ABSTRACT
There have been scholarly doubts whether even Plato's Socrates has any right to speak of a mission at all. There may be elements of truth in these, but none seems properly to have faced the question why Plato, the master of creative argument, should suddenly become as incompetent as their views implied in the creation of a logical connection between oracle and mission. Lengthy study of the relevant piece of Greek text leaves in some doubt, but inclined to think Plato believed Socrates genuinely to have kept his faith in Apollo's truthfulness throughout. Since the question affects the origins of the Platonic Socrates' mission, it is necessary to explain both doubts and inclination. This chapter finds a plausible explanation other than the oracle for Socrates' sense of mission, for his determination to die rather than abandon the elenchus of Athenians at large.
