Word: stoning
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...STONE sets Plato's Socratic dialogues against the accounts of contemporary Greek dramatists to try to reconstruct the story of Socrates and Athens. Plato, Socrates' Boswell, so to speak, was often disingenuous in recounting his mentor's ordeal. Through Plato, Socrates became a noble martyr forced to drink the hemlock because of he constantly exhorted his fellow Athenians to virtue. But, Stone writes, Socrates wasn't tried simply for being a nudge. Socrates may be "revered as a nonconformist, but few realize that he was a rebel against an open society and the admirer of a closed...
...Stone finds some solace in the fact that the Athenians didn't try Socrates until he was 70 years old. At that time, Athens was in the throes of 10 years of turmoil during which the democracy twice was overthrown. Socrates taught many of the anti-democratic usurpers and his doctrines could easily be seen as inciting them toward future rebellion. In 411 and 404 B.C., Socrates, if only through his silence, sided with the forces of dictatorship. In 401 B.C., two years before Socrates went on trial, the enemies of democracy began plotting again...
Despite all this, and Socrates' repeated attempts to antagonize the jury, the vote against him was close, 280 to 220. Under the rules of the Athenian assembly, a second vote was needed to determine the punishment Socrates would receive. By Stone's account, Socrates gave the jury no choice but to give him the death penalty. He refused to appeal to democratic ideals of free speech, for that would be an unacceptable concession to democracy...
...ANCIENT TEXTS were, literally, Greek to Stone. He taught himself the language and read them in the original, bringing to them the enthusisam of the muckraker and the autodidact. He loves the material, and his sense of excitement is contagious. Publication of the book is justfied if only to have a man with Stone's impeccable "progressive" credentials on record as a lover of the much-maligned great books. It can only help to have a writer with Stone's verve bring the ancient texts and characters to life and demonstrate how the classic writers of Athens speak...
...often forgotten that democracy is an idea and that, like most great insights, it is not without paradox. One paradox is what to do with characters such as Socrates, who are vocal in their profound opposition to the democratic idea. Stone knows that the classic authors must be read, if only so that we can better refute them...