Apology
Platoc. 399 BCEPlato recorded Socrates defending himself at trial, not with legal arguments but with the case that an examined life is the only one worth living.
Read this if you…
- want to hear Socrates be a defiant asshole at his Trial before he's executed
- want a short Plato about importance of philosophy over all else
Skip this if you…
- can't stand socrates arrogance/over-intellectualism
Why It Matters
Plato recorded Socrates defending himself at trial, not with legal arguments but with the case that an examined life is the only one worth living. It is the founding document of how Western philosophy sees itself: the thinker who would rather die than stop asking questions. "The unexamined life is not worth living" comes from here, and it changed everything.
The 
Take
Socrates argues almost annoying as I do. Clearly he was just super annoying so everyone hated him. Still fun though to see him accept death willingly just to seem right in an argument
Where to go next
- The Clouds by Aristophanes. Apology built on it. - In the *Apology* Socrates names *The Clouds* directly — the "comic poet" who showed him walking on air is the source of the prejudice he's really fighting - He calls these the "old accusers," more dangerous than the men formally prosecuting him, because they poisoned the jury years before the trial - Read Aristophanes first and you hear the slander Socrates is answering — the *Apology* is a defense against a comedy
- The Iliad by Homer. Apology built on it. - Cornered at trial, Socrates reaches for Homer — quoting the *Iliad*'s Achilles, who chose death over dishonor - The heroic ethic of the battlefield is transposed onto the courtroom: face execution without fear rather than betray your calling - It's an explicit, named borrowing — knowing the *Iliad* shows you whose example Socrates is invoking against his accusers
Depicted in Art
Socrates sits upright on his prison cot, one hand reaching for the cup of hemlock, the other raised mid-argument; his grieving disciples cluster around him.
Jacques-Louis David, 1787
Bas-relief: Socrates gestures his wife Xanthippe and his children away from the prison so he can die in philosophical company.
Antonio Canova, 1792
Bas-relief: the dead Socrates lies extended on the cot as Crito leans in to close his eyelids with a gentle hand.
Antonio Canova, 1792
Single full-length figure of Socrates in Renaissance dress, scroll in hand, standing as one of the cardinal pagan sages.
Pietro Perugino, 1500
Bas-relief: an armored Socrates straddles the wounded Alcibiades on the battlefield, fending off enemies with shield raised.
Antonio Canova, 1797
Recommended Editions
G.M.A. Grube
Hackett Publishing · 2000
Grube's translation in Hackett's Five Dialogues, bundled with Euthyphro, Crito, Meno, and Phaedo. Clean philosophical prose, the version sitting on every intro-to-Plato syllabus for thirty years.
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Deep Dive
What It's About
This summary gives away plot details.
Notable Quotes
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
“I know that I know nothing.”
More by Plato
- Phaedo
c. 385 BCE · Dialogue
- The Symposium
c. 385 BCE · Dialogue
- The Republic
c. 375 BCE · Dialogue
- Phaedrus
c. 370 BCE · Dialogue