Politics, the activity by which the framework of human life is sustained, is as old as the human community. In Greece, citizens varied in wealth, beauty and intelligence, but as citizens they were equal. The law and policies of a Greek city emerged from discussion among equal citizens in the marketplace that served as the arena of politics.
On becoming an adult, the young Greek male would step out of the household into the marketplace to find the freedom to transcend natural necessity, and take responsibility, uttering words worth remembering, and doing deeds that might give him a kind of immortality. Plato provides a noble vision of this form of political life in his dialogue the Crito.
The philosopher Socrates, having been sentenced to death for corrupting the youth, refused the offer of help to escape Athens, arguing that to flee would be rationally inconsistent with the commitment to the city expressed in the....
