The Verdict, and What Followed

The jury has voted. Guilty, 280 to 221. Now comes the sentencing. Athenian law required both sides to propose a penalty. Meletus has proposed death. Socrates must propose something else.

The jury has voted. I am guilty.

Now we move to sentencing. I need to propose an alternative to the death penalty Meletus has asked for. Let me think honestly about what I deserve.

I have spent my entire adult life doing work that I believe has been genuinely useful to Athens. I have gone from person to person, free of charge, asking the questions that most people avoid. I have pushed this city to think harder about who it is and what it values. I am poor because of it. I have neglected my own household completely.

What does that kind of life deserve? Honestly? I think it deserves free meals at the public hall. That is the honor Athens gives to Olympic champions. I believe I have done more for this city than winning a race. I am not saying this with vanity. I am saying it because if I am going to evaluate myself honestly, I should do it honestly.

That is not the answer anyone is looking for, I understand.

A fine, then. My friends, including Plato, Crito, Critobulus, and Apollodorus, are willing to guarantee thirty minas on my behalf. That is my counter-proposal.

I will not propose prison. At seventy, that is just a slower death.

I will not propose exile. If I went to another city, I would do exactly what I do here. I would keep asking questions. The same problems would follow me. Exile solves nothing for anyone.

Agreeing to stop philosophizing as a condition of staying is something I cannot do. The unexamined life is not worth living. That is not a phrase to me. It is the thing I believe most deeply. Stopping would mean becoming someone I am not. I do not know what I would do with a life like that.

So: a fine. Thirty minas. Guaranteed by my friends.