Crito
Benjamin Jowett (1871)
A short dialogue by Plato, dramatically set in Socrates's prison cell in 399 BCE as he awaits execution. His old friend Crito urges him to escape and live in exile; Socrates, in response, argues that breaking the laws of Athens would betray the implicit agreement by which he has lived his whole life. The dialogue is the earliest and most influential Western discussion of the citizen's obligation to obey unjust laws.
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