Put a sock in it again, Socrates!

Hello again! So what do you want to tell us now Socrates?

"The people of Athens didn't really know how to think for themselves. So I used to discuss important things with them to wake them up. They were like lazy horses who didn't want to move, and I was like the gadfly, stinging them into life!"
Ouch! that sounds painful!
"I had a special method. Say I met a boy - call him Miletus - in the city square. I would ask him a question, pretending to be a bit stupid. Miletus would answer. Then I would ask him another question, making him think about whether his answer was as sensible as he had thought. It usually wasn't!"
So pretending to be stupid was a trick?
"Oh yes. By asking lots of questions about people's answers, I made them see how they couldn't be right."
But if lots of people were watching, wouldn't it have been embarrassing for Miletus?
"That was the trouble. Some people thought I was making a fool of them, especially if they were important city officials! They got jealous too, because the young men of Athens were listening to me, not to them."
I can see they wouldn't like that.
"So they took me prisoner and put me on trial. They accused me of not believing in the Greek gods, and of putting wrong ideas into the minds of young people. I told the jury that I was acting for the good of the state and the people of Athens, whom I loved."
But they didn't accept that?
"No, they just wanted to get rid of me. And because I wouldn't go away from Athens, they gave me a horrible punishment."
Oh no! I can hardly bear to hear this!
"They told me I had to drink hemlock."
Hemlock? What's that?
"A plant. You can make a deadly poison from it. I got the hemlock myself, and called all my friends around me. Then I drank it - and of course I died."
But why did you have to die?
"I didn't have to. I chose that way, because I was not going to give in to their bullying - I stuck up for myself, and for what is right. Nobody should be punished for saying what they think."
Goodbye Socrates, thanks for explaining everything.
"Think nothing of it. I still like talking, even though I've been dead for about two and a half thousand years - who's counting anyway!"