Turn and Face the Strange

In both Plato and Xenophon's account of Socrates on trial, it is quite clear from the beginning where the verdict is going to go. This is not a cliff-hanger as it is no secret that Socrates is condemned to commit suicide by drinking a hemlock concoction as a death sentence to be carried out immediately, though it ultimately is postponed for a month because of a religious holiday. Normally, Socrates would have gone to his death the day following the trial, as he was prepared to do so. Fortunately for us, his brief reprieve and stay of execution resulted in Plato's Phaedo, perhaps the single most influential pre-Christian document regarding the nature of the soul.

But, before we get to the Phaedo, how did Socrates end his Apology, after the verdict had been made? Did he weep to the heavens, begging for mercy? Did he throw himself to the floor, kicking and screaming like a child, beseeching the gods for his fate? Did he faint? Did he convert to the State religion and make false amends?

Rather, he left the courtroom with Integrity, plain and simple. How did he integrate his philosophy of life and death and the nature of the soul into this parting moment, thinking for the time being that he would be dead in 24 hours, leaving the city that he loved dearly, his wife and children, his friends, and his very way of life, conversing with fellow Athenians, often irking them with his simple-minded stories about horses and cobblers, or nagging them about definitions of what is holy or justice, or whatnot? For some, supposedly asking "the wrong questions," a dubious charge for capital punishment sentencing when he was innocent of the formal charges against him.

Socrates asked the men of Athens in the courtroom to promise him one thing. One thing that would make his life justified.

He asked them to treat his sons with integrity and respect, but perhaps not quite the way one might think. He asked them to goad them and prod them if they should value money and material objects above a life of virtue and honesty, or questioning, and above all, if they should neglect the quest to live a life examined, to "Know Thyself." That was his request, his curse if you will, to the Athenians in the courtroom.

Know Thyself.

After this request, Socrates said in parting,

"Yet, for now, the hour has come to depart, for me to die, and for you, to live. Which of the two of us is going to the better affair, is unknown to all, except to God."