Socrates' Moral Decision to Not Escape Was Socrates wise to stay in Athens to die? First lets look at the context of the word wise, Socrates wasn't wise in the sense of preserving his own life as he stayed to die. He was encouraged and given the chance to escape by his friend Crito, but Socrates did not want to escape. Why? Socrates was a wise man. He believed in absolutes, and pursed the knowledge …showed first 75 words of 452 total…

…showed last 75 words of 452 total…set to his followers. The impact of Socrates teaching would have been greatly lessened had he escaped. All the lessons of "virtue" and "courage" would have been taught by an insincere old man. Socrates was brave enough to face that sentence without fear and he is remembered as one who died for what they believed in. It could be safe to say that Socrates laid down his life for what he considered to be right.