Chapter 2 Summary

Socrates has just been convicted on trumped-up charges and sentenced to death by the Athenian populace. Outraged at the verdict, Socrates’s friend Crito tries to convince him to accept his help in escaping from prison. Socrates, however, disregarding his physical safety and his public reputation, insists on remaining true to his moral principles until the very end. Attempting to identify those principles and to specify what they dictate in the present circumstances, Socrates first persuades Crito to agree that one should never mistreat another, even in return for being mistreated oneself. Second, he argues that by consenting to live under the protection of the Athenian state, he has tacitly promised to respect it as his virtual parent and teacher even when he disagrees with its judgments. Escaping would be mistreating the state and also breaking his solemn promise, and Socrates is unwilling to commit either injustice.