Socrates was a philosopher who had many devoted followers. Throughout his philosophical life, Socrates stirs the pot by forcing man to think deeply about himself. In doing so he inadvertently caused people to feel intellectually inferior. The irony of this was that it was not his intention to belittle his fellow man, but raise him up above the archaic beliefs he held that regulated his life, those which bore no evidence of truth. Where some felt appreciation for his ideas, others felt malice. Nobody likes to be told that they are wrong.

However many Athenians were devoted to the teachings of Socrates, there were that many more who bristled at his anti-democratic tone. His disposition pertaining to these matters could have stemmed partially from his own

belief that he was on a divine mission to reform the thinking of man. The perceived threat he posed to the general ideology of the Athenian population had already been long in place. This, coupled with his blatant rejection of governmental practices, was likely to be what caused Meletus, Anytus, and Lycon to conjure up charges of his being impious and corrupting youth, so that Athenian society may be rid of him. His avoidable execution, nevertheless unavoidable in the mind of Socrates, was what resulted.

In his efforts to assist man in educating himself, he often exposed people for being less than they actually were (or less than what they thought of themselves). Throughout his lifetime, men he confronted who were arrogant and vain accused him of corruption. In his apology, more appropriately termed his "defense," Socrates begins by attempting to shed some light on the nature of these accusers. Although the accusations which brought him to trial were of more recent times, he explains to the court these claims stemmed from the slanderous tone of elder accusers, who "...began when you were children, and took possession of your minds with their falsehoods...." This slander had, ironically, corrupted the ideas of the young against him, having caused them to view his teachings with suspicion ever since they were old enough to understand about such things. Just as he was accused of being a corrupter of youth who, as Meletus observes, "...says that the sun is stone, and the moon earth...," so was he implicating his accusers of old of being corrupters of youth against him.

Socrates thrived on his quest for an answer to the question, "What is man?" Being a simple man

Some topics in this essay:
Oracle Delphi, , Socratic Method, Anytus Lycon, brought trial, bogus charges, dire consequences, anti-democratic tone, motivated socrates,