Relationship With Socrates
To understand what happened between Socrates and Plato, one has to first understand what happened to Socrates; as a man and a teacher, he was the best up until his death in the field of philosophy. The charges brought against him were that he was a sophist. A sophist is a great euphemism for someone who is the best in their line of work; however the term eventually evolved into another term. The sophist term that was brought as a charge against Socrates was definitive of his claiming to the best philosopher, charging an extremely high price of his students, as well as trying to teach things such as virtue and excellence. A typical sophist in that age would also bring investigation into the heavens and earth into their arguments, as though possibly questioning the existence of the gods. Naturally, this made people very angry.
Plato himself was greatly influenced by Socrates; he often speaks highly of him and praises Socrates for his knowledge on several subjects. The Socratic entourage, or the circle of students and followers of the teacher and philosopher Socrates, was never absolutely certain to contain Plato. He was believed to be a part of their circle, except possibly on the out ring for reasons of his own choosing. Phaedo wrote (consequently in the book ‘Phaedo’) a list of all those in attendance of Socrates’ last day, and also wrote that, “Plato was ill.” Perhaps as in, sick with grief, or extremely distraught. In the Apology, one of the most read dialogues by Plato, Socrates says that many of his associates’ brothers were in attendance, as if to say that there was quite the turn out for his trial.
Because of the student and teacher relationship between Socrates and Plato being so strong, some scholars say this is the reason that Plato demures from saying that he is in the inner circle of the Socratic entourage. However, later in the Apology dialogue, he states that he distances himself from the inner circle as well; and though he records the dialogue in the Apology, he never presents himself as a participant, Some speculate that the strained and flawed interaction between the two men was not merely because of Socrates’ impending execution, but also because of a possible affair, since homosexuality was not uncommon in that era. Others firmly state that the relationship was no more than intellectual.
