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Apology of Socrates

Socrates

Socrates' defence speech before the Athenian court in 399 BCE, in three parts: the defence against the "first accusers" and against Meletus; the counter-proposal of a penalty after the verdict; and closing words to the jurors. It contains the account of the Delphic oracle, the image of the gadfly that rouses the city, the statement that he will obey the god rather than the Athenians and the dictum that the unexamined life is not worth living. It is the main source for reconstructing the trial and Socrates' understanding of himself.