He was a funny looking man with a cheerful face, good-natured and a great talker. He was described by his student, the great philosopher Plato, as "the best and most just and wisest man." Yet, this same man was condemned to death for his beliefs.
The man was the Greek philosopher, Socrates, and he was condemned for not believing in the recognized gods and for corrupting young people. The second charge stemmed from his association with numerous young men who came to Athens from all over the civilized world to study under him.
Socrates’’ method of teaching was to ask questions and, by pretending not to know the answers, to press his students into thinking for themselves. His teachings had been unsurpassed in influence in all the great Greek and Roman schools of philosophy. Yet, for all his fame and influence, Socrates himself never wrote a word.
Socrates encouraged new idea and free thinking in the young, and this was frightening to the conservative people. They wanted him silenced. Yet, many were probably surprised that he accepted death so readily.
Socrates had the right to ask for a lesser penalty, and he probably could have won over enough of the people who had previously condemned him. But Socrates, as a firm believer in law, reasoned that it was proper to submit to the death sentence. So, he calmly accepted his fate and drank a cup of poison hemlock in the presence of his grief-stricken friends and students.
By mentioning that Socrates himself never wrote anything, the writer implies that
A．it was surprising that Socrates was so famous B．Socrates was not learned as he is reputed to have been C．Socrates used the work of his students in teaching D．the authorities refused to publish Socrates’’ work