Socrates
3 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Socrates. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
sok'ra-teez (470-399 B. C.), an Athenian philosopher. His father was a sculptor, his mother a midwife. He received the usual education in gymnastics and music, to which he himself later added a study of literature and philosophy. He was fond of listening to the discussions of the learned men of Athens and endeavored to profit by them. Little is known of his early life. He learned his father's business and worked at it for some years. As a young man he was noted for hardiness and bravery. He served as a hoplite, or heavily armed foot soldier, in various engagements, and became a citizen of repute. On one occasion, shortly after an unfavorable battle, he presided at the meeting of an assembly of citizens. Public sentiment was strongly in favor of punishing severely the ten generals of the day who had neglected to secure the bodies of the slain for burial. Socrates saved them from what he considered unjust public condemnation by refusing to put the motion to vote. On other occasions he stood out staunchly in the assembly against powerful influences and always in favor of what he considered justice and right. About the middle of his life he retired from business, withdrew from political affairs, and betook himself to a simple course of living and to the instruction of his fellow citizens in the art of right thinking. He is described as a squatty, homely man, with a thick neck and bald head. His nose was flat and upturned; his lips thick. He had a most ungainly gait. He went about barefooted and scantily clad. He disdained the name of philosopher and professed to be no teacher. Every morning he frequented the most public walks; the gymnasium where young people were receiving physical training , and the school where the youth received instruction. "He was to be seen in the marketplace at the hour when it was most crowded, among the booths and tables where goods were for sale. His whole day was spent usually in this public manner. He talked with anyone, young or old, rich or poor, who sought to address him and in the hearing of all who chose to stand by. Nothing could be more public, perpetual, and indiscriminate as to persons than his conversation, and, as it was engaging, curious, and instructive to hear, certain persons made it their habit to attend him in public as companions and listeners." Our principal accounts of Socrates' discussions are those of Plato, who may be regarded as a successor, and Xenophon. The latter in his Memorabilia bears somewhat the same relation to Socrates that Boswell and his Life hold to Dr. Samuel Johnson, and, of the two, Xenophon had decidedly the better subject. An excellent English account of his life may be had in Grote's History of Greece. Socrates claimed to be possessed by a familiar spirit, which some have interpreted to be nothing more or less than an active conscience. The Socratic method of leading people to reason for themselves was a simple one. He no sooner heard an egotistical or ill-informed person make some rash statement than he intruded himself with some apparently simple question, possibly, not at first thought, related to the matter in hand. Having secured assent to his proposition, he asked another question, until he had led his tormented victim, point by point, to contradict himself or to acknowledge his ignorance of the subject. This was the destructive side of his work. If, however, his opponent had the good nature, the patience-the good sense, Socrates would call it-to continue the conversation, the old philosopher took equal pains, by asking question after question, to lead on, point by point as before, to a right understanding. This was the constructive side of his work. The Socratic method finds much favor with skillful instructors. It causes the student to do his own thinking. Socrates said of himself that he was no wiser than other men, except that he was more keenly aware of his own ignorance. It is not difficult to see that this course of conduct followed up day by day made Socrates unpopular. Fops and gallants treated him as they would the plague; merchants and other busy people were impatient by reason of his untimely interruptions; most people thought him a bore; many thought his doctrines impious, and having a tendency to lead the young astray and to destroy respect for that which should be venerated. A few who understood admired him exceedingly. He created an alarm in politics, as he was accustomed to look into public matters with a degree of sharpness not desired by popular leaders. Politicians, in particular, dreaded his influence. Finally, in 399 B. C., an indictment was brought against him in the public assembly in the following terms: Socrates is guilty of crime; first, for not worshipping the gods whom the city worships, and for introducing new divinities of his own; next, for corrupting the youth. His accusers were a young dramatic poet, a rich leather dealer, and an obscure public orator, all of whom had had their feelings hurt, perhaps repeatedly, by the blunt, uncouth, ever-present, interfering, incorruptible, irrepressible old philosopher. The jury consisted of about five hundred citizens. Socrates was permitted to offer a defense. Instead of striving to placate his judges and to allay resentment, he declared that he held a divine commission to convict men of their ignorance. He declared himself a public blessing and promised that, if left to go unpunished, he would continue to do precisely as he had done. Even then he was convicted only by a mere majority variously stated as from three to thirty. According to custom, his accusers were then called upon to propose one penalty and Socrates another, between which the jury might choose. The former proposed death; Socrates proposed that he be maintained with honor at public expense as a benefactor of his race. At the urgent request of friends, he consented to suggest that a fine of a few cents be imposed on him. Even then, the jury chose a death penalty by a majority of but eighty. Socrates was sent to prison for thirty days to await the return of a certain ship, during the absence of which it was not lawful to inflict capital punishment . He spent his time tranquilly in prison without the least apparent fear of death. His friends desired him to effect his escape, and, indeed, made arrangements for that purpose which he refused to take advantage of, stating that he had always obeyed the laws and that he always intended to do so; that if he had been dissatisfied with the laws of Athens he should have left when he was at liberty to do so. His conversation in prison forms the theme of Plato's Phaedo and of his Crito as well. When the time of execution arrived, Socrates, surrounded by weeping friends, took the cup of hemlock poison from an attendant and drank it with the utmost calmness. He then walked up and down his cell until the draught began to take effect, when he lay down on his couch, covered himself calmly with his coat, and expired. "Thus died the man," says Plato, "who, of all with whom we are acquainted, was in death the noblest, in life the wisest and most just." As reported by his followers, Socrates' views of life correspond more nearly to the teachings of Christ than those of any other person whose thoughts have come down to us from antiquity. Although he was a homely, egotistical busy-body, he was pure in heart and fearless-a lover of mankind. His ideas of right and wrong, and fundamentally his notion that right is right and wrong wrong, are forces that still move, and always will move, the world. See Xantippe; Plato ; Xenophon ; Athens
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a great Athenian philosopher , 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, naturally an eager 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, Xantippeserved his country as a soldier, distinguished himself by his courage and extraordinary endurance at the siege of Potidæa , 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. His robust 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, had been his pupil; Theramenes was 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 disregard of consequences denounced the proceedings of the Thirty, and in one important 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 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 fulfil, and that a divine voice (afterward spoken of as his Dæmon or Genius), habitually interfered to 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 the means; hence the proper corrective was an 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 ter 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 physiognomy, 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 associated Melitus , a tragic poet, and Lycon, an orator. He was charged with not believing in the gods which the state worshiped; with introducing new divin- Death was proposed as the penalty. Socities; 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 innocence which aggravated the ill-will of his judges . He was condemned by a majority of six only; but his additional speech in mitigation of the sentence raised the majority against him to 80. Thirty days elapsed between his sentence and its execution. During that period Socrates had the society of his friends and conversed with them as usual; the last conversation being on the immortality of the soul. He refused the offer of some of his friends to procure means of escape for him; drank the hemlock cup with perfect composure, and so died in the 70th year of his age in 399 b. c. phy, and without founding a system he Socrates opened a new era in philosooriginated, by rousing men to reflection 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.
1000 Classical Characters (1900)
The most celebrated philosopher of antiquity, born near Athens , whose virtues rendered his name venerated. His independence of spirit created for him many enemies, and he was accused of making innovations in the religion of the Greeks. He was con. demned to death by drinking hemlock, and expired a few moments after imbibing the poison, in his seventieth year, B. c. 400. His wife was Xanthippe, remarkable for her shrewish disposition, for which her name has become proverbial. 2026 Editor's Note: Socrates was condemned to death by drinking hemlock in 399 BC, not 400 BC as this page states. Xanthippe 's characterization as 'shrewish' originates from Antisthenes' hostile description in Xenophon's Symposium, which has influenced all subsequent portrayals of her rather than reflecting reliable historical evidence about her actual disposition. (Ed: BR 2026-07-01)