Crito by Plato

In Crito by Plato, Socrates is in jail waiting for a ship to pick him up so he can be executed. His friend Crito came to visit and had an idea that he should escape from prison. He listed a whole bunch of reasons why he should and told him that all they would have to do was pay off the prison guards to let him go. This is just a bad idea. Sure they will escape, but where will they go? Crito suggests he go to Thessaly because he has friends there that will keep him safe. Even if he did go there, what if he did get caught? Socrates would be in even more trouble with the government. Socrates did not like this idea either. He lectured Crito, saying that he was only looking at the present and how good it all sounds right now. Socrates had a choice to either be exiled or executed. He chose to be executed because he could not stand to live somewhere else. He had never left the city before. Death was an easier choice for him because he was not scared of death. Crito mentions that the ship should be arriving today, which means he will be executed tomorrow. Socrates says he is wrong, the ship will come tomorrow and he will be executed the next day. He said all of this because of a dream he had of a woman, which could symbolize and angel, telling him that the boat will arrive tomorrow and he shall die on the third day. Socrates also made a comment about doing wrong. He knows he did something wrong, so why would he run from it? The government gave birth to him, raised him, and taught him so why would they accuse him of something he did not do. He put himself in the government’s shoes and proved to Crito that two wrongs don’t make a right. Just because the government is punishing him does not mean that he needs to rebel against them and run away. Socrates chose his punishment and if he didn’t want to die than he should have chosen exile. I don’t think Crito meant any harm in what he was proposing to Socrates. He knew it was wrong, but Socrates is his best friend and he did not want to see him die. He also told Socrates that he did not want to ruin his reputation and not try to get him out. He did not want people to say that his money was more important to him than his best friend. At the end of the dialogue Socrates states “Let it be then, Crito, and let us act in this way, since this is the way the god is leading us”. The way Socrates says this makes me believe that he believes in a higher being but not necessarily the God we know today. Socrates does believe in a god though. This means that everything happens for a reason. Apparently this is what the god chose for him, so he is going to just let it happen. He is not going to fight it and he does not want Crito to fight it either. If Socrates is content with the consequence, than Crito needs to be too.