Socrates was married to a young female named, Xanthippe, The couple had three sons, Lamprocles, Sophroniscus and Menexenus.
According to the three main sources on Socrates, he was brought to trial and was accused of corrupting the young and impiety. Socrates lived during the time when the Athenian hegemony was declining due to the defeat by Sparta and its allies in the Peloponnesian war. After the war, Athenians tried to find ways to recover from the humiliating defeat and many Athenians started to doubt the efficiency of democracy in the their government. Socrates also questioned the government and clashed with the current course of Athenian politics and society. Socrates was supposed to uphold the status quo since he was part of the boule, but instead he offended some people with considerations of justice and pursuit of goodness. When the Oracle of Deplhi announced Socrates to be the wisest man in Athens, he did not believe that he was wise. He set out to find men wiser than he was, like poets and artisans, and humbly asked them questions about good, beauty, and virtue. And then he asked them tricky question to contradict their own words. Socrates realized that the Oracle was right because men that thought they were wise were not wise at all but Socrates knew he was not wise which made him the only person aware of his ignorance. Socrates made the men he questioned looks foolish turned against him and accused him of wrongdoing. Socrates lost the case and was convicted him by a vote of 280 to 221. Socrates was allowed to propose his punishment but instead he suggested that he should be rewarded for his contribution to their enlightenment and be paid for his services. Socrates showed bold resistance to authority and also wished to die because he actually believed that the right time had come for him to die. Socrates had an opportunity to escape since his followers found a way to bribe the guards.
