t Chairephon, his friend, had received from the oracle at Delphi, stating that he is wisest among men (20e6-22e5). The temple at Delphi was a shrine to Apollo, a traditional god. He was impoverished and hated because of it. If Socrates did not believe in the traditional gods, he would not have devoted his life to realize the ultimate truths using his unsurpassed wisdom, which would thereby confirm the claim of the oracle at Delphi. Believing in new divinities, though, the third charge, is perhaps legitimate. Socrates claims to get a divine sign every once in a while and says “whenever it speaks it turns me away from something I am about to do, but it never encourages me to do anything” (31d2-3). This goes against the prevailing notion that the gods control the behavior of mortals like puppeteers as was often espoused in Greek lore. But rather, that gods are benevolent towards their human subjects. Thus, Socrates seems to have conjured up a new kind of divinity, thereby making him guilty of Meletus’ third charge. Although neither depiction of Socrates is entirely accurate, they each illustrate some guilt on Socrates’ part. The Aristophanic Socrates is completely guilty while the Platonic Socrates is only guilty on one account. In both works, he probably did not deserve to be condemned to death but more so in Plato’s work it seems that Socrates has wrongfully been put to death. For an argument can be made that not only was Socrates not guilty of the charges, (at least most of them), but that his pursuit of morality and his view of the gods was invaluable to the society at large....
