Unmoved by the claims of justice grounded in his private relationships to friends and family, Socrates appeals to the standards of civic justice imbedded in his relations as a citizen to the Athenian people and to the Athenian system of law.
SocratesWhy have you come so early, Crito? Or is it not still early?
CritoIt certainly is.
SocratesHow early?
CritoBesides, Socrates, I do not think that what you are doing is just, to give up your life when you can save it, and to hasten your fate as your enemies would hasten it, and indeed have hastened it in their wish to destroy you. [d] Moreover, I think you are betraying your sons by going away and leaving them, when you could bring them up and educate them. You thus show no concern for what their fate may be. They will probably have the usual fate of orphans. Either one should not have children, or one should share with them to the end the toil of upbringing and education. You seem to me to choose the easiest path, whereas one should choose the path a good and courageous man would choose, particularly when one claims throughout one’s life to care for virtue.
SocratesI am surprised that the warder was willing to listen to you.
Socrates Thoughts: I must weigh my duty to the state against my own life. To flee would be to nullify the laws I have agreed to live by. Judgment: Therefore, the argument of the Laws is more compelling. I must remain. Speech: I cannot, in justice, betray the agreements and commitments I have made.
FIN