Crito
by Plato translated by Benjamin Jowett
"The Crito is a short but important dialogue by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. It is a conversation between Socrates and his wealthy friend Crito regarding justice (dike), injustice (adikia), and the appropriate response to injustice. Socrates thinks that injustice may not be answered with injustice, and refuses Crito's offer to finance his escape from prison. This dialogue contains an ancient statement of the social contract theory of government.
The dialogue begins with Socrates waking up to the presence of Crito in his prison cell. When Socrates expresses surprise that the guard has let him in, Crito informs Socrates that he is a frequent visitor at the place. Because Socrates did not know this, the reader can only infer that Crito either has numerous friends in jail, or else visits one or two close friends often. Crito adds that he has "done (the guard) a good deed", i.e., bribed him.
Crito has bad news for Socrates. He tells him that there are eyewitness reports that the ship has come in from Delos, and that tomorrow Socrates will be executed. Socrates rebuffs the report, saying he has had a dream - a vision of a woman in a white cloak telling him that on the third day hence he will go to Phthia, which is a reference to the Iliad. Socrates says that the meaning of this is perfectly clear - it will be three days until he dies.
While Crito agrees that the meaning of the dream cannot be mistaken, he is concerned about losing a friend. Crito tells Socrates that if he follows through with the execution, people will assume his friends were too cheap to finance an escape. Crito's worries suggest that buying one's way out of prison was so routine that people not only didn't frown on it, but even expected it."
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