Fellow Athenians,

We all wish to know what to do with Socrates. Is he a treat to our society? Often enough I have heard his followers extol the virtues of education and justice and how the good of the many must outweigh the good of the few. They are, on their own, wondrous virtues that all men should hold to, but upon closer inspection, there are flaws in his presentation of these virtues.

Let us examine Socrates’ idea of an ideal society: a just society where elite men (and women) rule the masses because they are intellectually superior. He would classify men according to a class structure and put those who work to feed and provide for those who rule on the lowest rung, and worse, he would tell his citizens that was the way things should be. The man who toils in the field or crafts goods would have to blindly follow one of his “philosopher kings” without ever having a chance to refute. Are we not all Athenians? Are we not all equal as citizens? According to the law, a man’s patriotism is what is to be valued in a citizen. His very idea of a class structure stands in opposition of that law.

Also, he stands in opposition of other laws we have passed, such as that “the Assembly makes all decisions and laws”. If all men may sit in Assembly, then surely all men should have a say in the making of the decisions and laws of our city. Not so, according to Socrates. He would tell us that only a few men could rule the many. He would tell us that thinkers know what is best for potters and fishers and soldiers. Don’t potters know what is best for potters? His followers tell me this is the problem with our society; that potters are only thinking of potters and not of our city. Yet, if one thinks only of the many, often the few suffer. Our system of government gives the few the right to speak out and hopefully prevent themselves from suffering and allows the many to work with the few to better our society.

However, the question of whether or not Socrates has “corrupted our youth” has not been addressed. I feel that he has. In our last Assembly meeting, one of his followers defied the law before our very eyes, a law this follower supported the ratification of. This man was clearly well educated. This man stood before us and spoke of justice and the superiority of the educated man, and yet he defied a law he claimed he felt was just. If, for the sake of argument, his sense of justice, which no one can define, was not in error, then it must have been his education. He received his education from Socrates. It appears to me that Socrates taught this man to defy the laws of our Assembly.

I cannot try a man for not defining justice. I cannot hold a man in court for being a confounding man or for being disagreeable. However, I can say with all sureness that this man is encouraging our youth to disobey our laws for it has happened even in our Assembly. A man may question the validity of laws as he wishes, and our system of government allows us to change laws we find to be unjust. Let him question the law, but if we let him defy the law we encourage corruption. I think it is a given fact that corruption stands in direct opposition of justice. A man who defies justice must be punished.