As Socrates awaits his execution, his old friend Crito visits him in his prison
cell. Crito then begins to tell Socrates about the arrangements he
has made to smuggle him out of prison to the safety of exile. Socrates is
quite willing to await his imminent execution and asks Crito why leaving
is the right thing to do. Crito then begins to present as many
arguments as he can to persuade Socrates to escape. He informs
Socrates that he loves him and does not want him to die and then asks
Socrates to think about what people will say about him if he does not help
his friend. On a practical level, Socrates' death will reflect badly
on Crito, people expect him to help out his long time friend. He
then goes on to tell Socrates that he has a great deal of money and he
would be thought poorly of if he did not abide his friend in escaping
death. On a more ethical level, Crito presents two more pressing
arguments about why Socrates should leave. First, if he stayed, he
would be aiding his enemies in wronging him unjustly and would thus be
acting unjustly himself. The Democrats accusations of Socrates' corrupting
the youth, and not believing in the Athenian gods were both unjust and
unfair. Second, he would be abandoning his sons and leaving
them without a father.
"For if you die I shall not only lose a friend who can never be
replaced, but there is another evil: people who do not know you and me
will believe that I might have saved you if I had been willing to give
money, but that I did not care. Now, can there be a worse disgrace than
this- that I should be thought to value money more than the life of a
friend? For the many will not be persuaded that I wanted you to escape,
and that you refused. (1)"
Socrates replies to Crito's remarks by reminding him that a person
should act according to what reasoning seems to be the best and not give
in to emotions or what the majority sees as right. He should not
respect the opinion many, but only listen to the few who have positions
resting upon knowledge of justice and the good. It is only the wise
whose opinion matter and it is they who will respect and understand his
choice to stay and face his execution.
"The good are to be regarded, and not the bad?…And the opinions of
the wise are good, and the opinions of the unwise are evil?…Very good;
and is not this true, Crito, of other things which we need not separately
enumerate? In the matter of just and unjust, fair and foul, good and evil,
which are the subjects of our present consultation, ought we to follow the
opinion of the many and to fear them; or the opinion of the one man who
has understanding, and whom we ought to fear and reverence more than all
the rest of the world: and whom deserting we shall destroy and injure that
principle in us which may be assumed to be improved by justice and
deteriorated by injustice; is there not such a principle? Then, my
friend, we must not regard what the many say of us: but what he, the one
man who has understanding of just and unjust, will say, and what the truth
will say. And therefore you begin in error when you suggest that we should
regard the opinion of the many about just and unjust, good and evil,
honorable and dishonorable... The other considerations which you mention,
of money and loss of character, and the duty of educating children, are, I
fear, only the doctrines of the multitude, who would be as ready to call
people to life, if they were able, as they are to put them to death- and
with as little reason. (2)"
Socrates then begins to explain to Crito that his escaping execution does
his children nothing but harm. If he were to escape from prison now,
he would not only be making himself an outlaw, but making his family
outcasts in society. Running away from his problems is not the
virtuous thing to do. It also would reinforce his conviction of
corrupting the youth by showing his disregard for the laws. Socrates
swore an oath to the gods to tell the truth and accept the punishment he
was given; leaving Athens affirms the courts accusation of his disbelief
in the gods by breaking his oath. To Socrates, breaking his oath
means he's guilty.
"For he who is a corrupter of the laws is more than likely to be
corrupter of the young and foolish portion of mankind…Say that you wish
to live for the sake of your children, that you may bring them up and
educate them- will you take them into Thessaly and deprive them of
Athenian citizenship? Is that the benefit which you would confer upon
them? (3)"
The only consideration for Socrates is whether or not he would be doing
the right thing by leaving. Socrates wants to do no wrong even
though he is not guilty of the crimes he was charged and convicted of.
Crito continues to urge Socrates to leave because he was wrongfully
prosecuted. Socrates then points out that we must do no wrong, at
all even in return for a wrong. The laws did no wrong; it was the
jury who did. At this point, Socrates introduces the voice of the
Laws of Athens, which speaks to him and explains why it would be unjust
for him to leave his cell. Since the Laws exist as one entity, to
break one would be to break them all, and in doing so, Socrates would
cause them great harm. The citizen is bound to the Laws like a child
is bound to a parent. To Socrates, going against the law would be
like striking a parent.
"In the first place did we not bring you into existence? Your father
married your mother by our aid and begat you. Say whether you have any
objection to urge against those of us who regulate marriage?'…'Or
against those of us who regulate the system of nurture and education of
children in which you were trained? Were not the laws, who have the charge
of this, right in commanding your father to train you in music and
gymnastic? (4)"
Rather than simply break the Laws and escape, Socrates should try
to persuade the Laws to let him go. These Laws present the citizens
duty to them in the form of a kind of social contract. By choosing
to live in Athens, a citizen is endorsing the Laws, and is willing to
abide by them. If Socrates left he would be defying the laws who
were his nurturers. Socrates feels that he, more than most, should
be in accord with this contract, as he lives a happy seventy years fully
content with his Athenian way of life.
"For, after having brought you into the world, and nurtured and
educated you, and given you and every other citizen a share in every good
that we had to give, we further proclaim and give the right to every
Athenian, that if he does not like us when he has come of age and has seen
the ways of the city, and made our acquaintance, he may go where he
pleases and take his goods with him; and none of us laws will forbid him
or interfere with him. Any of you who does not like us and the city, and
who wants to go to a colony or to any other city, may go where he likes,
and take his goods with him. But he who has experience of the manner in
which we order justice and administer the State, and still remains, has
entered into an implied contract that he will do as we command
him…'There is clear proof,' they will say, 'Socrates, that we and the
city were not displeasing to you. Of all Athenians you have been the most
constant resident in the city, which, as you never leave, you may be
supposed to love…Nor had you any curiosity to know other States or their
laws: your affections did not go beyond us and our State; we were your
especial favorites, and you acquiesced in our government of you; and this
is the State in which you begat your children, which is a proof of your
satisfaction…And first of all answer this very question: Are we right in
saying that you agreed to be not to your mind, or if our covenants
appeared to you to be unfair. (5)"
Socrates swore not only to the gods, but also to the Athenian citizens
that he would accept the verdict and penalty in which he was given.
Leaving would go against his personal beliefs and be proof to the court
that they were right in convicting and executing him. Socrates is
forced to stay in prison and die for crimes he did not commit in order to
prove his innocence. This is an example of Socratic irony. In
order for Socrates to prove his innocence he must show his belief in the
gods and that he is not a corrupter of youth. By staying in prison
he is keeping his oath which shows he believes in the gods. Socrates
is setting a good example for the youth of Athens by showing that he is
willing to obey the laws no matter the consequence.
(1)-The Crito
(2)-Ibid
(3)-Ibid
(4)-Ibid
(5)-Ibid
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