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Socrates at his trial, as Plato tells it

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

If you kill me, a man like me, you will harm yourselves more than me. Meletus and Anytus cannot harm me; I believe God does not let a worse man harm a better one.

For know that if you kill me, I being such a man as I say I am, you will not injure me so much as yourselves; for neither Meletus nor Anytus could injure me; that would be impossible, for I believe it is not God’s will that a better man be injured by a worse.

Plato, Apology 30c–dTranslated by Harold North Fowler (1914)Read the full passage (Plato, Apology 30c–d, opens scaife.perseus.org)

Quoted by Epictetus, c. 108 CE, about 500 years later

What was going on, our summary

Athens, 399 BCE: Socrates is on trial for not recognising the city's gods and corrupting the young, as Plato tells it. He has just told the men of Athens to acquit him or not; he will not change his ways even if he must die many times over.

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. 404 BCE5 years earlier The Thirty take power in Athens Same years
  2. 403 BCE4 years earlier Democracy returns to Athens, with an amnesty Same years
  3. 399 BCESame year Socrates is tried, condemned and put to death The event behind itAlso in AthensAlso about the trial of Socrates
  4. set in 399 BCEThis momentSocrates at his trial, as Plato tells it
  5. by 399 BCEBy this year Aspasia on honest matchmaking Also in Athens
  6. set in 399 BCESame year The charge Meletus swore against Socrates Also in AthensAlso about the trial of Socrates
  7. set in 399 BCESame year Socrates on the fear of death Same passage
  8. set in 399 BCESame year Socrates calls himself the city's gadfly Same passage
  9. set in 399 BCESame year Socrates and the oracle at Delphi More from Socrates
  10. set in 399 BCESame year Socrates on what makes things beautiful More from Socrates
  11. set in 399 BCESame year Socrates on knowing that he does not know More from Socrates
  12. c. 108 CEabout 506 years later Epictetus on Socrates and his accusers Quoted by Epictetus

Just before and after

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

Show the passageHide the passage

If by saying these things I corrupt the youth, these things must be injurious; but if anyone asserts that I say other things than these, he says what is untrue. Therefore I say to you, men of Athens, either do as Anytus tells you, or not, and either acquit me, or not, knowing that I shall not change my conduct even if I am to die many times over.Do not make a disturbance, men of Athens; continue to do what I asked of you, not to interrupt my speech by disturbances, but to hear me; and I believe you will profit by hearing. Now I am going to say some things to you at which you will perhaps cry out; but do not do so by any means.

The quote: For know that if you kill me, I being such a man as I say I am, you will not injure me so much as yourselves; for neither Meletus nor Anytus could injure me; that would be impossible, for I believe it is not God’s will that a better man be injured by a worse.

He might, however, perhaps kill me or banish me or disfranchise me; and perhaps he thinks he would thus inflict great injuries upon me, and others may think so, but I do not; I think he does himself a much greater injury by doing what he is doing now—killing a man unjustly. And so, men of Athens, I am now making my defence not for my own sake, as one might imagine, but far more for yours, that you may not by condemning me err in your treatment of the gift the God gave you.

Plato, Apology 30b–dTranslated 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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