Contents
1 Life 2 Trial of Socrates 3 See also 4 References
Life[edit]
Little is known of Meletus' life beyond what is portrayed in the
Socratic literature, particularly Plato's dialogues, where he is named
as the chief accuser of Socrates. In the Euthyphro,
Plato
Plato describes
Meletus as the youngest of the three prosecutors, having "a beak, and
long straight hair, and a beard which is ill grown," and being unknown
to
Socrates
Socrates prior to the prosecution.[1]
Meletus is also mentioned
briefly in the Theaetetus.
The later Greek historian
Diogenes Laërtius
Diogenes Laërtius dubiously reported that
after the execution of
Socrates
Socrates "Athenians felt such remorse" that
they executed
Meletus and banished his associates from the city.[2] He
also argues that it was Antisthenes, the disciple of
Socrates
Socrates and
founder of Cynicism, whom was largely thought responsible for the
execution of Meletus.[3]
Trial of Socrates[edit]
During the first three hours of trial,
Meletus and the other two
accusers each stood in the law court in the center of Athens to
deliver previously crafted speeches to the jury against Socrates. No
record of Meletus' speech survives. However, within the Apology we do
have Plato's record of Socrates' cross-examination of Meletus, per the
Athenian legal convention allowing the defendant to cross-examine the
accuser. Using his characteristic Socratic method,
Socrates
Socrates makes
Meletus to seem an inarticulate fool. He says that
Socrates
Socrates corrupts
the young, and that
Socrates
Socrates is the only one to do so, but he can not
provide a motive for why
Socrates
Socrates would do this.[4]
Socrates
Socrates shows
that if he were to do this it must surely be in ignorance, for no good
man would intentionally make bad those living around him.[4]
Concerning the accusation that
Socrates
Socrates believed in strange spirits
and not the gods of the state,
Socrates
Socrates shows that
Meletus is saying
that spirits are the offspring of gods, and since no one believes in
flutes playing without flute players, or in horses' offspring without
horses,
Socrates
Socrates could not believe in the offspring of gods without
believing in gods.[4]
See also[edit]
Trial of Socrates List of speakers in Plato's dialogues
References[edit]
^ Plato, Euthyphro, 2b ^ Diogenes Laërtius, 2.43 ^ Diogenes Laërtius, 6.9 ^ a b c Plato,