Trial of Socrates

The trial and execution of Socrates took place in 399 BCE. Socrates was tried on two charges: corrupting the youth and impiety (in Greek, asebeia). More specifically, Socrates' accusers cited two "impious" acts: "failing to acknowledge the gods that the city acknowledges" and "introducing new deities". Socrates' death was the result of his asking philosophical questions. A majority of the dikasts (Athenian citizens chosen by lot to serve as jurors) voted to convict him. Consistent with common practice, the dikasts determined Socrates’ punishment with another vote. Socrates was ultimately sentenced to death by drinking a hemlock-based liquid. Primary sources for accounts of the trial are given by two of Socrates' students, Plato and Xenophon; well known later interpretations include those of the journalist I. F. Stone and the classics scholar Robin Waterfield.

Background

Socrates was a well-known figure in Athens for many years prior to his trial. Aristophanes’ comedy The Clouds, produced in 423 BC, portrays Socrates as a sophist. In the play, Socrates teaches young Pheidippides how to formulate arguments to justify beating his own father. Though Socrates denied any affiliation with the sophists, Clouds suggests that Athenians associated him with the sophistic movement. The sophists were a group of mixed reputation in Athens. G.B. Kerferd provides an example of one widespread modern view of the sophists: “…they were a set of charlatans that appeared in Greece in the fifth century, and earned ample livelihood by imposing on public credulity: professing to teach virtue, they really taught the art of fallacious discourse, and meanwhile propagated immoral practical doctrines.”

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Pick Your Poison

by: Defleshed

Regret is what man is made of
Regret for things done wrong
and for things not done at all
But does it make sense - to build defence
between ones guilt and ones need - to make ammends
The grass is always greener on the other side
So why is this true - why always view
things from a false perspective - dreams of what others do
How come the upper crust
do dream of immortality
If in fortune trust then
dead regardless
Pick your poison
What is man hoping for
Why always much wants more
Dead regardless
Pick your poison
Abscence makes the heart grow founder
Abscence when asunder
This is a wicked wonder
But does it make sense - to build defence
between ones guilt and ones need - to make ammends
How come the upper crust
do dream of immortality
If in fortune trust then
dead regardless
Pick your poison
Dead regardless
Pick your poison
Is there a point in trying
when our mentality
is hopelessly undermined
What is there left but dying
Sensing fatality
of the entire mankind
Regret is what man is made of
Regret for things done wrong
and for things not done at all
So why is this true - why always view
things from a false perspective - dreams of what others do
What is there left but dying
Sensing fatality




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