Peloponnesian War Analysis

The years following Peloponnesian war were a time of disenchantment and frustration for Athens. The Athenians could not perceive and accept that despite all their powerfulness they had lost the war. It was a time that can be called today of “a cultural war”. On one side of this war were the traditionalists who blamed democracy and the sophists for the defeat in the war; they propagated to reinstate the conventional religious form of practice and reinforce the old-fashioned values. On the other side of this war were the young men, often those who were taught by sophists, seditious by nature and openly supercilious of traditional values. It is in this highly electrified with controversies and quests for guilty ones political atmosphere the most
Socrates begins his defense in the “Apology” as following: “… I can tell you they almost made even me forget where I was, so convincingly did they speak. But when it comes to the truth, they’ve said virtually nothing” (Plato, p.71). The actual speech of the prosecution is not given by Plato, but some parts of speech could be understood from Socrates defense speech. The main reason why charge of corruption of the youth was pressed is that the people of Athens would like to punish Alcibiades, who turned trader during the Peloponnesian war, went to Sparta side and actively participated in war against the Athens. Many years ago, Alcibiades was one of those who looked up to Socrates, so the people of Athens suggested that Socrates was the source of Alcibiades corruption. Although Socrates said that he has never took money from anyone, so he could not be considered a teacher, he did admit that there were young people who followed him around and looked up to him. Considering that the people of Athens were not educated properly, it was enough reason to convict Socrates for the corruption of the youth. However, in fact, as can be seen in the “Symposium”
Precisely at that moment, Socrates was the only one who knew that what he wished for would invariably displease the members of the jury and make them vote for his capital punishment. Moreover, he was only one who knew that he would not flee from the Athens. In other words, he was advisedly setting into motion a chain of events that would result in his imminent execution. In his Apology Socrates says: “I’ll even die not giving in.” (Plato, p. 95). Hence, could Socrates consciously sacrifice himself to the Gods for sings of those who he failed to educate? It is possible that in his opinion to be convicted and continue live bearing such reputation was to give in and betray everything that he believed in, because for Socrates his whole life was devoted to improving his “fellow man by making them to recognize their own ignorance” (Plato, p. 81). Therefore, I do not think that Socrates was a problem for Athenian society at all, so if I was on the jury I would have voted: “innocent” at both stages: verdict and