Twenty-three and a quarter centuries ago, a short, grotesque man, thicknecked and paunchy with flat nostrils and thick lips stood trial for his life. He had a shrill-tongued wife; by her, three "dull and fatuous" sons. His father was a sculptor, his mother a midwife. But he had been soldier, statesman, teacher; he was Socrates, the greatest liberal of his age. In Athens, 500 judges heard the accusations brought by Meletus, the poet; Anytus, the tanner; and Lycon, the orator. The accusation ran: "Socrates is guilty, firstly, of denying the gods recognized...
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