The Last Days of Socrates: Euthyphro; The Apology; Crito; Phaedo (Penguin Classics)

Socrates spent a lifetime analyzing ethical issues, and the "Euthyphro" finds him outside the court-house, still debating the nature of piety with an arrogant acquaintance. "The Apology" is both a robust rebuttal to the charges of impiety and corrupting young minds and a definitive defence of the philosopher's life. Later, condemned and imprisoned in the "Crito", Socrates counters the arguments of friends urging him to escape. And finally, in the "Phaedo", Plato shows him calmly confident in the face of death, skilfully arguing the case for the immortality of the soul. Such works, as Harold Tarrant explains in his introduction to this revised edition, are no longer regarded by scholars as direct transcriptions of real events.