the charges against him, and defends the way of life for which he is on trial, the way he philosophized, by examining himself and others about the conduct of life and about human wisdom. He argues that doing this he is not doing anything unjust, as the charges state; rather, he is following the command of god, and carrying out this divine mission is the greatest good that can come to the city of Athens. Further, he gives proofs that he is not afraid of death, and says that his philosophizing is worth dying for. He declares that if the court were to acquit him but order him to cease philosophizing on pain of death, he would disobey the court; he is absolutely convinced that it is better to continue philosophizing at the risk of death rather than to cease philosophizing and live. In the Crito, urged by Crito to escape from jail and avoid what they both consider to be the unjust sentence of death, Socrates refuses on the ground that it would not be right to do so. He argues that if he were to escape he would be doing harm and injustice, which one must never do, he says, even in retaliation for injustice and harm done to one. He also argues that if he were to escape he would be breaking his agreements to obey the laws of his city; and this too one must never do, provided that certain conditions are satisfied, which, he proceeds to state, are very much satisfied in his case. Therefore, he ought not to escape.
