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A Mission Ordained By the Gods Though it would be quite simple to read Plato’s The Last Days of Socrates and immediately render Socrates’ so-called “divine mission” to attain death as a destructive force, a closer assessment of Plato’s work reveals that Socrates’ life was not lost in vain after all. “Death is one of two things. Either it is annihilation, and the dead have no consciousness of anything; or, as we are told, it is really a change: a migration of the soul from this place to another” (Apology, 82c,65). Although no crime can vindicate a death sentence, Socrates’ death embodies the philosopher’s final step towards eternal fulfillment. Had he allowed his companions to speak on his behalf and defend him in court as originally planned, the philosopher may have escaped death. But this was not his intention. The philosopher “fought a thousand battles and met, with divine calm his death-in-martyrdom” (Lukacs 59). Socrates embraces death, for he is certain that “his soul (will) gain in death- who knows?-silence his longings” (Lukacs 60). Through his overbearing pride and confidence, corruption of the youth and his philosophical ideas, Socrates frees himself from the shackles that bind him to his cor