ENGL 298 B: Intermediate Writing Social Sciences   Autumn 2011, University of Washington

Despite being a highly controversial individual who caused many of his fellow citizens acrimony and irritation, Socrates was undisputedly a very intelligent man. After studying him in depth this past week, I have come to a personal conclusion that he was so intelligent that he carefully planned everything he did to the finest details- including the vocabulary he chose. There are a few words he chose to use in the Apology that stick out in my mind as being particular intentional.

Herculean

“I will tell you the tale of my wanderings and of the Herculean labors, as I may call them, which I endured only to find at last the oracle irrefutable.”

We know by this point that Socrates believes himself to be a god-ordained genius, and that it is his duty to share his knowledge of wisdom with the rest of Athens. Yet he takes it a step further, identifying himself with one of the greatest Greek mythical heroes (I mean, come on. How many earned the privilege of being made into a great Disney movie?).
Unfortunately, many people already despised Socrates, and I believe this furthered their disdain for him. Think about it like this- how much credibility would you give a political candidate who ran under the ticket of being the next George Washington or Abraham Lincoln? What is interesting is trying to think of why Socrates would align himself with Hercules. I have two possible conjectures. The first is that perhaps I am overestimating Socrates, believing that his actual self transcended the image he was portraying. He by all means could have just been a pompous jerk. The second possibility is that he wanted to be executed. Think of all the famous figures who were martyrs for their causes, from Joan of Arc to MLK, Abraham Lincoln to Ahmad Shah Massoud of Afghanistan. Even pop culture figures such as Jimi Hendrix, Elvis, and Kurt Cobain have seen posthumous fame they might not otherwise have seen. Socrates probably foresaw what his legacy would be if he was executed via trial, and chose the word “Herculean” to drive nails into his own coffin (no pun intended).

Horses

“But suppose I ask you a question: Would you say that this also holds true in the case of horses?”

Socrates clearly was fascinated by horses. He referred to them more than once, and not just in his gadfly comparison. In fact, he used the analogy to humiliate Meletus in front of the city of Athens.
So why horses? We have to take a more symbolic route to understand his choice this time around. Horses were (and still are) one of the only animals that is essential in many uses. They can turn the tides of war when armored and mounted. Horses can pull plows and carts and are very important in agriculture. A skilled trainer can tame a horse into doing work and the horse will push itself through exhaustion if the master wishes it to. In short, the entire species is versatile, intelligent, and diligent.
Horses display to Socrates the values and traits that the citizens of Athens should uphold and strive for. He could have chosen a thousand different analogies to get his point across and humiliate Meletus, but by using the horse, he creates a lasting symbol that the people of Athens could look towards and learn from.