Crito Argumentative Essay

In the Crito, Socrates had a decision to make. Socrates was on trial for bogus charges. Since Socrates was not necessarily a well-liked man in Athens, he was charged and sentenced to death. While he was in jail waiting to be killed, Socrates had the opportunity to escape with the help of his friend Crito. Socrates never rushes to make a decision, so he and Crito had to talk it out. Crito believed Socrates should escape with him for multiple reasons. One of the reasons was that since he was unjustly sentenced to the death penalty, it was not right for him to die based on bogus charges. The other being that Socrates was a father of two sons so it would be morally wrong to leave them behind. Socrates understood Crito, but he also had his own reasons why he should accept the death penalty. One reason being, “you should never do wrong, even in return for wrong done to you.” Socrates saw escaping from prison as doing wrong. Another reason was, “you should never injure others, even in return for injury done to you.” Socrates believed escaping prison was violating the law. He backed up his agreement up by saying, “by violating the law, he would injure the law and citizens of Athens.” Socrates saw law as a vital component to mankind. If there was no law, people would not be able to live their everyday lives. If he did not comply with the law, why would everyone else? These reasons led …show more content…
He believed they were a major part of human interaction. He believed, “you should always keep you agreements, provided they are right and just.” Socrates also believed that as a citizen of Athens, “he had an agreement with Athens to comply with the law.” Finally he believed that, “the agreement holds, even though he was treated unjustly.” These beliefs led Socrates to comply with the law, and accept the punishment he was given. Socrates was killed with poison because of the death penalty he was sentenced too, even though he was unjustly