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Dr. G's hypertext notes for "Crito" |
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A kindness. The guard is bribed. Sleep peacefully. This is a dialogue about Socrates' peace of mind. Crito intrudes on it briefly, but Socrates is able to think his way through the disturbance and return to quiet at the end. Delos. Socrates' execution has been postponed until the festival of Theseus concludes with the return of the festival ship. In the Athenian festival, a ship full of young Athenian couples sailed to the Isle of Delos (sacred to Apollo) where they danced "the Crane," a dance of twisting and turning, symbolizing the liberation of the legendary Athenian youths who were freed by Theseus from the labyrinth and its guard, the Minotaur. Phthia is an archaic name for Thessaly, so Crito assumes that the dream means that Socrates will escape with him to Thessaly. Socrates sees a different meaning, perhaps because the name was also associated with the afterlife. The dream lady's language is borrowed from Homer's Iliad IX 363, where Achilles speaks of a three-day voyage home to Phthia from Troy. "The many" are the people of Athens, the demos ("mob" or majority) of the democracy. Simmias and Cebes are the main characters in Plato's Phaedo, where both of them doubt the immortality of the soul. "Our lack of courage." it takes courage to run away, according to Crito's distorted argument. Crito acts on the basis of public opinion. Not to break out of jail would look cowardly to people; therefore, we should break out of jail, if we can. Crito speaks for the very old idea idea of virtue as "manliness." "My nature is guided by reason." In contrast to Crito, Socrates acts on the basis of reasoned thought, worked out through dialectical argument.. Justice within us: Socrates' turns the argument from health of the body, to health of character or virtues within the person. If you don't follow a professional trainer's advice, your body will be harmed, but if you don't follow an ethical teacher's advice, your character or inner virtue will deteriorate. We should not retaliate. Socrates preaches the golden rule, centuries before Jesus. He refers to it as his "first principle"; we might call it "Socrates' first law." The Laws is one of Socrates' names for his conscience, like the "divine signal" mentioned in the Apology. If he upsets The Laws, he will have to listen to their complaints against him for the rest of his life. For peace of mind and positive self image he must not offend them. Values by agreement. Socrates is the first person on record to argue that values are contractual. In the social contract, a citizen accepts the benefits of the state and in return agrees to abide by the laws. The state provided for Socrates' birth, upbringing and education, so he owes his life to the state. Thessaly was noted (by the Athenians) for eating, drinking, witchcraft, and wild living. It was an early target on Paul's mission to convert the Greeks in the first century. See the epistles to the Thessalonians in the New Testament.
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