Plato and Xenophon: Apologies compares two key dialogues on the death of Socrates, including the hard-to-find Xenophons Apology. Socrates was accused of impiety and corrupting the youth of ancient Athens and was tried, convicted, imprisoned, and executed. Both Plato and Xenophon make clear that the charges were not brought forward in the spirit of true piety, and that Socrates was a man of real virtue and beneficence. To this day, his trial and execution remain a mark upon the democracy that put him to death. These dialogues underscore the limitations of democratic relativism and emphasize the nature of philosophy or the free mind. Platos Apology of Socrates is both poetry and an act of reformation justifying the life of philosophy, challenging the authority of the pagan gods and heroes, and introducing Socrates as a heroic and even divine figure. In contrast, Xenophons Socrates is not dialectical and otherworldly, but makes a different appeal for philosophy. From Xenophon emerges the heroic tradition of Plutarch with its reflections on the virtues and vices of great historical men.

Mark Kremer (Ph.D., University of Chicago) is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Kennesaw State University, with a research focus on political philosophy and political literature. He formerly taught at Boston University, and recently edited and contributed to Platos Cleitophon: On Socrates and the Modern Mind.