Apology
Plato’s version of the speech Socrates gave at his trial for impiety and corrupting the young: a defense of a life spent questioning people, which ends in a death sentence.
📖 Read the full textThe complete speech, paired with the StoryBites version of every sectionIn 399 BC Athens put Socrates, a man past seventy, on trial for corrupting the young and not believing in the city’s gods. The Apology is Plato’s account of what he said in his own defense. The title does not mean he said sorry: the Greek word apologia means a defense speech, and Socrates refuses to beg, weep or change his ways. He argues that questioning people is a duty given him by the god, that the unexamined life is not worth living, and that fearing death is a false kind of wisdom. The jury convicts him, and the speech keeps going after the verdict and after the sentence.
The claim
Socrates is not a corrupter or an atheist but a man carrying out a mission from the god: to show people that they think they know what they do not. Since doing right matters more than staying alive, he will not stop questioning, will not beg for mercy, and does not fear death, which may even be a good.
The rhetorical situation who, to whom, when, and why
A law court in Athens
Socrates says he is a stranger to the language of the place and will speak as he does in the agora, at the tables of the money-changers (paragraph 1).
399 BC
A few years after Athens’ defeat in its war with Sparta and the rule of the Thirty, which Socrates recalls in paragraph 60.
What Apology says
Socrates opens by saying his accusers spoke persuasively but falsely, and that he is no clever speaker. He will speak plainly, as he does in the marketplace. He first answers his oldest accusers, who spread the story that he studies the heavens and the earth and makes the worse appear the better cause. He denies this, and denies teaching for money.
His reputation, he explains, began when his friend Chaerephon asked the oracle at Delphi whether anyone was wiser than Socrates, and the priestess said no one was. He questioned politicians, poets and craftsmen, and found that each thought he knew things he did not. He concluded that he is wiser only because he does not think he knows what he does not know. The questioning made him enemies and left him poor.
He then cross-examines Meletus. Meletus claims every Athenian improves the young except Socrates, that Socrates corrupts them on purpose, and that he believes in no gods at all, which contradicts the charge that he brings in new divinities.
Socrates says envy, not Meletus, will destroy him. Like Achilles, a good man thinks of doing right, not of death. He will obey the god rather than the jury and keep urging Athenians to care for their souls. He calls himself the city’s gadfly, explains that a divine sign keeps him out of politics, and recalls refusing illegal orders from the democracy and from the Thirty. He will not parade his children to win pity.
Convicted, he proposes that he deserves free meals in the Prytaneum, rejects prison and exile, and says the unexamined life is not worth living. He finally offers a fine of thirty minae, backed by Plato and other friends. Sentenced to death, he warns those who condemned him that more accusers will follow. To those who acquitted him he says death is either a dreamless sleep or a journey where he can keep asking questions. He asks a last favor of his accusers and condemners, to trouble his sons if they care more for riches than virtue, and ends: which is better, to die or to live, only God knows.
The line of reasoning how the argument moves
- Disowns eloquenceParagraph 1 denies that Socrates is a great speaker and promises plain truth. Setting the terms first lets him treat any skill he shows as honesty, and prepares the jury for an unusual defense.
- Traces the slander to the oracleParagraphs 2 to 11 answer the old rumors before the formal charge. The story of the oracle and his questioning of politicians, poets and craftsmen explains both his reputation and his enemies, and turns the source of the prejudice into evidence of piety.
- Cross-examines his accuserParagraphs 12 to 53 question Meletus directly. Step by step, Socrates shows that Meletus has never cared about the young and that his charge contradicts itself, since a man who believes in divine things must believe in gods.
- Defends the mission itselfParagraphs 54 to 64 move from answering charges to defending a way of life. Socrates compares himself to Achilles and a soldier at his post, calls himself the city’s gadfly, gives examples of his past courage, and refuses to beg. The real charge, he suggests, is his questioning, and he will not give it up.
- Proposes his dueAfter the verdict, paragraphs 65 to 68 turn the penalty stage upside down. He says he deserves a public honor, rejects prison, exile and silence, and only then offers a fine. The section restates his argument in its most famous form: the unexamined life is not worth living.
- Speaks past the sentenceParagraphs 69 to 75 address the two parts of the jury separately. He warns those who condemned him, then comforts his friends with the argument that death may be a good. Ending in uncertainty keeps faith with his claim to know only what he does not know.
Section by section what each part does
- 1
The old accusers and the oracle
Socrates says he is no orator and will speak plainly. He answers the old slanders that he studies the heavens and teaches for pay, and explains his reputation: the oracle at Delphi told Chaerephon that no one was wiser than Socrates. To test it he questioned politicians, poets and craftsmen, and found that he is wiser only because he does not think he knows what he does not know.
Why it mattersBy starting with the older prejudice, Socrates reframes the case: his questioning is obedience to the god, not impiety. The oracle story turns the jury’s suspicion into a reason for respect.
- 2
Questioning Meletus
Socrates reads the charge and cross-examines Meletus in front of the court. He gets Meletus to say that everyone in Athens improves the young except Socrates, and that Socrates corrupts them on purpose, which makes no sense if bad company harms the corrupter. Meletus then calls him a complete atheist, which contradicts the charge that he believes in new divinities.
Why it mattersThe section shows Socrates’ method in action before the jury. Exposing his accuser’s carelessness and contradictions attacks Meletus’ credibility more than it proves Socrates’ innocence.
- 3
The gadfly and the mission
Socrates says envy, not Meletus, will destroy him, and that a good man thinks only of doing right. He will obey the god rather than the jury and keep urging Athenians to care for their souls. He calls himself a gadfly on a sluggish horse, explains his divine sign, recalls resisting injustice under the democracy and the Thirty, points to friends and relatives in court who would have accused him if he had corrupted anyone, and refuses to bring his sons to beg for pity.
Why it mattersHere the defense becomes a defense of philosophy itself. By refusing to promise to stop, Socrates makes acquittal harder but his argument more consistent.
- 4
The counter-penalty
Found guilty by a small margin, Socrates says his true due is free meals in the Prytaneum, an honor for benefactors of the city. He rejects prison, a fine he cannot pay, and exile, and says he cannot hold his tongue because the unexamined life is not worth living. He proposes a mina, then thirty minae guaranteed by Plato, Crito, Critobulus and Apollodorus.
Why it mattersProposing an honor instead of a punishment keeps him from admitting guilt. The jury was likely to hear it as defiance, which is part of the argument: he will not change even to save his life.
- 5
After the sentence
Sentenced to death, Socrates tells those who condemned him that they will be called the killers of a wise man and that more accusers will follow. To those who voted to acquit, he says his divine sign did not oppose him, so death must be good: either a dreamless sleep or a journey to meet the great dead and keep asking questions. He asks a last favor of his accusers and condemners, to trouble his sons if they care more for riches than virtue, and ends by saying only God knows whether death or life is better.
Why it mattersThe final speech turns a sentence of death into a judgment on the city. Its calm tone shows the audience the fearlessness he has argued for.
Rhetorical choices what the writer does, and why it works
Irony
In paragraph 1 Socrates claims to be anything but a great speaker, then delivers a tightly argued defense. In paragraph 5 he says “Happy is Evenus” if he can teach virtue for five minae, and in paragraph 12 he calls Meletus “that good man and true lover of his country.” The irony lets him mock his opponents while appearing modest before the jury.
Cross-examination
Paragraphs 13 to 53 break the speech into questions and answers with Meletus. Socrates leads him from “all of them” improve the young (paragraph 22) to calling Socrates a complete atheist (paragraph 42), which contradicts the indictment. The jury watches the accuser defeat his own charge.
Analogy
Socrates argues from horses and their trainers (paragraph 31), from believing in horsemanship but not horses (paragraph 49), and from mules, horses and asses (paragraph 53). In paragraph 58 the city is a great, sluggish steed and he is the gadfly that stings it awake. Everyday comparisons make abstract points easy for ordinary citizens to follow.
Allusion to Homer
In paragraph 55 Socrates recalls Achilles, who chose to avenge Patroclus knowing his own death would follow. For an Athenian audience raised on Homer, the comparison makes his refusal to stop philosophizing look like heroism rather than stubbornness. In paragraph 63 he borrows Homer again: he is not made “of wood or stone.”
Refusal of pathos
In paragraph 63 Socrates describes the usual courtroom appeal, with weeping and children brought before the judges, and refuses it though he has three sons. He argues that a judge should decide by law, not favor (paragraph 64). Rejecting the expected emotional appeal strengthens his ethos, though it may cost him votes.
Antithesis
He will “obey God rather than you” (paragraph 56). The difficulty is “not to avoid death, but to avoid unrighteousness” (paragraph 69). The speech ends “I to die, and you to live” (paragraph 75). Each contrast compresses a moral choice into a phrase the listener can carry away.
People & audiences
Socrates
Speaker
An Athenian philosopher over seventy who says his only wisdom is knowing that he does not know. He presents himself as the god’s servant and the city’s gadfly.
The jury
Immediate audience
The Athenian citizens judging the case, addressed as “men of Athens.” After the sentence he calls only those who acquitted him true judges (paragraph 71).
Meletus
Chief accuser
The man who brought the indictment, whom Socrates says has a quarrel with him on behalf of the poets (paragraph 11). His answers under questioning in paragraphs 13 to 53 expose his carelessness about the young.
Anytus and Lycon
Other accusers
Anytus speaks for the craftsmen and politicians, Lycon for the rhetoricians (paragraph 11). Anytus has said Socrates must be put to death (paragraph 56).
Chaerephon
Friend and witness
An early friend who asked the oracle at Delphi whether anyone was wiser than Socrates (paragraph 6). He is dead, but his brother is in court to confirm the story.
Plato, Crito and friends
Supporters in court
Friends and relatives Socrates names as present (paragraph 62). Plato, Crito, Critobulus and Apollodorus offer to guarantee a fine of thirty minae (paragraph 68).
Big ideas in Apology
Knowing that you do not know
Socrates’ only claim to wisdom is that he does not think he knows what he does not know (paragraph 7). The god, he says, uses his name to show that human wisdom is worth little or nothing (paragraph 10).
The examined life
Daily discussion of virtue is “the greatest good of man,” and “the unexamined life is not worth living” (paragraph 68). This is why he cannot accept silence as the price of freedom.
Obedience to God over the city
Socrates says he will obey God rather than the Athenians (paragraph 56). He presents his questioning as a duty given by the oracle and confirmed by signs, which turns the charge of impiety back on his accusers.
Doing right matters more than living
A good man considers only whether he is acting rightly, not the chance of living or dying (paragraph 55). Socrates backs the claim with his past refusals of illegal orders (paragraph 60).
Death may be a good
Fearing death is a pretence of knowledge, since no one knows whether it is the greatest good (paragraph 56). The final speech argues that death is either a peaceful sleep or a meeting with the great dead (paragraph 72).
Key images
The gadfly
Socrates calls himself a gadfly attached to the city, a large, slow horse that needs stirring (paragraph 58). The insect stands for the annoying but useful critic whom a comfortable society would rather swat than hear.
The oracle at Delphi
The priestess’s answer to Chaerephon (paragraph 6) stands for divine authority behind Socrates’ mission. He treats it as a riddle to test, which makes even his piety a form of questioning.
Repeated words and ideas
Wisdom and the pretence of wisdom. The politicians, poets and craftsmen all think they know more than they do (paragraphs 7 to 9), fear of death is a pretence of wisdom (paragraph 56), and in the next world he hopes to find out “who is wise, and who pretends to be wise, and is not” (paragraph 72).
The soldier at his post. Socrates held his post at Potidaea, Amphipolis and Delium and says a man must stay where he is placed in the hour of danger (paragraphs 55 and 56). The image returns when he refuses to desert the post the god has given him.
Tensions and counterarguments
Counterargument. Someone may ask whether he is ashamed of a way of life likely to get him killed (paragraph 55). He answers that a good man weighs only right and wrong, as Achilles did.
Counterargument. Someone may ask why he cannot simply go into exile and hold his tongue (paragraph 68). He replies that silence would be disobedience to the god and that the unexamined life is not worth living.
Conscience vs. the city. Socrates honors and loves the Athenians but will not obey them if they order him to stop philosophizing (paragraph 56). His examples of defying both the democracy and the Thirty (paragraph 60) show the same conflict in action.
Key quotes
“for he knows nothing, and thinks that he knows; I neither know nor think that I know.”
“Men of Athens, I honour and love you; but I shall obey God rather than you, and while I have life and strength I shall never cease from the practice and teaching of philosophy”
“I am that gadfly which God has attached to the state, and all day long and in all places am always fastening upon you, arousing and persuading and reproaching you.”
“the unexamined life is not worth living”
“The difficulty, my friends, is not to avoid death, but to avoid unrighteousness; for that runs faster than death.”
“The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our ways—I to die, and you to live. Which is better God only knows.”
The conclusion of Apology, explained
The Apology ends after the sentence, when Socrates speaks to two groups. To those who condemned him (paragraphs 69 and 70) he says he lost not for lack of words but because he would not weep and plead. The difficulty is not to avoid death but to avoid unrighteousness, which runs faster. He is old and slow, so death has caught him; his accusers are quick, so wickedness has caught them. He prophesies that killing him will not silence criticism: younger accusers will follow.
To those who voted to acquit him (paragraphs 71 to 74) his tone changes. He calls them his true judges and says his divine sign, which often stopped him even in small things, did not oppose him once that day. He takes this as a sign that what is happening is good. Then he argues that death is one of two things. It is either a dreamless sleep, which would be a gain, or a journey to a place where he can meet Orpheus, Homer and the heroes and go on questioning them. Either way, no evil can happen to a good man. Finally he asks a favor “of them,” the condemners and accusers he has just said he is not angry with (though this translation then says “O my friends”): to trouble his sons, as he troubled Athens, if they care more for riches than virtue.
The last lines are “I to die, and you to live. Which is better God only knows.” The ending fits the whole speech. Socrates never claims certainty about death, only about doing right, so he closes by admitting what he cannot know.
Common misreadings
MythIn the Apology, Socrates apologizes.
ActuallyThe title comes from the Greek apologia, a speech of defense. Socrates never says he is sorry, refuses to beg or bring his children to court (paragraph 63), and says he will never alter his ways (paragraph 56).
MythThe Apology is a transcript of what Socrates said.
ActuallyPlato wrote it. He is named as present at the trial (paragraphs 62 and 68), but the wording and shaping are his. Xenophon, another follower, wrote a different account of the defense.
MythSocrates claims to know nothing at all.
ActuallyHe says he does not think he knows what he does not know (paragraph 7). He does claim some knowledge: that injustice and disobedience to a better, whether God or man, are evil and dishonourable (paragraph 56).
AP practice a rhetorical analysis prompt in the exam's style
In 399 BC Socrates, past seventy, was tried in Athens for corrupting the young and not believing in the city’s gods, and Plato later wrote this version of his defense. Read the speech carefully, then write an essay that analyzes the rhetorical choices Socrates makes to defend his way of life to a jury he expects to be hostile.
What a strong response notices
- The ironic denial of eloquence in paragraph 1, which sets truth against style and builds ethos as a plain speaker.
- The oracle story in paragraphs 6 to 10, which recasts the source of his bad reputation as obedience to the god.
- The cross-examination of Meletus in paragraphs 13 to 53, which turns the accuser’s own answers against his charge.
- The Achilles allusion and the gadfly metaphor in paragraphs 55 and 58, which present stubbornness as heroism and service.
- The refusal of pity in paragraph 63 and the antitheses of paragraphs 69 and 75, which keep his conduct consistent with his argument.
Practice prompt written by StoryBites, not taken from a College Board exam. See the AP Language free-response guide for how answers are scored.
Test yourself
1. Who asked the oracle at Delphi whether anyone was wiser than Socrates?
Paragraph 6 says Chaerephon went to Delphi and asked, and the priestess answered that no man was wiser.
2. Which groups did Socrates question to test the oracle?
Paragraphs 7 to 9 describe his visits to a politician, then the poets, and at last the artisans.
3. What does Socrates compare himself to in paragraph 58?
He calls himself a gadfly given to the state, which is like a great, sluggish steed that needs stirring.
4. After the verdict, what does Socrates first say he deserves?
In paragraph 66 he says a reward is fitting for a benefactor, and that maintenance in the Prytaneum is the just return.
5. What does “apology” mean in the title?
It comes from the Greek apologia, a defense speech. Socrates defends himself and never says he is sorry.
Flashcards flip, self-grade, and the deck remembers what you know
Nice work.
Socrates was a thinker in ancient Athens who asked people hard questions. He was put on trial for teaching young people bad ideas and not respecting the city’s gods. His student Plato later wrote down this version of his defense. Socrates said a god had told him to show people that they knew less than they thought. He said he would rather die than stop asking questions. The jury sentenced him to death anyway. He stayed calm and said no one really knows whether death is bad.
Compare & connect
Funeral Oration
Both speeches come from Athens and reach us through another writer, Thucydides for Pericles and Plato for Socrates. Pericles praises an open city that welcomes debate; a generation later, that city puts its most famous questioner to death.
Civil Disobedience
Both men put conscience above the demands of the state and accept punishment rather than give way. Compare Socrates’ “I shall obey God rather than you” with Thoreau’s call to be men first and subjects afterward.
Letter from Birmingham Jail
King names Socrates among those who broke unjust laws openly and accepted the penalty. Both writers defend a mission that makes powerful people uncomfortable, and both answer critics who say they should simply wait or be quiet.
Discussion and essay prompts:
💬 Discussion questions
- What is the main argument of Plato’s Apology
- Why is it called the Apology if Socrates does not apologize
- What does the unexamined life is not worth living mean
- How does Apology explore the theme of knowing that you do not know?
- How does Apology explore the theme of the examined life?
- What is the central conflict in Apology, and how does it shape the ending?
✎ Essay prompts
- Analyze how Plato develops the theme of knowing that you do not know in Apology. Support your argument with specific evidence from the text.
- Examine the significance of the gadfly in Apology. What does it represent, and how does it deepen the work’s meaning?
- How does Plato use irony to shape the reader’s experience of Apology?
- Some readers assume that in the Apology, Socrates apologizes. Argue for or against this interpretation, using evidence from the text.
Key questions students ask
- What is the main argument of Plato’s Apology
- Why is it called the Apology if Socrates does not apologize
- What does the unexamined life is not worth living mean
- Why does Socrates call himself a gadfly
- What were the charges against Socrates
- What does Socrates say about death in the Apology
Analysis is original StoryBites commentary. The full text and quotations follow Benjamin Jowett’s English translation of the Apology, from the third edition of The Dialogues of Plato (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1892). Jowett’s translation is in the public domain.