bulent and seditious, and his accusors
pointed to Alcibiades and Critias, notorious for their lawlessness, as
examples of the fruits of his teaching.

It is quite certain that Socrates disliked the Athenian government and
considered democracy as tyrannical as despotism. But there was no law at
Athens by which he could be put to death for his words and actions, and
the vague charge could never have been made unless the whole trial of
the philosopher had been a party movement, headed by men like Lycon and
Anytus, whose support of the unjust measure made the condemnation of
Socrates a foregone conclusion. Xenophon, the pupil and admirer of the
philosopher, expresses in his _Memorabilia of Socrates_ his surprise
that the Athenians should have condemned to death a man of such exalted
character and transparent innocence. But the influence of the teacher
with his pupils, most of them sons of the wealthiest citizens, might
well have been dreaded by those in office and engaged in the conduct of
public business. By them, the common politicians of the day, Socrates,
with his keen and witty criticism of political corruption and
demagogism, must have been considered a formidable adversary.

Accordingly, by the decision of the Athenian court, the philosopher was
sentenced to death by drinking a cup of hemlock. Although it was usual
for criminals to be executed the day following their condemnation, he
enjoyed a respite of thirty days, during which time his friends had
access to his prison cell. It was the time when the ceremonial galley
was crowned and sent on her pilgrimage to the holy Isle of Delos, and no
criminal could be executed until her return. Socrates exhibited heroic
constancy and cheerfulness during this interval, and repudiated the
offers of his friends to aid in his escape, though they had chartered a
ship to carry him to Thessaly. With calm composure he reasoned on the
immortality of the soul, and cheered his visitors with words of hope.

The literary portraits of Socrates furnished by himself, and the
writings of Plato, are among the most precious monuments of antiquity,
and the life and death of such a man form a memorable era in the moral
and intellectual history of mankind.

Plato, in his _Phaedo, or the Immortality of the Soul_, gives the
following dialogue between Echecrates and Phaedo--two friends and
disciples of the late philosopher--evidently with no other purpose in
view than to lend to the account of the