Why He Did Not Beg

In Athenian courts it was common, almost expected, for defendants to bring their weeping wives and children before the jury to ask for sympathy. Socrates refuses to do this. His explanation is not just personal. It is a philosophical argument about what justice actually requires.

You may have noticed I have not done what defendants usually do in this courtroom. I have not cried. I have not brought my children up here. I have three sons, one almost grown. I have not brought any of them.

Some of you may be offended by this. You may think I am being arrogant, or that I do not take my situation seriously.

That is not it.

I will not beg because begging would be wrong. Think about what a jury is for. You are here to make a judgment. You are here to decide what is just. The moment I stand up here crying and asking you to feel sorry for me, I am not asking you to judge anymore. I am asking you to feel. Those are completely different things.

Your oath was to judge according to what is right. I am asking you to honor that oath. Do not vote for me because you feel sorry for me. Do not vote against me because you are annoyed with me. Vote based on what is true and what is just. That is all I ask.

I have watched men of great reputation stand in this courtroom and carry on as though death were the most terrible thing imaginable. Weeping. Begging. Making themselves small in front of everyone. I found it embarrassing. Not because fear of death is shameful, fear is human, but because they let that fear turn them into someone they would not want to be.

I would rather die as myself than survive as someone I do not recognize.