Another aspect1 of Socrates that I think worth recording is what decisions heIf one were to mention The Apology, most likely the work that would come to
mind is The Apology of Plato. However, there is another Apology, not so well-known as
Plato’s, yet equally valuable. Plato’s contemporary, the historian Xenophon, also wrote
an Apology of Socrates, as well as three other Socratic works, The Symposium, The
Memorabilia, and The Oeconomicos. While both Plato and Xenophon, each in his
respective Apology, present Socrates’ defense in court against the charges of impiety and
corrupting the youth, the two works differ greatly in both content and character. Plato’s
Apology “professes to be a report, complete but without comment by the reporter, of the
three speeches delivered by Socrates at his trial. Xenophon’s is a description of Socrates’
conduct before, during and after trial, in the course of which is reported that is
confessedly only a small portion of what Socrates said.