The Trial and Death of Socrates

I was forced to read this book in philosophy class and fell in love with it instantly. It is a very short book that talks about how Socrates was brought to trail for the charges of corrupting the youth and not believing in the gods. The book starts off when Socrates meets Euthyphro and Socrates finds out that Euthyphro is prosecuting his own father for the murder of a laborer who is himsef a murderer. Alot of friends and family say that Euthyphro is being impious but Euthyphro assures Socrates that he is the one who is pious. This leads Socrates to ask what is piety and the rest of the dialogue is devoted to a search for the definitions of ethcal terms. The more and more Socrates questions Euthyphro the more he finds out how little Euthyphro actually knows. A great question Socrates asks is "do the gods love what is pious because it is pious or is it pious because the gods love it?'"

The next part is when Socrates defends himself in court for the charges brough against him. Here is where the great mind of Socrates reveals itself as he defends himself against Meteus who is the one charging Socrates. An interesting point to mention is Socrates talks about a voice that he can hear clearly that has been guiding him and warns him not to go to places that he was planning on going and he says that this voice did not tell him not to come here so he believes that this is where hes suppose to be even if his lifes on the line. I believe this voice could be Socrates' spirit guide.

The next part is when the court has decided to find Socrates guilty and they give Socrates a chance to convince the jury not to sentence him to death. Socrates shows his sense of humor here where he tells the jury that his sentence should be free meals for the rest of his life. The jury ends up sentencing Socrates to death.

The last part is when Socrates is in his final moments right before hes about to take the poision and one of his friends tell him that they have a way for him to escape jail. Socrates rejects the offer saying that this city and provided him with everything he has and that going against what the city had decided for him would be unjust. While in his final moments Socrates can't bear to see his friends crying for him and tells them to man up. And here Socrates has a great quote im not sure if its here or in the court but he says something like i am to die while you are to live only god knows which one is better.