Before dawn in an Athenian prison, Socrates wakes to find his old friend Crito at his side with news that the fatal ship has been sighted and a plan of escape ready to carry out. Socrates hears him out, then answers by imagining the Laws of Athens themselves asking whether a citizen may break them when their verdict is unjust.
A short, moving dialogue on justice and civic duty, given here in Benjamin Jowett’s translation with his introduction. Download the free EPUB.