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Section 59

PHAEDO. I will try to narrate the whole story to you from the beginning. We were all constantly in the habit, even on the previous days, of visiting Socrates. We would gather at dawn in the court where the trial took place, for it was near the prison. We would wait around each morning conversing until the prison was opened, for it was never opened very early. When it did open, we would go in to Socrates and spend most of the day with him. On that particular day, we gathered even earlier. For the day before, as we were leaving the prison in the evening, we learned that the ship from Delos had arrived. So we instructed each other to arrive at the usual place as early as possible. When we got there, the porter who usually answered the door came out and told us to wait and not go in until he called us. "For the Eleven," he said, "are unbinding Socrates and giving orders that he must die today." Not long after, he returned and told us to enter. Going in, we found Socrates newly unbound, and Xanthippe—you know her—sitting beside him, holding his little child. When Xanthippe saw us, she cried out aloud and said the sort of things women usually say: "O Socrates, this is the last time your friends will speak to you, and you to them!" Socrates looked at Crito and said, "Crito, let someone take her home." So some of Crito's servants led her away crying and beating her breast.