Socrates had already accepted the Athenian ruling and had peace of mind while waiting for the execution to proceed as planned after the arrival of the Athenian state galley. He was a man who always respected the law and had always held dearly and devotedly to philosophical life; thus, he subsequently accepted his death; even though his friend Crito and other friends had plans to break him out of jail and send him away from the reach of Athenian law, he could not agree to any of his friends’ plans. Therefore, this situation of sleeping peacefully shows how he had accepted his fate and was ready to face the law (Cooper & Hutchinson, 1997).
Crito persuaded Socrates to allow his comrades to save him from jail by giving bribery to the jailers so that they let him escape and take him far away from the reach of the Athenian law. He argued out that friends were supposed to be for each other and value friendship more than their financial backline, but Socrates refused as he termed it philosophically unjust (Cooper & Hutchinson, 1997).
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Crito presumed that Socrates’ plan to accept to die was not just. He argued out that Socrates could not neglect their offer since his friends and family cared for him so greatly. Socrates cared for virtue, but he had decided to forfeit his family or rather his children and let them be branded as destitute. Crito and his friends elaborated Socrates’ rescue, and Crito even told Socrates how foreigners were ready to help him escape from jail (Plato, n.d.).
The opinions that deserve a listening are the good or rather the positive ones which emanate from the wise. For instance, in the human world, there exists all sorts of opinions ranging from the good ones to the bad ones and everyone should put into consideration to exercise and only make use of the positive opinions. Socrates gives an example of an athlete and his or her trainer (Analysis of the Crito, n.d.).
Socrates converses with Crito and tells him blatantly that it is not right to harm anyone or rather do evil to them. He adds that paying evil with evil is not right, even though the philosophical world advocates for it. Therefore, he defends his decision of not accepting his friends’ offer of bribing him out of jail by telling Crito that it is not right to pay evil with evil: even if we undergo evil, we are not supposed to protect ourselves by doing evil in retaliation. Eventually, Crito agrees with that opinion (Plato, n.d.).
Socrates believed in the rule of law, and since he was one of the citizens, he generalized by saying that the citizens agreed to the rule of law and regulations. Thus, he disagreed with his friends’ idea of getting him out of jail through corruption as he saw it was going against the laws of the land and they were the ones who ruled out that he should be persecuted. He respected the rule of law; thus, to him, the court’s final judgment was final and he was ready to face his fate (Analysis of the Crito, n.d.).
Socrates talked about the ancestors to express how inequality concerning rights existed between them and their offspring. There was no equality of right between the ancestors and the offspring as they were the masters, and he compares them to the country’s laws as they act as our master and the country is holier, revered, and precious; therefore, it should be obeyed to as we do to our ancestors. Thus, the country’s laws and will should be done even if they command you to be jailed (Plato, n.d.).