Socrates: Undermining Athenian Democracy

“Socrates must be punished, there is no other way to save the Athenian way of life, for he praises the Lacedaemonians, our sworn enemy in these dark times.” Demetrius may be hot headed and not the most reasonable character, but he does have a point. Socrates praises those Oligarchic Spartans, and undermines our Athenian Democracy. So I put forth, “If we allow him to continue his teachings the youth of Athens may continue to be corrupted and grow ideas of a hegemony over the people, and throw away the democratic virtues we fought and died to preserve.” The members of the assembly nodded and murmured in approval, all except for one, a young student of Socrates from a well respected family, named Peristrato. Peristrato angrily shouted in Socrates defense, “Socrates does no such thing as undermining Athenian Democracy, nor did he ever corrupt the youth that he so ardently teaches.” This outburst caused a ripple of anger to move through the crowd, and somebody put forth the call to have anyone who studied under Socrates or his works to be arrested.
With the humiliation of the …show more content…
This council has now decided that these men here shall be sentenced to death. These executions shall be carried out in the name of the Gods and the People of Athens. The condemned shall die by drinking from the chalice, a mixture of poison hemlock.” Socrates went forth and took a deep drink from the chalice adorned in gold, he was followed by a defiant Peristrato, and the grim array of young men sentenced to death. The poison hemlock causes a numbness to creep up the body, starting with the feet, until it reaches the heart, causing death. As the poison crept up ever closer, Socrates uttered his final words to his close friend Crito, “Crito, we owe a rooster to Asclepius. Please don 't forget to pay the