The Death of Socrates
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Written in the decades following Socrates’ execution in 399 BC, Plato’s The Death of Socrates brings together the dialogues that recount the philosopher’s final days and examine the ideas for which he was condemned. In Euthyphro, Socrates questions the nature of piety; in Apology, he delivers his celebrated defence before the Athenian court; in Crito, he considers whether he should escape prison; and in Phaedo, his final hours become the setting for a profound discussion of the soul and the possibility of life after death. Through these conversations, Plato portrays a man who meets his sentence not with submission or bitterness, but with an unwavering commitment to philosophical enquiry.
Together, the dialogues form one of the most enduring portraits of intellectual courage in Western literature. They explore justice, conscience, civic duty, mortality and the relationship between philosophy and the good life, while offering an intimate account of the teacher whose death helped shape Plato’s philosophical project. Both a record of a defining moment in ancient Athens and an introduction to the Socratic method, this collection remains a compelling meditation on what it means to live — and die — according to one's principles.
From the book
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
— Plato, Apology (trans. Benjamin Jowett)
On The Death of Socrates
“The scene at the end of the Phaedo, in which Plato describes how Socrates dies by poisoning from hemlock, is moving and impressive.”
— Christopher Gill, The Classical Quarterly