What poisoned Socrates? (poisonous hemlock). Socrates

5.13. Death DEATH - as long as it is subject to us, we are not subject to anyone. “Problems overwhelm us But who doesn’t have a problem Doesn’t react with pupils to light.” This is the only thing that cannot be taken away from a person: the end and the inevitable cessation of life. Painless

So why was Socrates sentenced to death? This story began a few years before the verdict. In 406 BC. The Athenian fleet defeated the Spartans. However, the rising storm did not make it possible to bury the dead and pull out the soldiers who were there from the water. As a result, a huge number of sailors drowned, and the Popular Assembly of Athens demanded revenge. Socrates, who was elected president of the assembly that day, refused to vote on the proposal to condemn all the commanders for what had happened by a general list. He insisted that everyone should be judged individually. By this act, he made himself many powerful enemies who were thirsty for his blood. As a result, the court of Athens condemned Socrates by 280 votes to 220 and ruled that he should drink hemlock poison for being guilty of "corrupting the Athenian youth" and "disrespecting the gods."

Perhaps he made a wise decision then - to reconcile with fate in order to achieve immortality. Socrates was already about 71 years old, he lived good life. Thanks to his dramatic death, we still remember him and his fate well today - much better than any details of the death of any other ancient Greek philosopher.

The circumstances of the execution, together with its process, were described in detail by another ancient Greek philosopher and a student of Socrates, Plato, in his work "Dialogues. Phaedo", entirely devoted to the last day of Socrates. According to Plato, Socrates asked the man who prepared and brought the poison for him:

How do you think this drink can make a libation to one of the gods or not?

We cook just as much, Socrates, as you need to drink.

I understand, Socrates said. - But it is possible and necessary to pray to the gods - that the migration from this world to another would be successful. This is what I pray, and so be it.

Having finished these words, he raised the cup of wine to his lips and drank to the bottom - calmly and easily.

Plato himself never mentions in his work what exactly Socrates was poisoned with, he only calls it the general word "poison". For a long time there was a version that Socrates was poisoned by hemlock, one of the most common poisonous plants of the umbrella family. However, the clinical picture of death does not correspond to the classical picture of hemlock poisoning. This is how Plato himself describes the death of Socrates:

“Socrates walked at first, then said that his legs were getting heavy, and lay down on his back: this is what the man ordered. When Socrates lay down, he felt his feet and legs, and a little later - again. Then he squeezed his foot hard and asked if he felt it. Socrates answered no. After that, he again felt his shins and, gradually moving his hand up, showed us how the body was getting cold and stiff. Finally, he touched me for the last time and said that when the cold came to his heart, he would move away.

A little later, he started, and the attendant opened his face: Socrates' gaze stopped. Seeing this, Crito closed his mouth and eyes.

The picture of hemlock poisoning is actually much more unsightly: seizures resembling epileptic seizures, foam from the mouth, nausea, vomiting, and paralysis are possible. Not so long ago, an attempt was made to establish the poison from which Socrates died, and as a result, the author of the study came to the conclusion that spotted hemlock was used, the poisoning picture of which is more suitable to what Plato described.

Whatever the composition of the poison, it was then called the "state poison". The dose that was given to criminals was sometimes not fatal, and then the convict needed to receive a "supplement". There is evidence of the execution of Phocion in 318 BC:

“After he drank all the hemlock juice, it turned out that this was not enough, and the executioner refused to prepare a new dose unless he was paid 12 drachmas for it.” (For example, at that time a good cloak cost 10-20 drachmas, sandals - 6-8 drachmas, and the teacher's pay was one drachma per day.) In the year of Socrates' death, Phocion was about two years old, and he lived more than 80 years, but , as well as the philosopher, preferred to die with dignity.

Would it have been possible to save the great philosopher who voluntarily carried out the sentence? Today, yes. Help with such poisoning is the speedy gastric lavage with a suspension of activated charcoal.

Academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences S. GOLIKOV and Doctor of Medical Sciences G. GURYANOV (Institute of Toxicology of the Ministry of Health of Russia, St. Petersburg).

The sculptor M. Antokolsky depicted Socrates at the time of his tragic death. Russian Museum.

A student of Socrates, the philosopher Plato (427-347 BC).

The Acropolis of Athens with the Parthenon, on the left - the Propylaea.

Who does not know the famous saying of Socrates, which has long become an aphorism - "Know thyself." You remember him every time you look at the image of an ancient Greek philosopher - whether it be a sculpture or a painting: a high forehead, an intelligent, penetrating look, in all his appearance - the strength and simplicity of a wise man. But what was Socrates thinking at the tragic moment of his life, when in 399 BC. e. did he drink a goblet of poison by a court verdict in an Athenian prison? What depths of self-knowledge did the thinking of the great philosopher reach in these moments? It is known that his last words were: "We must sacrifice a rooster to Asclepius, do it immediately." Socratic irony clearly sounds in them: Asclepius, the god of healing in Ancient Greece, should not be involved in poisoning.

The circumstances of Socrates' death are described in several historical sources. It all started, as you know, with the fact that Melitus, who was known as a poet in Athens, charged Socrates with allegedly breaking the law, trying to explore what is under the earth and what is in heaven, "passing off a lie for the truth and teaching the same others." They accused him of violating piety, and of denying the gods recognized by the Athenians and introducing new ones, and even of accepting demonic signs. This was said publicly, but the hidden motive of the accusations was different: Socrates' clever, sharp and ironic statements undermined the Athenian slave-owning democracy.

This proves the course of voting in court. When the judges first decided on the guilt of Socrates, only a small number of votes were cast against him. However, the second speech of Socrates - about the punishment, full of mockery of the traditions of the Athenian policy (and Athens was then a city-state) and not expressing remorse, led the judges into indignation, and by an overwhelming majority of votes Socrates was sentenced to death.

The philosopher met the verdict with astonishing calmness. In prison, he behaved courageously, conducted his last conversations with his students. A month after his imprisonment, he received a goblet of poison, which he had to drink. The philosopher Plato describes the death of his teacher as follows:

"Well, dear friend, what am I to do with this cup?" Socrates asked the jailer. He replied: "You only have to drink it, then walk back and forth until your hips become heavy, and then lie down and then the poison will continue its effect ..." Socrates emptied the goblet and began to walk until he felt heaviness in the legs, then lay on his back. The attendant squeezed his foot and asked if he felt anything. Socrates answered: "No." The attendant pressed higher and higher and showed that the body was becoming cold and numb. After that, he said that as soon as the action of the poison reaches the heart, death will occur. When the stomach became completely cold, Socrates spoke his last words about the sacrifice to the god of healing Asclepius.

According to the testimony of the disciples of Socrates, he was poisoned with hemlock, a poisonous plant quite common in Greece (this is how the death of the ancient Greek philosopher is said in modern encyclopedias and reference books). Cikuta in those distant times belonged to poisons, which were widely used for malicious purposes. The victim who took this poison experienced a feeling of confusion and fear. But they were poisoned with it and accidentally, it happened that livestock died from it.

The words of the Roman Stoic philosopher and politician Seneca, who lived four centuries later, are known: "Cicuta made Socrates great." This is hardly fair. In any case, today we remember hemlock only in connection with the name of one of the greatest thinkers of the ancient world. Not hemlock made Socrates great, but Socrates immortalized the "cup with hemlock", which, by the way, was used in ancient Greece both before and after. Ironically, Seneca himself died from the poison of this plant. Hemlock, as a weapon of revenge, is mentioned in their writings by ancient authors - Homer, Horace, Aristophanes. Aristophanes compares poisoning with hemlock to a road "leading to hell through freezing."

So, it would seem that all historical evidence points to hemlock. Nevertheless, toxicologists still have big doubts about the poison that Socrates took. The poisonous infusion was prepared not from hemlock, they believe, but from hemlock (botanists, referring both hemlock and hemlock to the same family of umbellate, consider them independent plant species). This point of view is expressed by toxicologists who are well aware of the effect of the coniine contained in the hemlock (from the Latin name for hemlock - conium).

This is also indicated by the symptoms of poisoning, which are recalled by the contemporaries of Socrates, the same Plato. The rate of development of intoxication, loss of sensitivity, muscle paralysis - undeniably testify: the cause of death of Socrates was hemlock, more precisely, the alkaloid coniine contained in it. Cicutotoxin - the active principle of hemlock - manifests itself in a different way, it causes severe convulsions. Nobody mentions them, speaking about the last minutes of the great thinker.

But why then do ancient sources directly point to the hemlock that killed Socrates? Apparently, in those distant times, both types of poisonous plants were called hemlock. This assumption is also confirmed by the fact that during the period of the emergence of toxicology as a science that was most developed in Germany, these two plants were united by a common name - hemlock, although hemlock was defined as spotted hemlock, and poisonous as water hemlock. This, by the way, led to inaccuracies even in the specialized literature. So, for example, N. P. Kravkov in his well-known "Course of Pharmacology", citing the correct Latin name "hemlock viroza", calls it hemlock. To avoid confusion, modern books on toxicology make appropriate reservations (for example, in the reference book "Acute poisonings" of 1970, when describing cicutotoxin obtained from water hemlock, a very important warning is made: not to be confused with spotted hemlock containing coniine).

Hemlock, as already mentioned, belongs to the family of umbrella subclass rosids. The active toxic principle is found in the greatest amount in the roots - up to five percent. And since the time of the trial of Socrates - "Poseidon" - corresponds to the autumn-winter period, it can be assumed that either dried fruits or hemlock roots were used to prepare the contents of the goblet. Consequently, the concentration of poison in the amount of plant that was ground in a mortar corresponded to about five percent. Modern clinical toxicology can tell how much the plant took and what size was the goblet intended for Socrates: to get a strong enough infusion, it was necessary to add at least half a liter of water. The "Cup of Socrates" was quite impressive.

Coniine contained in hemlock has a curare-like effect, however, unlike curare, the spectrum of toxic effects of coniine is much wider. He, for example, has some properties of nicotine and cocaine. Symptoms such as depression, drowsiness, impaired vision and hearing, and increased salivation are associated with the nicotine-like action of coniine. However, the main feature of koniin is a strong effect on neuromuscular transmission, its blocking. Plato wrote about this when talking about the death of his teacher. By the way, coniine is the world's first alkaloid obtained synthetically by the chemist Ladenburg in 1886.

What interested modern pharmacologists and toxicologists in the legend of the "Socrates Cup"? First of all, the desire to clarify the question of what actually poisoned Socrates? And the second. AT late XIX At the beginning of the 20th century, coniine was used in medicine as a local anesthetic. Currently, it is no longer used for therapeutic purposes. Why is coniin still of interest to toxicologists? But the fact is that the most toxic substances - botulinum toxin, batrachiotoxin, cholinesterase inhibitors - affect the area of ​​the neuromuscular junction, the synapses. In other words, they have the same point of application as coniine. But how to explain that the neuromuscular synapse turned out to be the most vulnerable target for the action of poisons is a mystery to modern science, although it originates from the legendary "Socrates Cup".

As you know, one of the greatest philosophers of ancient Greece, Socrates (c. 470-399), was sentenced to death at the end of his life. His student Plato left a description of the last minutes of Socrates' life in the form of dialogues, one of which is titled with the name of Crito, a rich man, friend and peer of Socrates.

"How can we bury you?" asked Crito. “As you like,” answered Socrates, “unless, of course, you manage to grab me and I won’t run away from you.” He laughed quietly and continued: “There is no way for me, friends, to convince Crito that I am only that Socrates who is now talking to you and is still in control of his word. He imagines that I am the one whom he will soon see dead, and now he asks how to bury me! And all this long conversation about how, having drunk the poison, I will no longer stay with you, but will depart to the happy lands of the blessed, it seems to him empty words with which I wanted to console you, and at the same time myself ... Remember well, my dear Crito : when you speak incorrectly, it is not only bad in itself, but also harms the soul. So do not lose courage and say that you are burying my body, but bury it as you please and as, in your opinion, custom requires.

Let's stop for a moment before continuing on with Plato's famous dialogue. What clarity of mind, fortitude and calm confidence this story demonstrates. How many of us are able to face death so brightly? Or will we console ourselves with the caveat that Socrates lived too long ago, was dense and ignorant, because he had no TV, no microwave, no plane? Science has not reached its current heights, and he, the poor man, did not suspect that his judgments were not scientific?

And tell me, today's scientist, not only suspecting, but also “doing this science”, does he always die? worthy of a man? Those who have been in hospitals where seriously ill people are lying know what low passions boil there, how easily a person loses his human appearance. And it does not depend on profession or education.

No, Socrates is full of peace and even slight irony precisely because he understands and knows what is happening to him more clearly and distinctly than almost any scientist: "We will not die, but we will change." It is this conviction that makes his departure a real shock not only to witnesses, but also to us, who live many hundreds of years later.

Socrates himself asks that they bring a cup with erased poison, which he will have to drink (this is how the death sentence of the court was executed in those days in Athens).

Crito is surprised:

But the sun, in my opinion, is still over the mountains, Socrates, has not yet set. And I know that others took the poison long after they were ordered, ate supper, drank plenty, while others enjoyed love with whomever they wanted. So take your time, there is still time.

And Socrates to him:

It is quite understandable, Crito, that they do so - those of whom you speak. After all, they think that they will gain something by doing this. And it is equally clear that I will not do so. After all, I don’t hope to gain anything if I drink the poison a little later, and only become ridiculous to myself, clinging to life and trembling over its last remnants ...

A man entered with a cup of deadly poison in his hand. And Socrates took it with complete calmness, did not tremble, did not turn pale, did not change his face, but, according to his usual habit, looked at him a little from under his brows and asked:

How do you think this drink can make a libation to one of the gods or not?

We wash only as much, Socrates, as we need to drink.

I understand, - said Socrates, - But it is possible and necessary to pray to the gods - that the migration from this world to another would be successful. This I pray, and so be it.

Having finished these words, he raised the cup to his lips and drank it to the bottom - calmly and easily.

“Until now, most of us still somehow refrained from tears,” writes Plato, “but, seeing how he drinks and how he drank poison, we could no longer restrain ourselves. I myself, as I did not fasten, tears flowed in a stream ... "

And Socrates said:

Well, what are you, what are you, eccentrics! I mainly sent the women away from here so that they would not commit such outrages - after all, I was taught that one should die in reverent silence. Hush, hold yourself!

And we were ashamed and stopped crying.

Socrates first walked, then said that his legs were getting heavy, and lay down on his back, as the man ordered. When Socrates lay down, he felt his feet and shins, and a little later - again. Then he squeezed his foot hard and asked if he felt it. Socrates answered no. After that, he again felt his shins, gradually moving his hand up, showed us how the body gets cold and stiff. Finally, he touched me for the last time and said that when the cold came to his heart, he would move away.

The cold had already reached the stomach, and then Socrates opened up - he lay wrapped up - and said (these were his last words):

Crito, we need a rooster. So don't forget...

“A little later, he started, and the attendant opened his face: Socrates' gaze stopped. Seeing this, Crito closed his mouth and eyes.

What an amazing, inhuman, we would say, power! And when - at the moment of death. When it doesn't matter. For him, one of the most important points in life - the triumph of care, or rather - the transition. Hence his request not to cry, not to arrange “outrages”. The great celebration must take place in "reverent silence."

He doesn't die right away. But the friends around him see not a terrible picture of decay, but the greatness of the sacrament.

And the last words - “we must rooster” - complete the event with the most piercing note: at the last moment, Socrates once again emphasizes for those who remained - before them is not death, but recovery, the liberation of the soul from earthly captivity. He recovered, for he returned to true life. After all, the rooster was sacrificed to the god of healing Asclepius only by those who overcame the disease, who became healthy man.

After the overthrow of the tyranny of the thirty and the restoration of democracy in Athens, Socrates was accused of godlessness. The accusation came from the tragic poet Meletus, the wealthy tanner Anita, and the orator Lycon. In the Menon dialogue, Plato reports that Anitas, a democrat who was expelled from Athens by thirty tyrants and a participant in their overthrow, shows extreme hostility to the sophists, saying that "the sophists are an obvious death and corruption for those who associate with them" (91 C) When Socrates, citing the example of ordinary children of prominent Athenians, expresses confidence that “virtue cannot be taught” (94 E), Anite cuts him off rudely, after which Socrates bitterly remarks that Anite thinks that he, Socrates, is like the sophists destroys people, In the Euthyphro dialogue, Socrates tells Euthyphro, whom he accidentally met, that a certain Meletus, a man, apparently young and insignificant, wrote a denunciation against him, Socrates, where he accuses him of corrupting youth by inventing new gods and overthrowing the old ones. Euthyphro reassures Socrates. However, in the spring of 399 BC. e. the philosopher appeared before a helium-trial by jury. Meletus acted as an accuser, stating that he accuses Socrates with an oath that “he does not honor the gods that the city honors, but introduces new deities, and is guilty of corrupting youth; and the punishment for that is death. ” For the success of his accusation, Meletus had to gain at least a fifth of the votes of those who sat in Helium. In response to the accusation, Socrates delivered his defense speech, in which he refuted the accusations made against him, after which he was found guilty by a majority of votes. Now Socrates had to punish himself. He offered to award him a lifelong free lunch in Prytaneum along with the Olympic champions, and in extreme cases, a one-minute fine, after which the jury condemned Socrates to execution by even more votes. Then Socrates delivered his third speech, saying that he was already old (he was then 70 years old) and was not afraid of death, which is either a transition to non-existence, or life in Hades, where he will meet Homer and other prominent people. In the memory of posterity, he, Socrates, will forever remain a wise man, while his accusers will suffer (and in fact, according to Plutarch, they hanged themselves). All three of Socrates' speeches are contained in Plato's Apology of Socrates.

Socrates was to be executed immediately, but on the eve of the trial, a ship with an annual religious mission left Athens for the island of Delos. Until the return of the ship, executions were prohibited by custom. Socrates had to spend thirty days in prison while awaiting execution. On the eve of it, in the early morning, Socrates, having bribed the jailer, makes his way to his friend Criton, who said that the guards were bribed and Socrates could escape. Socrates refused, believing that the established laws must be obeyed, otherwise he would have already emigrated from Athens. And although now he was condemned unjustly, the law must be respected. We learn about this from Plato's dialogue Crito. In the dialogue Phaedo, Plato speaks of last day the life of Socrates. Socrates spent this day with his disciples. He tells them that he is not afraid of death, because he was prepared for it with all his philosophy and way of life. After all, philosophizing itself, in his opinion, is nothing but dying for earthly life and preparing for the liberation of the immortal soul from its mortal bodily shell. In the evening Xanthippe's wife came, Socrates' relatives came and brought his three sons. He said goodbye to them and let them go. Then, in the presence of his disciples, Socrates drank a cup of vegetable poison. According to Plato, Socrates died quietly. His last words were a request to sacrifice a rooster to Asclepius. Such a sacrifice was usually made to the god of medicine by those who had recovered. Socrates wanted to emphasize by this that the death of the body is the recovery of the soul. It is easy to see that the "Fedo-Novskiy" Socrates imagines death in a different way than Socrates from the "Apology". This is not surprising. The Socrates of the Apologia is closer to the historical Socrates. In the Phaedo, Plato attributed his own, more idealistic views to Socrates, putting into his mouth his four proofs of the immortality of the soul. This is the outer side of the life and death of Socrates. The inner life of Socrates. Socrates loved thoughtful contemplation. Often he was so withdrawn into himself that he became motionless and disconnected from the outside world. In the Platonic dialogue "Feast", Alcibiades tells that once during the siege of Potidea, Socrates stood in thought, not leaving his place, for a day. Socrates experienced a spiritual evolution. It never occurred to him that he was wise, until, when asked by one of his admirers if there was anyone wiser than Socrates, the Delphic oracle replied that no, which Socrates was very puzzled by. Wanting to refute the Pythia, Sokhrat began to communicate with those whom he considered smarter than himself, but was surprised to see that the wisdom of these people is apparent. But even then Socrates was not proud. He decided that Apollo, through the mouth of the Pythia, wanted to say that Socrates is wiser than others, not because he is really wise, but because he knows that his wisdom is worth nothing before the wisdom of God. Others are not wise because they think they know something. Socrates formulates his superiority over other people in this way: "I know that I know nothing."

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