Socrates and survival
Thanks for the kind wishes.
Survival wasn't Socrates' goal, as evidenced by the cheerful manner in which he accepted his death sentence. The Athenians probably didn't want to kill him -- just to discredit him. They figured he would make use of one of the standard Athenian ways of avoiding a death penalty: by proposing an alternate penalty, or by making an emotional plea for mercy, or by fleeing the city. He refused to do any of those, because any one of them would have been an acknowledgement of guilt and of the power of his accusers over him -- thus setting the value of his life over his liberty and integrity. He chose the latter over the former.
