The trial of Socrates

Actors Joseph Potter, Bob McGill, Walter Koehler, Harry Welker, and Harry Weiss dramatize the trial of Socrates Aeropagus in 399 BC. The seventy year old Athenian philosopher is under attack as a sophist and faces the Tribunal. Lynn Poole, as "chorus," intersperses descriptions of Athens, its religion, courts, and history with scenes played by costumed actors. Libelled by Aristophanes' comedy "The Clouds" and accused by the poet Meletus of impiety and corrupting the youth of Athens, Socrates eloquently counters the accusations only to be voted guilty by the jury. He abides by the death penalty and prophesies that punishment will fall upon both his supporters and accusers for not examining their lives and living righteously.