Socrates

Form: Non-fiction

Year: 1965

Publication history:

• 1965 : Socrates (hc) , Putnam, 191 pp., 65-10216

In the Golden Age of Greece, Socrates lived much of his life, free to go among men seeking the truth. From the Oracle of Delphi, Socrates took the divine command to test and question men. He believed it was his mission to expose folly and false wisdom.

Unlike many philosophers of his day, his concern was with the personal conduct of life, the nature of law and morality, the relation of man to his country. Unlike the Sophists, Socrates never gave lectures, nor took payment, nor wrote down his philosophy. His was a truth found through self-examination; his was a method of constant questioning.

Robert Silverberg not only writes a factual account of Socrates, the philosopher, the soldier, the Athenian, but also captures the tenor of ancient Greece and one of her most venerable men.