The trial and condemnation of Socrates is one of the great questions bequeathed to us by 5th-century Athens. Was his trial political? Why did he himself mock his judges? Why did Athens—worn down by the long war with Sparta, humiliated by defeat—decide to put to death a seventy-year-old philosopher?

The three texts by Plato that record the events of Socrates’ trial are among the most beautiful texts that live in our libraries.

Moreover, one could say that the Trial of Socrates was perhaps the first trial of political correctness in the history of Western civilization. Socrates was not politically correct, and the stance he took in court continues to offend the political correctness of our legal culture.

At a time when our entire civilization is in danger of sinking into an endless cycle of violence and extreme fanaticism, Socrates’ stance seems like a necessary condition for whatever freedom we have left. And for that reason, he is our contemporary.