Written by Socrates' disciple Plato sometime in the decade after his mentor's death, The Apology is one of two surviving accounts of the trial of Socrates on charges of corrupting the youth of Athens. Delving into questions of morality, death and virtue, this speech as written by Plato is notable for Socrates uncompromising insistence on taking the moral highroad even at risk of condemnation and a capital sentence.

In this, our fifth and final installment of a Chinese translation of this famous essay, we read Socrates' reaction to his condemnation and his response on being sentenced to death. As previously though, Socrates is less concerned about the punishment itself than with questions of virtue and the afterlife. If you are new to this essay, we recommend starting from part one. And if you're looking for other Chinese short stories, consult our archive of manually annotated ones: simply put your mouse over any word in any paragraph for an instant popup with contextual definitions and guides to appropriate translation and pronunciation.