On the day when he drank the poison

⊕I loved this. It was such a succinct exposition that for a while it made me a bit sad. I didn’t think I could ever express the driving action and the set of relationships as succinctly and concretely as that line does. It made me feel like writing was “complete”.Echecrates. Were you yourself, Phaedo, in the prison with Socrates on the day when he drank the poison?

There is so much information in that line.

That Socrates was imprisoned. That he died. That he died from poison. That he drank the poison himself. That Phaedo may or may not have been in prison with Socrates at the time. That this other bloke, Echecrates, was trying to interrogate the moment and the relationship.

Incredible.