Trial of Socrates: Crito

Socrates reasons that escaping without the Athenians’ consent would injure the laws and the city rather than merely avoid punishment.

The laws claim they brought Socrates into existence, regulated his upbringing and education, and gave him the benefits of civic order.

The laws claim that an adult who remains in the city after knowing its ways has implicitly agreed to obey its commands or persuade it otherwise.

The laws argue that Socrates stayed in Athens for seventy years, rarely traveled, and therefore showed continued attachment to the city and its laws.

The laws say escaping would exile or impoverish Socrates’s friends, make him an enemy of well-governed cities, and confirm the judges’ condemnation.

Socrates concludes that one must value a good, just, and honorable life above mere survival, so consequences like death or loss do not decide the moral question.

The laws assert that a citizen must obey them or persuade them they are wrong; otherwise he must endure their punishments without resistance.

Socrates says he has always followed the best reasoning available to him and will not abandon his principles unless better ones are found.

Socrates says Crito’s eagerness helps only if it is right; if wrong, great zeal increases danger and must be checked by reflection.

Socrates maintains that one must never intentionally do wrong, and that injustice is always evil and dishonorable.

Socrates holds that one must not injure in return or repay evil with evil, because doing evil to another is itself wrong.

A person ought to do what he judges right and must not betray the right once he recognizes it.

Socrates holds that the opinion of the many should not guide action; only the judgment of good and wise people deserves regard.

Socrates argues that the many cannot make a person wise or foolish, so they can do neither the greatest good nor the greatest evil.

The ship from Delos has not yet arrived, but it will probably arrive that day; therefore the next day will be Socrates’s last day of life.

Socrates is willing to die if that is God’s will, though he thinks the ship’s arrival will be delayed by a day.

Socrates’s dream of a woman saying “The third day hence to fertile Phthia shalt thou go” points to his death occurring after a short delay.