Innocence of Socrates
Innocence of Socrates
“Virtue and justice are man’s most precious possessions,” Socrates once stated (Plato 55). I was present when Socrates gave his compelling argument as to why he could not possibly be guilty of the crimes of corrupting the youth of Athens, and creating his own gods in lieu of the gods already recognized by the city. It is unfortunate, however, that even with his prolific dialogue, he was not able to save himself from his own death. Out of the five hundred and one jurors, including myself, listening to Socrates’ defense, he lost his case by a marginal difference of a mere thirty six votes. Many of the jurors present that day claimed that Socrates did not possess a strong enough argument for his freedom, but to these nay Sayers, I tell them this: Socrates was able to convince a good portion of the jury, a majority of which previously held biases against him and came into his trial with a predetermined vote, to choose innocence for him. Socrates’ plea for innocence was one that was well deserved, and therefore, one of which we wrongly denied him.
There are only two charges Socrates was guilty of, the first being that he would not conform to the norm of society. He was one who constantly contradicted the common belief of the city, not because he did not respect these beliefs, but because they needed to be proven to him. The courts charged him with creating his own gods and trying to institute them instead of recognized gods of the polis. The common misconception is that Socrates created entirely new gods; this idea is wrong. Socrates did not invent new gods, but simply attempted to redefine the existing gods. He challenged people to look away from the standard belief of the gods. I have not yet understood how Socrates was found to be guilty of attempting to institute new gods if during his defense he willingly admitted to believing in divine beings. Socrates proved to the court his belief in the gods during his trial. He questioned Meletus as to what divine beings can be classified as, and they both came to the common conclusion that divine beings are gods or the children of gods. Socrates goes on to state that “since I do believe in divine beings,...