Socrates, 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.