Hey there,

Very good point — as I reread this piece I also find that I may not have depicted Socrates and the important moments of his life with the most accurate lens.

I definitely agree that the accusation was definitely more than just going around “annoying” people — the way I understand it now is that he was threatening the current power structure by questioning the “men of power” at that time. I also understand that Socrates was accused of being irreligious (or at least, believed in different gods than the ones that the Athenians believed at the time). I acknowledge that I had a very simplistic view of the trial and death of Socrates at the time of writing this piece!

In regards to your comment about his death, it can definitely be seen that way if we regard life in a utilitarian manner. If Socrates was around ~70 years old, and we take into account the life expectancy of Athenians around that time (which I believe was not that long for the average ancient Greek citizen), we would believe that he would not have much to live for or to contribute to society anymore. Perhaps we can also say that his “premature” death also was beneficial for the rest of humanity, as it spurred on thinkers like Plato to write about him and spread his teachings to the rest of the world. Who knows if Socrates lived to be 80–90? Would Plato have ever written down any of his Socratic Dialogues and influenced future thinkers like Aristotle? Here we enter the world of hypotheticals so I won’t go down this path.

However, I do think that the choice that Socrates made to accept his death was a brave and meaningful choice. If he really did want to cling onto the life that he had left, he could have chosen to abandon his home country, his friends and family who looked up to him, and worst of all, his own integrity. If he chose to run away and not listen to what his daimon (which I believe was used interchangeably with conscience), he would have abandoned everything he stood for. I think Plato’s message in the Apology was this: speak the truth and keep your integrity even when everyone is against you.

The fact that he chose to drink the hemlock because he saw that both choices led to death is definitely a possibility, and certainly one that has me rethinking my perspective of this story. But I’d like to derive a more positive and meaningful message than interpreting the story as merely a logical choice for an old man. Maybe that’s the naive part of me but I think it has a more resonating message :)

Thank you for reading and sharing your thought provoking message Tacitus! You brought up very great points and I’d love to see what you thought about my response.