In Plato’s Apology, Socrates defends himself by
using comparisons between himself and various classical heroes. In
particular, he compares himself to the greatest hero of the Classical Greeks,
Achilles. Both in the Apology and later, in Phaedo, Socrates compares
and contrasts himself with the Greek heroic ideals embodied in Achilles
to show both the validity of his claims and to demonstrate his break with
earlier forms of thought. Through his similarities with Achilles
in both of their desires to do what they believe is correct and their willingness
to die over this honor and through the contrast of how both of them viewed
the underworld, Socrates tries to prove himself to be a great Greek hero
like his predecessor, Achilles.
This is first achieved by Socrates’ demonstration of
how highly he values individual morals and honors. Achilles states,
in the Iliad , that “Honored I think I am by Zeus’ justice,/justice that
will sustain me” (Iliad, IX, 613-614) demonstrating that Achilles is more
interested in a sort of personal honor between him and the gods than in
the honors and morals that mere mortal men can provide. Similarly, Socrates
claims, “Gentlemen, I am your very grateful and devoted servant, but I
owe a greater obedience to God than to you;” (p. 53) when he claims why
he feels then need to practice his philosophy even though he knows that
it may lead to his death. In comparison to Achilles, Socrates values
his own idea of morals, honor, and duty to the gods over the ideals of
the Athenians.
It is this strong view of individual morality that leads to both Socrates’ and Achilles’ deaths, which both of them go to willingly. Socrates claims that “Where a man has once taken up his stand…there I believe he is bound to remain and face the danger, taking no account of death or anything else but dishonor.” (p. 52) Similarly, once Achilles’ best friend, Patroclus, dies, Achilles feels that he must avenge his death even though his mother, the goddess Thetis, tells him that “You’ll be swift to meet your end, child as you say:/your doom comes close on the heels of Hektor’s own.” (Iliad, XVIII, 101-102) Although Achilles understands this, he only replies, “May it come quickly…[rather than sit] my weight a useless burden to the earth,” (Iliad, XVIII, 104-112). Appropriately, Socrates quotes these lines by Homer as an example of why he must die rather than be dishonored, creating a direct comparison between himself and Achilles, the heroic ideal.
However, Socrates breaks from this heroic ideal in his ideas of what he believes the underworld will be. Achilles claims, in the Odyssey that the underworld is “where the senseless, burnt-out wraiths of mortals makes their home.” (Odyssey, XI, 540) He later claims that he’d rather even be a slave, but alive, than dead and well regarded here, even though he appears to be as highly honored in the underworld as he was in life. Socrates, however, does not share Homer’s view that the underworld is a dark, miserable place. Instead he says that, “Death is either one of two things. Either it is an annihilation…or, as we are told, it is really a change: a migration of the soul from this place to another….[but] if what we are told is true…whatever greater blessing could there be than this, gentlemen of the jury?…Put it this way: how much would one of you give to meet Orpheus and Musaeus, Hesiod and Homer?”(pp. 65-66) Although both Achilles and Socrates see the underworld as a place where souls go after death, Socrates’ paradise of thousands of fascinating people, all gathered in once place, differs greatly from Achilles’ underworld filled with the dark, dim shadows of what people once were. This makes it so that Socrates neither fears nor dreads death, but instead looks forward to it as a sort of last, great adventure. This spiritual change with the earlier heroes makes it so that Socrates can martyr himself without any hesitation, unlike Achilles, who, although he considers his death necessary, is not particularly pleased with the prospect.
Socrates, through these parallels with Achilles, creates himself as a sort of classical hero. However, by his contrast of what he believes the underworld to be, he brings himself to a spiritual level beyond that of the Homeric heroes. In his reinvention of death, Socrates uses earlier forms to build a new philosophy that allows himself to happily follow his own ideals and ideas of honor to his death.