Titi

Plato: The Crito:

Summary of the Argument Against Escaping from Prison

by Gordon L. Ziniewicz

1. At stake here are right proportion within the soul (individual justice), right proportion between persons (friendship), right proportion among citizens (social justice), and right proportion between citizens and laws or customs (nomoi).

2. The opinion of the wise (expert opinion) is to be followed in matters of justice and injustice. The opinion of the many is not to be followed, even though the many have the power to put one to death. The many cannot do the greatest harm to the individual (make him unjust), nor can they do the greatest good (make him just).

3. Deserting the opinion of the wise regarding justice will injure (disorder) the soul, that "principle" or part of the person that is improved by justice and deteriorated by injustice.

4. One should follow the opinion of the wise (physicians and trainers) with regard to the health of the body. Life would not be worth living with an unhealthy body.

5. Life would not be worth living even more with an unjust soul. The well-being or health of the soul (justice) is more important than the well-being or health of the body. Not life, but a good life, is to be chiefly valued.

6. What counts is whether it is just or unjust to escape from prison and enlist the help of others to do this.

7. We are never intentionally to do wrong. Doing wrong is always an evil and a dishonor to him who acts unjustly. [Doing wrong injures or disorders one's own soul.] We must injure no one, not even in return (revenge for) an injury another has done to us. [Revenge disorders the soul of the perpetrator of revenge.] This is not an opinion held by the many.

8. Escaping prison would be doing wrong to the principles acknowledged by us to be just. [One of these principles is to persuade individuals and customs to improve in the light of higher principles. This persuasion requires attachment to individuals and customs.]

9. Escaping prison would be subversive of respect for laws and customs. [Laws and customs cannot exist without the respect for laws and customs of law-abiding citizens. Acts of injustice injure the moral and cultural atmosphere created by laws and customs.]

10. Laws and customs are like parents and perhaps even more important than parents for young persons' upbringing and improvement (or corruption). Laws and customs governing marriage and education, as well as other laws and customs, have made Socrates' life and activity possible. [The institution of language (Greek) has been especially important for Socrates' career of cross-examining citizens and customs.]

11. Having gained from the laws, it would be unjust to turn one's back on the laws. [That would indicate a lack of proportion, especially since Socrates has benefited so much from Athenian mores. He has rarely left the city in seventy years. Getting without giving back shows a lack of geometrical proportion -- fairness or equity. Furthermore, Socrates is not equal to the laws; they are his superiors.]

12. In relation to the laws, one must be subservient. They are "to be soothed, and gently and reverently