The Last Days of Socrates

Socrates vows that he will speak the truth and what is just. He asks the court not to judge him for the content of his speech and not its delivery. He points out that he must defend himself against two accusers: those who brought the charges against him and “more long-standing accusers” who have, for years, accused him of being a wise man who “dabbles in theories” and “makes the weaker argument the stronger,” charges of which the jurors are inevitably aware (62). Though Socrates cannot bring them before the court, he will still take them into account in his defense.

Insisting that he has been misrepresented, Socrates states that he will explain how he got his “false reputation” as a self-proclaimed wise man (65). Socrates’s friend Chaerephon had visited Delphi to ask whether anyone was wiser than Socrates, and the Pythia, the priestess of Apollo, replied that no one was. Not believing her, Socrates went about conversing with “political experts,” concluding that they only thought themselves wise, and incurred their hatred when he tried to show them their error.

Socrates admits that he is wiser than they are by virtue of knowing that there are things that he does not know.