Socrates does not do everything that he could have to escape his prosecution, he admits to not defending himself fully. Socrates has more than ample opportunity to defend himself but chooses instead to make a point about how doing so would violate his principles:


I was condemned because I couldn't come up with—not arguments—I couldn't come up with the effrontery, the shamelessness; I couldn't bring myself to tell you the kind of things that you really like to hear—weeping and wailing and carrying on, and saying certain things that are really beneath me, I would claim—what you're used to hearing from other people (38c)


Socrates believes that people who do perform these “acts” are compromising their dignity. He believes that these men no longer have a reason to live with the lost of their pride and honor. To him, these acts are worst then dying with honor. He even goes on to say that saying certain things (which would entice pity) would be below him. However, if he had chosen to perform these “acts”, Socrates may have been let off. Instead, Socrates chooses to stay true to his morals even though it may cost him his life.

Despite the strength of Socrates’ argument, he does not convince the jury to acquit him; some may think this odd, for many have talked their way out of a charge that they committed. Surely Socrates, arguably the greatest orator of all time, could talk his way out of this charge? So why didn’t he?

[39c] Next I desire to prophesy to you, you who convicted me, I am at the place where people do prophesy, at the point of death. I want to tell you, gentlemen, you who are killing me, that you will have a penalty immediately upon my death, much more severe, by god, than the one with which you kill me. You do this now thinking that you get out of the cross-examination of your lives; but as I see it the result will be quite the opposite. Many people will cross-examine you, people I kept back, although you never noticed. And they will be harsher because they are younger, and they will make you miserable.

[40c]Let us think this way about the considerable hope that it is something good. It is one of two things, dying. Either it is like having no awareness of anything when you're dead, or, as people tell us, it is some kind of transfer and change of address for the soul from the place where we are into some other place. And if it is no awareness at all but is like a sleep slept out without any dreams, then death would be a great gain. In my opinion, if somebody could pick out a night he slept so deeply that he had no dreams, and then took all the other nights and days of his life and put them up against that night, and then were asked how many of those days and nights had been better and more pleasant than that night, in his whole life—and I don't just mean a private person, but take the great king of Persia—it would be very few days that he could find, or nights, that would be better than that. So if death is like that, in my opinion it's a great gain.

Socrates here plainly speaks his mind, saying that younger men will argue as Socrates did, make those who killed Socrates miserable. We can only suppose that these would be Socrates’ followers, and they would employ his Socratic method, and therefore his legacy would be carried on, and continues to say that if death is what he thinks it is, it is a great gain.

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Socrates here plainly speaks his mind, saying that younger men will argue as Socrates did, make those who killed Socrates miserable. We can only suppose that these would be Socrates’ followers, and they would employ his Socratic method, and therefore his legacy would be carried on. He then continues to say that if death is what he thinks, it is not a punishment, but a great gain.

Socrates knew when he was making his defense that he didn’t really stand a chance. He said many things that would lead the reader to believe that he knew he was going to lose. “ I’m not going to make myself particularly miserable, gentlemen about what has happened here- that you convicted me for a number of reasons, mainly that there was nothing unexpected about what happened.(35e)” What Socrates was trying to say was that he expected to lose and therefore was not disappointed or surprised about the verdict. He also seems to know he’s going to lose when he claims that he will never stop doing what he dose. “I would never surrender, I would rather parish.” (32a) If he thought that he had a chance he would be trying to please the jury but since he knew that he was going to lose he wants to go out looking brave and heroic for his cause. The previous quotes are proof that Socrates knew he was going to lose and that his defense was suppose to be more like a last word than a defense. Socrates expected to lose and his decision to not defend himself didn’t matter because if he died his cause would still have an effect on people.