15).

He argues that there is a duty resting on convention, which he considers in a deep and morally weighty sense, based on an implied but nonetheless binding contract between the individual and the state:

It is a fact, then," they would say, "that you are breaking covenants and undertakings made with us, although you mad them under no compulsion of misunderstanding, and were not compelled to decide in a limited time; you had seventy years in which you could have left the country, if you were not satisfied with us of felt that the agreements were unjust (Plato, 1993, p. 89).

In other words, Socrates has enjoyed the benefit of the laws all his life and cannot now break them without breaking an implicit agreement he has made with the state based on his acceptance of the law over his lifetime.

Plato's ideal state is not a democracy, and...
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