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Socrates' last words to the court

set in 399 BCE, Athens. As Plato tells it.

Where and when

set in 399 BCEAthens

2,424 years ago

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Socrates

, AthensAs Plato tells it

In plain words, ours

Time to go. I go to die, you to live. Which of us is better off, only God knows.

But now the time has come to go away. I go to die, and you to live; but which of us goes to the better lot, is known to none but God.

Plato, Apology 42aTranslated by Harold North Fowler (1914)Read the full passage (Plato, Apology 42a, opens scaife.perseus.org)

What was going on, our summary

As Plato tells it, these are the closing words of Socrates' speech to the court after it condemned him to death. He has just said he is not angry with those who condemned him, and asked them to rebuke his sons as he rebuked them.

Checked claim by claim against: Socrates is tried, condemned and put to death, the passage around the quote.

Why it matters

About the event it belongs to: Socrates is tried, condemned and put to death

Plato's account of the trial and death inspired writers, artists and philosophers to return to it. Some saw the execution as showing the defects of democracy; others as a justifiable defence of a newly restored democracy.

Based on Wikipedia: Trial of Socrates

Plato's presentation of the trial and death of Socrates inspired writers, artists, and philosophers to revisit the matter.

For some, the execution of the man whom Plato called "the wisest and most just of all men" demonstrated the defects of democracy and of popular rule; for others, the Athenian actions were a justifiable defence of the recently re-established democracy.

Wikipedia, Trial of Socrates (opens en.wikipedia.org), as of 2026-10-01. Text CC BY-SA 4.0. Our line is checked against these sentences only.

Related moments

In time order, with this one in its place. Each says why it is here.

  1. c. 406 BCEabout 6.899999999999977 years earlier Euripides and Sophocles die Also about death
  2. 404 BCE5 years earlier The Thirty take power in Athens Same years
  3. 403 BCE4 years earlier Democracy returns to Athens, with an amnesty Same years
  4. 401 BCE2 years earlier The Chorus on not being born Also about death
  5. 399 BCESame year Socrates is tried, condemned and put to death The event behind itAlso in Athens
  6. set in 399 BCEThis momentSocrates' last words to the court
  7. by 399 BCEBy this year Aspasia on honest matchmaking Also in Athens
  8. set in 399 BCESame year The charge Meletus swore against Socrates Also in Athens
  9. set in 399 BCESame year Socrates on what death might be Same passage
  10. set in 399 BCESame year Socrates and the oracle at Delphi More from Socrates
  11. set in 399 BCESame year Socrates on what makes things beautiful More from Socrates
  12. set in 399 BCESame year Socrates on knowing that he does not know More from Socrates

Just before and after

The text around the quote, word for word from the same translation.

Show the passageHide the passage

That is the reason why the sign never interfered with me, and I am not at all angry with those who condemned me or with my accusers. And yet it was not with that in view that they condemned and accused me, but because they thought to injure me. They deserve blame for that. However, I make this request of them: when my sons grow up, gentlemen, punish them by troubling them as I have troubled you; if they seem to you to care for money or anything else more than for virtue, and if they think they amount to something when they do not, rebuke them as I have rebuked you because they do not care for what they ought, and think they amount to something when they are worth nothing. If you do this, both I and my sons shall have received just treatment from you.

The quote: But now the time has come to go away. I go to die, and you to live; but which of us goes to the better lot, is known to none but God.

Plato, Apology 41d–42aTranslated by Harold North Fowler (1914)Read the full passage (opens scaife.perseus.org)

When, and whose words

Date
set in 399 BCE. Spoken at the trial of Socrates in 399 BCE; Plato wrote the Apology some years later.
Whose words
As Plato tells it.
How this post was checked
  • The plain-words line was read against the quote alone by a second, independent pass, which found it adds no claim the quote does not make (2026-10-03).
  • Each claim in the summary was checked by an independent pass against only the material it cites.
  • The quote itself is checked by the build: word for word, once, at the cited section of the stored translation.

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