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Crito, by Plato

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Title: Crito

Author: Plato

Release Date: March, 1999 [Etext #1657]

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The Project Gutenberg EBook ofCrito, by Plato 1

 CRITO

BY

PLATO

TRANSLATED BY BENJAMIN JOWETT

INTRODUCTION

The Crito seems intended to exhibit the character of Socrates in one light only, not as the philosopher,
fulfilling a divine mission and trusting in the will of heaven, but simply as the good citizen, who having been
unjustly condemned is willing to give up his life in obedience to the laws of the state . . .

The days of Socrates are drawing to a close; the fatal ship has been seen off Sunium, as he is informed by his
aged friend and contemporary Crito, who visits him before the dawn has broken; he himself has been warned
in a dream that on the third day he must depart. Time is precious, and Crito has come early in order to gain his
consent to a plan of escape. This can be easily accomplished by his friends, who will incur no danger in
making the attempt to save him, but will be disgraced for ever if they allow him to perish. He should think of
his duty to his children, and not play into the hands of his enemies. Money is already provided by Crito as
well as by Simmias and others, and he will have no difficulty in finding friends in Thessaly and other places.

Socrates is afraid that Crito is but pressing upon him the opinions of the many; whereas, all his life long he
has followed the dictates of reason only and the opinion of the one wise or skilled man. There was a time
when Crito himself had allowed the propriety of this. And although someone will say ‘the many can kill us,’
that makes no difference; but a good life, in other words, a just and honourable life, is alone to be valued. All
considerations of loss of reputation or injury to his children should be dismissed: the only question is whether
he would be right in attempting to escape. Crito, who is a disinterested person not having the fear of death
before his eyes, shall answer this for him. Before he was condemned they had often held discussions, in which
they agreed that no man should either do evil, or return evil for evil, or betray the right. Are these principles to
be altered because the circumstances of Socrates are altered? Crito admits that they remain the same. Then is
his escape consistent with the maintenance of them? To this Crito is unable or unwilling to reply.

Socrates proceeds:—Suppose the Laws of Athens to come and remonstrate with him: they will ask, ‘Why
does he seek to overturn them?’ and if he replies, ‘They have injured him,’ will not the Laws answer, ‘Yes,
but was that the agreement? Has he any objection to make to them which would justify him in overturning
them? Was he not brought into the world and educated by their help, and are they not his parents? He might
have left Athens and gone where he pleased, but he has lived there for seventy years more constantly than any

CRITO 2
 The Project Gutenberg eBook of Crito, by Plato
other citizen.’ Thus he has clearly shown that he acknowledged the agreement, which he cannot now break
without dishonour to himself and danger to his friends. Even in the course of the trial he might have proposed
exile as the penalty, but then he declared that he preferred death to exile. And whither will he direct his
footsteps? In any well-ordered state the Laws will consider him as an enemy. Possibly in a land of misrule like
Thessaly he may be welcomed at first, and the unseemly narrative of his escape will be regarded by the
inhabitants as an amusing tale. But if he offends them he will have to learn another sort of lesson. Will he
continue to give lectures in virtue? That would hardly be decent. And how will his children be the gainers if
he takes them into Thessaly, and deprives them of Athenian citizenship? Or if he leaves them behind, does he
expect that they will be better taken care of by his friends because he is in Thessaly? Will not true friends care
for them equally whether he is alive or dead?

Finally, they exhort him to think of justice first, and of life and children afterwards. He may now depart in
peace and innocence, a sufferer and not a doer of evil. But if he breaks agreements, and returns evil for evil,
they will be angry with him while he lives; and their brethren the Laws of the world below will receive him as
an enemy. Such is the mystic voice which is always murmuring in his ears.

That Socrates was not a good citizen was a charge made against him during his lifetime, which has been often
repeated in later ages. The crimes of Alcibiades, Critias, and Charmides, who had been his pupils, were still
recent in the memory of the now restored democracy. The fact that he had been neutral in the death-struggle
of Athens was not likely to conciliate popular good-will. Plato, writing probably in the next generation,
undertakes the defence of his friend and master in this particular, not to the Athenians of his day, but to
posterity and the world at large.

Whether such an incident ever really occurred as the visit of Crito and the proposal of escape is uncertain;
Plato could easily have invented far more than that; 1 and in the selection of Crito, the aged friend, as the
fittest person to make the proposal to Socrates, we seem to recognize the hand of the artist. Whether anyone
who has been subjected by the laws of his country to an unjust judgment is right in attempting to escape, is a
thesis about which casuists might disagree. Shelley 2 is of opinion that Socrates ‘did well to die,’ but not for
the ‘sophistical’ reasons which Plato has put into his mouth. And there would be no difficulty in arguing that
Socrates should have lived and preferred to a glorious death the good which he might still be able to perform.
‘A rhetorician would have had much to say upon that point.’ It may be observed however that Plato never
intended to answer the question of casuistry, but only to exhibit the ideal of patient virtue which refuses to do
the least evil in order to avoid the greatest, and to show his master maintaining in death the opinions which he
had professed in his life. Not ‘the world,’ but the ‘one wise man,’ is still the paradox of Socrates in his last
hours. He must be guided by reason, although her conclusions may be fatal to him. The remarkable sentiment
that the wicked can do neither good nor evil is true, if taken in the sense, which he means, of moral evil; in his
own words, ‘they cannot make a man wise or foolish.’

This little dialogue is a perfect piece of dialectic, in which granting the ‘common principle,’ there is no
escaping from the conclusion. It is anticipated at the beginning by the dream of Socrates and the parody of
Homer. The personification of the Laws, and of their brethren the Laws in the world below, is one of the
noblest and boldest figures of speech which occur in Plato.

INTRODUCTION 3
 The Project Gutenberg eBook of Crito, by Plato

CRITO

PERSONS OF THE DIALOGUE:

Socrates, Crito.

SCENE: The Prison of Socrates.

SOCRATES: Why have you come at this hour, Crito? it must be quite early?

CRITO: Yes, certainly.

SOCRATES: What is the exact time?

CRITO: The dawn is breaking.

SOCRATES: I wonder that the keeper of the prison would let you in.

CRITO: He knows me, because I often come, Socrates; moreover, I have done him a kindness.

SOCRATES: And are you only just arrived?

CRITO: No, I came some time ago.

SOCRATES: Then why did you sit and say nothing, instead of at once awakening me?

CRITO: I should not have liked myself, Socrates, to be in such great trouble and unrest as you are—indeed I
should not: I have been watching with amazement your peaceful slumbers; and for that reason I did not awake
you, because I wished to minimize the pain. I have always thought you to be of a happy disposition; but never
did I see anything like the easy, tranquil manner in which you bear this calamity.

SOCRATES: Why, Crito, when a man has reached my age he ought not to be repining at the approach of
death.

CRITO: And yet other old men find themselves in similar misfortunes, and age does not prevent them from
repining.

SOCRATES: That is true. But you have not told me why you come at this early hour.

CRITO: I come to bring you a message which is sad and painful; not, as I believe, to yourself, but to all of us
who are your friends, and saddest of all to me.

SOCRATES: What? Has the ship come from Delos, on the arrival of which I am to die?

CRITO: No, the ship has not actually arrived, but she will probably be here to-day, as persons who have come
from Sunium tell me that they have left her there; and therefore to-morrow, Socrates, will be the last day of

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 The Project Gutenberg eBook of Crito, by Plato

your life.

SOCRATES: Very well, Crito; if such is the will of God, I am willing; but my belief is that there will be a
delay of a day.

CRITO: Why do you think so?

SOCRATES: I will tell you. I am to die on the day after the arrival of the ship?

CRITO: Yes; that is what the authorities say.

SOCRATES: But I do not think that the ship will be here until to-morrow; this I infer from a vision which I
had last night, or rather only just now, when you fortunately allowed me to sleep.

CRITO: And what was the nature of the vision?

SOCRATES: There appeared to me the likeness of a woman, fair and comely, clothed in bright raiment, who
called to me and said: O Socrates,

‘The third day hence to fertile Phthia shalt thou go.’ 3

CRITO: What a singular dream, Socrates!

SOCRATES: There can be no doubt about the meaning, Crito, I think.

CRITO: Yes; the meaning is only too clear. But, oh! my beloved Socrates, let me entreat you once more to
take my advice and escape. For if you die I shall not only lose a friend who can never be replaced, but there is
another evil: people who do not know you and me will believe that I might have saved you if I had been
willing to give money, but that I did not care. Now, can there be a worse disgrace than this—that I should be
thought to value money more than the life of a friend? For the many will not be persuaded that I wanted you
to escape, and that you refused.

SOCRATES: But why, my dear Crito, should we care about the opinion of the many? Good men, and they are
the only persons who are worth considering, will think of these things truly as they occurred.

CRITO: But you see, Socrates, that the opinion of the many must be regarded, for what is now happening
shows that they can do the greatest evil to anyone who has lost their good opinion.

SOCRATES: I only wish it were so, Crito; and that the many could do the greatest evil; for then they would
also be able to do the greatest good—and what a fine thing this would be! But in reality they can do neither;
for they cannot make a man either wise or foolish; and whatever they do is the result of chance.

CRITO: Well, I will not dispute with you; but please to tell me, Socrates, whether you are not acting out of
regard to me and your other friends: are you not afraid that if you escape from prison we may get into trouble
with the informers for having stolen you away, and lose either the whole or a great part of our property; or that
even a worse evil may happen to us? Now, if you fear on our account, be at ease; for in order to save you, we
ought surely to run this, or even a greater risk; be persuaded, then, and do as I say.

SOCRATES: Yes, Crito, that is one fear which you mention, but by no means the only one.

CRITO 5
 The Project Gutenberg eBook of Crito, by Plato
CRITO: Fear not—there are persons who are willing to get you out of prison at no great cost; and as for the
informers, they are far from being exorbitant in their demands—a little money will satisfy them. My means,
which are certainly ample, are at your service, and if you have a scruple about spending all mine, here are
strangers who will give you the use of theirs; and one of them, Simmias the Theban, has brought a large sum
of money for this very purpose; and Cebes and many others are prepared to spend their money in helping you
to escape. I say, therefore, do not hesitate on our account, and do not say, as you did in the court 4 that you
will have a difficulty in knowing what to do with yourself anywhere else. For men will love you in other
places to which you may go, and not in Athens only; there are friends of mine in Thessaly, if you like to go to
them, who will value and protect you, and no Thessalian will give you any trouble. Nor can I think that you
are at all justified, Socrates, in betraying your own life when you might be saved; in acting thus you are
playing into the hands of your enemies, who are hurrying on your destruction. And further I should say that
you are deserting your own children; for you might bring them up and educate them; instead of which you go
away and leave them, and they will have to take their chance; and if they do not meet with the usual fate of
orphans, there will be small thanks to you. No man should bring children into the world who is unwilling to
persevere to the end in their nurture and education. But you appear to be choosing the easier part, not the
better and manlier, which would have been more becoming in one who professes to care for virtue in all his
actions, like yourself. And indeed, I am ashamed not only of you, but of us who are your friends, when I
reflect that the whole business will be attributed entirely to our want of courage. The trial need never have
come on, or might have been managed differently; and this last act, or crowning folly, will seem to have
occurred through our negligence and cowardice, who might have saved you, if we had been good for
anything; and you might have saved yourself, for there was no difficulty at all. See now, Socrates, how sad
and discreditable are the consequences, both to us and you. Make up your mind then, or rather have your mind
already made up, for the time of deliberation is over, and there is only one thing to be done, which must be
done this very night, and, if we delay at all, will be no longer practicable or possible; I beseech you therefore,
Socrates, be persuaded by me, and do as I say.

SOCRATES: Dear Crito, your zeal is invaluable, if a right one; but if wrong, the greater the zeal the greater
the danger; and therefore we ought to consider whether I shall or shall not do as you say. For I am and always
have been one of those natures who must be guided by reason, whatever the reason may be which upon
reflection appears to me to be the best; and now that this chance has befallen me, I cannot repudiate my own
words: the principles which I have hitherto honoured and revered I still honour, and unless we can at once find
other and better principles, I am certain not to agree with you; no, not even if the power of the multitude could
inflict many more imprisonments, confiscations, deaths, frightening us like children with hobgoblin terrors. 5
What will be the fairest way of considering the question? Shall I return to your old argument about the
opinions of men?—we were saying that some of them are to be regarded, and others not. Now were we
right in maintaining this before I was condemned? And has the argument which was once good now proved to
be talk for the sake of talking—mere childish nonsense? That is what I want to consider with your help,
Crito:—whether, under my present circumstances, the argument appears to be in any way different or
not; and is to be allowed by me or disallowed. That argument, which, as I believe, is maintained by many
persons of authority, was to the effect, as I was saying, that the opinions of some men are to be regarded, and
of other men not to be regarded. Now you, Crito, are not going to die to-morrow—at least, there is no
human probability of this—and therefore you are disinterested and not liable to be deceived by the
circumstances in which you are placed. Tell me then, whether I am right in saying that some opinions, and the
opinions of some men only, are to be valued, and that other opinions, and the opinions of other men, are not to
be valued. I ask you whether I was right in maintaining this?

CRITO: Certainly.

SOCRATES: The good are to be regarded, and not the bad?

CRITO: Yes.

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SOCRATES: And the opinions of the wise are good, and the opinions of the unwise are evil?

CRITO: Certainly.

SOCRATES: And what was said about another matter? Is the pupil who devotes himself to the practice of
gymnastics supposed to attend to the praise and blame and opinion of every man, or of one man
only—his physician or trainer, whoever he may be?

CRITO: Of one man only.

SOCRATES: And he ought to fear the censure and welcome the praise of that one only, and not of the many?

CRITO: Clearly so.

SOCRATES: And he ought to act and train, and eat and drink in the way which seems good to his single
master who has understanding, rather than according to the opinion of all other men put together?

CRITO: True.

SOCRATES: And if he disobeys and disregards the opinion and approval of the one, and regards the opinion
of the many who have no understanding, will he not suffer evil?

CRITO: Certainly he will.

SOCRATES: And what will the evil be, whither tending and what affecting, in the disobedient person?

CRITO: Clearly, affecting the body; that is what is destroyed by the evil.

SOCRATES: Very good; and is not this true, Crito, of other things which we need not separately enumerate?
In questions of just and unjust, fair and foul, good and evil, which are the subjects of our present consultation,
ought we to follow the opinion of the many and to fear them; or the opinion of the one man who has
understanding? ought we not to fear and reverence him more than all the rest of the world: and if we desert
him shall we not destroy and injure that principle in us which may be assumed to be improved by justice and
deteriorated by injustice—there is such a principle?

CRITO: Certainly there is, Socrates.

SOCRATES: Take a parallel instance:—if, acting under the advice of those who have no
understanding, we destroy that which is improved by health and is deteriorated by disease, would life be
worth having? And that which has been destroyed is—the body?

CRITO: Yes.

SOCRATES: Could we live, having an evil and corrupted body?

CRITO: Certainly not.

SOCRATES: And will life be worth having, if that higher part of man be destroyed, which is improved by
justice and depraved by injustice? Do we suppose that principle, whatever it may be in man, which has to do
with justice and injustice, to be inferior to the body?

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 The Project Gutenberg eBook of Crito, by Plato

CRITO: Certainly not.

SOCRATES: More honourable than the body?

CRITO: Far more.

SOCRATES: Then, my friend, we must not regard what the many say of us; but what he, the one man who
has understanding of just and unjust, will say, and what the truth will say. And therefore you begin in error
when you advise that we should regard the opinion of the many about just and unjust, good and evil,
honourable and dishonourable.—‘Well,’ someone will say, ‘but the many can
kill us.’

CRITO: Yes, Socrates; that will clearly be the answer.

SOCRATES: And it is true; but still I find with surprise that the old argument is unshaken as ever. And I
should like to know whether I may say the same of another proposition—that not life, but a good life, is
to be chiefly valued?

CRITO: Yes, that also remains unshaken.

SOCRATES: And a good life is equivalent to a just and honourable one—that holds also?

CRITO: Yes, it does.

SOCRATES: From these premises I proceed to argue the question whether I ought or ought not to try and
escape without the consent of the Athenians: and if I am clearly right in escaping, then I will make the
attempt; but if not, I will abstain. The other considerations which you mention, of money and loss of character
and the duty of educating one’s children, are, I fear, only the doctrines of the multitude, who would be
as ready to restore people to life, if they were able, as they are to put them to death—and with as little
reason. But now, since the argument has thus far prevailed, the only question which remains to be considered
is whether we shall do rightly either in escaping or in suffering others to aid in our escape and paying them in
money and thanks, or whether in reality we shall not do rightly; and if the latter, then death or any other
calamity which may ensue on my remaining here must not be allowed to enter into the calculation.

CRITO: I think that you are right, Socrates; how then shall we proceed?

SOCRATES: Let us consider the matter together, and do you either refute me if you can, and I will be
convinced; or else cease, my dear friend, from repeating to me that I ought to escape against the wishes of the
Athenians: for I highly value your attempts to persuade me to do so, but I may not be persuaded against my
own better judgment. And now please to consider my first position, and try how you can best answer me.

CRITO: I will.

SOCRATES: Are we to say that we are never intentionally to do wrong, or that in one way we ought and in
another way we ought not to do wrong, or is doing wrong always evil and dishonourable, as I was just now
saying, and as has been already acknowledged by us? Are all our former admissions which were made within
a few days to be thrown away? And have we, at our age, been earnestly discoursing with one another all our
life long only to discover that we are no better than children? Or, in spite of the opinion of the many, and in
spite of consequences whether better or worse, shall we insist on the truth of what was then said, that injustice
is always an evil and dishonour to him who acts unjustly? Shall we say so or not?

CRITO 8
 The Project Gutenberg eBook of Crito, by Plato

CRITO: Yes.

SOCRATES: Then we must do no wrong?

CRITO: Certainly not.

SOCRATES: Nor, when injured, injure in return, as the many imagine; for we must injure no one at all? 6

CRITO: Clearly not.

SOCRATES: Again, Crito, may we do evil?

CRITO: Surely not, Socrates.

SOCRATES: And what of doing evil in return for evil, which is the morality of the many—is that just
or not?

CRITO: Not just.

SOCRATES: For doing evil to another is the same as injuring him?

CRITO: Very true.

SOCRATES: Then we ought not to retaliate or render evil for evil to anyone, whatever evil we may have
suffered from him. But I would have you consider, Crito, whether you really mean what you are saying. For
this opinion has never been held, and never will be held, by any considerable number of persons; and those
who are agreed and those who are not agreed upon this point have no common ground, and can only despise
one another when they see how widely they differ. Tell me, then, whether you agree with and assent to my
first principle, that neither injury nor retaliation nor warding off evil by evil is ever right. And shall that be the
premise of our argument? Or do you decline and dissent from this? For so I have ever thought, and continue to
think; but, if you are of another opinion, let me hear what you have to say. If, however, you remain of the
same mind as formerly, I will proceed to the next step.

CRITO: You may proceed, for I have not changed my mind.

SOCRATES: Then I will go on to the next point, which may be put in the form of a question:—Ought a
man to do what he admits to be right, or ought he to betray the right?

CRITO: He ought to do what he thinks right.

SOCRATES: But if this is true, what is the application? In leaving the prison against the will of the
Athenians, do I wrong any? or rather do I not wrong those whom I ought least to wrong? Do I not desert the
principles which were acknowledged by us to be just—what do you say?

CRITO: I cannot tell, Socrates; for I do not know.

SOCRATES: Then consider the matter in this way:—Imagine that I am about to play truant (you may
call the proceeding by any name which you like), and the laws and the government come and interrogate me:
‘Tell us, Socrates,’ they say; ‘what are you about? are you not going by an act of
yours to overturn us—the laws, and the whole state, as far as in you lies? Do you imagine that a state
can subsist and not be overthrown, in which the decisions of law have no power, but are set aside and

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trampled upon by individuals?’ What will be our answer, Crito, to these and the like words? Anyone,
and especially a rhetorician, will have a good deal to say on behalf of the law which requires a sentence to be
carried out. He will argue that this law should not be set aside; and shall we reply, ‘Yes; but the state
has injured us and given an unjust sentence.’ Suppose I say that?

CRITO: Very good, Socrates.

SOCRATES: ‘And was that our agreement with you?’ the law would answer; ‘or
were you to abide by the sentence of the state?’ And if I were to express my astonishment at their
words, the law would probably add: ‘Answer, Socrates, instead of opening your eyes—you are
in the habit of asking and answering questions. Tell us,—What complaint have you to make against us
which justifies you in attempting to destroy us and the state? In the first place did we not bring you into
existence? Your father married your mother by our aid and begat you. Say whether you have any objection to
urge against those of us who regulate marriage?’ None, I should reply. ‘Or against those of us
who after birth regulate the nurture and education of children, in which you also were trained? Were not the
laws, which have the charge of education, right in commanding your father to train you in music and
gymnastic?’ Right, I should reply. ‘Well then, since you were brought into the world and
nurtured and educated by us, can you deny in the first place that you are our child and slave, as your fathers
were before you? And if this is true you are not on equal terms with us; nor can you think that you have a right
to do to us what we are doing to you. Would you have any right to strike or revile or do any other evil to your
father or your master, if you had one, because you have been struck or reviled by him, or received some other
evil at his hands? You would not say this. And because we think right to destroy you, do you think that you
have any right to destroy us in return, and your country as far as in you lies? Will you, O professor of true
virtue, pretend that you are justified in this? Has a philosopher like you failed to discover that our country is
more to be valued and higher and holier far than mother or father or any ancestor, and more to be regarded in
the eyes of the gods and of men of understanding? also to be soothed, and gently and reverently entreated
when angry, even more than a father, and either to be persuaded, or if not persuaded, to be obeyed? And when
we are punished by her, whether with imprisonment or stripes, the punishment is to be endured in silence; and
if she lead us to wounds or death in battle, thither we follow as is right; neither may anyone yield or retreat or
leave his rank, but whether in battle or in a court of law, or in any other place, he must do what his city and his
country order him; or he must change their view of what is just: and if he may do no violence to his father or
mother, much less may he do violence to his country.’ What answer shall we make to this, Crito? Do
the laws speak truly, or do they not?

CRITO: I think that they do.

SOCRATES: Then the laws will say: ‘Consider, Socrates, if we are speaking truly that in your present
attempt you are going to do us an injury. For, having brought you into the world, and nurtured and educated
you, and given you and every other citizen a share in every good which we had to give, we further proclaim to
any Athenian by the liberty which we allow him, that if he does not like us when he has become of age and
has seen the ways of the city, and made our acquaintance, he may go where he pleases and take his goods with
him. None of us laws will forbid him or interfere with him. Anyone who does not like us and the city, and
who wants to emigrate to a colony or to any other city, may go where he likes, retaining his property. But he
who has experience of the manner in which we order justice and administer the state, and still remains, has
entered into an implied contract that he will do as we command him. And he who disobeys us is, as we
maintain, thrice wrong; first, because in disobeying us he is disobeying his parents; secondly, because we are
the authors of his education; thirdly, because he has made an agreement with us that he will duly obey our
commands; and he neither obeys them nor convinces us that our commands are unjust; and we do not rudely
impose them, but give him the alternative of obeying or convincing us;—that is what we offer, and he
does neither. These are the sort of accusations to which, as we were saying, you, Socrates, will be exposed if
you accomplish your intentions; you, above all other Athenians.’

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Suppose now I ask, why I rather than anybody else? they will justly retort upon me that I above all other men
have acknowledged the agreement. ‘There is clear proof,’ they will say, ‘Socrates,
that we and the city were not displeasing to you. Of all Athenians you have been the most constant resident in
the city, which, as you never leave, you may be supposed to love. 7 For you never went out of the city either
to see the games, except once when you went to the Isthmus, or to any other place unless when you were on
military service; nor did you travel as other men do. Nor had you any curiosity to know other states or their
laws: your affections did not go beyond us and our state; we were your especial favourites, and you
acquiesced in our government of you; and here in this city you begat your children, which is a proof of your
satisfaction. Moreover, you might in the course of the trial, if you had liked, have fixed the penalty at
banishment; the state which refuses to let you go now would have let you go then. But you pretended that you
preferred death to exile, 8 and that you were not unwilling to die. And now you have forgotten these fine
sentiments, and pay no respect to us the laws, of whom you are the destroyer; and are doing what only a
miserable slave would do, running away and turning your back upon the compacts and agreements which you
made as a citizen. And first of all answer this very question: Are we right in saying that you agreed to be
governed according to us in deed, and not in word only? Is that true or not?’ How shall we answer,
Crito? Must we not assent?

CRITO: We cannot help it, Socrates.

SOCRATES: Then will they not say: ‘You, Socrates, are breaking the covenants and agreements
which you made with us at your leisure, not in any haste or under any compulsion or deception, but after you
have had seventy years to think of them, during which time you were at liberty to leave the city, if we were
not to your mind, or if our covenants appeared to you to be unfair. You had your choice, and might have gone
either to Lacedaemon or Crete, both which states are often praised by you for their good government, or to
some other Hellenic or foreign state. Whereas you, above all other Athenians, seemed to be so fond of the
state, or, in other words, of us, her laws (and who would care about a state which has no laws?), that you
never stirred out of her; the halt, the blind, the maimed were not more stationary in her than you were. And
now you run away and forsake your agreements. Not so, Socrates, if you will take our advice; do not make
yourself ridiculous by escaping out of the city.

‘For just consider, if you transgress and err in this sort of way, what good will you do either to
yourself or to your friends? That your friends will be driven into exile and deprived of citizenship, or will lose
their property, is tolerably certain; and you yourself, if you fly to one of the neighbouring cities, as, for
example, Thebes or Megara, both of which are well governed, will come to them as an enemy, Socrates, and
their government will be against you, and all patriotic citizens will cast an evil eye upon you as a subverter of
the laws, and you will confirm in the minds of the judges the justice of their own condemnation of you. For he
who is a corrupter of the laws is more than likely to be a corrupter of the young and foolish portion of
mankind. Will you then flee from well-ordered cities and virtuous men? and is existence worth having on
these terms? Or will you go to them without shame, and talk to them, Socrates? And what will you say to
them? What you say here about virtue and justice and institutions and laws being the best things among men?
Would that be decent of you? Surely not. But if you go away from well-governed states to Crito’s
friends in Thessaly, where there is great disorder and licence, they will be charmed to hear the tale of your
escape from prison, set off with ludicrous particulars of the manner in which you were wrapped in a goatskin
or some other disguise, and metamorphosed as the manner is of runaways; but will there be no one to remind
you that in your old age you were not ashamed to violate the most sacred laws from a miserable desire of a
little more life? Perhaps not, if you keep them in a good temper; but if they are out of temper you will hear
many degrading things; you will live, but how?—as the flatterer of all men, and the servant of all men;
and doing what?—eating and drinking in Thessaly, having gone abroad in order that you may get a
dinner. And where will be your fine sentiments about justice and virtue? Say that you wish to live for the sake
of your children—you want to bring them up and educate them—will you take them into
Thessaly and deprive them of Athenian citizenship? Is this the benefit which you will confer upon them? Or

CRITO 11
 The Project Gutenberg eBook of Crito, by Plato
are you under the impression that they will be better cared for and educated here if you are still alive, although
absent from them; for your friends will take care of them? Do you fancy that if you are an inhabitant of
Thessaly they will take care of them, and if you are an inhabitant of the other world that they will not take
care of them? Nay; but if they who call themselves friends are good for anything, they will—to be sure
they will.

‘Listen, then, Socrates, to us who have brought you up. Think not of life and children first, and of
justice afterwards, but of justice first, that you may be justified before the princes of the world below. For
neither will you nor any that belong to you be happier or holier or juster in this life, or happier in another, if
you do as Crito bids. Now you depart in innocence, a sufferer and not a doer of evil; a victim, not of the laws,
but of men. But if you go forth, returning evil for evil, and injury for injury, breaking the covenants and
agreements which you have made with us, and wronging those whom you ought least of all to wrong, that is
to say, yourself, your friends, your country, and us, we shall be angry with you while you live, and our
brethren, the laws in the world below, will receive you as an enemy; for they will know that you have done
your best to destroy us. Listen, then, to us and not to Crito.’

This, dear Crito, is the voice which I seem to hear murmuring in my ears, like the sound of the flute in the ears
of the mystic; that voice, I say, is humming in my ears, and prevents me from hearing any other. And I know
that anything more which you may say will be vain. Yet speak, if you have anything to say.

CRITO: I have nothing to say, Socrates.

SOCRATES: Leave me then, Crito, to fulfil the will of God, and to follow whither he leads.

1. See Phaedrus
2. See Prose Works
3. Homer, Iliad, IX
4. Cp. Apology
5. Cp. Apology
6. Cp. Republic
7. Cp. Phaedrus
8. Cp. Apology

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