Examples Of Impiety In The Apology Of Socrates

In the Apology of Socrates there is not real evidence of true impiety for the Athenian government, but Socrates does put forth feelings of arrogance and self-confidence within himself and his beliefs. Throughout Socrates’ trial he hardly questions anyone which would be seen in a traditional trial, he often goes on tangents and laments about the injustices of the world in large words that perhaps many of the people there did not understand which leads to him being seen as impious and rejecting traditional Athenian values.
In the beginning of his trial Socrates talks about how he had never been to court in his more than seventy years of life, and that because he wasn’t accustomed to their language he would talk in the language he had learned, …show more content…
Once again Socrates’ self-confidence in his education was part of his downfall as he questions Melitus about the gods and how according to him Socrates doesn’t believe in the gods at all. Melitus agrees to that statement and Socrates goes on to say that he introduces his students to other gods, not just the ones that Athenians hold dear and that he isn’t a complete atheist because he does believe in some gods. Although earlier in his speech he mentioned going to the Delphic Oracle and used that example to try and sway the Athenians it seems to backfire because of this little mention of other gods. For centuries the Greek population has been very religious and held things like the Delphic Oracle with high regard, and by mentioning that he brings in other sources of religion and gods in his teaching this can and will be seen as a source of impiety further proving their point that he doesn’t teach traditional religion to his students and is in fact guilty of impiety in Athens, but this can’t be seen as true impiety because he still acknowledges the gods he just doesn’t worship on Greek …show more content…
He also accepts his fate stating that, “it is not difficult, O Athenians! to escape death… it is much more difficult to avoid depravity.” All of his life Socrates taught philosophy and forward thinking, and if he had gone back and begged for a fine or for jail he would’ve thrown away everything he had taught to his students and everything his life had supposedly stood for which is to be moral just and virtuous. Socrates goes on to say that the judges should punish his sons and pain them as he had pained them if they were to exhibit signs of depravity by holding things like money before virtue. With his final sentence he really nailed having the last word by saying, “for me to die, for you to live. But which of us is going to a better state is unknown to everyone but God. Socrates almost seems to become more human and less arrogant once this final announcement of his death comes before the court. In a way it is the ultimate last word to the people that had brought this issue to the courts that he was impious and did not believe in the gods, but his last work was God. The singular term of God instead of gods could be taken on two separate ways, on Socrates’ side it could be the last little bit of truth that he did believe in religion and the afterlife, but it could also be construed as