Book 1, Part 2, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle: Chapter 11, Socrates Summary and Analysis

Socrates was born in Athens, taught philosophy mostly for free, practiced disputation, and in 399 BC, at the age of seventy was tried and condemned to death. He was known in Athens while Aristophanes included him in The Clouds.

According to Xenophon, Socrates was pious with good influence on others, but the accuracy of his statements could be questioned. He liked Socrates's manner of influencing people through asking simple questions that started in a basic manner, provoking responses as to who repairs shoes, and then leading the question, such as who should mend the Ship of State. His influence proved fatal to him when he fell into conflict with the Thirty Tyrants during the Spartan oligarchic government and was forbidden teaching.

Socrates was accused of evil doing, searching...