CritoPlato
About Crito
Plato's takes place in Socrates' prison cell after the death sentence has been passed and before the execution is carried out. Crito arrives before dawn with a plan: friends have arranged the money, the escape can be managed, and Socrates can leave Athens rather than submit to an unjust sentence.
Socrates refuses. The dialogue asks whether a wrong judgment by the city gives a citizen permission to break the law. Socrates argues that one must never answer injustice with injustice, and he personifies the Laws of Athens to press the claim that he has lived under them, benefited from them, and accepted their authority. The argument is not simple obedience to power. It is a severe test of whether moral principle still binds when obedience costs a life.
Read with the , the completes the first portrait of Socrates: the philosopher who questions the city, loses to the city, and still will not save himself by betraying what he has argued.