Socrates
a great Athenian philosopher, the son of Sophroniscus and Phæ- , the son of Sophroniscus and Phenarete; born near Athens in 469 B. C.
He was brought up to his father's calling, that of a sculptor, and for a time gained his living by it. He was, however, student, and by means of the best teachers and the best works accessible to him got the best education his country and his age could give him.
He was one of the disciples of the great Anaxagoras and of his successor Archelaus, and soon gave himself up entirely SOCRATES to philosophy. He led an active social life, married-unhappily for himself, served his country as a soldier, distinguished himself by his courage and extraordinary age and extraordinary endurance at the , at the battle of Delium, and at Amphipolis.
At Potidea he saved the life of his pupil Alcibiades, and at Delium the life of his pupil Xenophon. constitution made him indifferent to the extremes of temperature; he could dress alike and go barefoot all the year round.
He seems to have inclined rather to the aristocratic than the democratic party . Critias, one of the Thirty Tyrants, Thirty Tyrants, had been his pupil; his friend; so was Charmides. Yet he fearlessly rebuked Critias for his vices, and thereby made him his enemy; and he with equal courage and consequences denounced the proceedings of the Thirty, and in one im- SOCRATES portant case refused to obey their command. On the trial of the six generals after the battle of Arginuse he firmly opposed the injustice of the sentence. rates made himself the foremost man of It was, however, as a teacher that Socteacher that Soc- Athens. He wrote no book, he did not establish a school or constitute a system of philosophy. abroad, and mixed with men familiarly.
But he almost lived He talked and questioned and discussed, not for pay, but from the love of truth, and a sense of duty. He was persuaded that he had a high religious mission to that a divine voice (afterward spoken of as his Dæmon or Genius), habitto restrain him from certain actions . Socrates was distinguished chiefly by his theory of virtue. Virtue, he said, consisted in knowledge. To do right was the only road to happiness; and as every man sought to be happy, vice could arise only from ignorance or mistake as to take as to the means; hence the proper enlarged teaching of the consequences of actions.
So early as 424 B. c. he was attacked by Aristophanes, in his comedy of the "Clouds" as the arch-sophist, the enemy of religion, and corrupter stantially the same charges as those on of religion, and corrupter of youth; subter of youth; subwhich he was prosecuted 20 years later.
He was made to appear not only hateful but ridiculousa result the more easy to be attained because of his singularly ugly so easily rendered by the comic mask. He was persecuted during the tyranny of the Thirty, and after their fall he was impeached by Anytus, one of their leading opponents, with whom were , a tragic poet, and Lycon, an orator.
He was charged with not believing in the gods which the state worshiped; worshiped; with introducing new divin- Death was proposed as the penalty. Soc- ities; and with corrupting the youth. rates refused to make use of a speech prepared for his defense by Lysias, and defended himself in a tone of confident aggravated the ill-will of his judges . He was condemned by a majority of six only; jority of six only; but his additional of the sentence raised the majority against him to 80. Thirty his sentence and its execution. During that period Socrates had the society of his friends and conversed with them versed with them as usual; the last conthe immortality of the soul. He refused the offer of some of his friends to procure means of escape for cup with perfect composure, and so died in the 70th year of his age in 399 в. of his age in 399 B. c. phy, and without founding a system he Socrates opened a new era in philosoera in philosooriginated, by rousing men to reflection SODA and leading them toward self-knowledge, a vast movement of intellect which produced, first Platonism and the Aristotelian logic, and then all the systems, even conflicting ones, which rose into more or less importance during 10 successive centuries. By his religious spirit, his belief in God and in immortality, his aim to reunite religion and immortality, and his own noble and beautiful life, he exerted so strong and wholesome an influence that the historian of the Christian religion, Neander, does not hesitate to say that Socrates, like John the Baptist, was a forerunner of Christ. Our primary authorities for the life and teaching of Socrates are Xenophon's "Memorabilia and Apology of Socrates," and Plato's "Dialogues," in which he forms the great central figure.