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''Socrates on Trial'' is a play depicting the life and death of the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates. It tells the story of how Socrates was put on trial for corrupting the youth of Athens and for failing to honour the city’s gods. The play contains adaptations of several classic Greek works: the slapstick comedy, ''Clouds'', written by Aristophanes and first performed in 423 BCE; the dramatic monologue, ''Apology'', written by Plato to record the defence speech Socrates gave at his trial; and Plato’s ''Crito'' and ''Phaedo'', two dialogues describing the events leading to Socrates’ execution in 399 BCE. The play was written by Andrew David Irvine of the University of British Columbia and premiered by director Joan Bryans of Vital Spark Theatre Company in 2007 at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts in Vancouver.〔Irvine, Andrew D. “Production Notes,” ''Socrates on Trial'', Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008, 23〕 In the judgment of one reviewer, the play succeeds in presenting Socrates both as Plato's wise mentor and as the “pompous, arrogant and often petulant” individual presented by Aristophanes,〔Anon., “Socrates on Trial,” ''Riveting Riffs Magazine,'' 2008, http://www.rivetingriffs.com/Socrates%20On%20Trial.html〕 giving modern audiences a greater appreciation of why Socrates eventually ended up being sentenced to death. ==Plot== The play takes place in three acts spread over a quarter century. Act One, like Aristophanes’ ''Clouds'' on which the act is based, is satirical. The act opens with Strepsiades, an Athenian businessman, worried about his lazy son Pheidippides. To educate him, Strepsiades enrolls him in Socrates’ ''School of Thinkology''. While at the school, the young man is encouraged to consider both sides of every argument. Unfortunately, rather than being impressed by the Stronger Argument, which advocates virtue, excellence and moderation, Pheidippides is influenced more by the Weaker Argument, which advocates immorality, debauchery and dissoluteness. The result is a “mind blowing, portrayal of debauchery and irreverence”〔Anon., “Socrates on Trial,” ''Riveting Riffs Magazine,'' 2008, http://www.rivetingriffs.com/Socrates%20On%20Trial.html〕 in which, rather than being educated, Pheidippides ends up being further corrupted by Socrates and his school. Act Two takes place twenty-four years later. Socrates has been charged with corrupting the young and failing to recognize the city’s traditional gods. The three men making the charges are Meletus, Anytus and Lykon. All three have given their speeches and Socrates is now required to defend himself in front of the jury. The speech Socrates gives is at times humorous and at times moving. However, far from apologizing for the influence he has had over the city’s youth, Socrates remains defiant. Repeatedly he tells the jury that he has never run a school or worked as a teacher. Even so, the Athenians have been lucky to have had him raising questions about what they think they know and don’t know, and about the nature of justice. The act ends with Socrates reminding the jury that he is innocent of all charges and that they have a duty, not to reward the speaker who has delivered the most polished speech, but to see that justice is done. Act Three takes place a month later on the eve of Socrates’ execution. In Socrates’ jail cell, Socrates’ best friend, Crito, and Socrates’ wife, Xanthippe, take turns trying to convince the condemned man that he should escape, something that might easily be arranged. Socrates refuses, saying that to do so would further corrupt the young, something he swore to the jury he would never do. To fulfill the order of execution, Socrates is required to drink a cup of hemlock, a type of poison. His last words, after the hemlock has begun to do its work, is that he and his friends owe a debt to Asclepius, the god of medicine. Some commentators have understood these words to mean that Socrates’ last concern, as he was preparing to enter the afterlife, was with the health of his soul. A much more likely explanation is that the offering was simply part of an annual religious festival that recognized the debt all Athenians owed to Asclepius for having recently delivered them from the plague.〔McPherran, Mark L. “Socrates, Crito, and Their Debt to Asclepius,” ''Ancient Philosophy'' 23 (2003): 71–92〕 Having just told all of Athens that he respected the gods of the city and that he was not a corruptor of the young, Socrates would have been especially concerned to observe the city’s rituals. The play ends with Socrates’ friends mourning their loss. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Socrates on Trial」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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