In Socrates apology to the court of Athens, Socrates reprimands the court numerous times of falsely accusing him of acts such as studying things in the sky and in the earth as well as making the worse into the stronger argument. In the beginning of the apology Socrates denies all accusations towards him and then begins to justify why he is innocent by breaking down the case and reviewing each accusation. His most startling and distressing indiscretion comes when he is accused of corrupting the young. Socrates begins to explain to the court what this accusation means as far as teaching the youth about things in the earth and in the sky, and the existence of gods. He then makes what seems to be his strongest argument against this by saying that the children are the ones who should be admitting to this and testifying against him. When asked if he corrupted them, the children remained silent. Socrates then stated: "they would not want to tell the truth, I"m sure, that they have been proved to lay claim to their knowledge when they know nothing." What Socrates is saying is that how can anybody but the children make this claim, and since they didn't, the court has formed its own opinion charging Socrates with corruption. Even if the kids made this claim, they are the ones being taught and therefore have no knowledge of what is wrong and what is right. Socrates is telling the court that no one can legitimately prove that he has corrupted anyone. .
As Socrates continues to read through the accusation of him corrupting the youth and not believing in the gods in whom the city believes in but in other spiritual things, he starts to completely examine the accusation point by point. With the charge of corrupting the young, Socrates asks the court to tell everyone present who improves them. Socrates repeatedly questions Meletus if everyone present improves the young while he is the only one to corrupt them.