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Crito's Argumentative Essay

608 Words3 Pages

A few days before Socrates’ execution, his friend Crito visits him in an attempt to persuade him to escape prison. He seemed to be plagued by the burden of strangers thinking that he valued his money more than the life of his friend, rather than the fact that Socrates refused his help. Socrates replies to Crito by asking him if they should care about the non-valuable popular opinions of the masses or the valuable opinions of a few good men? The excerpt from “Crito’s Dialogue” demonstrates Socrates telling Crito how he wished his claim that most people could do the greatest evil was true, because that would also mean, they could do the greatest good. He exclaims how much of a miracle this would be. However, in truth, neither would be possible …show more content…

Crito tries to convince him to flee by mentioning the sense of loneliness, the injustice he would cause on his children’s lives, the shame of cowardice his friends would bear and how he would be allowing his enemies to destroy him. Socrates and Crito continue to disagree when it comes to the dilemma of escaping or remaining in the prison cell. As the two friends continue to argue, Crito agrees that Socrates was right to preserve his ideal that only the opinions or some men should be regarded and not the opinions of most men. Socrates tells Crito that he will only be persuaded by what is just and reasonable. He chose to abide to the principles of Athens made by men whose opinions are valued and in retrospect he was also sentenced to death by men whose opinions are valued. So in a sense, it would be unjust of him to break his promise to abide by the laws of Athens. He wishes to make a choice that would not only allow him to honor his promise as a citizen of Athens but also his duty towards his friends and family. This is supported by the following quote ”In questions of just and unjust, fair and foul, good and evil, which are the subjects of our present consultation, ought we to follow the opinion of the many and to fear them; or the opinion of the one man who has

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