WHAT SOCRATES HAS TO SAY ABOUT DEATH

y In the Apology: e You are mistaken, my fri nd, if you think that a man who is worth anything ought to sp nd his lif w ighing up th conside r...whe r he is acting justly or unjustly . the

He re minds the jury o He ctor in the Iliad, who, whe he was n re minde o dange o de d r ath, made light o it and said that he ing d was ar more a raid o be mocke or ailure to do his duty ath. than he was o de He says it would be shocking to de rt his post (doing the se work o the gods) just out o e o de ar ath. eI am not going d to change my conduct, not e n i I have to die a hundre ve de aths . ar ath. He He the goe on to say that it is stupid to e de n s points out that it is arrogance to assume that we know it is a bad thing. It may e n be a ble ve ssing. ar ath he points out to the As proo o his lack o e o de jury that on othe occasions he did the right thing e n though r ve ne he might have be n kille or it (spoke up or the ge rals at e d Arginusae and didnd t e tch Le o Salamis). on He says that going into battle one knows the d , ange but one r, still must ollow ord rs and d the right thing. e o ithe eDe ath is one o two things, e r it is annihilation...or it is re ally a change a migration o the soul rom this place to , ithe ar anothe r He says that e r way, why should we e it? He himse gre l atly looks orward to me ting gre he s o the e at roe

prosp cts of lif

and de ath. He has only one thing to

past (Agamemnon; Orpheus; Homer and Odysseus) and to questioning them the way he has questioned the Athenians in his lifetime. He trusts in the gods not to let anything bad happen to him. Well now it is time to be off, I to die, you to live; but which of us has the happier prospect is unknown to anyone but God. y In The Crito: In answer to Critods reasons why he should escape and survive, Socrates says the following: That one should always do what is right, even if death is the consequence; is it worth living if you have done something to damage your soul? (i.e. the wrong thing); when you die, you have to face the Laws in Hades who will call you to account for any wrong you have done. y In The Phaedo: On the day of his death, Socrates is happy and calm, unlike some others (notable his wife, Xanthippe, Apollodorus and the prison guard, all of whom weep). Socrates says that a true philosopher should welcome death, but not consider suicide. He says that our lives are not our own, but belong to the gods and so they are not ours to dispose of. He has no interest whatsoever in how he should be buried as he firmly believes that only his bodily remains and not his true self will be left on earth. He shows his lack of concern for death by refusing to put it off to the last minute in order to ecling to life He is f. curious about the he mlock and wishe to make a libation to the s gods. Ironically, he has to calm his f nds down whe he take rie n s

the poison. His last words are a reminder to Crito to pay Asclepius (god of healing) the cock that he owes him.