There were heroic lives and deaths before and after, but none quite
like Socrates'. He did not die by sword or spear, braving all to
defend home and country, but as a condemned criminal, swallowing a
painless dose of poison. And yet Socrates' death in 399 BCE has
figured large in our world ever since, shaping how we think about
heroism and celebrity, religion and family life, state control and
individual freedom, the distance of intellectual life from daily
activity--many of the key coordinates of Western culture. In this
book Emily Wilson analyzes the enormous and enduring power the
trial and death of Socrates has exerted over the Western
imagination.
Beginning with the accounts of contemporaries like
Aristophanes, Xenophon, and, above all, Plato, the book offers a
comprehensive look at the death of Socrates as both a historical
event and a controversial cultural ideal. Wilson shows how
Socrates' death--more than his character, actions, or philosophical
beliefs--has played an essential role in his story. She considers
literary, philosophical, and artistic works--by Cicero, Erasmus,
Milton, Voltaire, Hegel, and Brecht, among others--that used the
death of Socrates to discuss power, politics, religion, the life of
the mind, and the good life. As highly readable as it is deeply
learned, her book combines vivid descriptions, critical insights,
and breadth of research to explore how Socrates' death--especially
his seeming ability to control it--has mattered so much, for so
long, to so many different people.
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