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Socrates often refers to the "good" at his trial, he says "a man who is good for anything ought not to calculate the chance of living or dying' he ought only to consider whether in doing anything he is doing right or wrong". Throughout the trial, Socrates refers to virtue, "For I do nothing but go about persuading you all, old and young alike, not to take thought for your persons or your properties, but first and chiefly to care about the greatest improvement of the soul. I tell you that virtue is not given by money, but that from virtue comes money and every other good of man, public as well as private. This is my teaching, and if this is the doctrine which corrupts the youth, I am a mischievous person. But if any one says that this is not my teaching, he is speaking an untruth.()" Socrates was a firm believer that materialistic things such as money wouldn't bring you happiness and wouldn't make you a good person, but that a person needed to gain virtue through himself first. Once a person was able to gain this virtue he could have anything he wanted. Socrates believed that in order to have everything, you needed to lose it all first, and this is what differentiates a good person from a bad person.
Socrates wasn't a man who did good for people to benefit himself, he did good for people to help everyone. At one point he says "What return shall be made to the man who has never had the wit to be idle during whole life; but has been careless of what the many care for-wealth, and family interests, and military offices, and speaking in the assembly, and magistrates, and plots, and parties. Reflecting that I was really too honest a man to be a politician and live, I did not go where I could do no good to you or to myself; but where I could do the greatest good privately to ever one of you, thither I went, and sought to persuade every man among you that he must look to himself, and seek virtue and wisdom before he looks to his private interests, and look to the state before he looks to the interests of the state' and that this should be the order which he observes in all his actions(4)". Socrates believed that these characteristics defined a good quality man verse a poor quality man. A good quality man was one who was willing to give up everything in order to gain virtue. Once a person has this virtue he/she can accomplish anything in life, at least this is what Socrates believed
The main purpose of the trial of Socrates was to punish him for his teachings which he tried to spread throughout the youth. Due to the corruptness of his teachings, Socrates was going to be put to death. Socrates speaks about how death may not be an evil, perhaps it is a reward. "I will not say of myself that I deserve any evil, or propose any penalty. Why should I? Because I am afraid of the penalty of death which Meletus proposes? When I do not know whether death is a good or an evil(4)". Mid-way through the trial Socrates speaks about how the oracle "has constantly been in the habit of opposing me even about trifles, if I was going to make a slip or error in any matter; and now you see there has come upon me that which may be though, and is generally believed to be, the last and worst evil. But the oracle made no sign of opposition, either when I as leaving my house in the morning, or when I was on my way to the court, or while I was speaking, at anything which I was going to say' and yet I have often been stopped in the middle of a speech, but now in nothing I either said or did touching the matter in hand has the oracle opposed me. What do I take to be the explanation of this silence? I will tell you. It is an intimation that what has happened to me is a good, and that those of us who think that death is an evil are in error(5-6)". Due to the fact that the Oracle did not oppose what Socrates had to say, he feels as though death may be his place. Socrates seems to have a positive outlook on death throughout his trial, perhaps it is the fact that he knows he is going die. Whatever the reason may be, Socrates speaks about life after death positively, after all how can you explain the unexplainable.
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Socrates sticks to his beliefs throughout the whole trial, and this shows the true meaning of being himself. This act of being himself is was makes Socrates a "good" person. "Some one will say Yes, Socrates, but cannot you hold your tongue, and then may go into a foreign city, and no one will interfere with you? Now I have great difficulty in making you understand my answer to this. For if I tell you that to do as you say would be a disobedience to the God, and therefore that I cannot hold my tongue, you will not believe that I am serious; and if I say again that daily to discourse about virtue, and of those other things about which you hear me examining myself and others, is the greatest good of man, and that the unexamined life is not worth living, you are still less likely to believe me(5)". Socrates has the chance to move away to a foreign place and never speak of his teachings again in order to avoid death, but why would such a man want to forget about everything that has made him who he is. Socrates would be hypocritical to his teachings if he was to just drop everything to save his own life. What makes Socrates such a strong person is that he would rather die than to stop spreading his knowledge, after all death may be a wonderful thing.
Socrates analyzes death two ways, "Let us reflect in another way, and we shall see that there is a great reason to hope that death is a good; for one of two things-either death is a state of nothingness and utter unconsciousness, or, as men say, there is a change and migration of the soul from this world to another. Now if you suppose that there is no consciousness, but a sleep like the sleep of him who is undisturbed even by dreams, death will be an unspeakable gain.(6)". In the end of the trial Socrates speaks about how death is going to be a wonderful experience for him because he will be able to talk to "Palamedes, and Ajax the son of Telamon, and any other ancient here who has suffered death through an unjust judgment(6)". Before Socrates is put to death he declares "In another world they do not put a man to death for asking questions assuredly not. For besides being happier than we are, they will be immortal, if what is said is true(6)". Socrates always stays with his values throughout the trial, even when he knows he is going to die. The idea of losing everything to gain virtue is displayed when Socrates knows that he is going to die, and he excepts death and looks at the positive outlooks of being dead.
In the eyes of Socrates, any man that is able to speak about what he believes is true, is a greater being. Socrates was willing to die if it meant going against his teachings, or to stop spreading those beliefs. A wise man once said "A man who is good for anything ought not to calculate the change of living or dying; he ought only to consider whether in doing anything he is doing right or wrong-acting the part of a good man or of a bad." What Socrates meant by this is simply that a good man will not think about death or life, a good man will only think about being a good or bad person. The definition of a good person is one who is open-minded, and then we are brought to the virtue aspect once again. Being a good person comes from yourself, and in order to become this good person you need to forget about everything else. Socrates lastly requests "When my sons are grown up, I would as you, O my friends, to punish them; and I would have you trouble them, as I have troubled you, if they seem to care about riches, or anything, more than about virtue; or if they pretend to be something when they are really nothing,-then reprove them, as I have reproved you, for not caring about that for which they ought to care, and thinking that they are something when they are really nothing. And if you do this, both I and my sons will have received justice at your hands(7)". Socrates doesn't want his sons to be just like everyone else, he wants them to appreciate who they are. In order for his sons to be considered part of the "good" in society they must have virtue. This virtue is something that can only come from within a person, and as Socrates stated before in order to gain this virtue you need to forget about everything else. If a person spends his/her whole life thinking about death and this prevents him/her from expanding their minds than they are purely a waste. Death is something that nobody alive has experienced, so whose to say that death is such a negative thing.
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