The Death of Socrates by Jacques-Louis David

Condemned to death, Socrates, strong, calm and at peace, discusses the immortality of the soul. Surrounded by Crito, his grieving friends and students, he is teaching, philosophizing, and in fact, thanking the God of Health, Asclepius, for the hemlock brew which will insure a peaceful death. His last words are "a cock for Asclepius!"

The wife of Socrates can be seen grieving alone outside the chamber. Plato (not present when Socrates died) is depicted as an old man seated at the end of the bed. The pompous "medical celebrity" is pontificating on his rounds about the pharmacological details of the medication.

DAVID (1748-1825) was a French painter in the neoclassic style. He painted this work in oil on canvas in 1787. You can go to see the original at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.