SOCRATES - BACKGROUND

<BODY> <CENTER><FONT SIZE=5><B><FONT SIZE=6>SOCRATES</FONT><BR> THE EXAMINER</B></FONT></CENTER><P> <FONT SIZE=4><B>Background</B></FONT><P> <TABLE ALIGN=Left BORDER=0 CELLSPACING=2 CELLPADDING=1> <TR> <TD><IMG ALIGN=Left SRC="0302a.jpg" WIDTH="99" HEIGHT="200" ALT="SOCRATES"></TD> </TR> </TABLE> Socrates was born and spent all of his life in Athens, other than during his brief military service as a hoplite soldier in the Peloponnesian War against Sparta. He was the son of a stonemason and was always maintained by the family business. Though committed to a life of self-imposed poverty, he was never so poor as to have to work to support himself and his family. This allowed him time in the market places and in the gymnasia where he could converse with men of promising intellect. It is easy for the modern mind to sympathise with Socrates' wife, Xanthippe, who is condemned by the sources as a nag and a shrew.<P> Although he had little respect for Athenian democracy, he actively opposed the "thirty tyrants" who tried to destroy the political system. He performed his citizen's duties and served on the legislative council of 500. As council president for the day, he refused to put the motion condemning the Athenian admirals to death after the defeat of the navy at the Battle of Arginusae. The trial was, as he told the Assembly, illegal (and immoral) but his opposition was in vain. His ineffectual opposition to mass hysteria was perhaps a portent perhaps of his own downfall.<P> The trial and death of Socrates has captured the imagination of later generations as a death resulting from belief and refusal to abandon basic principles. Accused of sacrilege and corrupting the youth of Athens, he was condemned by the democratic system which he scorned. Yet he should not be viewed as a victim. By accepting the death penalty, and drinking the deadly hemlock, he became immortal. <BR clear=left><BR> <HR width=100%> <A HREF="http://www.creatorix.com.au"><IMG SRC="../creatorix.gif" WIDTH="85" HEIGHT="40" BORDER="0" ALT="Creatorix" align=right></A> </BODY>