Depiction Of The Trial Of Socrates In The Apology
In 399 BC, Anytus, Meletus and Lycon accused Socrates with reasons: first, spoil young people; second, disrespect to the gods by Socrates does not believe in the gods of the city. In the first part of “The Apology”, Socrates started his case by against sophistry and against his accusers and distances himself from their practices. “That they aren’t ashamed at being immediately refuted by the facts, once it becomes apparent that I am not a clever speaker at all, that seems to me most shameless of them”. “Rather, just as claimed, they have said little or nothing true, whereas from me you’ll hear the whole true”. He emphasized that he is only a skillful speaker and spoke the truth. Also he stated that he was not familiar with court system and came in with a unprepared speech, his speech will be fully improvised, issuing thoughts as they come to him: “for the fact is that this is my first time I’ve appeared before a law court, although I am seventy years old. So the language of this place is totally foreign to me. Now, if I were really a forgeiner, you’d certainly forgive me if I spoke in the ascents and manner in which I’d been raised.” Moreover, he appealed to the jury to listen to him openly and to pardon him if he slips into his usual conversational style. “Indeed, men of Athens, this I positively entreat of you: if you hear me making my defense using the same sort of language that I’ve accustomed to use both in the marketplace next to the bankers’ tables - where many of you have heard me - and also another places, please don’t be surprised or create an uproar on that account.”
In 404 BCE, just five years earlier, Athens was defeated by rival nation Sparta after a brutal and long-lasting conflict known since the Peloponnesian War. Although he fought valiantly for Athens during the war, Socrates was compared like Alcescentdes, but some blaming Athens for the final defeat. Thus, as Socrates himself says, behind his 'new whistleblowers' there are 'old accusers”. There are two reasons why these old accusers against him: first, he studied and taught things for heaven and earthly phenomena; second, he taught how to make a weaker argument to become stronger by means of clever rhetoric. All the old accusers were trying to accusing Socrtaes of over years, but it always unsuccessful “you see, many people have been accusing me in front of you so many years now - and nothing they say is true”.
Socrates has confessed and tried to provide physical explanations for matters that are normally considered to be the workings of the gods: “inquires into things below the earth and in the sky', but it seemed like nobody believe in him. One of the old accusers was Aristophanes - the comic playwright who parodied Socrates in The Clouds, compared Socates as floating “walking on air and talking a lot of other nonsense on subjects that I know neither a lot nor a little but nothing at all about”.
On the others hands, Socrates emphasized himself is deferent from the sophists “and if you’v eheard from anyone that I undertake to educate people and charge fess, that ’s not true either”. While other sophists like Gorgias of Leontini does, and Prodicus of Ceos, and Hippias of Elis, they charged a fee for all their education services and tried to train young men to gain political power: “For each of them gentlemen, can enter any city and persuade the young - who may associate with any of their own fellow citizens they want to free of charge - to abandon those associations, and associate with them instead, pay them a fee, and be grateful for themselves aside”.
Socrates shows that the charges against him do not mean much. Meletus effectively declared that Socrates did not believe in gods and he believed in false gods. Anyway, the supposed insecure beliefs he was accused of holding - for example, philosopher Anaxagoras has stated that “the sun as a hot rock”. As for spoiling young people, Socrates argues that no one will do this consciously. Corrupting someone is making them a worse person, which will also make them a worse friend to have around. Why does he want to do that?
The heart of the Apology is Socrates's account of how he lived his life. He recounted how his friend Chaerephon once asked Delphic Oracle if anyone was wiser than Socrates, Oracle said that no one: 'Well, on one occasion in particular he went to Delphi and dared to ask the orcale - as I said, please don't create a uproar, gentlement - he asked, exactly as I'm telling you, whether anyone was wiser than myself'. Upon hearing this Socrates claimed to be amazed, because he was acutely aware of his own ignorance. He tries to prove Oracle wrong by interrogating his Athenians, looking for a truly wise person. But he continued against the same problem. People can be quite expert at some special things like politicians, then the poets, and then the skilled craftsmen; but they always think of themselves as experts on many other things, especially deep ethical and political questions. And Socrates, in the process of asking them questions, will reveal that on these issues they do not know what they are saying. Though many bystanders, Socrates denied any expertise and interprets that the oracle has said by saying: 'And the answer I gave to myself, and to the oracle, was that it profited me more to be just way I was”.
Naturally, Socrates has been popular to many young admirers, it has been earned him a reputation (unjustly, he says) a sophistry, someone who is good at winning arguments through verbal fallacy. Thus it earned the deep resentment of those whose disliking Socrates. But he stuck with his duty all his life. He was never interested in making money; He did not participate in politics. He was happy living in poverty and taking the time to discuss ethical and philosophical questions with anyone willing to talk to him.” Because of this occupation, I’ve had no leisure worth talking about for either the city’s affairs or my own domestic ones; rather, I live in extreme poverty because of my service to the God”.
