Legend has it that Prince theseus of Athens voluntarily went to Crete, as one of seven pairs of Athenian boys and girls who were forced to give Minos cows, determined to get rid of the curse imposed on the Athenians. Before leaving, the Athenians made a wish that if they returned safely, they would go to Telo to worship Apollo every year. The polis took this sacred religious sacrifice seriously. In order to ensure the cleanliness of the city, the death penalty will be suspended. Socrates was put in prison, waiting to be sacrificed and executed. During this period, the disciples took turns to visit the prison and spend the last days with the teacher. As a result, there were several famous dialogues in which Plato recorded Sue's remarks in prison. About a month later, the 70-year-old philosopher sent his wife and children away, drank the poisonous fish in front of his disciples and died peacefully.
Take Socrates as an example. On the one hand, he is a great philosopher who pursues truth and sacrifices his life for righteousness, and on the other hand, he is an Athens city-state who flaunts democracy and freedom and is regarded as the source of democratic politics. Who is right and wrong, who is good and who is evil, is not so clear-cut, emotional choice has become a painful torture, so its tragic color is becoming more and more obvious. In the modern world where the concept of democracy and freedom is deeply rooted in people's hearts, Socrates' death has not only become a problem, but also an inextricable knot in modern people's hearts.
However, for the Athenians, this case is far from a difficult knot, and it is not a problem at all. Because the whole case was tried in full accordance with the laws of the Athens city-state. The three people who sued Socrates were all Athenian citizens, led by meredith, who obviously prosecuted according to law. At the beginning of Euschiffero, Socrates said that he would go to "the king's consul" to answer meredith's complaint. The king's consul is responsible for the worship of god. The main charges against Socrates are disrespect for god and worship of new gods, so he needs to go there for the record. At this point, the case officially entered the trial process.
The trial procedure is equally complicated and democratic. Different from modern times, the courts in Athens have no judges, only the presiding judge, who is responsible for organizing trials and maintaining court order, and the adjudication power lies with the jury. Members of the jury were chosen by lot from among citizens. For example, at the beginning of each year, citizens voluntarily sign up to compete for jury members of that year, and then draw lots to select 6,000 volunteers as jury members of that year. If a court session is held, the city-state officials will determine the size of the jury needed to hear each case in advance according to the size of the case, ranging from five to two thousand, and then draw lots from six thousand jury members to select the total number of jurors needed for that day. Before the trial, these jurors will be assigned to different courts to hear different cases by drawing lots. Its operation process is incredibly complicated, but it is hard to believe that the stone inlay used for lottery can survive to this day. In addition, the reason why the Athenians invented this set of things is not unreasonable, and its main purpose is to prevent any form of bribery. First of all, you can't know in advance which jurors will participate in your case. Secondly, you are unlikely to bribe all 6000 jurors. Of course, the large number of jurors also reflects the fundamental principle of democratic politics, that is, the direct and extensive participation of citizens. Jurors can get a lot of money every time they attend the trial, which can support a family for about a day. Those wealthier citizens probably won't spend a day in court for this reward, unless the case concerns their vital interests.
Therefore, jurors are mainly composed of lower-class citizens. The jury that tried Socrates consisted of 500 people, which was obviously not a great case. Larger cases will have a jury of up to 2000 people, while major cases are often tried directly by the citizens' assembly.
The trial in court is also different from modern times. First of all, the plaintiff and the defendant defend themselves and give evidence respectively. Then the jury held the first vote to decide whether the defendant was guilty or not.
If the defendant gets the majority of the votes, he gets the name of innocence. But the case did not end there, depending on how many votes the plaintiff got. If he gets less than one fifth of the total votes, he will be punished. This measure is to prevent malicious false accusations. If the number of guilty and innocent votes is equal, the defendant is acquitted. If the defendant is found guilty, the plaintiff and the defendant will put forward specific penalties respectively, and then the jury will vote for one of them as the final penalty. This kind of trial seems absurd, but it is reasonable. Because the plaintiff and the defendant will put forward as reasonable a punishment as possible in order to get their punishment accepted, and will not do whatever they want. Socrates was convicted by 280 votes to 220 votes in the first round of voting, and then he proposed to punish himself, which almost became a joke. First, he said that he was innocent, but he had made meritorious service to the polis and deserved the courtesy of the polis. Then he proposed a fine of 100 drachma. Because this punishment was unreasonable, some jurors who had sympathized with him chose the punishment proposed by the plaintiff, and were finally sentenced to death by 360 votes to 140, which is not difficult to understand. On the other hand, even if Su's performance is so absurd, if measured by today's law, he may be convicted of contempt of court, but he still has 140 votes to support him, which shows that it is not too difficult for him to escape the robbery.
From the perspective of modern people, Socrates' accusation seems to be unwarranted, there is no definite criminal act, and his remarks have not caused direct harm. But in Athens, the identification of criminal behavior is different from that of modern times. No matter what the accusation is, whether the criminal act is conclusive or not, whether it causes direct harm, as long as the jury votes in favor, the crime will be established.
Because the only criterion is the jury's vote, and there is no authoritative criminal investigation agency to scientifically identify the facts, the defense of the parties becomes very important. The defense is often written in advance, either by yourself or by a professional expert. Therefore, court defense has become an important part of oratory. These arguments not only discuss the case itself, but also often brag about their own contributions or ethics in order to win the sympathy of the jury.
However, the court can't tolerate endless rhetoric and strictly limit the time for the parties to reply, which is quite similar to the current college students' debate competition. The method is to drill a small hole in the lower part of the pottery basin and put it in a high place. There is a certain amount of water in the pottery basin. At the beginning of the defense, let the water drip from the small hole into another pottery basin placed in a lower place, and that's the limit.
Some people may ask, for a great philosopher like Socrates, the Athenians did not seem to show due respect to those in power, and were sentenced to death just for a simple crime.
Is this too hard to understand? As we all know, Athens has no personal authority. There is no intellectual authority, no moral authority or even political authority. There is only one kind of authority, that is, the authority of the people, and everything must be subordinate to people's organizations. Aristide, the democratic leader of Athens, was famous as a "just man", but he was exiled by referendum in 483 BC. It is said that when voting, an illiterate farmer handed a piece of pottery used as a ballot and asked Alistair around him to carve his name on his behalf. Alistair Dach asked, if you don't know this character, why should you blame him? The farmer replied that he was disgusted when he was called a "just man", so he voted to exile him. Demetrius stokely, the hero of the Greek-Persian war, successfully commanded the naval battle of Salamis, which made the Greek allies win a key victory and avoided being enslaved by the Persians. Because of this, Demetrius stokely became a hero of the whole Greek nation, so that when he walked into the stadium at the next Olympic Games, the whole audience forgot the game, looked at him, applauded him and paid tribute to him. Historian Thucydides said that at that time, he and Spartan king Bossanias were the most famous figures in Greece. But four years later, the Athenians voted to exile him and then tried to sentence him to death, which forced him to flee to the court of his sworn enemy, the Persian king. Even Pericles, the greatest leader of democracy, was born to die. Shortly after the war with Sparta broke out, he was dismissed as a general because of his poor command and was severely punished.
Socrates is a famous man, but he is not a respected philosophical authority. In contrast, his fame comes more from his grotesque. In aristophanes's works (Clouds), Socrates is walking in clouds and acting strangely. Even his philosophy is just sophistry. He started a private school to teach the technique of reversing black and white. Socrates may not be like this in reality, but not many Athenians really understood his philosophy or his temperament. Aristophanes's comedy was grandly staged at the Drama Festival, one of the biggest festivals in Athens, with nearly 20,000 Athenians present, which will undoubtedly leave a deep impression on many Athenians. Aristophanes's comedy Cloud depicts the image of Socrates, which was staged at Sotheby's Theatre Festival in Nepal in 423 BC. The image of Socrates he created will undoubtedly affect the trial after 24 years.
Of course, there are deeper reasons for the trial of Socrates. The democracy in ancient Greece is different from all kinds of democracy in the modern world. In ancient Greek, the word "demokratia" consists of "demos" and "Kratos". Obviously, democratic politics is the rule of the people, which emphasizes the extensive participation and direct management of citizens and the almost absolute equal rights of citizens in political life. It is worth noting that "people" is a collective noun, which shows that as a whole group of citizens, individuals are completely hidden. In modern democratic politics, groups that theoretically enjoy political sovereignty are often called "taxpayers" and sometimes "citizens", and the collective concept of "people" is rarely used. In English, both "taxpayers" and "citizens" represent groups composed of individuals. Among them, individuals have appeared, but they are not completely hidden. This seemingly subtle difference reflects a fundamental difference. In modern democratic politics, on the one hand, individuals are subordinate to groups, but on the other hand, they enjoy independence and freedom as individuals. But in ancient Greece, the individual was completely subordinate to the group, and he did not have the freedom to leave the group. Aristotle believes that individuals only belong to the city-state (that is, the group) to have the meaning of existence, and individuals who do not belong to the city-state are either ghosts or beasts. The will and interests of the group are above everything else, so the interests and rights of the individual can be sacrificed. A unique law in Athens can best illustrate this point. According to the law, the Athenians can exile a political leader every year, who is elected by referendum. Because broken pottery pieces were used as tickets, it was named "pottery piece exile method" When you vote, just carve your name on the pottery. No fault, no crime, as long as you get more than 6 thousand votes, you will be exiled.
From the perspective of modern people, this is purely an infringement of individual freedom and rights. But in Athens, some of the most famous politicians, such as Dimitri stokely, are in exile. That is to say, in ancient Greece, individuals did not have freedom in the modern sense (that is, "negative freedom" as Berlin said). There is neither freedom to leave the group nor freedom of speech. Socrates' remarks clearly show his contempt for the group of "people" and want to keep a distance from it. At the same time, in the eyes of the "people", his words and deeds have actually caused some harm, because his disciples participated in activities to overthrow democratic politics. His execution was actually reasonable. Besides, Socrates is not the only thinker who feels guilty about his remarks. Pericles's wife, aspasia, was originally a brothel owner, but she was a rare intelligent woman, and even Socrates often visited her with his disciples. She was once accused by a comedy poet of being against God ungodly, but only after Pericles's repeated entreaties did she escape. However, because of this, the Athenians passed a law stipulating that anyone who does not believe in God or teaches the theory of the universe will be prosecuted. Another figure related to Pericles is the philosopher Arak Sagora, who is Pericles's teacher and close friend. He was also threatened with prosecution and the death penalty. This time, even Pericles couldn't protect him, so he was arranged to flee Athens in a hurry.
It is said that protagoras's works were seized by the Athenians, and he himself was sentenced to death for his theory, but only narrowly escaped. Euripides, a tragic actor, was also charged with impiety. If all these records are not groundless, then the lack of freedom of thought and speech in Athens is indisputable.
Modern people, especially westerners, are used to measuring the democratic politics of ancient Greece with modern democracy, and think that equality and freedom are naturally the content of democratic politics, so Socrates' death has become an inextricable knot. Si Tong even naively suggested that if Socrates based his defense on freedom of speech, he might find himself innocent. Perhaps Socrates knows better than anyone that his compatriots will not take freedom of speech seriously.
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