Compare And Contrast Xenophon And The Apology

1209 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Platos apology summary

Plato, being an admirer and student of Socrates, wrote his version of Socrates’ speech as he defended himself in court against his charges of corrupting the youth, and impiety called The Apology. In comparison, Xenophon also wrote his version of the speech. Seeing as though each author has many supporting details that support their view as far as the outcome of the trial, Plato’s version of his apology may have been somewhat biased. Xenophon, on the other hand, was more at peace with the outcome of the trial. Considering this trial took place in 399 BC, their were no Greek court reporters, audio or video tapings, news records, so on and so forth. With this in mind, only two survived: Plato’s and Xenophon’s. Plato, when leading up to identify the first of Socrates’ charges, begins by stating such charges stemmed from the belief that Socrates was being condemned for being a “wise man”. Plato seems to rant on about Socrates’ accusers being “circulators of this rumor, and their hearers are too apt to fancy that speculators of this sort do not believe in the gods.” Plato states (Plato). Continuing, he
Socrates then questions him again about whether or not he alleges that he corrupts the youth intentionally or unintentionally. Meletus’ reply was that he does intentionally. Socrates begins to argue with Meletus about his previous statement and, what seems to become, more and more agitated with the fact that Meletus goes back and forth with his argument for the simple facet that he wants Socrates to face the death penalty which is evident in several occasions throughout Plato’s apology. Also, throughout Plato’s version of The Apology, he also makes sure that it is known that his first charges arose from general prejudices that surrounded him over the

Show More
Related

  • Comparison Between Crito And Apology by Plato

    1631 Words  | 4 Pages

    Plato's The Apology is an account of the speech. Socrates makes at the trial in which he is charged with not recognizing the gods recognized by the state, inventing new gods, and corrupting the youth of Athens. For the most part, Socrates speaks in a very plain, conversational manner. He explains that he has no experience with the law courts and that he will instead speak in the manner to which he is accustomed with honesty and directness. Socrates then proceeds to interrogate Meletus, the man primarily responsible for bringing Socrates before the jury. He strongly attacks Meletus for wasting the court¡¦s time on such absurd charges. He then argues that if he corrupted the young he did so unknowingly since Socrates believes that one never deliberately acts wrongly. If Socrates neither did not corrupt the young nor did so unknowingly, then in both cases he should not be brought to trial. The other charge is the charge of impiety. This is when Socrates finds an inconsistency in Meletus¡¦ belief that Socrates is impious. If he didn¡¦t believe in any gods then it would be inconsistent to say that he believed in spiritual things, as gods are a form of a spiritual thing. He continues to argue against the charges, often asking and answering his own questions as if he were speaking in a conversation with one of his friends. He says that once a man has found his passion in life it would be wrong of him to take into account the risk of life or death that such a passion might involve.

    Read More

  • Four Charges Brought Agains Socrates in the Apology by Plato

    1045 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...one else improves the youth, therefore to me it sounds as if Meletus doesn’t even know what improves the youth himself. I believe the main thing Meletus wanted was for Socrates to be sentenced to death from the beginning.

    Read More

  • An Apologia of Xenophon

    1089 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Anabasis” is the Xenophon’s account of the expedition for Cyrus against Persian and the marching home of Greeks. The Greek title of Xenophon’s work, “Anabasis”, referred to a march up country, away from the coast. The title applies only to the first of its seven books. It all ends with the death of Cyrus at the Battle of Cuxana. The Greek mercenary soldiers were left stranded in the “barbarian” world. The rest of the books involves with tales of the Greeks’ discipline, leadership and courage during their journey home. Xenophon’s narrative offers an insight of the character and their political life of a Greek army. Although Xenophon seems to write about the account between the Greek and the barbarian, he presents himself as an important role in the Greek army throughout the rest of the books. He uses a third-person form when describing his own actions as a character. It might suggest that Xenophon is writing an apologia to defend himself and to show his vital role in the expedition.

    Read More

  • Justice In Electra, Apology And The Crito By Sophocre

    1457 Words  | 3 Pages

    Specifically looking at what Meletus thought Justice was, see that it is very similar to Electra. “You have made it sufficiently obvious, Meletus, that you have never had any concern for our youth; you show your indifference clearly; that you have given no thought to the subject for which you bring me to trail.” This is Socrates making a defense against the accusations of Metetus. Metetus as rushed into this trial and is guilty of “Irresponsibly bring people to court”. He is angry with Socrates and is trying to get Socrates back for embarrassing him in the streets of Athens. Meletus is trying to get revenge to make himself feel better and prove that Socrates does not know what he is talking about. By doing that he would be proving he is smarter than Socrates, bringing these charges on him are more out of revenge than trying to maintain the law. There it is Metelus’s definition of Justice, retaliation for what happened to make himself feel better. He thinks that he was treated unjustly and wants his

    Read More

  • Plato's Apology: The Argument For Corrupting The Youth Of Plato

    785 Words  | 2 Pages

    When asked if there’s anyone in the world who would knowingly choose to be harmed, Meletus replies with “Of course not.”, yet he still insists that Socrates intentionally corrupts the youth (p. 56). Socrates knows that those who are wicked will not only cause harm to strangers, but also will cause harm to those who are close to them (p. 56). Socrates is close to those he teaches and does not want to bring harm to himself (p. 56). Therefore, Socrates would never intentionally corrupt the youth (p.56). Socrates goes on to argue that even if he was unwillingly corrupting the youth of Athens, Meletus’ charges would still hold no real value as it would be an involuntary misdemeanor (p. 56).When somebody unknowingly commits a crime they aren’t summoned to court, they are taken aside and made to see the error of their ways (p. 56). So why was Socrates dragged to court? If someone had tried to enlighten Socrates, and had helped him to see that what he was doing was wrong, then he would have stopped doing that which was unintentional (p. 56). Socrates concludes this part of his argument by stating that no one had tried to enlighten him and by once again questioning why he was brought to court, when court is intended for people who need to be punished, not for people who need to be enlightened (p.

    Read More

  • The Apology of Socrates: Guilty or Innocent?

    943 Words  | 2 Pages

    What exactly is Socrates being accused of?  "Socrates is guilty of engaging in inquiries into things beneath the earth and in the heavens, of making the weaker argument appear the stronger, and of teaching others these same things" (29).  Socrates is charged with impiety, a person who does not believe in the gods of Athens.  Socrates defends this charge, claiming that he was propositioned by the gods through the Oracle of Delphi, to question people's wisdom.  He states, "...but when god stationed me, as I supposed and assumed, ordering me to live philosophizing and examining myself and others...that my whole care is to commit no unjust or impious deed."  By claiming that defense, Socrates manages to sway Meletus toward his point.  This point being that Socrates cannot both be atheistic and to believe in demons, for this would contradict his not believing in gods at all, s...

    Read More

  • Socrates Was NOT Guilty

    1660 Words  | 4 Pages

    Socrates, in his conviction from the Athenian jury, was both innocent and guilty as charged. In Plato’s Five Dialogues, accounts of events ranging from just prior to Socrates’ entry into the courthouse up until his mouthful of hemlock, both points are represented. Socrates’ in dealing with moral law was not guilty of the crimes he was accused of by Meletus. Socrates was only guilty as charged because his peers had concluded him as such. The laws didn’t find Socrates guilty; Socrates was guilty because his jurors enforced the laws. The law couldn’t enforce itself. Socrates was accused of corrupting Athens’ youth, not believing in the gods of the city and creating his own gods. In the Euthyphro, Socrates defends himself against the blasphemous charges outside the courthouse to a priest Euthyphro. Socrates looks to the priest to tell him what exactly is pious so that he may educate himself as to why he would be perceived as impious. Found in the Apology, another of Plato’s Five Dialogues, Socrates aims to defend his principles to the five hundred and one person jury. Finally, the Crito, an account of Socrates’ final discussion with his good friend Crito, Socrates is offered an opportunity to escape the prison and his death sentence. As is known, Socrates rejected the suggestion. It is in the Euthyphro and the Apology that it can be deduced that Socrates is not guilty as charged, he had done nothing wrong and he properly defended himself. However, in the Crito, it is shown that Socrates is guilty only in the interpretation and enforcement of Athens’ laws through the court system and its jurors. Socrates’ accusations of being blasphemous are also seen as being treasonous.

    Read More

  • Socrates and His Innocence

    907 Words  | 2 Pages

    Socrates starts by speaking of his first accusers. He speaks of the men that they talked to about his impiety and says that those that they persuaded in that Socrates is impious, that they themselves do not believe in gods (18c2). He tells the court of how long they have been accusing him of impiety. He states that they spoke to others when they were at an impressionable age (18c5). These two reasons alone should have been good enough to refute the first accusers of how they were wrong about him but Socrates went on. He leaves the first accusers alone because since they accused him a long time ago it was not relevant in the current case and began to refute the second accusers. Socrates vindicates his innocence by stating that the many have heard what he has taught in public and that many of those that he taught were present in the court that day.

    Read More

  • Athena Parthenos: The Goddess of Wisdom

    861 Words  | 2 Pages

    Plato, . The Trial and Death of Socrates, "The Apology". Trans. G.M.A. Grube. Third ed. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 2000. 34. Print.

    Read More

  • An Apology From Socrates

    1717 Words  | 4 Pages

    In his examination of Meletus, Socrates makes three main points: 1) Meletus has accused Socrates of being the only corrupter, while everyone else improves the youth. Socrates then uses an analogy: a horse trainer is to horses as an improver is to the youth. The point is that there is only one improver, not many. 2) If Socrates corrupts the youth, either it is intentional or unintentional. No one would corrupt his neighbor intentionally, because he would harm himself in the process. If the corruption was unintentional, then the court is not the place to resolve the problem. The other possibility is that he does not corrupt them at all. 3) In frustration, Meletus accuses Socrates of being "a complete atheist," at the same time he claims Socrates teaches new gods. Thus, Meletus contradicts himself. Socrates argues that fear of death is foolish, because it is not known if death is a good or an evil, thus there is no reason to fear death.

    Read More

  • The Trail Of Socrates And The Apology Of Plato

    1011 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Plato’s Apology it seems that overall Socrates did an effective job using the 3 acts of the mind. The three acts of the mind are: Understanding, Judgment, and Reasoning. These acts are stragically used to rebut the charges made against him during trial. The two charges that are formed against Socrates are corrupting the youth and not believing in the gods. The first act of the mind that we will be looking at is, understanding. The question that needs to be asked is what does corruption mean? The accuser believe that Socrates in corrupting the minds of the children by introducing new concepts. Socrates is trying to teach and involve the minds of the youth by getting them to ask question. It is very important that people are always asking questions about why things are. The next question that needs to be address is what does not believe in the gods mean? Socrates believes in God but that is one god that rules the world, not multiple gods who together rule. They are mad that he has “created” his own god.

    Read More

  • Socrates was a Wise and Harmless Man

    1122 Words  | 3 Pages

    Therefore, it is less likely the youth have been corrupted by Socrates than by some larger group of people (educators, council members, jurymen etc.). Socrates was also put on trial for being an Atheist. In the argument Socrates has with Meletus, Socrates gets Meletus to admit that Socrates is an Atheist and a theist. Considering that both of these practices are totally incompatible, and Meletus admits to both of theses, maybe Meletus does not really understand what he is accusing Socrates of. I understand that back then not believing in religion was considered a crime but to actually sentence someone to death for being different is totally uncalled for.

    Read More

  • Plato's Apology

    807 Words  | 2 Pages

    In his defense, Socrates claims over and again that he is innocent and is not at all wise, “…for I know that I have no wisdom, small or great.” Throughout the rest of his oration he seems to act the opposite as if he is better than every man, and later he even claims that, “At any rate, the world has decided that Socrates is in some way superior to other men.” This seems to be his greatest mistake, claiming to be greater than even the jury.

    Read More

  • The Charges Against Socrates

    634 Words  | 2 Pages

    The charges against Socrates were brought upon him by a man names Meletus. Meletus was a young man that Socrates did not know very well. These charges brought on by Meletus caused the indictment of Socrates. One of the charges in the affidavit written by Meletus against Socrates is that he is "corrupting the youth." Another charge that is brought upon Socrates is that of he is making up new Gods and disregarding the old Gods the Athenians believe in. These were the charges brought on Socrates.

    Read More

More about Compare And Contrast Xenophon And The Apology

Open Document