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Crito.....................................................................................................................................................................1

Plato.........................................................................................................................................................1

The Crito seems intended to exhibit the character of Socrates in one light only, not as the philosopher,

fulfilling a divine mission and trusting in the will of heaven, but simply as the good citizen, who having been

unjustly condemned is willing to give up his life in obedience to the laws of the state...

The days of Socrates are drawing to a close; the fatal ship has been seen off Sunium, as he is informed by his

aged friend and contemporary Crito, who visits him before the dawn has broken; he himself has been warned

in a dream that on the third day he must depart. Time is precious, and Crito has come early in order to gain

his consent to a plan of escape. This can be easily accomplished by his friends, who will incur no danger in

making the attempt to save him, but will be disgraced for ever if they allow him to perish. He should think of

his duty to his children, and not play into the hands of his enemies. Money is already provided by Crito as

well as by Simmias and others, and he will have no difficulty in finding friends in Thessaly and other places.

Socrates is afraid that Crito is but pressing upon him the opinions of the many: whereas, all his life long he

has followed the dictates of reason only and the opinion of the one wise or skilled man. There was a time

when Crito himself had allowed the propriety of this. And although some one will say 'the many can kill us,'

that makes no difference; but a good life, in other words, a just and honourable life, is alone to be valued. All

considerations of loss of reputation or injury to his children should be dismissed: the only question is whether

he would be right in attempting to escape. Crito, who is a disinterested person not having the fear of death

before his eyes, shall answer this for him. Before he was condemned they had often held discussions, in

which they agreed that no man should either do evil, or return evil for evil, or betray the right. Are these

principles to be altered because the circumstances of Socrates are altered? Crito admits that they remain the

same. Then is his escape consistent with the maintenance of them? To this Crito is unable or unwilling to

Socrates proceeds:Suppose the Laws of Athens to come and remonstrate with him: they will ask 'Why

does he seek to overturn them?' and if he replies, 'they have injured him,' will not the Laws answer, 'Yes, but

was that the agreement? Has he any objection to make to them which would justify him in overturning them?

Was he not brought into the world and educated by their help, and are they not his parents? He might have

left Athens and gone where he pleased, but he has lived there for seventy years more constantly than any

other citizen.' Thus he has clearly shown that he acknowledged the agreement, which he cannot now break

without dishonour to himself and danger to his friends. Even in the course of the trial he might have proposed

exile as the penalty, but then he declared that he preferred death to exile. And whither will he direct his

footsteps? In any wellordered state the Laws will consider him as an enemy. Possibly in a land of misrule

like Thessaly he may be welcomed at first, and the unseemly narrative of his escape will be regarded by the

inhabitants as an amusing tale. But if he offends them he will have to learn another sort of lesson. Will he

continue to give lectures in virtue? That would hardly be decent. And how will his children be the gainers if

he takes them into Thessaly, and deprives them of Athenian citizenship? Or if he leaves them behind, does he

expect that they will be better taken care of by his friends because he is in Thessaly? Will not true friends

Finally, they exhort him to think of justice first, and of life and children afterwards. He may now depart in

peace and innocence, a sufferer and not a doer of evil. But if he breaks agreements, and returns evil for evil,

they will be angry with him while he lives; and their brethren the Laws of the world below will receive him

That Socrates was not a good citizen was a charge made against him during his lifetime, which has been often

repeated in later ages. The crimes of Alcibiades, Critias, and Charmides, who had been his pupils, were still

recent in the memory of the now restored democracy. The fact that he had been neutral in the deathstruggle

of Athens was not likely to conciliate popular goodwill. Plato, writing probably in the next generation,

undertakes the defence of his friend and master in this particular, not to the Athenians of his day, but to

Whether such an incident ever really occurred as the visit of Crito and the proposal of escape is uncertain:

Plato could easily have invented far more than that (Phaedr.); and in the selection of Crito, the aged friend, as

the fittest person to make the proposal to Socrates, we seem to recognize the hand of the artist. Whether any

one who has been subjected by the laws of his country to an unjust judgment is right in attempting to escape,

is a thesis about which casuists might disagree. Shelley (Prose Works) is of opinion that Socrates 'did well to

die,' but not for the 'sophistical' reasons which Plato has put into his mouth. And there would be no difficulty

in arguing that Socrates should have lived and preferred to a glorious death the good which he might still be

able to perform. 'A rhetorician would have had much to say upon that point.' It may be observed however that

Plato never intended to answer the question of casuistry, but only to exhibit the ideal of patient virtue which

refuses to do the least evil in order to avoid the greatest, and to show his master maintaining in death the

opinions which he had professed in his life. Not 'the world,' but the 'one wise man,' is still the paradox of

Socrates in his last hours. He must be guided by reason, although her conclusions may be fatal to him. The

remarkable sentiment that the wicked can do neither good nor evil is true, if taken in the sense, which he

means, of moral evil; in his own words, 'they cannot make a man wise or foolish.'

This little dialogue is a perfect piece of dialectic, in which granting the 'common principle,' there is no

escaping from the conclusion. It is anticipated at the beginning by the dream of Socrates and the parody of

Homer. The personification of the Laws, and of their brethren the Laws in the world below, is one of the

CRITO: He knows me because I often come, Socrates; moreover. I have done him a kindness.

SOCRATES: Then why did you sit and say nothing, instead of at once awakening me?

CRITO: I should not have liked myself, Socrates, to be in such great trouble and unrest as you areindeed I

should not: I have been watching with amazement your peaceful slumbers; and for that reason I did not

awake you, because I wished to minimize the pain. I have always thought you to be of a happy disposition;

but never did I see anything like the easy, tranquil manner in which you bear this calamity.

SOCRATES: Why, Crito, when a man has reached my age he ought not to be repining at the approach of

CRITO: And yet other old men find themselves in similar misfortunes, and age does not prevent them from

SOCRATES: That is true. But you have not told me why you come at this early hour.

CRITO: I come to bring you a message which is sad and painful; not, as I believe, to yourself, but to all of us

SOCRATES: What? Has the ship come from Delos, on the arrival of which I am to die?

CRITO: No, the ship has not actually arrived, but she will probably be here today, as persons who have

come from Sunium tell me that they have left her there; and therefore tomorrow, Socrates, will be the last

SOCRATES: Very well, Crito; if such is the will of God, I am willing; but my belief is that there will be a

SOCRATES: I will tell you. I am to die on the day after the arrival of the ship?

SOCRATES: But I do not think that the ship will be here until tomorrow; this I infer from a vision which I

had last night, or rather only just now, when you fortunately allowed me to sleep.

SOCRATES: There appeared to me the likeness of a woman, fair and comely, clothed in bright raiment, who

CRITO: Yes; the meaning is only too clear. But, oh! my beloved Socrates, let me entreat you once more to

take my advice and escape. For if you die I shall not only lose a friend who can never be replaced, but there is

another evil: people who do not know you and me will believe that I might have saved you if I had been

willing to give money, but that I did not care. Now, can there be a worse disgrace than thisthat I should be

thought to value money more than the life of a friend? For the many will not be persuaded that I wanted you

SOCRATES: But why, my dear Crito, should we care about the opinion of the many? Good men, and they

are the only persons who are worth considering, will think of these things truly as they occurred.

CRITO: But you see, Socrates, that the opinion of the many must be regarded, for what is now happening

shows that they can do the greatest evil to any one who has lost their good opinion.

SOCRATES: I only wish it were so, Crito; and that the many could do the greatest evil; for then they would

also be able to do the greatest good and what a fine thing this would be! But in reality they can do neither;

for they cannot make a man either wise or foolish; and whatever they do is the result of chance.

CRITO: Well, I will not dispute with you; but please to tell me, Socrates, whether you are not acting out of

regard to me and your other friends: are you not afraid that if you escape from prison we may get into trouble

with the informers for having stolen you away, and lose either the whole or a great part of our property; or

that even a worse evil may happen to us? Now, if you fear on our account, be at ease; for in order to save you,

we ought surely to run this, or even a greater risk; be persuaded, then, and do as I say.

SOCRATES: Yes, Crito, that is one fear which you mention, but by no means the only one.

CRITO: Fear notthere are persons who are willing to get you out of prison at no great cost; and as for the

informers they are far from being exorbitant in their demandsa little money will satisfy them. My means,

which are certainly ample, are at your service, and if you have a scruple about spending all mine, here are

strangers who will give you the use of theirs; and one of them, Simmias the Theban, has brought a large sum

of money for this very purpose; and Cebes and many others are prepared to spend their money in helping you

to escape. I say, therefore, do not hesitate on our account, and do not say, as you did in the court (compare

Apol.), that you will have a difficulty in knowing what to do with yourself anywhere else. For men will love

you in other places to which you may go, and not in Athens only; there are friends of mine in Thessaly, if you

like to go to them, who will value and protect you, and no Thessalian will give you any trouble. Nor can I

think that you are at all justified, Socrates, in betraying your own life when you might be saved; in acting thus

you are playing into the hands of your enemies, who are hurrying on your destruction. And further I should

say that you are deserting your own children; for you might bring them up and educate them; instead of

which you go away and leave them, and they will have to take their chance; and if they do not meet with the

usual fate of orphans, there will be small thanks to you. No man should bring children into the world who is

unwilling to persevere to the end in their nurture and education. But you appear to be choosing the easier part,

not the better and manlier, which would have been more becoming in one who professes to care for virtue in

all his actions, like yourself. And indeed, I am ashamed not only of you, but of us who are your friends, when

I reflect that the whole business will be attributed entirely to our want of courage. The trial need never have

come on, or might have been managed differently; and this last act, or crowning folly, will seem to have

occurred through our negligence and cowardice, who might have saved you, if we had been good for

anything; and you might have saved yourself, for there was no difficulty at all. See now, Socrates, how sad

and discreditable are the consequences, both to us and you. Make up your mind then, or rather have your

mind already made up, for the time of deliberation is over, and there is only one thing to be done, which must

be done this very night, and if we delay at all will be no longer practicable or possible; I beseech you

SOCRATES: Dear Crito, your zeal is invaluable, if a right one; but if wrong, the greater the zeal the greater

the danger; and therefore we ought to consider whether I shall or shall not do as you say. For I am and always

have been one of those natures who must be guided by reason, whatever the reason may be which upon

reflection appears to me to be the best; and now that this chance has befallen me, I cannot repudiate my own

words: the principles which I have hitherto honoured and revered I still honour, and unless we can at once

find other and better principles, I am certain not to agree with you; no, not even if the power of the multitude

could inflict many more imprisonments, confiscations, deaths, frightening us like children with hobgoblin

terrors (compare Apol.). What will be the fairest way of considering the question? Shall I return to your old

argument about the opinions of men?we were saying that some of them are to be regarded, and others not.

Now were we right in maintaining this before I was condemned? And has the argument which was once good

now proved to be talk for the sake of talkingmere childish nonsense? That is what I want to consider with

your help, Crito:whether, under my present circumstances, the argument appears to be in any way different

or not; and is to be allowed by me or disallowed. That argument, which, as I believe, is maintained by many

persons of authority, was to the effect, as I was saying, that the opinions of some men are to be regarded, and

of other men not to be regarded. Now you, Crito, are not going to die tomorrowat least, there is no human

probability of this, and therefore you are disinterested and not liable to be deceived by the circumstances in

which you are placed. Tell me then, whether I am right in saying that some opinions, and the opinions of

some men only, are to be valued, and that other opinions, and the opinions of other men, are not to be valued.

SOCRATES: And the opinions of the wise are good, and the opinions of the unwise are evil?

SOCRATES: And what was said about another matter? Is the pupil who devotes himself to the practice of

gymnastics supposed to attend to the praise and blame and opinion of every man, or of one man onlyhis

SOCRATES: And he ought to fear the censure and welcome the praise of that one only, and not of the

SOCRATES: And he ought to act and train, and eat and drink in the way which seems good to his single

master who has understanding, rather than according to the opinion of all other men put together?

SOCRATES: And if he disobeys and disregards the opinion and approval of the one, and regards the opinion

SOCRATES: And what will the evil be, whither tending and what affecting, in the disobedient person?

SOCRATES: Very good; and is not this true, Crito, of other things which we need not separately enumerate?

In questions of just and unjust, fair and foul, good and evil, which are the subjects of our present consultation,

ought we to follow the opinion of the many and to fear them; or the opinion of the one man who has

understanding? ought we not to fear and reverence him more than all the rest of the world: and if we desert

him shall we not destroy and injure that principle in us which may be assumed to be improved by justice and

SOCRATES: Take a parallel instance:if, acting under the advice of those who have no understanding, we

destroy that which is improved by health and is deteriorated by disease, would life be worth having? And that

SOCRATES: And will life be worth having, if that higher part of man be destroyed, which is improved by

justice and depraved by injustice? Do we suppose that principle, whatever it may be in man, which has to do

SOCRATES: Then, my friend, we must not regard what the many say of us: but what he, the one man who

has understanding of just and unjust, will say, and what the truth will say. And therefore you begin in error

when you advise that we should regard the opinion of the many about just and unjust, good and evil,

honorable and dishonorable.'Well,' some one will say, 'but the many can kill us.'

SOCRATES: And it is true; but still I find with surprise that the old argument is unshaken as ever. And I

should like to know whether I may say the same of another propositionthat not life, but a good life, is to be

SOCRATES: And a good life is equivalent to a just and honorable onethat holds also?

SOCRATES: From these premisses I proceed to argue the question whether I ought or ought not to try and

escape without the consent of the Athenians: and if I am clearly right in escaping, then I will make the

attempt; but if not, I will abstain. The other considerations which you mention, of money and loss of

character and the duty of educating one's children, are, I fear, only the doctrines of the multitude, who would

be as ready to restore people to life, if they were able, as they are to put them to deathand with as little

reason. But now, since the argument has thus far prevailed, the only question which remains to be considered

is, whether we shall do rightly either in escaping or in suffering others to aid in our escape and paying them

in money and thanks, or whether in reality we shall not do rightly; and if the latter, then death or any other

calamity which may ensue on my remaining here must not be allowed to enter into the calculation.

SOCRATES: Let us consider the matter together, and do you either refute me if you can, and I will be

convinced; or else cease, my dear friend, from repeating to me that I ought to escape against the wishes of the

Athenians: for I highly value your attempts to persuade me to do so, but I may not be persuaded against my

own better judgment. And now please to consider my first position, and try how you can best answer me.

SOCRATES: Are we to say that we are never intentionally to do wrong, or that in one way we ought and in

another way we ought not to do wrong, or is doing wrong always evil and dishonorable, as I was just now

saying, and as has been already acknowledged by us? Are all our former admissions which were made within

a few days to be thrown away? And have we, at our age, been earnestly discoursing with one another all our

life long only to discover that we are no better than children? Or, in spite of the opinion of the many, and in

spite of consequences whether better or worse, shall we insist on the truth of what was then said, that injustice

is always an evil and dishonour to him who acts unjustly? Shall we say so or not?

SOCRATES: Nor when injured injure in return, as the many imagine; for we must injure no one at all? (E.g.

SOCRATES: And what of doing evil in return for evil, which is the morality of the manyis that just or

SOCRATES: Then we ought not to retaliate or render evil for evil to any one, whatever evil we may have

suffered from him. But I would have you consider, Crito, whether you really mean what you are saying. For

this opinion has never been held, and never will be held, by any considerable number of persons; and those

who are agreed and those who are not agreed upon this point have no common ground, and can only despise

one another when they see how widely they differ. Tell me, then, whether you agree with and assent to my

first principle, that neither injury nor retaliation nor warding off evil by evil is ever right. And shall that be

the premiss of our argument? Or do you decline and dissent from this? For so I have ever thought, and

continue to think; but, if you are of another opinion, let me hear what you have to say. If, however, you

SOCRATES: Then I will go on to the next point, which may be put in the form of a question:Ought a man

SOCRATES: But if this is true, what is the application? In leaving the prison against the will of the

Athenians, do I wrong any? or rather do I not wrong those whom I ought least to wrong? Do I not desert the

SOCRATES: Then consider the matter in this way:Imagine that I am about to play truant (you may call

the proceeding by any name which you like), and the laws and the government come and interrogate me: 'Tell

us, Socrates,' they say; 'what are you about? are you not going by an act of yours to overturn usthe laws,

and the whole state, as far as in you lies? Do you imagine that a state can subsist and not be overthrown, in

which the decisions of law have no power, but are set aside and trampled upon by individuals?' What will be

our answer, Crito, to these and the like words? Any one, and especially a rhetorician, will have a good deal to

say on behalf of the law which requires a sentence to be carried out. He will argue that this law should not be

set aside; and shall we reply, 'Yes; but the state has injured us and given an unjust sentence.' Suppose I say

SOCRATES: 'And was that our agreement with you?' the law would answer; 'or were you to abide by the

sentence of the state?' And if I were to express my astonishment at their words, the law would probably add:

'Answer, Socrates, instead of opening your eyesyou are in the habit of asking and answering questions.

Tell us,What complaint have you to make against us which justifies you in attempting to destroy us and

the state? In the first place did we not bring you into existence? Your father married your mother by our aid

and begat you. Say whether you have any objection to urge against those of us who regulate marriage?' None,

I should reply. 'Or against those of us who after birth regulate the nurture and education of children, in which

you also were trained? Were not the laws, which have the charge of education, right in commanding your

father to train you in music and gymnastic?' Right, I should reply. 'Well then, since you were brought into the

world and nurtured and educated by us, can you deny in the first place that you are our child and slave, as

your fathers were before you? And if this is true you are not on equal terms with us; nor can you think that

you have a right to do to us what we are doing to you. Would you have any right to strike or revile or do any

other evil to your father or your master, if you had one, because you have been struck or reviled by him, or

received some other evil at his hands?you would not say this? And because we think right to destroy you,

do you think that you have any right to destroy us in return, and your country as far as in you lies? Will you,

O professor of true virtue, pretend that you are justified in this? Has a philosopher like you failed to discover

that our country is more to be valued and higher and holier far than mother or father or any ancestor, and

more to be regarded in the eyes of the gods and of men of understanding? also to be soothed, and gently and

reverently entreated when angry, even more than a father, and either to be persuaded, or if not persuaded, to

be obeyed? And when we are punished by her, whether with imprisonment or stripes, the punishment is to be

endured in silence; and if she lead us to wounds or death in battle, thither we follow as is right; neither may

any one yield or retreat or leave his rank, but whether in battle or in a court of law, or in any other place, he

must do what his city and his country order him; or he must change their view of what is just: and if he may

do no violence to his father or mother, much less may he do violence to his country.' What answer shall we

SOCRATES: Then the laws will say: 'Consider, Socrates, if we are speaking truly that in your present

attempt you are going to do us an injury. For, having brought you into the world, and nurtured and educated

you, and given you and every other citizen a share in every good which we had to give, we further proclaim

to any Athenian by the liberty which we allow him, that if he does not like us when he has become of age and

has seen the ways of the city, and made our acquaintance, he may go where he pleases and take his goods

with him. None of us laws will forbid him or interfere with him. Any one who does not like us and the city,

and who wants to emigrate to a colony or to any other city, may go where he likes, retaining his property. But

he who has experience of the manner in which we order justice and administer the state, and still remains, has

entered into an implied contract that he will do as we command him. And he who disobeys us is, as we

maintain, thrice wrong: first, because in disobeying us he is disobeying his parents; secondly, because we are

the authors of his education; thirdly, because he has made an agreement with us that he will duly obey our

commands; and he neither obeys them nor convinces us that our commands are unjust; and we do not rudely

impose them, but give him the alternative of obeying or convincing us;that is what we offer, and he does

'These are the sort of accusations to which, as we were saying, you, Socrates, will be exposed if you

accomplish your intentions; you, above all other Athenians.' Suppose now I ask, why I rather than anybody

else? they will justly retort upon me that I above all other men have acknowledged the agreement. 'There is

clear proof,' they will say, 'Socrates, that we and the city were not displeasing to you. Of all Athenians you

have been the most constant resident in the city, which, as you never leave, you may be supposed to love

(compare Phaedr.). For you never went out of the city either to see the games, except once when you went to

the Isthmus, or to any other place unless when you were on military service; nor did you travel as other men

do. Nor had you any curiosity to know other states or their laws: your affections did not go beyond us and our

state; we were your especial favourites, and you acquiesced in our government of you; and here in this city

you begat your children, which is a proof of your satisfaction. Moreover, you might in the course of the trial,

if you had liked, have fixed the penalty at banishment; the state which refuses to let you go now would have

let you go then. But you pretended that you preferred death to exile (compare Apol.), and that you were not

unwilling to die. And now you have forgotten these fine sentiments, and pay no respect to us the laws, of

whom you are the destroyer; and are doing what only a miserable slave would do, running away and turning

your back upon the compacts and agreements which you made as a citizen. And first of all answer this very

question: Are we right in saying that you agreed to be governed according to us in deed, and not in word

SOCRATES: Then will they not say: 'You, Socrates, are breaking the covenants and agreements which you

made with us at your leisure, not in any haste or under any compulsion or deception, but after you have had

seventy years to think of them, during which time you were at liberty to leave the city, if we were not to your

mind, or if our covenants appeared to you to be unfair. You had your choice, and might have gone either to

Lacedaemon or Crete, both which states are often praised by you for their good government, or to some other

Hellenic or foreign state. Whereas you, above all other Athenians, seemed to be so fond of the state, or, in

other words, of us her laws (and who would care about a state which has no laws?), that you never stirred out

of her; the halt, the blind, the maimed, were not more stationary in her than you were. And now you run away

and forsake your agreements. Not so, Socrates, if you will take our advice; do not make yourself ridiculous

'For just consider, if you transgress and err in this sort of way, what good will you do either to yourself or to

your friends? That your friends will be driven into exile and deprived of citizenship, or will lose their

property, is tolerably certain; and you yourself, if you fly to one of the neighbouring cities, as, for example,

Thebes or Megara, both of which are well governed, will come to them as an enemy, Socrates, and their

government will be against you, and all patriotic citizens will cast an evil eye upon you as a subverter of the

laws, and you will confirm in the minds of the judges the justice of their own condemnation of you. For he

who is a corrupter of the laws is more than likely to be a corrupter of the young and foolish portion of

mankind. Will you then flee from wellordered cities and virtuous men? and is existence worth having on

these terms? Or will you go to them without shame, and talk to them, Socrates? And what will you say to

them? What you say here about virtue and justice and institutions and laws being the best things among men?

Would that be decent of you? Surely not. But if you go away from wellgoverned states to Crito's friends in

Thessaly, where there is great disorder and licence, they will be charmed to hear the tale of your escape from

prison, set off with ludicrous particulars of the manner in which you were wrapped in a goatskin or some

other disguise, and metamorphosed as the manner is of runaways; but will there be no one to remind you that

in your old age you were not ashamed to violate the most sacred laws from a miserable desire of a little more

life? Perhaps not, if you keep them in a good temper; but if they are out of temper you will hear many

degrading things; you will live, but how?as the flatterer of all men, and the servant of all men; and doing

what?eating and drinking in Thessaly, having gone abroad in order that you may get a dinner. And where

will be your fine sentiments about justice and virtue? Say that you wish to live for the sake of your

childrenyou want to bring them up and educate themwill you take them into Thessaly and deprive them

of Athenian citizenship? Is this the benefit which you will confer upon them? Or are you under the

impression that they will be better cared for and educated here if you are still alive, although absent from

them; for your friends will take care of them? Do you fancy that if you are an inhabitant of Thessaly they will

take care of them, and if you are an inhabitant of the other world that they will not take care of them? Nay;

but if they who call themselves friends are good for anything, they willto be sure they will.

'Listen, then, Socrates, to us who have brought you up. Think not of life and children first, and of justice

afterwards, but of justice first, that you may be justified before the princes of the world below. For neither

will you nor any that belong to you be happier or holier or juster in this life, or happier in another, if you do

as Crito bids. Now you depart in innocence, a sufferer and not a doer of evil; a victim, not of the laws, but of

men. But if you go forth, returning evil for evil, and injury for injury, breaking the covenants and agreements

which you have made with us, and wronging those whom you ought least of all to wrong, that is to say,

yourself, your friends, your country, and us, we shall be angry with you while you live, and our brethren, the

laws in the world below, will receive you as an enemy; for they will know that you have done your best to

This, dear Crito, is the voice which I seem to hear murmuring in my ears, like the sound of the flute in the

ears of the mystic; that voice, I say, is humming in my ears, and prevents me from hearing any other. And I

know that anything more which you may say will be vain. Yet speak, if you have anything to say.

SOCRATES: Leave me then, Crito, to fulfil the will of God, and to follow whither he leads.