A review by moonpie
Apology by Plato

4.0

[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—acting the part of a good man or of a bad.

[I]f you kill me you will not easily find another like me, who, if I may use such a ludicrous figure of speech, am a sort of gadfly, given to the state by the God; and the state is like a great and noble steed who is tardy in his motions owing to his very size, and requires to be stirred into life. I am that gadfly which God has given the state and all day long and in all places am always fastening upon you, arousing and persuading and reproaching you. And as you will not easily find another like me, I would advise you to spare me

Took half a star off because one line made me very annoyed which I know is unfair, product of its time, cannot apply today's sensibilities to blah blah blah, but I was annoyed which detracted from my enjoyment and that's how I rate things. It was great right up until the very end of this very long sentence, then damn, reminded that I am inferior by Socrates via Plato:

"I have seen men of reputation, when they have been condemned, behaving in the strangest manner: they seemed to fancy that they were going to suffer something dreadful if they died, and that they could be immortal if you only allowed them to live; and I think that they were a dishonor to the state, and that any stranger coming in would say of them that the most eminent men of Athens, to whom the Athenians themselves give honor and command, are no better than women."


Here's a link to the text that I read, but I'd advise finding a better formatted copy of The Apology, because this big old wall o' type was hard to focus on: http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/apology.html

I also read the SparkNotes since I don't know much about Plato or Socrates, probably should have read the text there too, as the formatting has to be better: https://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/apology/