Plato's and Xenophon's Works Both

Plato's and Xenophon's works both concern the trial and subsequent guilty verdict of Socrates. Both authors describe his defense and his reactions to the verdict and sentencing. The main difference between the two works is the perspective, with Plato's Apology written from the first-person perspective, and Xenophon's from the third. These differing perspectives have specific effects upon the presentation of the subject matter; each work then brings to the event elements that are not present in the others.

As such, the authors provide the reader with two different perspectives upon the same event, which compliment each other. In Plato's Apology, Socrates acts as the first-person narrator as well as the character directly involved in the trial as it occurs. This places the reader in a position from which to experience Socrates' perspective directly. The philosopher speaks directly of his viewpoints and experiences, refuting the accusations against him with great eloquence. The main accusation against him is corrupting the youth.

As such, the majority of the text takes the form of a monologue, with only Meletus, the main accuser, joining the philosopher for a brief dialogue. The only other textual differentiation is brief textual interludes to indicate the verdict and sentencing. Socrates provides the Court and reader with his perspectives on his innocence, his wisdom, and his reaction to the news of his death. Interestingly, the philosopher does not appear to be surprised at the news. Upon the strength of the text alone, the reader however does experience some surprise.

Certainly Socrates has provided ample evidence of his innocence; the youth under his care were indeed not corrupted, but upstanding citizens of the community. He also provides philosophical evidence against the possibility of his being the only possible person who can corrupt the youth within the community. Indeed, by comparing the example of a horse trainer, Socrates demonstrates that it is far more likely that numerous persons could harm rather than help the youth, with only a significant minority able to in fact do them some good.

In this context, it is surprising that the jury nonetheless finds Socrates guilty. However, the suspected implication is that the Court itself is corrupt. This is never openly indicated by Socrates, who accepts his death not only with resignation, but indeed with what appears to be some degree of anticipation. With the perspective of the third-person narrator, Xenophon's Apology of Socrates has far more scope to provide the reader not only with background information, but also with a wider perspective than only that of Socrates.

Indeed, he addresses the problems associated with authors and perspective regarding Socrates' situation in the opening paragraph of his work: none of these writers has brought out clearly the fact that Socrates had come to regard death as for himself preferable to life; and consequently there is just a suspicion of foolhardiness in the arrogancy of his address." In order to remedy this problem, Xenophon introduces the third-person narrator, Hermogenes, the son of Hipponicus, one of the philosopher's close acquaintances, in order to explicate the situation to readers with a more objective point-of-view.

One of the points clarified in this way is then, as mentioned above, Socrates' apparent stubborn foolhardiness in refusing to refute the court's decision. Xenophon notes that Socrates found death desirable over life. This is a point that Socrates himself also addresses in Plato's work, when he considers the possibilities of life after death.

Socrates appears to consider both complete annihilation and the migration of the soul as preferable to his current life: annihilation would be like a restful and dreamless sleep, while the soul's migration would result in reuniting with old friends. Both of these possibilities are highly desirable to Socrates. Unlike Plato, Xenophon places Socrates' ideas surrounding death at the beginning of his work. This places the rest of the philosopher's actions into perspective right at the beginning of the action.

In Plato's work, on the other hand, the reader only receives this revelation when Socrates reacts to the death sentence. As mentioned above, the issue of the court's corruption is also more explicitly and clearly explicated in Xenophon's work than in that of Plato. In Plato, Socrates appears oddly unsurprised by his sentence. Rather than the court specifically, he appears to implicate rival philosophers who brought him to his doom.

This is further puzzling, as his defense appears articulate, and more than adequate to prove his innocence regarding all the aspects of the case against him. The reason for this can be seen in Socrates' subjective view of his situation as it relates to his accusers and the court. Having the utmost respect for.